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    Eight interiors that are stepped up by the addition of ladders

    Our latest lookbook focuses on kitchens and living rooms that are elevated by their inclusion of ladders.

    In contemporary interior design, ladders can be specified as an alternative to staircases due to their space-efficient nature, their ability to be moved to access different areas and the sense of playfulness they foster.
    Old ladders also have a place in modern interiors – their statuesque nature occasionally sees them used as a sculptural focal point or accessory in interior styling.
    This is the latest in our lookbooks series, which provides visual inspiration from Dezeen’s archive. For more inspiration, see previous lookbooks featuring interiors with unique red-and-green colour schemes and bathrooms with striking and distinctive bathtubs.
    The photo is by Kate GlicksbergWarren Street Townhouse, USA, by Studio Vural

    Mounted flush against a whitewashed brick wall, this wooden ladder features in the Japanese-informed kitchen of a townhouse in New York’s Brooklyn neighbourhood, designed by local firm Studio Vural.
    The design of the interior scheme references the city of Kyoto in Japan, as requested by the owners, following a visit they made to the area in 2009.
    Find out more about Warren Street Townhouse ›
    The photo is by Alice MesguichCollectors Home, The Netherlands, by DAB Studio
    Interior design firm DAB Studio used this house’s bay window as a niche to display this green-painted fruit ladder, dating from the year 1890.
    It was rendered in the striking colour specifically for the project, in reference to the green panes of stained glass that surround it.
    Find out more about Collectors Home ›
    The photo is by Dave WattsKensal Rise house, UK, by The Mint List
    An Edwardian end-of-terrace house was renovated by interior design studio The Mint List with various mid-century modern design elements.
    High-up cupboards are reached via a ladder in the kitchen, which slides side-to-side to access different cabinets.
    Find out more about Kensal Rise house ›
    The photo is by BCDF studioTimbaud apartment, France, by Isabelle Heilmanne
    Interior designer Isabelle Heilmann propped a wooden ladder against a mezzanine level in this Parisian apartment, situated inside a former textile workshop.
    An old wooden dining table and chairs echo the materiality of the ladder, and a swing installed in the living room is another playground-esque furnishing in the apartment.
    Find out more about Timbaud apartment ›
    The photo is courtesy of JRKVCThe Lake House, Slovakia, by JRKVC
    In order to make efficient use of its 65-square-metre footprint, Slovakian studio JRKVC created mezzanine areas above enclosed cabin rooms in this lakeside house.
    A pair of light wooden ladders create access to the areas above the rooms, which function as bedrooms and a bathroom. They are painted green on one end of the space and clad in ridged brown tiles at the other.
    Find out more about The Lake House ›
    The photo is by Seth CaplanDumbo Loft, USA, by Crystal Sinclair
    Located in New York’s Dumbo neighbourhood, Crystal Sinclair Designs overhauled this loft apartment to include a mezzanine level housing a miniature library and seating area.
    It is accessed via a metal-and-wooden ladder that ascends through an arch-shaped cut-out in the floor, saving space by positioning the ladder directly beneath it.
    Find out more about Dumbo Loft ›
    The photo is by Cristobal PalmaPunta Chilen, Chile, by Guillermo Acuña Arquitectos Asociados
    Two rows of open shelving flank this kitchen in a Chilean beach house, and a pair of ladders on castor wheels provide access to even the highest shelves.
    All surfaces are made from pine timber, creating a warm interior in contrast to the sea visible from all of the windows.
    Find out more about Punta Chilen ›
    The photo is by Diana ArnauCasa Texcal, Mexico, by HGR Arquitectos
    A double-height bookcase with a platform halfway up it is the focal point of the living space in this Mexican home by local studio HGR Arquitectos.
    The platform is secured by black railings around its perimeter and is accessed by a matching ladder also featuring black metal handrails for safety.
    Find out more about Casa Texcal ›
    This is the latest in our lookbooks series, which provides visual inspiration from Dezeen’s archive. For more inspiration, see previous lookbooks featuring interiors with unique red-and-green colour schemes and bathrooms with striking and distinctive bathtubs.

