Love that Space: Open plan living, dining, kitchen, South Slope Brooklyn, 2009
The Vision: Buy me!
The Elements: (living room) Pottery Barn Moroccan Rug (bought with Amex points while on sale), ABC carpet and home outlet sofa, my grandmother's white barrel-back chairs and square chinoiserie table, crappy Target entertainment armoire, vintage slat coffee table from the 26th street flea market, velvet flower pillow from Urban Outfitters, green glazed lamp from Walmart (a gift from my friend Marni); (dining room) cherry farm table hand-made by my father in law, Phillipe Starck Louis ghost chairs in white, mid-century campaign desk as sideboard, wrought iron chandelier from previous owners, modern fruit bowl (gift from my friend Sara), art wall, modern child's easel from a now-defunct Brooklyn kids store; (kitchen) home depot maple cabinets, ceramic tile backsplash, counters, and floors from Brazil (via the previous owners); bamboo blinds and pale blue paint all around
The Huh? Factor: it's so neat and tidy! (with two kids under 3 in 1000 finished sf--how?) Why yes, these were the "for sale" pictures. A friend from my mom's group took one look at them and said "your house doesn't look like that!"
The analysis: I have to admit, I struggled with this house more than anyplace I've lived. It may have been the open plan and layout challenges like the lack of walls in the living room. It may have been the sort of spanish tile thing going on in the kitchen, which I love but which I had a hard time either "matching" or ignoring as I decorated the rest of the space. When it came time to sell the house, we finally had to commit to a direction and get it done to show the house. In the end, I was happy with how it looked for sale (and people oohed and ahhed when they came in--which says something about Brooklyn real estate at the time), but looking at these pictures it looks a bit staid and lifeless to me. In a way, though, this is a sign of pretty good staging, as our personalities are not largely on display! Now, I wonder what I would do if I had this space to do over again.
What remains: You may recognize a number of my favorite pieces here, including the rug, currently in our living room, our current dining room table, the campaign desk in the guest room, the white chairs in our bedroom. Weirdly, we're not using the ghost chairs right now, mainly because we would have needed several more and they got really, really expensive!
Coming soon: Had enough of my weekly walk down memory lane? Never fear: I'll be sharing other people's flashbacks soon.
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