Letter From the Editor: Issue 01

Issue 01: "Fine, I’ll Do It Myself." On how and why we make things—whether or not we should.

Photo by Lizzie Soufleris

The designer Jonah Takagi was on the hunt for a home in Vermont—an “unmolested” house of any era, really. But he couldn’t find what he was looking for. So instead, he bought a plot of land, and decided that he’d build his new house himself. No construction team. Just him.

Wrong House’s inaugural issue is all about this drive—the fine-I’ll-do-it-myself impulse to make something new and different, possibly against all odds. It’s about who gets to create, and why, and who’s been left out of the process in the past. It’s about agency and iteration, and living with your mistakes as much as you do your successes.

The stories in this issue show us that it isn’t just about what you build, though—it’s also about when you do it. As Sarah Archer expertly points out in her piece “How ‘Trading Spaces’ Made Us Over”—featuring a dishy Q&A with one of the program’s original designers, Genevieve Gorder—TLC’s OG home-makeover show came of age against the backdrop of a rapidly changing U.S. economy and a wave of democratization in the home decor sector. The same can be said of Jessica Gaynelle Moss, an artist and curator who has transformed her family’s ancestral home in Pittsburgh into affordable lodging for Black artists. Doing so in 2025, decades after her father was raised there, she folds a cultural legacy in on itself, stringing together past, present, and future like a set of pearls.

Wrong House has its own “when” story, too. This year, the chorus of voices across design has grown louder and more numerous. We have more tools than ever for capturing spaces, objects, stories, and advice in real time. (Heaven help us, we are all trying to figure out video.) There’s a common refrain for more “authenticity” in storytelling and visuals. While I remain skeptical that anything authentic can ever happen online, I do believe there’s more room for talking about how we live with design—not as consumers, but as human beings. Those are the pieces that have a home at Wrong House. The ones with guts.

This issue, Wrong House’s first, explores the worlds that we build for ourselves, physically and emotionally. But it is also a collection of stories about finding your people: The ones who show up to help you hoist that first ceiling beam in the home you’re building for yourself; who scrappily source furniture for your project when you’re on the brink of burnout; who give you the space to become the fullest version of yourself. Or, hey, who help you pour wine at your magazine launch. Across all of the articles in this issue, it’s clear that even when you’re doing it yourself, you aren’t going it alone.

So let’s start. Each week, I’ll email you a couple of choice bits from the issue via newsletter—so no need to get to it all today. (That said, if feasting is more your style, you’ll find the whole issue here.) The best way to stay on top of it all is to subscribe, and follow us on Instagram.

Thanks for being here.

Til next week,

Lila

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Housewarming Committee

Endless gratitude to everyone who has supported Wrong House’s launch and first issue: Vitra, Sara Griffin, Rob Davis, Laura Allen, Urbanstems, Parachute, Voga, Aplós, Freakout Spot, Leah Van Halsema, Meggie Sullivan, Tiffany Jow, Sydney Gore, Ward Price, Massie Minor, Jessica Masanotti, Bryan Tate, Jacopo Sensoli, Andrea Baule, Charlotte Hohorst, Dianna Loevner, Stella McCormack, Jen Collins, Kenny Owens, Gabrielle Beaumont, Bobby Michaud, Irene Kopitov, Joan MacKeith, Will Wilbur, and many others. And, of course, we could not be here without our contributors: Sarah Archer, Diana Budds, Jesse Dorris, Elizabeth Fazzare, Kel Rakowski, and Rob Vargas. Thank you for your trust. ⌂