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    Eight eclectic self-designed homes by architects and designers

    Our latest lookbook collects eight dwellings that were self-designed by architects and designers including Mexico-based Ludwig Godefroy and London studio Holloway Li.

    From a modernist-style house in South Africa to an American family residence characterised by a large interior crane, there are a range of materials and floor plans offered by each of these homes.
    The properties demonstrate the myriad ways architects and designers apply their knowledge to their own living spaces and push the boundaries of what is possible outside of client constraints.
    This is the latest in our lookbooks series, which provides visual inspiration from Dezeen’s archive. For more inspiration, see previous lookbooks featuring wooden kitchens, statement bathtubs and paper lamps.
    Photo by HANAAtwater House, USA, by Rebecca Rudolph and Colin Thompson

    Co-founder of Design, Bitches Rebecca Rudolph and her husband Colin Thompson of Gensler designed their own home in Atwater Village, Los Angeles.
    In the kitchen, the pair combined a polished marble splashback with a central stone island clad in bespoke concrete panels made by Thompson.
    Find out more about Atwater House ›
    Photo by Frances MaraisMossel Bay house, South Africa, by Yvette van Zyl
    Modernist and nautical influences come together at this three-bedroom home in Mossel Bay, South Africa, designed and owned by local architect Yvette van Zyl.
    Porthole-style windows illuminate the interior, which features a mixture of concrete ceilings and floors and walls of exposed or painted brick.
    Find out more about this Mossel Bay house ›
    Photo by Jim StephensonPeckham House, UK, by Surman Weston
    Peckham House is a self-designed and self-build project by architecture studio Surman Weston, where co-director Percy Weston currently lives with his family.
    Hit-and-miss brickwork clads the home’s striking facade, while lime plaster lines the walls inside. End-grain woodblocks, salvaged from offcuts of the ceiling’s wooden structure, were also used to create chunky flooring.
    Find out more about Peckham House ›
    Photo by Edmund DabneyLondon apartment, UK, by Holloway Li
    Local design studio Holloway Li sought to honour the utilitarian kitchens of London’s many fast food outlets when creating a “unique” circle-brushed steel kitchen for this Highbury apartment.
    Inhabited by studio co-founder Alex Holloway, the apartment features pops of colour in its resin dining table and chubby orange armchair. A bathtub was also placed in the open-plan living space, adding to the home’s unusual design.
    Find out more about this London apartment ›
    Photo by Edmund SumnerCasa SanJe, Mexico, by Ludwig Godefroy
    Known for his brutalist-style buildings, architect Ludwig Godefroy and his partner renovated this house and home studio in Mexico for himself and his family.
    Integrated with an adjacent garden, Casa SanJe is characterised by a caste concrete interior with a mixture of warm wood panels and a wall covered in reddish volcanic stone.
    Find out more about Casa SanJe ›
    Photo by Jim StephensonBrighton house, UK, by Studiotwentysix
    Isabella and Dan Gray of architecture office Studiotwentysix created a birch plywood-lined loft extension for their family house in Brighton, England.
    Containing 55 square metres of additional living spaces, the loft includes an exposed red-oxide steel structure and is punctuated by geometric skylights.
    Find out more about this Brighton house ›
    Photo by Benny ChanJArzm House, USA, by John Friedman Alice Kimm Architects
    The founders of John Friedman Alice Kimm Architects inserted a giant yellow construction crane into the kitchen of their Los Angeles family home in the city’s Silver Lake neighbourhood.
    “Designing our own house was great because we didn’t have to ask permission,” John Friedman told Dezeen, explaining the unusual move. “We could do whatever we want.”
    Find out more about JArzm House ›
    Photo by Lorenzo ZandriOasis, UK, by Unknown Works
    Oasis is the home of architecture studio Unknown Works’ co-founder Theo Games Petrohilos, who wanted to renovate a terraced London house by adding a side and rear extension to create a flexible interior and maximise natural light.
    The studio placed a petite internal courtyard at the centre of the plan, which was informed by traditional Japanese stone gardens that provide cross ventilation throughout homes.
    Find out more about Oasis ›
    This is the latest in our lookbooks series, which provides visual inspiration from Dezeen’s archive. For more inspiration, see previous lookbooks featuring wooden kitchens, statement bathtubs and paper lamps.

