Leanne Ford's New Collections for Crate & Barrel Are Full of Modern, Anything-But-Boring Neutrals, and We Want It All

The coolest mom and designer in town has two new collections for Crate & Barrel and Crate & Kids that combine form and function for all the other cool parents and kids out there who want to emulate her style.

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June 07, 2022

It's no secret we're in love with all the projects on Restored by the Fords and Home Again With the Fords, and fans got their first chance to bring designer and HGTV star Leanne Ford's signature looks into their own homes back in 2020 with her first collection launch for Crate & Barrel, as well as a kids' collection inspired by her daughter Ever later that year. Now, Leanne's teaming up with the brand again and releasing new collections for both Crate & Barrel and Crate & Kids that are full of beautiful and versatile pieces in her signature modern neutral aesthetic. Combined, the collections offer more than 100 new items across lighting, furniture, textiles, tabletop, decor and even some indoor/outdoor products that reflect Leanne's minimalist style consisting of mostly neutrals with dashes of warm, muted colors and a variety of textures.

I asked Sebastian Brauer, vice president of product design and development at Crate & Barrel, as well as Leanne herself for the scoop on the latest collaboration. They shared highlights and favorite pieces from the new collections, tips for incorporating the multifunctional designs in your home for years to come and even how Leanne sees how some of the items can fit into the coastal grandmother aesthetic taking the internet by storm.

Leanne Ford for Crate & Barrel Collection

As we've added home offices, rethought our decor choices and probably rearranged furniture more than once over the last couple of years, versatility is even more important to ensuring a new piece of furniture we might bring into our homes is a good investment. Leanne designed the new Crate & Barrel pieces to easily integrate with other items in the home since things like office furniture have become just as important as a dining room table.

Leanne is known for her use of white, but how practical is white furniture and decor in real life and not in a TV show? Very, according to Sebastian Brauer. He says everything in the collection was designed with the highest degree of quality and craftsmanship, and the white fabrics have stain-repellent finishes that make them easy to spot clean.

"While most items are neutral, they can easily be maintained and worn in," he says. "The lighter wood finishes get better as they age. Our goal is always to deliver Leanne’s signature layered neutral white-on-white aesthetic, but we spend as much time discussing durability, care, quality and make-to-deliver collections that the entire family can enjoy and live their lives in with comfort and joy."

The more than 50 items, including functionally beautiful home office furniture, unique lighting, elegant outdoor décor and entertaining essentials, range from $10.95 to $2,799. There are even some products like a stunning, curved concrete coffee table that can be the pièce de résistance, inside or outside. Bookcases, credenzas and cabinets work well for dinnerware and kitchen storage just as much as they do for books or linens, so these pieces can evolve with your home as your family and style evolve.

This cabinet is one Sebastian is particularly excited about. "It's versatile for media, bar or closet storage and makes a statement without overpowering a room, and I love all the detailing and quality of the material," he says. With handles inspired by modernist sculpture, the Chalot cabinet takes on a casual mood thanks to its rustic finish. Sheer whitewash allows the natural wood grain to shine through. The cabinet's bifold doors elongate the silhouette with vertical lines, complemented by a circle bisected by slim handles. Inside, four shelves and two drawers provide plenty of space for dinnerware and serving pieces, bedroom linens or media equipment. A pair of cord management cutouts accommodate electronics.

How's this for a work-from-home setup? A rustic take on the classic campaign desk, this Haldeman desk offers plenty of room to spread out and work. A slim drawer stores your laptop when the workday is done. Inspired by a vintage table in Leanne's canyon home, the architectural desk showcases the natural beauty of pine and birch for an open, airy look.

Another multipurpose piece with endless opportunities to function as a sofa table, TV console, dresser and more, this Rica dresser brings coastal cool to your space with design-forward curves and the breezy look of grasscloth. A waterfall frame arches just beyond the floating rectangle of six drawers to create an open shelf for storing small jewelry items or grooming essentials. Flat grasscloth-fronted drawers and a fresh, whitewash finish give the clean-lined dresser an airy feel with natural texture.

The Mast Leather Director's Chair from Leanne's original collection is back in white and, new this year, available in charcoal, and we're swooning over the details. Best known as the seat of choice for Hollywood film directors, this timeless style actually traces its roots back hundreds of years. Renowned for its simple design and great functionality, it's no wonder this design has lasted the test of time. The contemporary counter stool update traces the iconic square open frame and X braces in naturally toned and sustainably sourced solid white oak. Slings of top-grain leather in chic charcoal shape the classic form-fitting back and comfortably taut seat. Unlike its folding counterpart, the Mast director's dining chair stands sturdy with a casual silhouette that looks great pulled up to a dining table.

Inspired by vintage French bakery shelving, the Haldeman bookcase offers plenty of storage and display space to almost any room in the house. The look is open and airy thanks to open shelves that extend beyond the uprights and T-shaped legs that let the bookcase float. Natural wood shelves offer organization space — and the opportunity for stunning displays — in the home office, living room or kitchen. It'd also work great as a functional room divider in an open-concept space.

This coffee table is more a work of art than a table. Rounded like a huge river rock, the organically shaped cement table has the rustic and textured appearance of plaster. Don't be surprised to discover intriguing pin holes, mold impressions, water spots and color swirls that are desired qualities inherent to the cement curing process. This exclusive Pebble coffee table makes a striking contemporary statement, especially with the coordinating side table, and is perfect for modern living rooms as well as outdoor patios.

