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 thing: 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.

About the Authors:

Chris Mitchell spent twenty years as a media executive and publisher of Vanity Fair, The New Yorker, GQ, and others. He and his wife, Pilar Guzman, live in New York City and the Hamptons, where they have renovated seven homes — featured in Architectural Digest, the New York Times, and Martha Stewart Living, and in the books Brooklyn Modern and Restoring a House in the City. He is now designing and restoring houses full-time. Follow him on Instagram at @chrismitchellofficial and @patina.modern. 

Pilar Guzmán is the editorial director of Oprah Daily, former editor-in-chief of Condé Nast Traveler, Martha Stewart Living, and founding editor of the beloved parenting magazine Cookie. Together with her husband, Chris Mitchell, she has renovated seven homes in New York City and the Hamptons that have been featured in Architectural Digest, the New York Times, and Martha Stewart Living, and in the books Brooklyn Modern and Restoring a House in the City. Follow her on Instagram at @pilar_guzman and @patina.modern