“Just because we leave our urban settings to retire to the beach or countryside doesn’t mean we need to relinquish our desire to feel a bit more urban,” says Susana Simonpietri, creative director of design firm Chango & Co., who created this airy, almost ethereal living space atop a family’s boathouse resting on a lake in Connecticut. “We wanted the space to feel as light as the water view.” Ash-wood armchairs and a rattan coffee table lend earthy elegance while many of the accents, from the wood bowl to the tableware, are Chango & Co designs. Photo by Raquel Langworthy
In his modern take on a barn-style home for a family in Utah, Scott Jaffa of Jaffa Group combined a streamlined mix of materials and furnishings that extends into this great room. Featuring clerestory windows, varied ceiling heights and exposed steel beams, the space feels at once spacious, sumptuous and simple. As the main gathering spot in the home, Jaffa outfitted this room with a massive blue velvet sectional that provides a punch of color amid neutral furnishings. Photo by Scot Zimmerman
Joe McGuire was inspired by a Scandinavian modern aesthetic when designing this Aspen living room, reimagining the classic country home in a new light. “The placement and scale of the windows was intended to provide the home with a country house feel,” says McGuire. “For the interiors, we combined white oak, soft color accents and light neutral fabrics,” he adds of the streamlined mix, which includes a brown velvet Danish lounge chair, a custom chandelier from Lambert et Fils and a marble-and-brass coffee table. Photo Courtesy of Gibeon Photography
Balancing big comfort with streamlined style, Pepe Lopez designed this soaring Connecticut living space to be, he says, “modern but in a more robust way to stand up to the mountains and lake views.” The focus for the interiors, says Lopez, “was that it should be very textural.” It all translated into a luxurious mix of materials, ranging from silk and velvets to burnished metal, combined with clean-lined yet sumptuous pieces, like a David Weeks chandelier, a McGuire bar cabinet and a pair of Wendell Castle chairs. Photo courtesy of Pepe Lopez Design Inc.
Scott Murphy and Lucas Lai of D.I.R.T. LLC kept much of the interior elements and A-frame structure of this beachside living room, located in a house originally built by the renowned mid-century American architect Andrew Geller. “We kept the inverted windows, which were made to capture light refracting off the dunes, and we clad the walls with knotty pine to give the home a cabin-like atmosphere,” says Lai. “As a frequent host, the owner needed more living space, so we did remove a bedroom,” Murphy says, a decision that made room for an expansive built-in bench lined with indigo denim cushions and overhead swivel sconces by Charlotte Perriand. “A modern country house should above all be comfortable,” says Lai. Photo courtesy of D.I.R.T. LLC
Jay Jeffers brings his brand of warm modernism to the tailored dining space of a young family’s Lake Tahoe country home. Jeffers points out that the mountain home’s architecture inspired the bold gestures within. He masterfully marries modern and rustic elements throughout. The result is a mountain home with distinctly urban-style interiors. Photo by Matthew Millman
“Our vision was to create a contemporary interior that felt glamorous and warm while maximizing the breathtaking views,” says Pembrooke & Ives founder Andrew Sheinman of this great room inside a Aspen home. To create intimacy without distracting from the stunning vistas, Sheinman opted for a neutral palette and large-scale designs with clean lines that lend warmth, such as tub chairs in kidskin leather and an oversize custom rug. In the same vein, he created a sleek bar made of polished Italian onyx. “The simplicity allows us to achieve elegance without fussiness,” he says. Photo by David O. Marlow
In his Mill Valley home, a glass-and-cedar house inspired by turn-of-the-century barns in Northern California, Charles de Lisle created a space that seamlessly blends with the lush surroundings. “Being in California, we almost always look to our local modern tradition of allowing the exterior be a big part of the interior experience,” says de Lisle, who opted for a neutral palette and comfortable furnishings from various eras. Those include a reupholstered Vico Magistretti chair found on 1stdibs, a 100-year-old Japanese kitchen tansu chest, a Martino Gamper stool and a lamp of his own design. Photo by Matthew Millman
A Lindsey Adelman Branching Bubbles chandelier hangs over the dining area in this Meyer Davis-designed modern farmhouse in Nashville—and reiterates the structure’s glass-and-steel exterior. Lined with walls of glass, Davis plays with the notion of clearly delineated indoor and outdoor spaces by creating a series of rooms throughout that appear to flow freely into the surrounding landscape of the home. Photo by Rachel Paul
A bedroom in the same Nashville home features a hanging fireplace and, above the bed, Natassja Kinski and the Serpent, 1981, by Richard Avedon. The simple lines of the floating nightstands, benches and rug along with the muted palette once again nod to the rectilinear geometry of the home’s facade. Photo by Rachel Paul
Thad Hayes designed this weekend retreat in Westport, Massachusetts, for his college roommate, a landscape architect, so Hayes kept the focus on the environment. The minimal furnishings in the dining area include Hans Wegner Wishbone chairs around the circular table. Photo by Scott Frances
Shawn Henderson designed his Hillsdale, New York, country home to look like an elegant Swedish summer house. French doors flank the fireplace in the airy living room, which features a neutral palette and a pair of Hans Wegner Papa Bear chairs. Photo by Steven Freihon
Meyer Davis designed this Copake Lake, New York, home, which was inspired by the rustic style of the Adirondack Great Camps. The bedroom includes a pair of Le Corbusier chairs and a wicker motorcycle. Photo by Michel Arnaud
The sleek kitchen in this Vaughn Miller Studio–designed Lake Austin, Texas, home features custom walnut cabinetry and limestone floors. The mix of warm and sleek materials ties back to the lake house’s overarching comfortable and contemporary vibe. Photo by Nathan Schroder
Groves & Co. transformed a historic barn in Washington, Connecticut, into a comfortable family weekend home. In this bedroom, streamlined dark wood furniture is juxtaposed with rustic elements like distressed wood beams and wide-plank flooring. Photo by Eric Piasecki
Tom Dixon pendant lights hang over the dining table and Hans Wegner chairs in this Southampton, New York, home by Tamara Eaton. Located in a rectilinear Mid-Century Modern house, the room’s warm wood tones and lacquer- and painted-white elements makes for a well-suited welcoming palette. Photo by Paul Warchol
The autumnal palette for this Kent, New York, home was inspired by a fall walk designer Amy Lau took around the lake. The earthy tones recall the surrounding landscape, while the organic shapes and curvy silhouettes of the furnishings help to offset the interior architecture’s strong lines and provide the room with a sense of quiet elegance. Photo by Josh McHugh
For this Amagansett, New York, beach house, Damon Liss created a simple, elegant kitchen with features like marble countertops, open shelving and a neutral color scheme. Photo by Joshua McHugh
Isabelle Stanislas updated this country estate in Deauville, France, where she created harmony between the Norman architecture and the modernized interior, which features materials like concrete, steel and brick, along with contemporary artwork. Photo by Olivier Löser
Bold stripes, Moroccan accessories and modern light fixtures put a fresh spin on this rustic architectural elements of this pool house by Alexandra Loew. Photo by Justin Bernhaut
Fern Santini was going for a “rough and refined” aesthetic with this Lake Austin house, known as Hog Pen Creek. She sought to balance the innovative, hard-edge structure by Lake Flato Architects by incorporating softer furnishings.
