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Patina Modern: A Guide to Designing Warm, Timeless Interiors
Named one of Elle Decor’s Best Coffee Table Books to Gift in 2022
A tastemaking couple shares their playbook for creating a home that’s both beautiful and comfortable
Chris Mitchell and Pilar Guzmán are design obsessives who both want the same rooms that are spare yet warm, layered yet clean, current yet timeless. Rooms that never forget the real humans—with all their needs, hopes, emotions, aspirations, and even spills—who live in these spaces. Over the course of six ever more ambitious home renovations, they’ve cracked the code on how to achieve this.
It’s a simple formula, one that lies in mixing modern design with timeworn materials—in particular, white oak, brass, and bridle leather, all three of which become richer, mellower, and burnished with patina as they age. Add a few essential lessons (Decorating by Mood, Borrowing from the Best) and a nine-point manifesto that covers everything from lighting (rooms should feel like lanterns at night), to the use of black as an accent, to the intention that every space should serve multiple purposes, and the result is Patina Modern, a uniquely inspiring and practical design guide.
The book leads by example, as the authors reveal in room-by-room detail the full evolution of their homes, including a Brooklyn brownstone and two classic Hamptons “cottages.” Along the way, we come to not only understand just how they see and think but also learn what they’ve learned, getting an education in color, proportion, paint, and the world of modern furniture design, for which the authors have a special passion.
Tools, principles, and the power of designing around the things you love—this is the gift of Patina Modern, showing just how to put it all together to create your own beautiful spaces.
A tastemaking couple shares their playbook for creating a home that’s both beautiful and comfortable
Chris Mitchell and Pilar Guzmán are design obsessives who both want the same rooms that are spare yet warm, layered yet clean, current yet timeless. Rooms that never forget the real humans—with all their needs, hopes, emotions, aspirations, and even spills—who live in these spaces. Over the course of six ever more ambitious home renovations, they’ve cracked the code on how to achieve this.
It’s a simple formula, one that lies in mixing modern design with timeworn materials—in particular, white oak, brass, and bridle leather, all three of which become richer, mellower, and burnished with patina as they age. Add a few essential lessons (Decorating by Mood, Borrowing from the Best) and a nine-point manifesto that covers everything from lighting (rooms should feel like lanterns at night), to the use of black as an accent, to the intention that every space should serve multiple purposes, and the result is Patina Modern, a uniquely inspiring and practical design guide.
The book leads by example, as the authors reveal in room-by-room detail the full evolution of their homes, including a Brooklyn brownstone and two classic Hamptons “cottages.” Along the way, we come to not only understand just how they see and think but also learn what they’ve learned, getting an education in color, proportion, paint, and the world of modern furniture design, for which the authors have a special passion.
Tools, principles, and the power of designing around the things you love—this is the gift of Patina Modern, showing just how to put it all together to create your own beautiful spaces.
270 pages, Kindle Edition
Published October 25, 2022
15 people are currently reading
117 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
August 24, 2023
Exquisite. Mr. Mitchell and Ms. Guzman seem to naturally excel in the field of design and their projects reveal it.
June 16, 2023
3.5 stars
A mixture of old and new design brings a unique perspective to interior decorating. Traditional and modern styles connect in this book, where a juxtaposition of different approaches come together for something truly special.
I was definitely intrigued by the unique way the authors blend together different styles. I liked that the style is not all matchy-matchy, but brings together different elements in a curated and purposeful way. I personally didn't like all the furniture or design choices, but I did admire how carefully and thoughtfully each room was designed. I tend to prefer more traditional styles, so there were some elements that I really liked.
The photos in the book are absolutely beautiful! I was very impressed with the overall layout of the book.
I really enjoyed the section about arranging furniture to get the most of out of each room. Another cool section is all about "Decorating by Mood", including a clean mood, romantic mood, and earthy mood.
I was able to glean a little bit of inspiration from the book, but I felt like a lot of it was written by rich people for other rich people, and if you want to use most of their advice, you need to spend a whole fortune to redesign your entire house. It seems like if their style is so timeless, it should be accessible to all kinds of people from a variety of economic situations.
Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for a free and honest review. All the opinions stated here are my own true thoughts, and are not influenced by anyone.
A mixture of old and new design brings a unique perspective to interior decorating. Traditional and modern styles connect in this book, where a juxtaposition of different approaches come together for something truly special.
