Early american

I know that white oak floors are all the rage right now, and I do love them so much. But they are quite expensive to install and it is not always feasible if you are doing a renovation (rather than a new build) and have existing flooring that you are looking to keep and just re-stain. Many older h

January 16, 2017Two decades ago, when legendary Manhattan-based interior designer Robert Couturier, a native Parisian, met his now-husband, the Connecticut-born historic preservationist Jeffrey Morgan, their tastes were poles apart. “I didn’t know much about American decorative arts,” says Couturier, famed for creating grand-scale, lavishly decorated interiors on four continents. “Jeffrey said he wanted to show […]

Last week we met with our contractors to decide once and for all what siding we were going for on our house and my goodness, there were a lot of decisions. ...

How to make your new house look like an early country house from New England

Stepping into Betsy Heck's two-story Colonial-style home in Wildwood is like taking a trip back in time.

I wasn't planning on showing this yet. I wanted to wait until the floors were completely finished. But I need your opinion. We went through one gallon of stain on the entire house. That's it. We used wood conditioner before we started staining in most of the rooms. To be honest, I think it was a waste of time and money. The floors look pretty similar where we used it to where we didn't. But I'm not sure about the color. I wonder if we should put down one more coat. What do you think? I'm…

If you ask me, the café of the home shouldn’t have the monopoly on cafe curtains. Those short-tier curtains that cover the bottom half of windows are perfect for more than just the kitchen. Cafe curtains perfectly balance privacy and luminosity, letting plenty of light in while keeping inquisitive eyes out. And the best part? You can get them up quickly (without holes in the walls) with nothing more than a tension rod, curtain clips and a light piece of fabric.

Sometimes trends come along and, although you might like them, they take a bit of effort to embrace. Others just slot into your natural way of doing things and feel like they’ve been around …

There’s a lot of folklore surrounding the first Thanksgiving, and plenty of lively debate. When did it actually occur? Was this meeting with the Wampanoags truly amicable? Did they really eat turkey? Despite, or perhaps because of, this murky history, we continue to be fascinated with the Pilgrims and life in 17th-century America. While we all learned about the Mayflower, the Pilgrims, and that first Thanksgiving way back in elementary school, what do we really know about the day-to-day…