By the Book
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New books to inspire lovers of design and architecture:
Distinctly America: Houses and Interiors by Hendricks Churchill
and A Mood, A Thought, A Feeling: Interiors by Young Huh
by Marianne Litty
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Distinctly American: |
Distinctly American: Houses and Interiors by Hendricks Churchill presents ten recent projects by the firm of husband-and-wife founders Heide Hendricks and Rafe Churchill. Their design practice — Rafe as architect and Heide as interior designer — is guided by the principles of preservation, authenticity, and craftsmanship. Growing up in the same small rural town in Connecticut, Rafe from a family of builders, Heide from a family of artists, their visual aesthetic and ethos stem from the heart of their shared background. Tapping into Shaker simplicity, Arts and Crafts authenticity, and bohemian eclecticism, along with a steadfast appreciation for American vernacular, the firm’s projects are rooted in respect for tradition, contemporized for life today. Projects include a new construction carriage house in rural Connecticut, built to complement the historic farmhouse renovation carried out by the firm previously, barn-to-residence renovation projects in Westchester County and Hudson Valley, New York that illustrate the artistry of restraint and respect for tradition while indulging fully in comfort and beauty, and an 1830s Greek Revival house with an existing private art gallery addition once owned by the curator of The Museum of Modern Art, perfectly suited for their art collector clients. City residences also appear, with apartments in Carnegie Hill, Brooklyn, and Greenwich Village, New York, all of them evocative and richly layered design stories of their owners’ lives and dreams.
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HISTORIC HUDSON VALLEY BARN, Three years after having designed and renovated the main house of a historic early 1900s Dutchess County, New York property, Hendricks Churchill was asked to transform the three-story barn into a guesthouse. After the necessary aggressive structural work was completed to preserve the barn, the interiors were addressed. Tinted plaster was installed within the exposed existing timber frame, creating a backdrop that combined rusticity and bold, rhythmic geometry. In the dramatic double-height living room, a vintage 1970s Togo sofa by Michel Ducaroy for Ligne Rosset establishes mood and grounds the space with a laid-back aura. Said to be inspired by a rolled-up toothpaste tube, the low-slung, organically shaped form and shar-pei-like wrinkles were an invitation to casual relaxation in a time when furniture and posture were more formal and restrained. A pair of 1960s ‘Garrigue’ coffee tables is by Roger Capron. The handcrafted ‘Garrigue’ tiles were produced by pressing leaves from ‘La Garrigue,’ a scrubland ecosystem in southern France where Capron’s Vallauris pottery studio was located. The leaves burned off in the firing process, leaving finely detailed impressions of the indigenous botanical specimens. Serene organic energy emanates from an Akari floor lamp by Isamu Noguchi. In 1951, Noguchi visited the town of Gifu, Japan, known for producing traditional Japanese mulberry paper lanterns and umbrellas. He developed his modern Akari light sculptures using the Gifu methods with handmade mulberry bark paper and bamboo, which became instant design classics. Above a sculptural black wall-hung cabinet, a Japanese boro textile is displayed. Boro (tattered rags) patched and mended textiles are collected as folk art, exemplifying the Japanese concept of ‘mottainai’ (prolonging an object’s life through recycling and repurposing). A monumental vessel’s dramatic scale and rich green glaze make an eye-catching accent. Finnish architect Ilmari Lappalainen’s 1960s vintage Pulkka lounge chairs were reupholstered in faux horsehair, contrasting the distinctive warp and weft woven texture of the fabric with the sleek bentwood frame. Photo: Chris Mottalini |
