Billionaires swallowed by whales! Ill-fated trips to space! Truly, no one does it like 9-1-1, ABC's campy first responder procedural. The show returns Thurs, so I chatted w showrunner Tim Minear about keeping it fresh 9 seasons in, Buddie & killing off Bobby. Here's a gift link: wapo.st/4soCrlP

It took Pete Marocco only weeks to help dismantle USAID. But for the better part of two decades, he's been embroiled in a lawsuit against his interior designers that experts said has reached "Dickensian levels of challenges" to the legal system. Don't miss this one from @curiouskurz.bsky.social:

Aaron is a one-of-a-kind investigative talent. I'm so grateful he shared this lawsuit with me (easy to say I'm grateful now that the story is up lol)

Months ago, when I was looking into Pete Marocco, the Trump official who helped dismantle USAID, I noticed that he was involved in a long-running lawsuit with his interior designers. I told @curiouskurz.bsky.social about it and she dug in. Here's the crazy tale (gift link). wapo.st/4pNVV1L

It took only a few weeks for Pete Marocco to oversee the gutting of USAID. But for 17 years, Marocco has been battling a FL interior design firm in a lawsuit that the judge described as “reaching Dickensian levels of challenges to the effectiveness of the civil justice system.”

Word to the wise: you may regret buying that viral couch! Buying a couch has always been a high-stakes endeavor. The internet has made it even trickier with the rise of the Viral Couch: a piece of furniture that becomes inescapable online and may or may not be a piece of junk.

This feature is perfectly written, comprehensively reported, and that first quote is an absolute writer's dream.

When Rachel Reid sat at her dining room table in Nova Scotia writing the book that would become “Heated Rivalry,” it never crossed her mind that the smutty romance between adversarial pro hockey players would one day become Canada’s primary cultural export. And yet ....

I'm gonna be honest with you, I was VERY surprised when I learned Pantone's selection for 2026 color of the year, in part bc it's technically not a color at all ... Meet Cloud Dancer, the first-ever white shade to receive the designation from the world’s color authority.

Ribbon is such an easy way to make things feel "Christmas." I wrap all my gifts in brown kraft paper with brown paper tape, but use (and re-use!) a collection of satin/velvet/organza ribbons to make them look fancy. This year I ordered some velvet ribbon to make over my front door wreath!

The First Lady has selected this year's Christmas theme: "Home is Where the Heart Is" This year, the White House is also where the construction is. The decoration tour is halved for 2025. It's mostly traditional/ pared back, but there are some Pres Trump portraits worth noting:

This year's holiday microtrend? Ralph Lauren Christmas For many people, all that plaid, velvet and burgundy is simply Christmas as usual. But these annual declarations of the must-have aesthetic also reflect back our cultural fascinations and trends .....

It’s a rite of passage. As young adults grow up, they decide to upgrade their wall art. They walk into their local frame shop, get sticker shock and often walk straight back out. Custom framing has never been cheap, but it’s also never been quite as costly as it is now.

Let's talk about renovated White House's Lincoln Bathroom. I spoke with designers and experts about the changes, which are very much in keeping with what we know about Trump's aesthetic (marble! gold! bathroom chandelier!). tdlr: wow, that's a lotta marble!

The Office of the First Lady announces public tours of the White House will resume Dec. 2 and "all December tours will feature the White House Christmas decorations on the State Floor"

Each spooky season, squirrels and pumpkin-havers duke it out over the fate of decorative gourds. Experts provided some key tips for making your pumpkins less appealing to critters. You probably already have a lot of the materials you need at home!

Each year, the White House's holiday tour starts in the East Wing & the East Colonnade sets the tone for the decorations. Now the East Wing and East Colonnade are rubble. I just learned that, despite the demolition, the holiday tour is still happening

Does something in your home feel … off? Stuck? Heavy? Maybe your dog won't stop barking or your things aren't where you left them. This is when a home cleanser might step in. "I like to think of it as a spiritual spring cleaning."

Shopping secondhand might be intimidating for some people: Will you really find a treasure under that stack of old Afghans, or just more overpriced, mildewy junk to add to your pile of projects? Turns out there are key tips to help you distinguish between gems and garbage!

TV trends have hustled in one direction: toward ever bigger and flatter screens with the highest possible resolution. But now, a humble, boxy, tiny-screened TV dares to ask: What if we dust off a different path? And what if that path leads us to the kitchen?

Sometimes I look at a play kitchen and I am amazed at how detailed and plain NICE it is. Like ... nicer than my real kitchen. Turns out, they've mirrored the design tastes of parents and the broader culture for centuries. The biggest change? Now they're marketed to all kids

The late, great David Lynch's stunning enclave in the Hollywood Hills is for sale for $15M "The family’s strong desire is that the next owner protects, preserves and honors what David created." The property has buildings designed by 2 generations of the Lloyd Wright fam

This thread & responses are so funny -- they've inspired a story for the @washingtonpost.com Have you found anything wild or noteworthy in your kid's room? Send me a reply or email [email protected] if you're open to chatting. ty in advance!

