When Life Imitates Art

March/April 2026

Designer Young Huh channels the charm of Wes Anderson’s The Royal Tenenbaums in this Manhattan townhouse. In the latest issue of Veranda, the Modern Matter collaborator and AD100 designer shows how she layered a four story home with cinematic color and personality, where art effortlessly imitates life.

Interior Design by Young Huh, Landscape Design by Manscapers NY, Photography by Jacob Snavely ,Styling by Helen Crowther Written by Sophie Donelson

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"THE INSPIRATION for the house was both defined and sweeping, surefooted and zany, and delivered by the homeowners in three words: The Royal Tenenbaums.

Designer Young Huh was delighted. “Heirlooms, color, individuality…the film reference instantly gave me a picture and a common visual language with this family,” she notes. The now-famed aesthetic arose from Wes Anderson’s 2001 film, which featured at its heart a rambling historic New York City house with rooms as richly drawn as the characters inhabiting them. Twee nostalgia and vivid, unexpected color schemes (think powder blue and crimson, amethyst and citron yellow) were introduced with achingly thoughtful, just-so art direction that—together with Anderson’s subsequent films—gave rise to a recognizable graphic parlance among fans. (Unfamiliar? Check out Accidentally Wes Anderson, a long-running Instagram account and book of real-life moments that feel as if they’ve been lifted from his film sets.)"

Sophie Donelson, "When Life Imitates Art", VERANDA Magazine, March/April 2026

Epic Shades of Whimsy

Young Huh creates an apricot jewel box of a guest bedroom, adding a touch of whimsy with her drop pull for Modern Matter. A vintage Murano chandelier crowns the space, bringing warmth, character, and a soft glow that ties it all together.

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"With unconventional color being “yessed” joyfully, Huh presented a kitchen that leaned into richer tones. The clients responded not by countering color, but instead asked for a feeling, a room that was “warm and calm and bright,” Huh recalls. She replied with the current iteration: a greenhouse-like space with casement windows and a British sensibility rendered in a neutral but complex cabinetry color called Mushroom by deVOL Kitchens.

“These were clients who knew how they wanted to feel in every room,” says Huh, who includes this home in her debut monograph, A Mood, a Thought, a Feeling: Interiors (Rizzoli). They’re not alone in the designer’s roster. A few of her self-aware clients include Broadway queen Idina Menzel and couple Zooey Deschanel and Property Brothers’ Jonathan Scott—all people who know what they want."

Sophie Donelson, "When Life Imitates Art", VERANDA Magazine, March/April 2026

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