The latest stories from Remodelista

by Remodelista Team

You’ve probably seen Ella’s buzzy new book, Obsessed with the Best, on prominent display in bookstores and around the cooler corners of the Internet. But did you know she first started writing for Remodelista? (It’s true.)

We’re happy to have that small claim to her fame, especially now that Ella’s cookbook is flying off shelves. The book is the result of her meticulous quest to find the best of the best (“why am I like this?”, she asks on the cover), putting 100 recipes to 24 rigorous head-to-head tests. Elsewhere, she’s contributed to T Magazine, New York Magazine, The New Yorker, and many others…and hosts a darn good dinner party. Oh, and her Instagram is an absolute delight.

Today she writes in from NYC with her go-to cooking tools and what she’s bringing to dinner—all the best of the best.

Photography by Graydon Herriott.

Above: Ella at work.

You’re invited to dinner. What’s your go-to gift?

Joyce Chen scissors and a bouquet of bodega flowers

What’s on your bedside table?

Eight novels, of which I’ve read a total of like 100 pages; a mug of coffee

What’s your desert island design/art/architecture-related book?

Betty Crocker’s New Picture Cookbook (1961)

Above: May the best biscuit win.

What’s a film or TV show whose aesthetic has stuck with you?

The Lobster

What has been your best house upgrade?

Getting a dog. My entire adult life, I’ve thought that maybe the perfect lamp, or the most beautiful rug, or the silver-plated vintage candelabras I’ve collected would make me finally feel at home wherever I lived, but it turned out to be a Shih Tzu named Mouse, who leaves his toys and bones all over those rugs, and whom I could spend hours laying next to on the black parquet floors I never liked.

Your design pet peeve?

Books organized by jacket color

My go-to kitchen utensil is…

Offset spatula, bench scraper, food processor, Kitchenaid stand mixer

Above: A timely recipe: Strawberry Three Ways Cake (pg. 279).

What item from your closet do you have on repeat?

Various oversized blazers, a Kallmeyer striped long-sleeved tee-shirt, linen drawstring pants

Favorite design shop to visit?

Nickey Kehoe on 10th Street

What is the last thing you purchased for your house?

Lightbulbs

Something you’re coveting?

Wallpaper!

Above: What’s for dinner? Garlic prawns.

I don’t leave the house without…

My glasses.

by Remodelista Team

Ahead this weekend: Scandi itineraries, newly opened gardens, and strawberry season in sight. Read on:

Above: Our collective obsession: kitchens by Loose Parts. See more in this week’s Kitchen(s) of the Week: Freestanding Cabinetry by Loose Parts in Upstate NY. Photograph by Jonathan Hökklo.

• When two favorites collaborate: Join “A Shared Table” at King in the West Village location through June 14, with menu specials and custom bar room tables set by TOAST.
• Annie’s heading to 3daysofdesign in Copenhagen next week. On the agenda? Exhibits the city over, a long-table dinner, and breakfast at longtime favorite Atelier September. Keep an eye on the @remodelista Instagram for glimpses.
• Spotted: a look inside the home/studio of artist Adam Pogue (whose work we love—glimpse here).
• Ooh, Ravenhill Studio is offering their sconces in color for the first time; head here to browse.
• This hot springs hotel, just an hour from San Diego, looks great.
• We have to say we’re intrigued by this one-piece loo “with all the mod cons,” as Margot says, from the new Kohler x Studio McGee collection.
• File under Things to Plan a Trip Around: “Aalto Design: Shapes of Wellbeing,” on view this summer at The Architecture & Design Museum Helsinki.
• An underrated use for barstools.
• Add to cart: a very chic beach towel.
• Oooh, new antiques just landed at our favorite new online shop for unique outdoor furniture and accessories, Gallerie Green. (Read Margot’s story about the incredibly curated store here.)
• Introducing the “Meadow Daybed” by Sebstian Cox. (Hat tip: Annie.)
• The Apple House at landscape designer Tom Stuart-Smith’s Serge Hill Project just won a RIBA Award! (Read our story on Serge Hill here.)
• Imagine having a real gardener turn your yard into a beautiful flower garden—for free.
• Big garden news from across the pond: the restored gardens at Benton End are now open to the public. Kendra got a sneak peek (lucky lady); read her story here. And enter the Garden Museum’s raffle to win a free stay at the storied estate here!
• To do this summer: make art outside.
• In the good news department, listen to this short NPR segment about a program in Oklahoma that turns unused land on prisons into pollinator paradises. (Hat tip: Margot.)
• Do you know these 11 iconic mid-century outdoor chair designs?
• P.S. Our summer plans in a nutshell.