Ellsworth is a showplace for Heide and Rafe’s shared aesthetic and sensibility of designing for real life, and not for formality. At the core is a house of pared-down traditionalism with references to Shaker tranquility, Arts & Crafts practicality, and bohemian chic. Whimsical wallcoverings, striking colors, a mix of contemporary furniture and antiques, exciting works of art, and comfort abound—turning a workaday house from the nineteenth century into a creative laboratory of the twenty-first.
The word I’ve often used to describe my favorite quality in the work of Hendricks Churchill is humanity—largely because of Heide and Rafe’s knack for creating interiors that feel layered, lived in, and loved from the moment the key turns in a client’s door.
ASAD SYRKETT
Editor In Chief, Elle Decor
When I first discovered the works of Hendricks Churchill, I was caught by our aligned interest in dark painted window sashes commonly framing the view. This may seem like a minor detail, but dark sashes, deeper trim and lighter walls help layer the “framework” for what happens within a room or on a wall composition. Hendricks Churchill celebrates the curious/collected/found/unexpected, by infusing a “hit” of mid-century modern against antique patina, layering the unexpected, and peeling it back to feel entirely comfortable, relevant, and carefully composed.
STEVEN GAMBREL
Designer, S.R. Gambrel
For me, there is almost nothing like the American farmhouse. It conjures up the images of warmth, character, patina, family. Heide Hendricks and Rafe Churchill have captured the magic in their new book. These two talented people, Rafe an architect-builder and Heide an interior designer, have combined their visions into creating a magical home for themselves.
BUNNY WILLIAMS
Designer
There’s a not just lived-in but a lived-in-and-loved-quality that Heide and Rafe’s work conveys. It’s the antidote to some of the cold sterile, or contrived work that can feel dominant in design these days. Anyone who’s building a forever home—or wants to see the inner workings of Heide and Rafe’s brilliantly artistic mind—should pick up this book.
EVA CHEN
Director of Fashion Partnerships, Instagram
I’ve been waiting for this book, just as I wait for new work by Hendricks Churchill to be published and give me inspiration about the future of American design. Their projects show that intelligence, ruggedness, and respect for America’s classical past can still add up to something entirely New. This is the story of the house in which they worked out many of those ideas for the first time, for themselves, before the world figured out they wanted to be cool like that, too.
But my favorite part? That they listen to their children. The best evidence of a designer knowing their business is when they respect the opinion of a child.
DAVID NETTO
Designer
Heide Hendricks and Rafe Churchill have a natural feeling for the elegance and comfort of country living, which is evocatively captured in this beautiful book. Their masterfully restored and renovated farmhouse is an object lesson in the creation of a happy, dignified, and deeply personal home, demonstrating the vitality of traditional architecture and design for today.
PETER LYDEN
President, Institute of Classical Architecture & Art