The impetus behind these plates, as well as the other Range melamine plates and bowls, was sparked by a need in Leanne's own kitchen. "As we would set the table for a meal, I was always bummed to put the 'kid's style' plate out on my pretty table," she says. "So when it was time to think of an outdoor unbreakable collection, I knew exactly what I wanted to do! Just make the Range again, but in melamine!" The durable melamine offers worry-free entertaining and family-friendly dining. Rimmed in black, the plate mimics the perfectly imperfect edges of the hand-thrown ceramic original for an organic, wabi-sabi look.

Leanne Ford for Crate & Kids Collection

Leanne stays true to her minimalist style with warm neutrals in her baby and kids' collection, too. With more than 60 new products ranging from $10 - $1,698, the collection includes furniture, bedding, decor and lighting for nurseries, kids' rooms and playrooms. The neutral color palette means the pieces don't scream "kid" furniture, though, and can easily grow up with a child or be repurposed in other areas of the home. While Leanne says having a child of her own certainly made her think about practicality more when it comes to design, she strives to never sacrifice form for function and doesn't think you should have to either.

"We lead our children in everything else — we try to encourage their taste in music (Less Minnie, more Dylan, please!), so why wouldn't we show them beauty in their own spaces?" she asks. "Listen, the reality is kids will have their own taste, so while we get to pick out what their room looks like, let's pick out pieces that we love too!"

But don't get us wrong, there's plenty of whimsy and playfulness to be found in these pieces. Take the lighting, for example. Leanne often uses Akari lights designed by Isamu Noguchi in her interiors, and from afar, you might think this Passport Ceiling Pendant Light was another Noguchi. With a closer look, you'll notice it's actually shaped like a hot air balloon with a mini wicker basket at the base — no neon colors required to make this elegant, wanderlust-inducing light that seamlessly blends into an "adult" space, too. The mushroom-shaped lamps also strike that balance of playful and fun for kids, yet sleek and stylish enough for adults, and you might even want to add a second one to your cart for your own desk or nightstand.

The multifunctional aspect of these pieces means they'll have a longer lifespan in your home and beyond, which is ideal for sustainability's sake. "I try my best to create pieces that can live a long life outside of the nursery even — ottomans that can live as easy stools, dressers that can grow with your kids, art and lights that can be anywhere!"

With an uncanny resemblance to a hot air balloon, this fanciful pendant light is a nod to Leanne's love of Noguchi lanterns. Suspended above an adorable rattan gondola, an incandescent light shines softly through the natural linen shade. Brighten up a dim corner in a nursery or add the finishing touch to your traveler-in-training's play space.

Woodland whimsy paired with the warmth of wicker is cottagecore style at its best. Woven of rattan that glows from within, this mushroom-shaped lamp will transform your space into a dreamy wonderland scene. A vision in nurseries, bedrooms, play spaces and beyond, it pulls double duty as delightful decor and ambient accent lighting.

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With its cute-as-a-button mushroom silhouette and matte clay finish, add this Joy table lamp to nurseries, kid's bedrooms and shared family spaces for a whimsical accent lamp. Available in white and indigo as well, the lamp is dimmable and features easy touch operation.

Rock baby to sleep in style with this modern bouclé chair. Constructed of pine and poplar wood, it's upholstered in polyester and acrylic blend bouclé fabric and linen piping. Plus, when you're finished using it in a nursery, this chair will fit right in to your stylish living room, too.

Don't be fooled that this daybed falls under the Crate & Kids brand – we could totally see this daybed in a sunroom or office-turned-occasional-guest-room. Slipcovered in stain-repellent white cotton, the modern silhouette and clean lines will fit into almost any space. The matching mattress cover creates a unified look and fits a twin mattress (sold separately).

If you’re familiar with the coastal grandmother lifestyle and aesthetic coined by TikToker Lex Nicoleta that everyone and their grandmother is talking about, you probably wouldn’t associate Converse-wearing, black-and-white-loving Leanne Ford with this aesthetic, but hear me out. Her striking resemblance to coastal gran icon Diane Keaton aside, Leanne’s spaces, though much more modern and trend-forward, do evoke a laidback, effortless style that incorporates similar key elements to the coastal grandmother interiors, such as slipcovered sofas, white interiors and cane details. When I asked Leanne about her thoughts on this nostalgic style, she weighed in with a laugh, “I love the coastal grandma thing, and I realized I have a ton of it in my work. Layered shades of creams and whites, slipcovered sofas, cane chairs and undone comfortable, easy living. Yes, please!”

In fact, one of the best-selling pieces from her original Crate & Barrel collection, the Ever Slipcovered Apartment Sofa that's named after her daughter, is the perfect white slipcovered sofa for a coastal grandmother-style beach cottage, in my opinion, and the removable, washable slipcover makes it a sensible investment any wise coastal gran would approve of. But will the Ever sofa also work in an industrial studio city apartment? You bet — that’s the beauty of timeless neutral pieces. Beyond the Ever Slipcovered Apartment Sofa, Sebastian Brauer says customers have loved the Fields Cane Back White Accent Chair, West Natural Cane Bar Cabinet, and Willy 48" White Pedestal Dining Table, too.

Floating a pillow seat on a broad bench backed with settle-in cushions, the sofa invites catnaps and family hangouts. The casual slipcover is made of a stain-repellent fabric that adds to the easy-living vibe. Designed for kicking back, restore Ever's company-ready looks with a quick fluff of the cushions and swipe of the "comfort wrinkles."

"Our customers love the laidback, approachable, effortless and timeless attitude of Leanne’s unique style," Sebastian says. "It’s easy and intuitive to mix pieces from new collections seamlessly into their home and to layer with pieces from her previous collections, other Crate & Barrel favorites and even vintage and personal items that make their space special, individual and their own."

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