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    YSG creates “eccentric beats of nostalgia” in Byron Bay seaside home

    Interiors studio YSG has updated a seaside home in Byron Bay, Australia, creating a series of retro spaces with colours and furnishings that evoke the 1970s.

    Byron Bay is known for its tropical climate and surf culture, so YSG director Yasmine Saleh Ghoniem designed a laid-back interior filled with period details to complement the lush environment.
    YSG has renovated a seaside home in Byron Bay, AustraliaResponding to the client’s love of deep brown hues and vintage furnishings, the 1970s theme informed details such as the use of chrome and the addition of a sunken lounge.
    “Despite tropical surrounds, the home’s gaze is now firmly fixed inwards to create sensory journeys heightened by the eccentric beats of nostalgia,” said Ghoniem.
    A chrome balustrade create a threshold between the kitchen and loungeThe existing kitchen was gutted to double its size, with a new galley kitchen partially enclosed by a wooden screen and a circular island that can be used for casual dining.

    A chrome balustrade informed by old-school skate parks provides an additional place to lean alongside the island. Fixed to a timber column, it helps to create a threshold between the kitchen and the sunken lounge.
    Vintage Italian dining chairs were reupholstered in chartreuse velvetThe island’s chrome footrest echoes the nearby barstools and vintage Italian dining chairs sourced in Paris, which YSG has reupholstered in chartreuse velvet.
    The project is titled Checkmate after the geometric patterned floors featured throughout the property.
    Terracotta pavers are arranged into a geometric grid across Checkmate’s living areasIn the living areas, YSG specified terracotta pavers arranged in a simple grid with wide grout lines that add tonal contrast.
    Checkered porcelain tiles used in the family bathroom extend across a balcony that wraps around the parents’ bedroom. The same pattern and hues were used for the bedroom’s cork flooring – another nod to the seventies.
    Checkered sandstone floor tiles feature in the guest bedroom downstairsThe raised bathtub in the main bathroom was retained and wrapped in mosaic tiles, while the guest bathroom downstairs features chunky sandstone floor tiles in a similar checkered pattern.
    YSG’s limited spatial interventions also included enclosing an internal balcony to create a hallway leading to the children’s enlarged bedrooms. A circular window on this level now looks onto the verdant balcony off the main bedroom.
    The home is furnished with a mix of new and vintage piecesAs in many of its previous projects, YSG used timber framing and slatted screens in the home to help provide visual cohesion while fulfilling practical functions.
    In addition to the screen installed in the kitchen, a latticed partition on the upper floor provides privacy for the children walking from the bathroom to their bedrooms.

    Pattern completes understated interiors for Locura bar in Byron Bay

    The balcony on this level already had a slatted ceiling and YSG added matching vertical battens to further shade the space and protect it from being overlooked by neighbours.
    To furnish the interior, Ghoniem sourced a variety of new and vintage pieces that reference aesthetic styles from the 1950s to the 1970s, including a limited edition denim Soriana chair from Cassina placed in the living room.
    The raised bathtub in the primary bathroom was updated with mosaic tilesThe dining chairs are complemented by cone-shaped bar stools upholstered in a tropical fabric from Kvadrat, while a pair of Italian armchairs purchased at vintage emporium Oda Paris feature a chocolate-and-spearmint harlequin pattern.
    Lighting and accessories add further layers of pattern and texture to the interior, with the various shades of brown providing a backdrop for more expressive elements.
    A circular window overlooks the balcony off the main bedroom”We steered away from deep shades, opting for warm caramel and toffee shades,” Ghoniem told Dezeen.
    “To this grounding tone, we added a gamut of colours from jolts of indigo and denim blues to watermelon pink and green stripes adorning the kitchen’s window treatments, and assorted coloured ceramic pulls to the primary suite’s wardrobes.”
    Timber screens shade the upstairs balconyA moon-like fibreglass light fixture was created as a custom piece to fill the large void above the sunken lounge, while bespoke timber handles used for the kitchen cabinets as well as the property’s front door add a whimsical detail.
    In the main bathroom, an LED artwork by local artist Jeremy Kay was installed on the ceiling to create a dynamic disco effect.
    An LED artwork by Jeremy Kay creates a disco effect in the main bathroomYasmine Saleh Ghoniem founded her eponymous design studio in 2020, having previously worked with landscape architect Katy Svalbe at their joint studio Amber Road in Sydney.
    YSG’s multidisciplinary projects are defined by a bold approach to colour, texture and pattern. Ghoniem draws on her background in music and dance to infuse her designs with elements of storytelling and staging.
    Other residential interiors completed by the studio include a suburban home in Sydney finished with sumptuous materials intended to evoke a luxury hotel, and a coastal home featuring maximalist patterns that reference the beach clubs of Ibiza and Cancun.
    The photography is by Prue Ruscoe.