Honey oak, aka the warm wood from the '90s, is back in a big way .... Just don't call it "honey oak." Designers tell me people are hungry for a natural look. They're done with the Great Grayening and seeking warmth.

They weren't alive in the 80s but they love to wear the "Reagan Bush '84" t-shirts. I saw frat bros in the 2010s in these tees. Now, the younger members of a totally changed GOP still don them. I wanted to know why!

ICYMI: I appeared on @NPR.org to chat about the power and pleasure of fan fiction. Ended up entreating the iconic Scott Simon to allow more whimsy into his life. Hope you're taking that advice, Scott! www.npr.org/2025/08/16/n...

Last week, I watched the team from Sub Urban Staging transform an empty DC rowhome into a space brimming w/ furniture, art & the kind of baubles that make a house feel like a home in mere HOURS. Stagers do a unique job, but they also have tips for all. Gorgeous pics by @valerieplesch.bsky.social

Fan fiction used to be a scarlet letter for writers trying to get traditionally published. Now, it's a bona fide pipeline. But as fic becomes more and more mainstream, how exactly do we define it? And what makes it so alluring? (Art by Emma Kumer)

People LOVE to discuss and, let's face it, fight over vacuums online. Other appliances just don't seem to inspire the same level of passion These debates reveal something about changes in business models, expectations of cleanliness and what we look for in a modern appliance

I heard we're talking about stuff that starts with the letter "Z" today, so... Zillow is a behemoth in the real estate world, so you might think you can find every home listing on there. But there are exceptions: off-market listings and a forthcoming ban on some listings

The best source for gossip online is ... Zillow! Online home listings offer drama, escapism and the digital equivalent of rifling through someone's medicine cabinet. It's no wonder that Zillow saw a whopping 2.4 billion visits to its site for the first quarter of 2025

Seeking sources for a fun Post story about home listings! -Love to look at listings/send them to pals/scope them out before visiting someone? -Felt anxious sharing listings you're eyeing bc it felt too revealing? -Other stories welcome! Email [email protected] / msg me

When Martha Stewart gets a new cat or dog, the first thing she does is bite it on the mouth — “hard,” she specifies. “And it squeals. It knows then that I am its mother.” I learned this when I met Martha and her protege, a wunderkind animal breeder named Ari Katz, recently

"Do you realize that toilet paper has not changed in my lifetime?” George Costanza once said. Welp, George got it a little right and a little wrong. After learning that it took Charmin 5 years (!!!!) to innovate its wavy edges, I simply HAD to learn about toilet paper R&D

Members of Congress come from all over to DC for work. What I've always wondered is...where do they sleep? Some own places, some sleep in their offices, and others publicly shared struggling to find an apt in a $$ city. For my latest, a new House member showed me her home:

Every listing should come with a Lego model, IMO. So cool! via @curiouskurz.bsky.social www.washingtonpost.com/home/2025/03...

HOT TIP: if you want your home listing to stand out, you might consider adding a realistic, highly detailed, to-scale LEGO replica What ... you don't already have one of those hanging around?!?

I love to read theories about my favorite tv shows on the internet

This Continuing Resolution is THE reminder of why local news is so important. I'm grateful for the national coverage but what I especially want to know is ... how does this impact me and my community? The reporters who cover local D.C. are delivering.

People who purchase their childhood homes might be attempting to pass along the best parts of their childhood to the next generation or are simply looking for a less spiky path to homeownership in a tough market.

Many Joann customers recall wandering the yarn- and fabric-filled aisles as children, the kaleidoscope of colors and textures beckoning them. As the chain closes all its locations, we lose a gateway to crafting and a community hub.

As I wrote last week with @curiouskurz.bsky.social, the social media freak-out about a collapsing D.C. housing market was not supported by any data. But we're starting to see hints that the market is at least softening. www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/202...

Rumors of the D.C. housing market's demise have been greatly exaggerated. Viral social media posts claim federal workforce cuts are already leading to dramatically lower prices and an "exodus" from the region. That is NOT what real estate agents and economists are seeing at this moment

Ever wonder what your couples therapist *really* thinks about your fight over chores? Well, for the most part, they think you're fighting about more than just the dishes.....

“Getting an estimate” for anything home-related is rarely simple or straightforward -- it often involves a dog-and-pony show and a LOT of on-the-spot pressure.

Pantone's 2025 Color of the Year is out! What do you think about Mocha Mousse?

"The Bidens' last go-around" Honored to share the front page of the Style section with Robin Givhan today

I went to the White House today for the holiday decorations reveal! This year's theme is a "Season of Peace and Light." Like in years past, the decor at the Biden WH this Christmas is more traditional than haute. One exception: the carousel-themed WH Tree ... how does an 18.5 ft tree get lost?!?

Meet "Tacky Christmas" -- the alleged holiday micro trend that is actually a rejection of fads. It's all about throwing everything you've got at the tree. For a lot of people, Tacky Christmas looks a lot like ... Christmas

Hellllloooo! I report on lived spaces for @washingtonpost.com I view my beat expansively: our homes, what we do in there, the stuff in it (where it comes from/what it means to us), the people we encounter & invite inside, & how we feel about all of it, for starters! Here are some of my fave pieces: