Traditional Home Summer 2020

After the unprecedented spring we experienced as a world, nation, communities, and households, I’m not sure what summer is going to look like. At this writing, well before this magazine has reached your hands, my work-from-home wardrobe is nowhere near the level in this portrait. Our brisk travel schedules are on hiatus, and our planning meetings are feats of technology. These are historic, uncertain times, so I hope this issue serves as a through line for you, providing inspiration as well as a pleasant escape. We’re all reminded that home and the people who fill it are more important to us than ever. In that spirit, enjoy this issue for what it was conceived to be—a celebration of pretty summertime color, easy-breezy vibes, indoor-outdoor living, and personal expressions of traditional design.…

KUFRI Perfection is overrated, Dallas entrepreneur Mili Suleman believes—and the proof is in the handloomed textiles her company, Kufri, produces. Born in India, raised in Oman, and inspired by Japan’s wabi-sabi designs, she embraces the handcrafted. “Our weavers are women living in India—the textiles are not made by a machine; it’s a person,” Suleman says. “Each product has little imperfections, which are beautiful because that’s the reflection of the weaver’s hands.” kufrilifefabrics.com One Hundred 80 Degrees One Hundred 80 Degrees puts a playful spin on tableware. Colorful plates feature the look of pinched paper and the durability of melamine. They’re sure to get the conversation rolling at your summer picnic—without collapsing under the potato salad. onehundred80degrees.com Matouk & Schumacher What do you get when you combine Matouk’s impeccably crafted linens with Schumacher’s extraordinary prints? A…

In the social media world, to make an ordinary image beautiful for digital sharing, the first step is selecting from a library of overlays. Such a transformation can be equally dramatic in design. The addition of a sheer fabric over a window elevates the beauty of the natural sunlight that filters through. Sheers were once manufactured in varying versions of basic ivory and for the sole purpose of preventing furniture fabrics from fading. Now they boost the aesthetic story of interiors with the slightest dose of color and texture as they undulate with the faintest whisper of a summer breeze. Visually refined and understated, sheer fabrics politely introduce panache without overpowering the design statement of your rooms. “SUMMERTIME IS WHEN YOU WANT TO LET THE FRESH AIR IN, AND NOTHING SAYS BREEZE…

Summer. It’s a time for laid-back, carefree living. That means a seasonal pause from dress-up affairs in which lunch marches through multiple courses. For this small informal gathering, friends called dibs on the dishes they would bring to a midday potluck. There’s no need for a main entrée. In this moment, farmers markets abound with a rainbow of color and flavor, inviting us to fully savor the salad days of summer. In keeping with the no-fuss vibe, the table is set in a light-filled breakfast area, intimate but without the serious undertones of a formal dining room. A printed cotton tablecloth lays a sunny yellow foundation for dinnerware, amplifying the summer aesthetic. Porcelain dessert plates decorated with a delicate flower motif add to the happy color scheme. Glass chargers layer in linenlike texture…

Q At its essence, what is the perfect kitchen? A Large or small, traditional or modern, white or rich in color, the essence of the perfect kitchen is how it makes you feel. It’s everyone’s favorite gathering place, so a balance of style and functionality is essential to creating a warm and friendly experience. Q What is your best kitchen memory? A My grandmother was an incredible baker. I remember gathering around her kitchen table to admire her fabulous lemon meringue pies: fluffy white tops with bronzed peaks and tart lemon filling. The worktable wasn’t adjacent to the stove, and the entire space was quite dark and inefficient. Yet for all of her kitchen’s quirks, her amazing skills with a hand beater triumphed over it all. Q What is the one thing you wish…

As it turns out, millennials aren’t ruining everything. In fact, rather than blowing their retirement savings on avocado toast, one particular young couple embraced a personal mission to preserve something unequivocally old school: traditional design. As they prepared to move from a New York City apartment to a 1930s Georgian home in Greenwich, Connecticut, the duo—parents to three young kids—came to designers Bill Brockschmidt and Courtney Coleman with a bulging folder of magazine clippings in hand and one thought in mind. “They told me, ‘We just want a beautiful home,’” Coleman says, “‘very traditional with no modern edge.’” Some of the impetus came from the house itself, located on a street that includes beautifully maintained homes from the same period as this Georgian—and some teardowns. “This couple value the history of the…