We design whole homes and stubborn single rooms, slowly and in person, for people who plan to stay. Three projects at a time, never more.
Full renovation · 5 rooms · 9 months
A 1920s foursquare with good bones and forty years of carpet. We opened the kitchen to the garden, drew a new pantry wall, and kept the original fir where it survived. Unlacquered brass, white oak, and honed soapstone were chosen to wear in, not out. The clients still text us photos of the patina.
Primary suite · 2 rooms · 4 months
A couple with opposite schedules needed a bedroom that could go quiet at eight. Layered linen, wool underfoot, blackout hidden behind sheer. Nothing in the room glows or beeps. They report they now argue about who gets up first, which we count as a win.
Reading room · 1 room · 12 weeks
The brief was a wall of books and one great chair. We built shelves around the window, commissioned the ochre armchair from an upholsterer two towns over, and wired a lamp you can read by at two in the morning. Shelving eleven hundred books took three days. She reorganizes them seasonally.
We measure the house, watch how you live in it, and ask about the mornings. Budget talk happens here, out loud, before anyone falls in love with a sofa.
You receiveConcept boards first, then drawings. We bring samples to the house and hold them against your light, because a fabric that sings in the studio can sulk in a north room.
You receiveWe order, track, chase, and inspect everything, and we speak fluent contractor. You come home on install day to finished rooms, hung art, and a dinner reservation.
You receiveEverything is touched before it is chosen. Wool, oak, stone, and then, only then, the room.
Whole homes and renovations, drawings through install day. One studio hand on every decision, one point of contact for the trades.
Whole homes, renovations with trades on site.
from $30,000 design fees
Two hours in your house with the principal. We move furniture, pull paint decks, and leave you a written plan you can execute yourself.
One stubborn room, a decisive afternoon.
$675 flat, 2 hours
A concept board, a floor plan, and a shopping list with links, delivered in three weeks. You place the orders and set the lamp where we marked.
Confident hands, anywhere in the country.
$1,900 per room
Fees above are design fees. Furnishings and construction are budgeted separately, and honestly, in Discover.
Leila trained in architecture, apprenticed under an upholsterer, and ran installs for a decade before opening Alcove in 2016. The studio stays small on purpose: Leila, two designers, and a bookkeeper who has seen everything. Every project gets the principal, not a junior with her email signature.
The philosophy fits in one sentence. A room should feel inevitable, as if the house had always intended it. Getting there is unglamorous: measuring, touching, returning samples, and saying no to beautiful things that do not belong.
Seen in Cornice · Sill · The Papered Room · Amber Quarterly
Leila asked how we drink our coffee before she asked about style. Ten months later, the kitchen makes the morning happen by itself.Sarah & Tom R. · Halloran House
The consult paid for itself by lunch. She moved one sofa, killed a bad rug decision, and left a plan we actually followed.Mira Okafor · Working consult
Write a few lines about the house, which rooms are fighting you, and roughly when you would like to begin. Photos help. Even bad ones. Especially bad ones.
Start a projectWe reply within two business days, usually with three questions and a request for more photos. Prefer to talk? (555) 555-0181