Elements of Timeless Style: Creating a Forever Home

Interior designer Gates (Elements of Style) presents an eye-catching survey of nine homes she’s redesigned in the Northeastern U.S. She opens by explaining how Covid-19 changed home design: “People needed a separate place to work out, have quiet Zoom meetings, and find dedicated rooms to get some SPACE from the nonstop closeness.” The first project Gates showcases is her own Second Empire–style home in Wellesley, Mass., which she and her husband bought in 2020. She walks readers through how she renovated the space to work for her family, adding play areas for the kids and transforming the basement into a gym. In the following projects, Gates explains how her design choices met her clients’ unique needs; in a colonial-style estate in Essex, Conn., for example, she blended the wife’s colorful and youthful aesthetic with the husband’s desire for a traditional look, while in a prewar apartment in Manhattan, she maximized storage space to accommodate a family of five. Throughout, Gates is candid about her missteps and offers insightful tips, like the importance of living in a new home for a while to better understand how its spaces will be used before making big changes. Full-page color photos bring her breathtaking designs to life. This hits the mark for readers in search of fresh ideas for their homes. (Sept.)