I was definitely intrigued by the unique way the authors blend together different styles. I liked that the style is not all matchy-matchy, but brings together different elements in a curated and purposeful way. I personally didn't like all the furniture or design choices, but I did admire how carefully and thoughtfully each room was designed. I tend to prefer more traditional styles, so there were some elements that I really liked.
The photos in the book are absolutely beautiful! I was very impressed with the overall layout of the book.
I really enjoyed the section about arranging furniture to get the most of out of each room. Another cool section is all about "Decorating by Mood", including a clean mood, romantic mood, and earthy mood.
I was able to glean a little bit of inspiration from the book, but I felt like a lot of it was written by rich people for other rich people, and if you want to use most of their advice, you need to spend a whole fortune to redesign your entire house. It seems like if their style is so timeless, it should be accessible to all kinds of people from a variety of economic situations.
Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for a free and honest review. All the opinions stated here are my own true thoughts, and are not influenced by anyone.
January 12, 2023
Strong Material
Inspired designs. I recommend this one! There are a lot of books to find in this category at the same level of design, but I think this stands on its own very well. There are some terrific ideas borrowing from older generations to bring forward to the present and future. I'm grateful there are books demonstrating this level of design, even though I might lean toward jealousy some of the time, because money is scarce these days.
Inspired designs. I recommend this one! There are a lot of books to find in this category at the same level of design, but I think this stands on its own very well. There are some terrific ideas borrowing from older generations to bring forward to the present and future. I'm grateful there are books demonstrating this level of design, even though I might lean toward jealousy some of the time, because money is scarce these days.
January 5, 2023
While the authors' personal style is quite different from my own, I loved the rich photography in this interior design book. I got the most value from reading the text, which isn't always the case in design books. Reading about Mitchell and Guzman's philosophies helped me think about my own preferences for interior design and what best reflects me an my own family's tastes.
May 13, 2023
Excellent how-to guide for interior design enthusiasts. Feels like taking a course, in the best possible way. Wish there were more case study pictures, but there's lots of value in this book for the price. Would recommend!
February 27, 2023
Blah. Didn't care for any aspect of these designs. Not my style. Didn't seem like the stuff they had went together either.
April 18, 2023
Aspirational style with authentic materials… and patina is one of my favorite words of all time!
October 2, 2023
I was greatly disappointed. A good design book is an educational resource to return to again and again, as well as a lift to the imagination. Images should be layered with particularity, peculiarity, and detail, and insights should range beyond such stolid interior design basics as "buy quality," "consider proportions," or "be selective." Patina Modern perhaps qualifies as a resource, that is, if one shares the limited design range of the authors--but it's no more edifying than the average Design Within Reach catalogue. Instead of any design philosophy beyond the most superficial precepts, this book is more a shopping list, letting us know that a certain basket was sourced from Pottery Barn and one of many oatmeal cashmere throws from Ralph Lauren Home.
It's all exceedingly ho-hum. The authors showcase three homes, all of which are furnished with the same (very expensive) collectible modern furniture and in the same near-achromatic palette, even down to the (sparsely-displayed) artwork. In my opinion, "good bones" and restraint are not enough to make a space sing. I appreciate that the authors had a vision that they invested significantly in, over time and with much financial commitment, and that this resulted in functional and serene spaces, but I can't say any of it is inspiring for the rest of us. There's an obsession with status names and objects in this book, despite a pretense to unpretension, and almost no references to the unexpected. Page after page was illustrated with rooms in subdued permutations of flax, taupe, griege, stone, slate, cream, onyx--or less fancifully, white, beige, gray, and brown, occasionally relieved by the contrast of black, dark waypoints in the desaturated void.
I'm left wondering who the book was meant to appeal to. It's so very narrow in its esthetic, so shallow in its observations, that anyone much interested in design will find little that's novel here. So that's the major disappointment; there is no sense of discovery. With minimal complexity to the color schemes, patterning, collections, texture, or arrangements in each space, one is, page by page, whelmed with monotony. And then there is this disdain for "suburbia" couple with a faux-humble, self-conscious, naive-to-unlikely narrative about vacationing in the Hamptons before it was discovered by the rich and so on, all while showcasing more than one enormous home that seems to fill a similar rural weekender function for the family. Despite all the earthy neutrals, the rustic beams, and the emphasis on honest oak and brass, there's a sense of excess here that comes across as faintly distasteful.
