Aesthetic Duo Chris Mitchell & Pilar Guzmán on Their Beloved Dansk Trays

“We display everything because we’re not disciplined enough to put things away,” jokes Chris Mitchell of the homes he shares with his wife, Pilar Guzmán, and their two sons. Perhaps, but the couple has mastered the art of display. Be it the glass shelv…

“We display everything because we’re not disciplined enough to put things away,” jokes Chris Mitchell of the homes he shares with his wife, Pilar Guzmán, and their two sons. Perhaps, but the couple has mastered the art of display. Be it the glass shelving for china that turns their kitchens into museums, or a bedside arrangement of old-fashioned haberdashery items in brass and leather, they’ve developed such a knack for filling their spaces with just the right mix of objects (and, of course, furniture) that last fall they published the how-to book Patina Modern: A Guide to Designing Warm Timeless Interiors.

“We believe no surface should be empty, but we don’t think it should look like Ms. Havisham,” says Mitchell, who left the top ranks of magazine publishing (Vanity Fair, The New Yorker, GQ) to renovate and sell cottages in the Hamptons. Guzmán, who comes to her current role as the editor of O magazine via Condé Nast Traveler, Martha Stewart Living, and Cookie, describes their groupings as a mix of utility and folly underscored by logic—be it a similar material or meaning.

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Simple Styling Tips to Help You Design Your Dream Porch

This article originally appeared on Schoolhouse, a Portland-based company in the Food52 family of brands.

We consider the front porch as a gateway to the home, a way to set the stage for what lies beyond. With a little creativity and attention to de…

This article originally appeared on Schoolhouse, a Portland-based company in the Food52 family of brands.


We consider the front porch as a gateway to the home, a way to set the stage for what lies beyond. With a little creativity and attention to detail, it's easy to transform your entryway into a charming and stylish space that reflects your personality and leaves your guests with a memorable first impression. These simple front porch styling tips will help you elevate your curb appeal and create a welcoming entrance every time you, or your guests, enter the door.

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Cookbook Author Hetty McKinnon on the Pieces That Bring Joy to Her Home

Welcome to The Collectivist, where we share some of the many meaningful ways in which people live with their favorite objects and tell the stories behind them. In this edition, we visited Hetty Lui McKinnon—New York Times Cooking recipe developer and …

Welcome to The Collectivist, where we share some of the many meaningful ways in which people live with their favorite objects and tell the stories behind them. In this edition, we visited Hetty Lui McKinnon—New York Times Cooking recipe developer and author of the delightful new cookbook, Tenderheart: A Cookbook About Vegetables and Unbreakable Bonds—in Brooklyn, where she lives with her husband and three children.


If you ask Hetty Lui McKinnon, she would describe her home as maximal-minimalist. “I’m not really a minimalist,” she clarifies. “But I like the idea of it.” Because the family’s pandemic-find apartment is small, the Australian-born author has hidden most of her stuff, making an exception for plants, her international collection of ceramics (for prop styling and eating), and a few choice vignettes.

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How to Create the Kitchen Counter Nook of Your Dreams

This post contains products independently chosen (and loved) by our editors and writers. Food52 earns an affiliate commission on qualifying purchases of the products we link to.

The kitchen is a sacred space for avid home cooks, and within this spa…

This post contains products independently chosen (and loved) by our editors and writers. Food52 earns an affiliate commission on qualifying purchases of the products we link to.

The kitchen is a sacred space for avid home cooks, and within this space, there’s rarely a spot that receives more careful consideration than the countertop nook. What precisely belongs in this nook—and what it should look like—varies depending on who you talk to. We know Ina Garten, for example, keeps a row of cookbooks, handy utensils, glass bowls, and a speaker on her marble countertop. For others, it might be the ideal space to keep their most-used ingredients (salt, olive oil, and the like) nearby for easy access. In any case, the kitchen nook reflects what’s important to each individual, like functionality, design, organization, or some combination of all three. “A person's countertop kitchen nook says much about them, even more so than their astrology chart,” says Dominique Evans, Food52’s Social Content Creator. “It shows what they use daily, giving you a little peek into their cooking style.” Whether you’re curating a kitchen nook from scratch or just giving yours a spring refresh, this is a great place to start.

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8 Home & Design Trends Primed to Take Over in 2023

This post contains products independently chosen (and loved) by our editors and writers. Food52 earns an affiliate commission on qualifying purchases of the products we link to.

As a homebody who also happens to work from home, I spend a lot of time…

This post contains products independently chosen (and loved) by our editors and writers. Food52 earns an affiliate commission on qualifying purchases of the products we link to.


As a homebody who also happens to work from home, I spend a lot of time inside the same four walls. It can get pretty boring looking at the same decor day in and day out, so I try to keep my living space fresh with seasonal updates (think: swapping pillows and blankets every few months) and incorporating new trends where I can (for instance, if I’m upgrading a piece of furniture or considering painting a room).

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11 Gift Ideas Inspired by Pantone’s 2023 Color of the Year

We teamed up with our friends at Ecco to to share the colorful items topping our holiday gift list this year—including their Textureblock Pot Bag
and Textureblock Pinch Bag, plus a few other vibrant goodies hand-picked by our editors. (Heads up: Food52…

We teamed up with our friends at Ecco to to share the colorful items topping our holiday gift list this year—including their Textureblock Pot Bag and Textureblock Pinch Bag, plus a few other vibrant goodies hand-picked by our editors. (Heads up: Food52 earns an affiliate commission on qualifying purchases of the products we link to.)


