11 Rooms We Loved The Most This Year

It was the cultural moment of the year: the resurrection of the Notre-Dame Cathedral, just five years after the catastrophic fire that left it in a smoldering shell. Thanks to a massive $1 billion restoration project involving nearly 1,000 craftspeople trained in the art of medieval skills, this glowing new interior is radiating, with mural painting restoration efforts removing centuries of accumulated patina, 8,000 meticulously restored organ pipes, and 1,500 new chairs and kneelers. —Rachel Silva, Associate Editor

The moment you step inside Charlie Fox, the city chaos melts away into this dreamy world of warm neutrals, perfect lighting, and the kind of thoughtful design that makes you want to take off your coat, sit at the banquette, and stay a while. Leave it to Home Studios and Charlie Fox to make buying flower feel like selecting fine wine—Time Square’s newest high society indeed. —Julia Cancilla, Audience Engagement Editor

This year I spent the weekend in Versailles and got to visit the Petit Trianon, Marie Antoinette’s more casual residence on the grounds. The Eugenie room is the perfect shade of blue. I’m dying to do a room that color. —Alyssa Kapito, ELLE DECOR A-List Designer

Maybe it was the Emily Dickinson reference but Certain Slant of Light is the exhibition put on by Roman & Williams at the New York Mercantile Exchange this December was one of my most memorable rooms of the year. Over 100 lights displayed in one of New York’s most historic rooms. Depending on the time of day the whole mood shifted, which told the story of the power of good lighting, and also of New York. —Stellene Volandes, Editorial Director

In my decade-plus as an architecture and design reporter, no place has captured my imagination quite like Frank Lloyd Wright’s Taliesin campus in Spring Green, Wisconsin. The UNESCO World Heritage site is a place of some of the most revolutionary ideas in design (Wright schooled the likes of John Lautner and Bruce Goff in his ideas of organic architecture here) but it’s also a site of unspeakable tragedy and renewal. What a privilege it was this year to attend the reopening of Taliesin’s historic theater, a venue where the school’s students and rural community alike came together for film, performances, and ideas starting nearly a century ago. The highlight of the $1.1 million restoration effort is a gorgeous abstract curtain, based on a Wright design, that has been meticulously restored. Talk about a sublime second act! —Anna Fixsen, Deputy Editor, Digital

Want to feel like Madonna in Desperately Seeking Susan? Look for the graffiti-covered metal door in Tribeca, then climb the narrow staircase to The Bar at Quarters and enter into a world that feels part louche downtown home, and part secret speakeasy. This is Quarters, a new concept store from the Brooklyn designers behind the lighting brand In Common With. The 8,000-square-foot space is arranged in rooms like a library, living room, dining room and kitchen, and everything is for sale—from an André Solnay 1950s sideboard to a $21 jar of chocolate hazelnut spread (in the pantry). Best of all is the natural wine bar, with its stunning fresco by artist Claudio Bonuglia, and food and drink by Jennifer and Nicole Vitagliano, the sisters behind the buzzy restaurant Raf’s, which is decorated with In Common With lighting. The Material Girl would approve. —Ingrid Abramovitch, Executive Editor

My first stop in any European city is a castle. Earlier this year I visited Rosenborg, built as a summer palace for Christian IV in 1606. Dutch Renaissance— the style in which this castle was built —has been my favorite period, art historically speaking, since college. There is something satisfyingly grotesque about this room, with its plaster protrusions nearly a foot deep decorating the ceiling and it’s busy checkerboard floors. It’s an acid trip of the 17th-century. —Camille Okhio, Senior Design Writer

COQODAQ, restaurateur Simon Kim’s glittering temple to Korean fried chicken and bubbles, is one of this year’s most stunning debuts. David Rockwell’s design is pure magic – the amber-lit dining room, with its enfilade of golden arches and cozy banquettes, makes everyone look like a million bucks. As always, Rockwell masterfully marries glamour and fun, creating a setting that sparkles as bright as the champagne. —William Li, Contributing Editor

I’m obsessed with Bar les Ambassadeurs at the Hôtel de Crillon in Paris. It’s like a chic trip back in time. All the details are impeccable. It’s so French. The chandeliers are my fave. —Rayman Boozer, ELLE DECOR A-List Designer

It’s one thing to design someone’s private space; it’s an entirely different prospect to design a space for one of the Metropolitan Museum’s most hotly-anticipated exhibitions, which will be viewed by thousands of guests. Hats off to architecture firm Leong Leong, who built the stage for Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion. The result is a series of 29 modular rooms for garments spanning 400 years of history. It’s multisensorial, AI-driven, and totally worthy of the historical garments it set the stage for. —R.S.