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CARNEGIE HILL APARTMENT, NEW YORK, NEW YORK The Carnegie Hill apartment dining room is furnished with an artfully curated mix of vintage mid-century and antique pieces, along with bespoke and contemporary selections. A custom-crafted contemporary oval-top black walnut dining table with a sculptural trestle base is paired with a suite of vintage 1970s oak “Razorblade’ dining chairs by Danish designer Henning Kjaernulf for Nyrup Møbelfabrik. This later iteration of his “Razorblade’ style is more streamlined and elemental than earlier designs, the Baroque-like features stripped away, the profile more sculptural. To the left of the portal leading to the kitchen, a floral paper-covered Swedish cabinet in the style of Josef Frank’s 1940s “Flora” cabinet epitomizes the warm modernism Frank espoused and perfectly complements the ambiance. On the opposite side, an antique glass-doored Swedish cabinet dating to the 1800s displays barware and tableware. A vintage 1970s sofa covered in a geometric-patterned velvet energizes the composition with its bold contrast of light and dark. “Lariat” pendant light configuration from Apparatus suspends elongated droplets of etched glass over the length of the dining table, bringing a sense of intimacy to the room. Photo: Chris Mottalini |
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CARNEGIE HILL APARTMENT, NEW YORK, NEW YORK Described as one of Heide’s biggest challenges to date, the transformation of a 44th-floor, 4,000-square-foot high-rise apartment in New York’s Carnegie Hill neighborhood brought soul and depth to the minimal, contemporary spaces. Through an effusive palette of pattern, warm, saturated tones, lush textures, an eclectic mix of furnishings, and much consideration of scale, Heide created a narrative for the place where the owners, a family with three young children, live a life centered around family intimacy in a vibrant urban setting. A skillfully paced balance of furniture forms ebbs and flows across the living room, leading the eye to the expansive cityscape views. Sheer, softly textured curtains frame the windows, while overhead, a midcentury style Italian spider form chandelier with perpendicular branching arms showers light around the room. A vintage onyx balustrade floor lamp stands beside a contemporary B&B Italia sectional sofa. Sculptural vintage 1950s Italian armchairs sport a lush floral print by Dedar. Bespoke pieces are always part of the Hendricks Churchill interiors mix, and here, custom commissions include a coffee table by Los Angeles maker Christopher Williams Design, and Bellow sideboard by Brooklyn maker Stephen Bukowski. Photo: Chris Mottalini |
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| A Mood, A Thought, A Feeling: Interiors | |
Text by Young Huh with Tal McThenia, Foreword by Zooey Deschanel Copyright © 2026 Young Huh, published Publication date March 2026 Available to pre-order through Rizzoli.com and Amazon |
A Mood, A Thought, A Feeling: Interiors is the first book from AD100 and Elle Decor A-List designer Young Huh. Filled with her elegant, colorful work, it is composed of three distinct sections. Part one, A Mood, looks at decoration through the lens of mood. The exploration of mood, how a space should feel and which materials and colors convey that mood to the individual are considered. The second part of the book, A Thought, features three full recently completed houses, including a chic forever home, an old house full of whimsy, and an airy Park Avenue penthouse. The final section of the book, A Feeling, is about Young’s own recently completed historic country house in upstate New York, from the pattern-filled rooms to the gardens and grounds, with images of life through the seasons. These three sections explain the design process of her firm, from inspiration through installation, as well as her personal journey through the process.
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Traditional luxe with a twist: A party-ready living room with seating arranged in conversation groups, and plenty of space to circulate through the room. Varied lamp heights create layered lighting, essential for conveying a party atmosphere. The rug is a custom design by Young Huh, fabricated by Jennifer Manners. Bamboo Lights wallpaper by Fromental, a graphic interpretation of bamboo silhouettes, gives a sense of lively movement across the room. The pair of armchairs are vintage mid-century Maison Jansen. Photo: Jacob Snavely |
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Convivial spaces, Young writes, should contain “sofas, lounge chairs, a large or multiple coffee tables, drinks tables for cocktails, varied lighting to tailor the mood.” Here, a convivial space in a mountain home revolves around a massive sculptural custom coffee table by Matthew Steel. Seating options include a tuxedo sofa, a pair of midcentury-style lounge chairs with ottomans, and a lounge chair with a wedge-shaped ottoman at left. Pop art works by Andy Warhol and American artist Billy Schenck, sometimes called the ‘Warhol of the West” hang on either side of the window: at left, the screenprint Buffalo Nickel, from the Cowboys and Indians Series, 1986 by Andy Warhol, and right, Schenck’s Queen for a Day. Photo: Lisa Flood |
