Insider Bailey Kohl of Sanford, NC, writes:“My husband and I are longtime fans of This Old House. We even spent a wedding anniversary touring the project home in Carlisle, MA, back in 2004, when we lived in New England. We’ve been in North Carolina for years now, and last month we attended the Downtown Raleigh Home Show at the Raleigh Convention Center hoping to be able to hear Kevin O’Connor speak about his experiences and insights. "Even though we missed his first talk, we saw him in the crowd, offstage, signing copies of This Old House magazine. Kevin was so…

Jordan Kahn, the enfant terrible of LA dining (in a past life, he visually outed an LA Times restaurant critic), has been quietly operating Destroyer, his tiny 16-seat Culver City breakfast and lunch spot, since September 2017. The inspiration for the interiors? “I wanted to create a minimalist space void of superfluousness, a neutral canvas for the food, ceramics, and people,” he says. “Often, the professional kitchen is a space associated with noise and chaos. I wanted to create a more tranquil environment to encourage the interaction between the chefs and guests.” “The design focus was to create the most Instagrammable…