Design in Depth: Looking back on 2012

By Stacy Kunstel

I’m one of those people who love round-ups. Give me the top 100 albums, the most talked about articles, the most popular images of the year and I’m likely to read it. It’s a favorite way of mine of looking back at the year before looking forward to the next.

When I look back at the amazing homes that we photographed for New England Home over the past year, there are so many memorable images. Here are a few I’d like to share with you.

It was the stunning master bath that made the cover of one of our Connecticut issues, but it was this glamorous living room by interior design Anthony Como that I loved best.

Photo by Robert Benson

Sometimes the quiet moments are the most memorable. In the living room of Lauren Della Monica it was this beautiful antique bench, the quiet color on the walls and the silver bar cart that captured perfectly the elegance of her home in Litchfield.

Photo by Michael Partenio

There are just some rooms you wish you could recreate in your own home. For me it was the tiny breakfast nook designed by Lynn Morgan. A café table and chairs, a built-in banquette, a painted lantern, and a pair of turquoise seahorses would be the most charming place to have breakfast and read the paper in the morning.

Photo by Laura Moss

Last January we featured a home by designer Mar Silver that summed up the season. Dark gray paneling around a fireplace surrounded by a plush sectional and plenty of throws. I can practically feel how cozy this spot would be.

Photo by Bjorn Wallender

Sometimes a detail can say so much about a house. In a home designed by Carey Karlan, she worked with decorative artist Heidi Holzer to create a rich brown plaster covering for the dining room and ornamented it with crystal sconces. The walls were so thick and rich it almost gives a 3D effect.

Photo by John Bessler

In this shot by John Gruen, he captured the level of detail that went into a home designed by Karen Quinn. The fabric and trim so perfectly fall from the top of the ottoman that we had to take a photo.

Photo by John Gruen

It wasn’t until a few weeks ago that photographer Bruce Buck told me how difficult it was to capture the bedroom of architect Richard Campbell and designer John Roch. With a cloudless sky outside and the darkest brown walls imaginable, it took Bruce’s lighting brilliance to pull it off.

Photo by Bruce Buck

We seem never to get enough time to really place the houses we photograph as properly as we should in their surroundings, but photographer Robert Benson trudged through the thick snow of the Berkshires to capture beautiful views and this abstract shot of the shadows falling on the snowy field. It’s moments like this that set us apart from other magazines in that we love to include moments in nature like this alongside the best design our region has to offer. We wish you and yours much beauty in the new year!

Photo by Robert Benson