Rue Magazine

In southern Mississauga, Ontario, you’ll find Port Credit—a charming historic waterfront neighborhood. “We love the character of the area, with its mature, tree-lined streets and beautiful mix of established homes,” says designer Alyssa Moscovitch-Young of Harper Gray Design. “The proximity to the waterfront gives the neighborhood a peaceful, relaxed feel.

The history of this Los Angeles home has a hint of old Hollywood charm. “It’s in the Larchmont Village neighborhood, in a bungalow originally built as housing for the Paramount lot,” designer Raychel Wade says.

Designer Meri Goldstein’s apartment is in the heart of New York City, in the center of one of its most energetic neighborhoods. “It’s in SoHo, one of New York’s top addresses for celebrity spotting, the restaurant scene, nightlife, and shopping. It’s young, vibrant, and the place to be to see and be seen,” she tells us. “What I love most about my area is that there’s never a dull moment.

Sage, pistachio, and burgundy shape the palette of this Seattle home—but the reasoning goes much deeper than color theory. “The wife’s father once owned a pistachio farm in Iran,” says Michael David Lee of Notherworld Projects. At their first meeting, the clients—she is of Iranian heritage, while he has roots in the Philippines—set out pistachios and dates, as both of their families had always done for guests.

RUE’s Co-Principal Danny Seo is also a bestselling cookbook author and magazine editor! He shares one of his favorite dishes from the Naturally, Danny Seo magazine archives. Somehow it just doesn’t seem fair that our most favorite foods are the least nutritious. Take heart! With the help of nutritious booster powders, you can add powerhouse ingredients and put a nutrient-dense spin on traditional treats—like these crackers.

As the founder of children’s clothing brand Rylee & Cru, Kelli Murray Larson has built a career around creativity and a distinct visual point of view. It’s no surprise, then, that those instincts extend to her own weekend home in La Quinta, California. “I grew up vacationing in Palm Springs, so the desert has always felt nostalgic to me,” she says. “We were drawn specifically to La Quinta because of the beauty of the surrounding mountains and how quiet and peaceful it feels.

Just thirty minutes outside of Atlanta, Serenbe is a wellness-focused, biophilic community built around the idea of “fresh food and fresh air.” The neighborhood has more than 650 residents—and welcomes nearly 300,000 visitors each year. Much of the landscaping is edible—really—with community herb gardens and blueberry bushes lining paths and sidewalks. At the heart of the community is a 25-acre organic farm that produces more than 300 varieties of fruits, vegetables, herbs, and flowers.

This San Francisco apartment was ready to grow up a bit. “My client is a woman in her early thirties, a working professional who had lived in her third-floor walk-up in the heart of Pacific Heights for the past five years,” says interior designer Kate DeWitt. “From the moment I walked into her home for our first meeting, I could tell she had style, but a lot of it was still holding onto her twenties.

When you find the perfect location, it’s easy to overlook a few aesthetic differences. Case in point: this Venice, California, home sits directly on the city’s iconic canals—an enviable setting that outweighed an interior in need of a clearer point of view. “What makes the Canals so special is that rare blend of coastal calm and vibrant, creative energy,” says Christina Higham of SunSoulStyle Interiors.

This 1926 Georgian Colonial is located in Highland Park, a northern suburb of Chicago. “It’s a beautiful old home with incredible character and the kind of architectural details that immediately give you something to work with as a designer,” says designer Elizabeth Mollen. “I also live in Highland Park, so I have a real appreciation for the mix of architecture here.