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    Aesop clads London store with tactile bars of soap

    Skincare brand Aesop has opened a minimalist store in London’s Knightsbridge, featuring a “soap corridor” created with uniform tiles made from the everyday bathroom product.

    Set within a slim and narrow room on Brompton Road, the Aesop outlet is characterised by a floor-to-ceiling installation made of cream-coloured soap bars.
    Aesop has opened a store in London’s KnightsbridgeThe installation, created by architect Nicolas Schuybroek, was transferred from an Aesop store in Milan, where it was temporarily on display for the city’s design week in April. Slabs of soap were arranged in a gridded layout and supported by a subtle timber structure, designed to be disassembled and installed at different locations.
    “Schuybroek had taken one of the most fundamental, functional household items – a bar of soap – to create an unconventional sculpture,” reflected Aesop.
    It features an installation by Nicolas Schuybroek made of bars of soapAccording to the skincare brand, the architect was informed by the simplicity of Arte Povera – an Italian art movement from the 1960s to the 1970s that favoured using unconventional everyday materials instead of more traditional ones such as oil paint or carved marble.

    “Just as practitioners of the Arte Povera movement restricted themselves to simple and everyday materials in their poetic compositions, the spatial restriction of the store enforces a streamlined design in the form of a soap corridor,” said Aesop.

    Frida Escobedo segments Aesop Park Slope with rammed-earth brickwork

    As per every Aesop branch, the store includes a central basin for skin consultations. At the Knightsbridge store, every piece of furniture was repurposed from the Aesop furniture collection, including the basin and the grey geometric display shelving.
    In one corner of the room, more bars of soap were piled into a sculptural heap, adding a playful touch to the otherwise “muted calm” of the interior.
    The skincare brand explained that Schuybroek’s installation is intended to travel to numerous Aesop stores, with Brompton Road being its second home.
    The installation was previously on display during Milan design week in AprilKnown for its varied store designs that often reference their specific locations, Aesop has nearly 400 outlets around the world.
    These include a brick-clad branch in Copenhagen that pays homage to the nearby Louisiana Museum of Modern Art and an open-sided shop in Seoul that was informed by traditional Korean pavilions.
    The photography is by Alixe Lay.

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    Alastair Philip Wiper captures “over-the-top kitsch” 1970s doomsday bunker in Las Vegas

    British photographer Alastair Philip Wiper has documented a subterranean fallout shelter in Las Vegas, Nevada, complete with a four-hole putting green surrounded by faux pine trees and painted scenery.

    Built in 1978 by millionaire Jerry Henderson, the doomsday bunker stretches across 1,400 square metres. Henderson lived in the underground house for five years with his wife Mary up until his death in 1983.
    Alastair Philip Wiper has photographed an underground bunker in Las Vegas”Jerry was a millionaire who advocated for underground living,” Wiper said, adding that Henderson also had a similar bunker in an undisclosed location in Colorado.
    “He thought that all people would be better off living underground, not just in case of an apocalypse but in all situations.”
    The residence was built in 1978 as a nuclear fallout shelterThe shelter reflects the era in which it was designed, with details from decorative luminaires to statement pink curtains and toilet seats evoking 1970s interiors.

