About Modernhaus
Where Professional Design Meets the Poetry of Making
There's a peculiar gap in the world of home and craft content - a chasm between the glossy perfection of design magazines and the chaotic reality of actual living. Since 2016, Modernhaus has occupied this fertile middle ground, translating the language of professional design into something altogether more human.
Founded by Sue, an illustrator whose work has graced the covers of books by America's most celebrated authors, Modernhaus emerged from a simple observation: the principles that make great art aren't so different from those that make great homes. Both require an understanding of composition, color, and story. Both demand patience and practice. And both, ultimately, are about creating something that speaks to the soul.
The Intersection of Expertise
What sets Modernhaus apart isn't just Sue's multi-disciplinary design degree or her years in professional illustration. It's the unique perspective that emerges when creative training meets real-world renovation experience - insights gained from transforming spaces with my own hands, solving problems as they arise, and discovering what truly works in a lived-in home. This is where design inspiration meets practical application, where Pinterest-perfect ideas encounter the reality of existing floor plans and budgets, where beautiful concepts adapt to the character of actual spaces. Every renovation documented here, every room refreshed, carries both the eye for design and the practical knowledge that comes from rolling up your sleeves and learning through doing - from choosing the right paint finish to understanding how a space actually flows when you live in it day to day.
A Different Kind of Authority
Most sites will tell you what to buy. Some will show you what to make. But Modernhaus occupies a rarer space - we explore why certain designs endure while others fade, how traditional crafts like weaving and soap making connect us to something essential, and what happens when you apply museum-quality design principles to a house where actual children live.
The craft room here is never quiet. It's a working laboratory where knitting patterns become meditations on texture, where upcycled furniture tells stories of transformation, where every project teaches something new about materials, technique, and the peculiar magic that happens when you make something with your own hands. The discoveries made in that room - through countless hours of weaving, creating, failing, and succeeding - form the backbone of everything shared here.
Beyond Trends, Toward Truth
The design world churns through trends with exhausting speed, but Modernhaus focuses on something more enduring. Through regular pilgrimages to craft markets and antique fairs, through conversations with makers who've spent decades perfecting their craft, through the simple act of living with the things we make and choose, we've developed a unique perspective on what actually matters in creating a home.
This isn't about following rules or achieving perfection. It's about understanding why certain spaces make us feel alive while others leave us cold, why handmade objects carry weight that mass production never can, why the imperfect pot you threw yourself means more than the flawless one from the shop.
The Modernhaus Promise
When you read Modernhaus, you're accessing something singular: the complete synthesis of professional design expertise and lived experience, filtered through years of actual making and dwelling. No other resource brings together this particular blend of formal training, hands-on craftsmanship, and the daily reality of creating beauty within the constraints of real life.
We don't just document projects; we reveal the thinking behind them. We don't just share techniques; we explore why they matter. We don't just show beautiful spaces; we teach you to see what makes them work.
This is Modernhaus: the definitive intersection of high design and human craft, where every article carries the authority of professional expertise and the authenticity of personal practice.
Creating homes that honor both beauty and life, one thoughtful project at a time.