Every December, Pantone predicts what they think will be the color for the following year, and every December I cross my fingers in hopes that they'll choose one of my two favorites (chartreuse and pink). This year I got my wish; Viva Magenta is the official Pantone 2023 Color of the Year, giving me (and you!) even more reason to lean into bold, bright tones in the new year. And if you're still shopping for folks on your holiday gift list, this stunning shade of berry pink is also a perfect theme for presents. From splashy leather bags by our friends at Ecco to the best and brightest kitchenware, here are the magenta items I'm planning to give as gifts this holiday season.

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5 Reasons I Don’t Want a Bigger Home

When I set out to write a book about small spaces, I wanted to find people like myself who had chosen to live in a smaller space (not ones who were forced to by circumstance). I was just as curious about why people were living small as I was about how …

When I set out to write a book about small spaces, I wanted to find people like myself who had chosen to live in a smaller space (not ones who were forced to by circumstance). I was just as curious about why people were living small as I was about how they made it work. My own family could have stretched our budget to get a bigger apartment or we could have moved out to the ‘burbs, but we made a conscious choice to buy a smaller place close to where we work. We wanted to stay in the city we love, minimize our commutes, and keep our costs and stress low. As the years have gone by, I realized I don’t really want a bigger home. Here’s why I think my family will be living small for the long haul; maybe my reasons will help you see your small space in a new light:

Photo by Laura Fenton

1. A small home keeps our costs low

Every time my husband and I start talking about looking for a bigger apartment, we quickly conclude that we don’t want to spend any more money on housing than we already do. Living small has given us financial freedom. We’re not alone in our thinking: When my book came out it was the very first weeks of the pandemic. I checked in with the individuals and families featured in my book to see how they were feeling about their small spaces now that they were spending all their time in them. Again and again, they told me they were so grateful to have rent and mortgage payments that they knew they could handle even in uncertain times. My husband and I both found ourselves temporarily unemployed and were so grateful our monthly nut was low (and that we had savings because we hadn’t been spending every penny on a bigger mortgage).

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15 Stylish Desk Accessories to Make Your Office Shine

This list of the best, most stylish desk accessories is a little selfish, as it comprises all the white, gold, and acrylic office supplies that I stock in my own home. Away with dowdy black accessories and in with modern, elegant pieces. After working …

This list of the best, most stylish desk accessories is a little selfish, as it comprises all the white, gold, and acrylic office supplies that I stock in my own home. Away with dowdy black accessories and in with modern, elegant pieces. After working from home (err, couch) for the last two-and-a-half years, I want my office to feel like an extension of my aesthetic. So I’ve been on a relentless quest to replace plastic file bins with chicer versions (like this stunner from Ballard Designs) and make my Zoom background look equally snazzy. Plus, the prettier the space, the longer I’ll want to stay there working, right? Right…

Photo by Ballard Designs

1. Ballard Designs Livy File Box, $159

There’s nothing (and I mean nothing!) exciting about organizing paperwork such as taxes, pay stubs, and other important documents. The one thing you can control? Making those forms look good. That’s where this contemporary file box comes into play. It’s made of high-quality acrylic and accented with gold handles, giving it a modern vibe that will make you want to put it on display (and maybe, just maybe, tidy your forms once and for all).

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These 6 Halloween Décor Trends Are Going to Be *Everywhere* This Year

If you’re like me, you probably get excited at the first sign of leaves changing, signaling the fall—and more importantly Halloween—is right around the corner. I generally wait until the end of September to start putting up my Halloween décor, but if y…

If you’re like me, you probably get excited at the first sign of leaves changing, signaling the fall—and more importantly Halloween—is right around the corner. I generally wait until the end of September to start putting up my Halloween décor, but if you want to get a jump on the holiday, who am I to judge?

As you stock up on pumpkins and other Halloween décor essentials, you may want to incorporate a few trendy pieces into your display, too, and there’s no shortage of cute, creepy and downright scary options to choose from this year. From Hocus Pocus-themed displays to terrifying tableware, the following are going to be some of the biggest Halloween décor trends for 2022.

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AllModern’s Latest Decor Collab Throws It Back to Mid-Century Design

Attention, color lovers: If you’re in the market to add some patterned pieces to your space, you won’t want to miss out on the all-new AllModern x Jason Wu collaboration featuring a collection of rugs, pillows, and throws.

You might recognize Jason Wu…

Attention, color lovers: If you’re in the market to add some patterned pieces to your space, you won’t want to miss out on the all-new AllModern x Jason Wu collaboration featuring a collection of rugs, pillows, and throws.

You might recognize Jason Wu from the fashion world—his luxurious, sophisticated dresses are perfect for weddings, galas, and other A-list events. This isn’t the first time that Wu has dipped his toes into the world of interiors. In the past, the designer partnered with companies including 1-800-Flowers, Interior Define, and Spacejoy to create products for the home, but this AllModern collection is Wu’s first decor collaboration.

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