ELLE DECOR October 2014

The $50,000 loft in SoHo, the Craftsman cottage in Silver Lake that could have been had for a song, the Art Deco apartment in Miami Beach that was almost bought for $20,000, $50,000, $100,000. The numbers change over the decades, but the refrain remains the same. Finding a place to live, never mind the right place, is not easy. How much harder it is when you are just starting out, when funds are limited, careers are getting launched, and the future is uncertain. Will a two-year lease turn into a 10-year stay, or will you be moving out in six months? Will your best friend turn into the roommate from hell, or will that eccentric roommate turn into your new best friend? Are you buying at the top of the…

BJÖRN WALLANDER "I like to tell a story about someone by photographing their home," says Björn Wallander, left, whose images of Robert Rowe's Manhattan apartment appear on pages 198–203. "Robert is such a warm person, and that shows in the way he decorates." Wallander was given his first camera at 15 and hasn't stopped taking pictures since, he says. While his magazine work centers on interiors and portraits for O, House Beautiful, and other publications, his personal work ranges from seascapes—he's an avid sailor—to street scenes taken in his Brooklyn neighborhood of Bedford-Stuyvesant, above. MICHAEL PATTI Michael Patti, below left, joined the ELLE DECOR staff as associate art director in February. When he's not designing for the magazine, however, he takes photographs and paints watercolors. "I like to get my…

MAIL I don't often read the editor's letter in magazines, but the striking images Michael Boodro included on his page in the July/August issue of ELLE DECOR caught my eye, and I found myself reading the entire article. How unexpected to find him lending his considerable eloquence and style to the critical issue of climate change! Without a beautiful planet Earth, beautiful homes don't matter much. Thank you, Mr. Boodro, for using your pen so meaningfully. Carolyn Terry, Johns Creek, GA I appreciate that the bees and bats may have diminished at Michael Boodro's property in upstate New York, but please do not attribute it to climate change unless you have scientific evidence to prove that is the case. Bees and possibly bats have been adversely affected by chemicals in…

Caught in the Act Arthur Elgort's first cover, taken for McCall's magazine in 1969, was snapped before the shoot even started. In typical Elgort style, the perfect shot–the model casually sipping a drink–was caught behind the scenes. The Big Picture (Steidl) compiles 280 dramatic images by the legendary fashion photo grapher. From a young Kate Moss perched atop an elephant in Tibet, to a severe Stella Tennant posed with a covered wagon in Death Valley, to supermodels lounging on set, Elgort's photos capture fantasy and reality with equal precision. PRINTS CHARMING PUCCI, THE FASHION BRAND KNOWN FOR ITS GRAPHIC HEAD SCARVES AND PUNCHY JERSEY DRESSES, IS TRANSLATING ITS GROOVY DESIGNS INTO OVER-SIZE MOSAICS FOR ITALIAN TILE COMPANY BISAZZA. THE KALEIDOSCOPE SWIRLS AND VIBRANT FLORALS THAT DEBUTED ON THE RUNWAY, SUCH…

A DIFFERENT ANGLE Panels of reflective and antiqued mirror are set within an angular tin frame to give a three-dimensional effect to the Prism Mirror by Casamidy. Each 30" h. x 33" w. mirror is handmade in Mexico by master tinsmiths and costs $750. Additional shapes are available. 011-52-415-152-0403; casamidy.com 1 / HIGH-WIRE ACT With its playful geometric base, the Octahedron side table by Eric Trine comes in a range of eye-catching colors, including Mint, shown. Made of powder-coated steel, it can be used indoors and out. It measures 24" dia. x 17" h. and costs $300. erictrine.com 2 / EUROPEAN ALLIANCE French designer Jean-Louis Deniot's new seating collection for the esteemed English furniture maker George Smith includes the Heather sofa, with an elegantly contoured frame and contrast piping.…

"The ultimate aim of architecture is to create a paradise," Alvar Aalto said. Over the course of a five-decade-long career, the Finnish architect and designer delivered on those words. The house outside Paris that he created for art dealer Louis Carré in the late 1950s is a sanctuary of church-like simplicity, with swooping wood ceilings and warmly lit rooms. His public buildings, such as the Mount Angel Abbey Library near Portland, Oregon, are quietly spectacular, with open yet human-scaled spaces, dramatic vistas, and undulating surfaces. His elegant and unadorned furnishings and decorative objects—such as the amoebic Savoy vase and his airily cantilevered armchairs—have become emblematic of modern design. "Alvar Aalto: Second Nature," an exhibition at the Vitra Design Museum in Weil am Rhein, Germany, features architectural models, furniture, photographs, and…