    Other features include a swimming pool, two hot tubs, a dance floor with a pole, a four-hole putting green, a bar, a barbecue and a sauna.
    “It seems like Jerry liked to party,” Wiper told Dezeen. “The house is made for entertaining. It’s not a house designed for a recluse.”
    1970s statement furnishings include pink toilet seats and decorative luminairesArtificial pine trees and faux rock walls emulate an outdoor garden space, while painted backdrops depicting life-like landscapes surround the shelter.
    Lighting simulates different times of day, with details like the pool and the garden picked out with colourful fluorescents that add to the eccentric nature of the residence.

    James Shaw’s light-filled London home is almost entirely underground

    “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder,” said Wiper. “But if you have a penchant for over-the-top kitsch, insane colour combinations and James Bond villain-lair aesthetics then you would be in heaven at this place.”
    Henderson’s underground house is now owned by the Church of Perpetual Life, an organisation involved with cryonic preservation that aims to extend human life, which Wiper explored in a 2023 feature for Bloomberg.
    The house has two separate hot tubsWiper documented the residence as part of an ongoing project called “How We Learned to Stop Worrying”, about the many architectural interpretations of the word “nuclear”.
    “I’m looking for all sorts of unusual locations that are associated with nuclear and when I came across the house, it fit perfectly,” Wiper said. “It’s so eccentric and flamboyant.”
    Artificial trees and faux rocks help mimic an outdoor garden spaceWiper’s latest photography book titled Building Stories, published by the Danish Architectural Press, also includes the underground house among a mix of other surreal buildings including a spooky skiing resort and a nuclear missile control centre.
    It is the follow-up to his previous book Unintended Beauty, which focuses on industrial buildings such as factories and power stations.
    Painted backdrops depict life-like scenery”I look for locations that are out of the ordinary, places that tell a story and which people don’t get to see every day, places I want to visit myself,” the photographer explained.
    “If there is something absurd, taboo or humorous about the location then all the better.”
    The photography is by Alastair Philip Wiper.

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    Translucent and reflective surfaces ricochet light around Cologne apartment

    German architecture studio Demo Working Group has removed all non-structural walls from this 1970s high-rise apartment in Cologne, creating a utilitarian open-plan interior.

    Named Kier after its address on Kierberger Straße, the apartment is set in a housing block built in 1972. Before the renovation, wallpaper covered its concrete shell and a myriad of dividing walls created dark, enclosed rooms.
    Demo Working Group has renovated a 1970s Cologne apartmentNow, a structural concrete wall in the middle of the floor plan is the only interior wall that remains, although Demo Working Group used a concrete saw to cut out a doorway and create a direct link between the living space and the bedroom.
    “We were interested in how these concrete structures can be transformed to enable new spatial options,” partner Matthias Hoffmann told Dezeen. “The new opening between the living and the sleeping area redefines the circulation in the apartment.”
    Soft furnishings and reflective finishes take the edge off the stark concrete wallsRaw concrete perimeter walls work together with the remaining central wall to create an industrial-looking backdrop, consistent throughout all areas of the apartment.

    “The high-rise structures of that era are typically built out of concrete,” the studio said. “We took off the wallpaper so that the building’s structure with its specific texture and character can be experienced inside the apartment.”
    Light is bounced around by glass and reflective surfacesThe newly liberated interior benefits from having windows on two sides, which the designers capitalised on by employing translucent, transparent and reflective surfaces throughout.
    Former internal walls were replaced with sheets of transparent and frosted glass, allowing light to penetrate further into the space and providing a contrast with the heaviness of the concrete.
    Like the rest of the apartment, the kitchen has a cool-toned colour schemeThis creates a free-flowing atmosphere in the space, which almost functions as a studio apartment as a result of the minimal, see-through divisions between the living space, kitchen, bedroom and bathroom.
    Mirrors and reflective surfaces are applied to other spaces, too. In the kitchen, cupboards are tucked below a window that casts light onto a full-height mirrored backsplash on one side.