And, to quibble with the writing, there's something of a tone issue. I don't know if this book was ghostwritten, but either the editor or putative authors should have refrained from several times glowingly comparing their children's dormer room to a "French hospital of the World War I era." Really? Not everything can be reduced to aesthetics, all while smugly notating one's Ralph Lauren lamps and Pendleton blankets. I'm considerably younger than the authors, but not too young to be ignorant of the incredible suffering and violence that occurred in and around the field hospitals of the era. There are still elderly people alive today who are only a single generation removed from those who were maimed or killed in the war and forced to recover in these crude, makeshift spaces. In fact, my grandmother's father was one of the severely injured who spent time in such hospitals. The glib distillation of such experiences to a catalogue aesthetic is off-putting and frankly tasteless.
It's all exceedingly ho-hum. The authors showcase three homes, all of which are furnished with the same (very expensive) collectible modern furniture and in the same near-achromatic palette, even down to the (sparsely-displayed) artwork. In my opinion, "good bones" and restraint are not enough to make a space sing. I appreciate that the authors had a vision that they invested significantly in, over time and with much financial commitment, and that this resulted in functional and serene spaces, but I can't say any of it is inspiring for the rest of us. There's an obsession with status names and objects in this book, despite a pretense to unpretension, and almost no references to the unexpected. Page after page was illustrated with rooms in subdued permutations of flax, taupe, griege, stone, slate, cream, onyx--or less fancifully, white, beige, gray, and brown, occasionally relieved by the contrast of black, dark waypoints in the desaturated void.
I'm left wondering who the book was meant to appeal to. It's so very narrow in its esthetic, so shallow in its observations, that anyone much interested in design will find little that's novel here. So that's the major disappointment; there is no sense of discovery. With minimal complexity to the color schemes, patterning, collections, texture, or arrangements in each space, one is, page by page, whelmed with monotony. And then there is this disdain for "suburbia" couple with a faux-humble, self-conscious, naive-to-unlikely narrative about vacationing in the Hamptons before it was discovered by the rich and so on, all while showcasing more than one enormous home that seems to fill a similar rural weekender function for the family. Despite all the earthy neutrals, the rustic beams, and the emphasis on honest oak and brass, there's a sense of excess here that comes across as faintly distasteful.
And, to quibble with the writing, there's something of a tone issue. I don't know if this book was ghostwritten, but either the editor or putative authors should have refrained from several times glowingly comparing their children's dormer room to a "French hospital of the World War I era." Really? Not everything can be reduced to aesthetics, all while smugly notating one's Ralph Lauren lamps and Pendleton blankets. I'm considerably younger than the authors, but not too young to be ignorant of the incredible suffering and violence that occurred in and around the field hospitals of the era. There are still elderly people alive today who are only a single generation removed from those who were maimed or killed in the war and forced to recover in these crude, makeshift spaces. In fact, my grandmother's father was one of the severely injured who spent time in such hospitals. The glib distillation of such experiences to a catalogue aesthetic is off-putting and frankly tasteless.
November 20, 2022
Save your money!
I really was disappointed in this book. There was nothing in it that spoke to me. I found it very cold. I would not like living with the furniture and lighting they showed. It was all rather unpleasant.
I really was disappointed in this book. There was nothing in it that spoke to me. I found it very cold. I would not like living with the furniture and lighting they showed. It was all rather unpleasant.
August 11, 2023
The "design by mood" (romantic, clean, sexy) approach is an interesting way to think about it.
This book emphasizes collecting antiques from a few Danish, Swedish, and Brazilian designers. It is narrowly focused on collecting these antiques as the way to decorate.
This book emphasizes collecting antiques from a few Danish, Swedish, and Brazilian designers. It is narrowly focused on collecting these antiques as the way to decorate.
August 5, 2023
Ehh. Not a fan. Not practical especially for budget minded home owners. Look at Pinterest instead. An extra star because it did encourage me to alter a room in a bold color I was considering.
August 21, 2023
While their design philosophy was really interesting, the way Chris and Pilar realized this vision felt sterile and lifeless to me.
October 19, 2023
I'm not sure I would have them design a house I would live in but I learned many things and even bought a folk art item they highlighted. The text is great - good practical design advice.
June 27, 2024
Interesting take on patina and I love the simplicity of it. Seems like something you have to work up to, but worth it if done right.
The book almost seemed to contradict itself when they talk about investing in timeless pieces that get better as they age, and then how you need to review and weed out the old items in the collection. Overall, I think it’s a really great theory and idea, but I think that it is relatively unattainable to most people.
The book almost seemed to contradict itself when they talk about investing in timeless pieces that get better as they age, and then how you need to review and weed out the old items in the collection. Overall, I think it’s a really great theory and idea, but I think that it is relatively unattainable to most people.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews