This week in design, researchers have deciphered the cuneiform script on a 3,500-year-old clay tablet found in Turkey—turns out it’s a furniture receipt! Stay in the know with our weekly roundup of headlines, launches, events, recommended reading and more.
Business News
The share of homes with a value of $1 million or more has reached 8.5 percent—a record high in the United States, according to new analysis from brokerage Redfin. As The Wall Street Journal reports, that metric is more than double the 4 percent recorded before the pandemic. The study found that California is home to the largest share of $1 million-plus homes—in San Francisco, 80 percent of homes are valued above a million as of June 2024. One of the few U.S. metro areas to see a decline in the share of such homes was Austin, where new construction has increased supply over the last year.
Several months after the National Association of Realtors agreed to a landmark settlement over its rules on commissions, a sweeping set of new rules on residential real estate transactions went into effect this week. As The New York Times reports, the industry long operated on a standard 5 to 6 percent commission paid entirely by the seller—a fee split between real estate agents for the seller and the buyer, who communicated on payments via online databases. Now, agents will no longer be allowed to use those back channels. Instead, homebuyers will need to sign a written agreement with an agent before they tour a home, outlining how much they would be expected to pay their agent. As a result, all clients (that’s buyers and sellers) can now expect to pay an average of 2.5 to 3 percent—a rate that may be pushed down in the face of competitive pressure with the wider rollout of settlement changes.
It’s official: Big Lots is closing more than 300 locations across the country—roughly a quarter of its retail portfolio—amid a period of financial uncertainty for the company. While the retailer originally planned to close just 40 stores following a sales decline recorded in its June earnings report, the number of closures has since been revised to 315 of its 1,389 stores. In June, CEO Bruce Thorn blamed Big Lots’s slowdown on a decline in consumer spending for high-ticket items, but a more recent regulatory filing reveals that the company is in danger of defaulting on a 2022 loan, and has “substantial doubt” about its ability to sustain operations. Overall, its shares are down nearly 90 percent for the year.
Two family-owned furniture retailers announced they would be closing their doors this week. In Galax, Virginia, retailer Maurice Vaughan Furniture is shuttering following the retirement of its namesake owner, The Carroll News reports. The store is concluding more than 48 years in business with a going-out-of-business sale that began last week at its 50,000-square-foot showroom. The liquidation will include discounts on all of the retailer’s inventory, which includes brands like Vaughan-Bassett, England, Southerland and more. Over in Columbia, South Carolina, furniture retailer Whit-Ash Furnishings is closing after a 52-year run, Furniture Today reports. Founded in 1972 by brothers Whitney and Gerry Black, the company at one time became the largest independent retailer in the state, operating out of a 41,000-square-foot showroom in the Vista district. Now Planned Furniture Promotions is handling Whit-Ash’s liquidation sale, which includes items from vendors like Craftmaster, Tempur-Pedic, Leather Italia, and Stearns & Foster.
New York–based private media company North & Warren has announced the acquisition of digital design publications Remodelista and Gardenista. The former was launched in 2007 by current editor in chief Julie Carlson to provide DIY home renovators with a sourcing guide geared toward “demystifying the design process”; its sister brand followed about five years later with a focus on outdoor spaces and garden inspiration. The publications have changed hands several times over the years—after Carlson and her husband, Josh Groves, sold the site to Say Media in 2011, it remained under the publisher’s ownership until 2015, when the couple bought the title back. In 2016, the twin sites were acquired by Realtor.com, which operated the publications for several years before Carlson and Groves bought them back again in 2019, assuming ownership in the years since. North & Warren has scooped up several luxury lifestyle media brands since it was founded in 2016; this acquisition marks the start of the company’s new content platform, R/G Design Collective, with Carlson remaining at the helm of both sites.
Once known for falling behind on finances, home purchases and major life milestones, the millennial generation has spent the last several years making up for lost time. According to The Wall Street Journal, as of early 2024, millennials and older members of Gen Z had (on average and adjusting for inflation) roughly 25 percent more wealth than Gen Xers and baby boomers did at a similar age, according to analysis by the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. Experts say the biggest factor behind the sudden shift was an increase in wealth tied to real estate, specifically among those who secured property before the recent rate increases. The result has been a boom in collective wealth of millennials and older Gen Z in just a few short years—from $4.5 trillion four years ago to $14.2 trillion in the first quarter of 2024.
Lighting and home decor company Capitol Lighting has acquired Minneapolis-based e-commerce home and lighting brand Bellacor. The terms of the deal were not disclosed. Launched in 2000 as one of the internet’s first online lighting resources, Bellacor’s portfolio grew over time to include furniture, decor and rugs. In 2002, the company acquired St. Paul, Minnesota–based lighting brand Creative Lighting, along with its local showroom. Several months ago, BOH broke the news that the brand had abruptly halted operations and filed for an ABC, or “assignment for the benefit of creditors”—a legal process akin to bankruptcy, in which a company’s assets are sold by a third party to pay off its debts. According to a statement from Capitol Lighting, the acquisition included “the Bellacor brand and its associated digital assets.”