    Archmongers celebrates “raw beauty of brutalist concrete” in Trellick Tower apartment refresh

    The green kitchen counter also reflects light and is made from a heavy-duty plastic, which Demo Working Group says is usually reserved for use in laboratories.
    Glossy white tiles line the kitchen and bathroom area while a built-in storage unit in the living space is clad in sheets of aluminium to level up the brightness of the interior.
    Three purple-upholstered cantilevered chairs surround a metal dining tableFurnishings follow a colour palette of blues, greens and purples, with the sofa and window frame in the living area picked out in a deep blue, referencing the accent colour found throughout the wider apartment block.
    Metal continues to feature in the furniture and fittings, from the legs of the dining set and bookshelf to a horseshoe-shaped light fixture on the bedroom ceiling.
    The shower enclosure is transparent and contains white fittings and fixturesDemo Working Group was founded in 2019 and works on architecture and interior projects throughout northern Germany.
    Other apartment interiors that have recently been featured on Dezeen include a refurbished art deco-style apartment in Milan and a flat in Kyiv that features colourful furnishings and glass bricks.
    The photography is by Jan Voigt.

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    A Bag A Day Keeps the Clutter Away (Join our Fall Decluttering Challenge)

    This Post May Contain Affiliate Links. Please Read Our Disclosure Policy here

    A Bag a Day Challenge Fall 2024
    Clutter is a thief of joy and a distraction from the peaceful, welcoming home we long to have. For many people, including me, clutter can feel so stressful and overwhelming. I’m not referring to the manageable amount of every day things you need or want to have around you, but the accumulation so much stuff that it causes anxiety or frustration.
    I got inspired by the Bag A Day method many years ago because it is so simple, doable and effective. 
    Often people feel overwhelmed because they overthink clutter or procrastinate dealing with it.
    If you are eager to make progress on a decluttered home this fall, you’re invited to join us for our Bag A Day September challenge in our HomeBody Gathering Place community.
    No need to overthink or over prep for the Bag A Day Challenge, just fill one bag of clutter every day and out the door it goes! 
    It’s that easy. You can do this challenge on your own, but you’ll find invaluable community encouragement and support in the HGP to finally turn your home into the sanctuary you’ve always wanted.
    After 30 days, 30 bags of clutter will have been removed from your home!
    Basket / Photo Source
    The Bag A Day method is addictive in healthy ways! Once you get started, I promise going through the Bag A Day Challenge in the HGP will change the way you feel about your home.
    Of course you can also modify this simple method to your own schedule or needs. 
    Go on a clutter finding frenzy somewhere in your home every day or once a week— put your findings in bags. 
    Set a bag or a box by the door or a corner of the room and toss clutter in it every day.  
    Set a goal to fill a few bags every weekend. 
    However you choose to use the Bag A Day Challenge, we’ll do it together in the HGP!
    Homebody Mug
    If you are not yet a member of the HGP, sign up for your subscription here so you’ll be ready to go in September! The yearly membership is the best deal and you get additional freebies and perks, so I recommend being an annual member!
    There is so much more in the HGP to learn and be inspired by. We can’t wait to begin fall nesting and prepping our home for hospitality and holidays, too! This season we’re focusing on telling a story with our home. It all starts this September.
    Think of the HGP as your home therapy group.
    Together we decorate, putter and declutter all year round.
    Every week and every season in the HGP we learn, overcome challenges and change mindsets. We fall more in love with our homes — and I’m there to answer questions and help you every step of the way.
    Participants in the Bag a Day HGP challenge this September will also be entered into a giveaway to win one of our exclusive HomeBody Boxes! It’ll be a fun and productive challenge!
    Ready to get started? Let’s go! Our fall nesting session starts September 2. The Bag A Day Challenge begins September 5. More

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    Basket Storage Trunks

    This Post May Contain Affiliate Links. Please Read Our Disclosure Policy here

    It’s that time of year when we start turning our thoughts to making life feel cozier in our homes. I’m a big fan of baskets for adding texture and warmth to a room, but I also love to use them for storage and organization. Basket storage trunks can be used to hold anything from games to seasonal items to extra bedding (we use ours for blankets, sheets and pillows), too. I’ve even used our basket trunk as a small space coffee table!
    Click here for above sources (I have two of the bottom right one!)
    See more basket trunks in this folder of my Amazon storefront.
    Get inspired by organization posts on The Inspired Room here. More