Matt Trotter brings an intuitive, ever-evolving approach to every project, layering art, music, plants, and collected pieces to create spaces that feel alive and deeply personal. Rooted in a belief that good design needs room to change, his work embraces movement, risk, and character over perfection.

The holidays have a way of changing how spaces feel, especially the ones we share. Hotel lobbies turn into unofficial living rooms where people pause with a coffee, shake off the cold, and linger a little longer than planned.

This season, we partnered with a handful of hotels we admire for a holiday lobby takeover, sending along Schoolhouse pieces to help set the tone. Rather than going all in on traditional holiday decor, each hotel styled the space in their own way, layering in pieces that felt useful, welcoming, and quietly festive. These were rooms designed to be lived in, not just looked at.

Its seven guest rooms are immaculate, but the lobby is your playground: Pop a record on the player, tool around on the piano and try your hand at foosball.

An easy day trip or overnight from Milwaukee, the riverside hamlet of Princeton is enjoying a revival, thanks to an inspired new hotel, a French-inspired bakery and a restaurant with artistic fixings.

Parlor Hotel is a seven-room inn that is anything but a quick place to crash before hitting the road. It is a space of belonging and becoming, a space to retreat and recharge.

Princeton-raised Matthew Trotter is building a purposefully curated ecosystem that both lifts up his home town’s history and celebrates a queerer version of up-north culture.