Launches and Collaborations
Wayfair’s luxury e-commerce brand Perigold has announced plans to debut a series of retail stores in 2025, carrying products from more than 150 design brands—including Century, Vanguard, House of Rohl, Theodore Alexander and more. The brand’s first brick-and-mortar storefront will open its doors in West Palm Beach’s CityPlace shopping center next year in the fall, and will feature 30,000 square feet of retail space spread across two floors and an outdoor balcony.
Hudson Grace has tapped Diane Keaton for the brand’s first-ever collaboration. Together, the pair created a home collection spanning more than 100 pieces—including mix-and-match dinnerware, gingham-printed bedding sets, and accessories designed to provide a pop of color with the help of a new hue dubbed “Keaton Red”—each crafted with inspiration pulled directly from the actress’s home.
Baton Rouge, Louisiana–based designer Arianne Bellizaire has been selected to join the Extreme Makeover: Home Edition crew as its new interior designer. The CEO and creative director of Arianne Bellizaire Interiors will work alongside co-hosts and The Home Edit founders Clea Shearer and Joanna Teplin, as well as a team of builders and contractors from home builder Taylor Morrison, to curate specific elements of each family home featured on the show. The series revival will debut in 2025 on ABC, with episodes also streaming on Hulu.
Apartment Therapy has teamed up with fragrance company Aera for a home-centric collaboration. The resulting assortment includes two colorful, limited-edition mini diffusers in Forest Green and Terracotta hues, with three essential oil capsules engineered to conjure scents found in an English cottage, Brooklyn brownstone or Tuscan villa.
British printmaker and textile designer Molly Mahon partnered with Atlanta-based luxury bath brand Weezie for a joint collection. Complete with Weezie’s signature scalloped edges, the collaboration includes hand towels, bath towels and a shower curtain in one of Mahon’s most popular prints, the Mughal, and is available in the shades Sienna and Sky.
Showhouses
The sixth annual Holiday House Hamptons Designer Showhouse has debuted in a 6,000-square-foot home in Bridgehampton. The space was reimagined by a cohort of 20 interior designers, among them Elissa Grayer, Sarah Tract and Susan Strauss. The showhouse will remain open to the public until September 8, with proceeds to benefit breast cancer research.
Recommended Reading
In the 15th century, ornate tapestries brought both visual interest and insulation to the homes of royals and aristocrats—centuries later, they’re fulfilling the same purpose for residents of Manhattan high-rises. For T magazine, Alexa Brazilian explores the history of these wallcoverings, which enjoyed years of design dominance before falling out of fashion early in the 20th century, and documents their recent resurgence among high-end designers and homeowners.
In the Florida seaside communities of Miami-Dade and Broward, sea levels are predicted to rise enough by 2060 that roughly 60 percent of the land will be underwater—and by 2100, both counties will be entirely submerged. Still, for the area’s ultraluxury homebuyers, demand remains stronger than ever. In Architectural Digest, Elizabeth Fazzare explores why luxury buyers continue to ignore the risks of tidal flooding or coastal erosion by purchasing properties in climate danger zones, and how the job of informing would-be homeowners on mitigation strategies often falls to real estate professionals.
Grand staircases, crystal chandeliers, blow-dry bars—surprisingly luxe design projects are unfolding on college campuses across the American South, where competition among sororities carries over into the realm of multimillion-dollar houses with endless en suite amenities. The Wall Street Journal’s Sarah Paynter explores why Greek life accommodations have reached a new level of luxury at schools like the University of Alabama, where spiking enrollment, rising construction costs and social media hype have created the perfect storm for increasingly costly renovations.
Cue the Applause
Emmy Knott Williams has been inducted into the American Society of Interior Designers’ College of Fellows, a program which honors ASID members who have made notable contributions to the profession. The founder of Winston-Salem, North Carolina–based commercial interior design firm Interior Solutions Inc. has distinguished herself as a pioneer in practice rights advocacy, helping to pass bills protecting designers from sales tax on services and allowing them to stamp and seal interior design drawings.
ASID has also announced the recipients of the 2024 National Awards, honoring the best of designers, firms and projects across its nationwide membership sectors. This year’s Legacy Awards, celebrating designers for their dedication to their work and careers, went to Kerrie Kelly, Lily Robinson and AJ Paron. For the full list of winners, click here.
Call for Entries
The Black Artists + Designers Guild is now accepting applications for the Creative Legacy Makers Grant. The $10,000 award is designed to support an established Black craftsperson or collective with 30 or more years in the field, whose work impacts contemporary craft and affirms Black Diasporic culture. To apply before the September 3 deadline, click here.
