Tag: Lifestyle

THE COLOR YOU CHOOSE for your primary portal is no throwaway decision. It “sets the tone for the entire experience of the home; just like the first impressions of a person do,” said Anne Tollett, an interior designer with Hanover Avenue, in Richmond, Va. If you want to play it safe, a glossy black remains a favorite among designers (who consider black a color, by the way) and the indecisive. But if black seems like a bore, take into account the following advice before you hit the paint store.

One of my earliest childhood memories is waking up at 3 a.m. to the sound of my father, Sid, shoveling our driveway. When it came to snowstorms, his philosophy was shovel early, shovel often. The wheels came off this philosophy during the Blizzard of ’78, when so much snow fell so fast that even my superhuman father could not get ahead of it. Sid, a man who doled out compliments like they were his own molars, gave much respect to that monster of a storm. Still, he was not a believer in the snowblower until later in life, when dropping dead from a shoveling-induced heart attack became a possibility. I was relieved when he finally bought one. However, as a fourth-generation Swamp Yankee Masshole (aka: the product of a rural, farming community in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts), my father ...

For several years, San Francisco investment banker Thomas Weisel had quietly shopped his beachfront Maui mansion with no takers. But when Covid hit, Hawaii’s luxury market surged, and so did interest in the modern home on just under an acre.After multiple buyers emerged, Mr. Weisel sold the roughly 22,000-square-foot home in July to “Yellowstone” actress Barret Swatek and her husband, Adam Weiss, a retired hedge-fund executive. The price was $45 million, making it one of the most expensive sales in Hawaii history, said Anne Hogan Perry of Compass, who represented the buyers.  Over the past year, buyers have poured money into luxury real estate in Hawaii, which for many became a tropical haven during the pandemic. There were 64 sales over $10 million statewide during the first nine mon...

Earlier in the pandemic, Kevin Masters found himself longing for his old buddy Ron. The two men met in 1990, on a train from Indianapolis to Salt Lake City. In their early 30s at the time, they struck up a conversation while waiting in line in the snack car, then continued talking for hours. When they arrived in Utah, they exchanged numbers.

Sometimes the worst thing you can say to a person who’s feeling bad is: “Cheer up!” Chip Hooley learned this the hard way. At the beginning of the pandemic, his daughter, Hilary, called him in a panic. She and her husband had recently purchased an apartment in Brooklyn. Now, she was worried that real-estate prices in New York were falling and her friends were leaving the city.

Michael Imperioli, 55, is an actor, writer, director and musician. He appeared in the films “One Night in Miami” and “Goodfellas,” and starred in HBO’s “The Sopranos.” He is co-author with Steve Schirripa of “Woke Up This Morning,” an oral history of “The Sopranos” (William Morrow). He spoke with Marc Myers. Every time I went into the living room that night when I was 7, I was ordered out. My parents were watching some TV movie of the week with a grown-up theme. They didn’t want me to see it, but I saw enough.

Daylight-saving time ends Sunday, and the bonus hour when the clock turns back can bring more than extra sleep. For those still chasing the goal of becoming a morning person, the annual change can be a good time for a reset. The transition from daylight-saving time can help us recommit to better habits around sleeping and wellness, says Beth Malow, professor of neurology at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville. “You can use it to your advantage,” says Dr. Malow.

HALLOWEEN IS serious business in Sleepy Hollow, N.Y., and adjacent Tarrytown. But nobody there embraces the area’s holiday heritage with more fervor than Arthur Klock. “Some people go pretty hard on their houses,” said Mr. Klock, “but not to the extent that I do. I’m definitely the crazy person in town.” Starting in August, the veterinarian begins constructing the frights at his home on Irving Avenue (named for Washington Irving, Tarrytown’s most famous resident and the author of “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow”). Every year, Mr. Klock erects a 14-by-20-foot tent in his driveway to function as a compact, but full-fledged haunted house. This year, he’s styling the tent as the laboratory of “Regenerwrong” (a play on the maker of an antibody treatment used for Covid-19). In his fictional back st...

Not long after buying a house in Los Angeles in 2007, the actress Hilary Swank added a 16-seat movie theater, lounge and concession stand. Her goal, she said, was to watch movies “correctly, the way they are meant to be seen.” That included snacks: The concession stand has an antique popcorn machine, candy and beer. Now someone else will get the opportunity to watch films in the space. Having recently moved to Colorado, Ms. Swank, 47, is listing the hacienda-style house in Pacific Palisades for $10.5 million, according to listing agent Zach Goldsmith of Hilton & Hyland.

A New York City penthouse in a building designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Jean Nouvel is slated to hit the market for $25 million. If it fetches its asking price, it will be Chelsea’s most expensive residential sale of 2021 so far, according to Jonathan Miller of Miller Samuel Real Estate Appraisers and Consultants.