Can You Build It? Yes You Can!
Brick by brick.
Hi housemates,
Happy Friday. This week, I’m closing out the “Fine, I’ll Do It Myself” run by sharing two articles that fully embody what this whole issue has been about. The first, “Go Ahead, Build Your Own Damn House”—written by yours truly—spotlights a few brave souls that, staring down the tremendous costs and hurdles of conventional mortgage-backed home ownership, embarked on missions to build their own houses by hand. There are insights in there, too, from Tinna Harling, an architect and educator who specializes in teaching people just like them how to build. The biggest challenge of taking on a mammoth project like homebuilding isn’t what you’d expect—I recommend you read it to find out for yourself.
Finally, a call to arms from Kel Rakowski, a creative strategist who once transitioned from a career as a photo editor to being a tech founder and CEO. (Kel launched the queer social app Lex—IYKYK—and now advises founders on growth.) Kel’s writings on creativity and entrepreneurship on LinkedIn and her Substack, Work Unseen, have been tremendously valuable to me in launching this venture. For anyone thinking about going their own way, this is a must-read manifesto.
Next week, keep an eye out for the release of our second issue: No Thoughts, Just Vibes. Ready your Ouija boards and palo santo—with this one, we’re going esoteric!
After the jump, a few other things I’ve been seeing and doing lately.
Also, Don’t Miss:
Books! Books, books, books. It’s that season. A lot of exciting monographs have hit the shelves this fall, and one of the joys of this job is getting to take a gander at many of them ahead of everyone else. I’m loving the new complete compendium of Tom Kundig’s houses—though, as final as that sounds, is likely not his last. Charleston-based designer Rebecca Atwood has also released a colorful new volume, and Hendricks Churchill has revisited some of their distinctly American projects in a beautifully illustrated monograph, too. For something that’s a totally different speed but equally inspiring, the Montreal-based team Daily Tous Les Jours (who specialize in interactive architectural installation work) have composed a thoughtful treatise on how activation of public space can make our cities—and us—better.*
All photos courtesy Marco Ricca Kips Bay Decorator Show House: Kips Bay is basically the Met Gala of the design world. (When I was at AD PRO, I always referred to show houses as our “red carpet moments.”) Because designers are more or less their own clients in these rooms, it’s an occasion to show off some of their biggest, wildest ideas, and hopefully inspire clients to say yes to similar ones in the future. It’s always a mix of established talent and up-and-comers, with the event serving for the latter as a debutante ball of sorts. It certainly feels like an entrée to decorator society. Anyway, the house is a heroic effort from beginning to end, and, like the Met Gala, is ultimately a fundraiser for a worthy cause, too. A few highlights for me this year were Olivia Williams’s moody studio apartment, featuring a hideaway bed behind lacquer panels (1 and 2); the exquisite moldings by Arkada in Corey Damen Jenkins’s dining room (3) (see his Instagram for a before-and-after—how did they pull this off so fast?! My head is spinning!), Thomas Engelhart’s hot-pink faux porphyry mantel (made of paper!) for Alexa Hampton (4), and the architectural planters installed in Ford Huniford’s loft (5). I’d love to see large-scale, built-in planters make a comeback. It feels right on time, alongside the glass-brick renaissance and return of window treatments like roller shades and even aluminum blinds.
Anyway, thanks for being here for our very first issue. Your support has totally exceeded my expectations, and I’m excited to bring you more great stories next month.
’Til next week,
Lila
Thank you so much, Lila, for mentioning my book. I appreciate it!