Curbed

How I found the 350-square-foot studio apartment I didn’t know I wanted

Eighteen months ago, a random fire consumed my one-bedroom apartment in Manhattan’s West Village. Thankfully, I wasn’t home; a blogging side gig had taken me to upstate New York.

Afterwards, I felt the need to more concretely plot my next step. Though I had traveled the world alone, been bungee jumping, and crashed a wedding, I didn’t know that the next milestone of my journey toward real adulthood would feel like my most exhilarating move.

It would involve house-hunting—and going from a temporary, two-bedroom duplex to buying a 350-square-foot studio in a co-op building in New York City. Here’s what I learned—and what I wish I’d known before I embarked on this adventure.

Read more here.

Illustrations by Cécile Gariépy.

Inside a romantic brick victorian in Missouri

Carmen Troesser grew up in the memorably named community of Frankenstein, Missouri (legend says the moniker comes from Gottfried Franken, who donated land for a church there in 1890). She was one of 30 some people in the farming town.

"I can drive down the road and tell you who lives in every house," she says. "There were 17 people in my class, and I was related to 11 of them."

Troesser says it's the kind of place where no one moves in, and no one leaves—but she was different. When she discovered photography in college, she found a path that would lead her around the world, and then back again to a spot just 100 miles from where she started.

More photos & the full story here.

Photos by Carmen Troesser

The dream house next door

Tina and Jochen Frey didn’t pick the right house on the first try. As soon as they moved in to their then-new home next door to their current one, the elderly owner of the neighboring house mentioned she was thinking of selling her home and moving closer to her daughter.

When they went over to discuss the possibility, and they entered the house for the first time, they were sold. 

"Our jaws just dropped," says Tina. "Although it was just one house over, it’s at the end of the street, so it is lighter and has unobstructed views from the ocean to the Golden Gate Bridge. It was amazing what a difference one lot over made."

Read more here.

Solving Salk’s mystery: How scientists lifted the shadow from Louis Kahn's most famous building

Situated high on a bluff outside San Diego, a perfectly symmetrical canyon of raw concrete rises four stories from a travertine plaza. Down its center, a stream—known as the “channel of life”—traces a path that appears to vanish into the Pacific. This is the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, and it is widely considered to be the consummate work of celebrated midcentury architect Louis I. Kahn.

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Photo by Elizabeth Daniels

Who needs unicorn lattes when you've got unicorn vision? 🦄

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(Photo by Mark Wickens, animation by Sam Reichman)

In design blogger's DIY dream house, color and pattern reign

Stacey Blake calls decorating her home "therapy," and the thousands of people who follow her blog (Design Addict Mom) and on Instagram are along for treatment benefits. 

For more photos and the full story, click here!

(Photo by Peter Hoffman)

A guide to ordering plants online

The internet can never replace a nursery, but it can make plant shopping much easier.

Read more here.

Illustrations by Sunny Eckerle.

Joshua Tree midcentury home becomes writer's refuge

Native San Franciscan Catie Nienaber’s first home in Joshua Tree offers a sanctuary—and an opportunity to live slower

“The area spoke to me in a direct way. It’s totally different than San Francisco—it’s quiet and there are far less people,” she says. “But there is nature all around you and it feels like a space where you can do your own thing.”

Photos by Liz Kuball

The rise of the McModern: @mcmansionhell​ on a new strain of modern houses for the masses

From busy rooflines to plastic shutters, mismatched windows to four-car garages, the McMansion has dominated the American suburban residential landscape for almost 40 years without a notable change in aesthetics. 

Many people know a McMansion when they see one. The typical McMansion follows a formula: It’s large, cheaply constructed, and architecturally sloppy.

Read the full story.

Illustrations by Rachel Sender

10 cool home decor upgrades under $50 💸