Recently, a 17-year-old neighbor came by to babysit for the first time. As she was leaving, she said, shyly, I love your decor. Can I ask where you got the old things in your apartment?” I was very flattered I but didn't know how to answer: My family and stuff have a sort of complicated relationship.
People have used a lot of words to describe the apartment where I've lived for the past 10-plus years, first alone and now with a family: Layered. Maximalist. Quirky. Some assume-with the vintage-looking wallpaper, the gallery walls, old books, brass doorknobs stacked on the piano, and the mishmash of well-loved furniture and china-that my family has been here for generations. In a way, they're right.
What I usually say is some variation of: “A lot of it comes from my parents.” Or, I love flea markets and prefer things with history and wear. None of this is untrue, but the fact is, I come from a family of hoarders. I don't use that word loosely; I'm talking about the clinical term, often accompanied by a constellation of other psychiatric abnormalities, which is the focus of deeply distressing reality programming and both a source and a symptom of great personal pain.
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MORE, PLEASE
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CURTAIN RAISER
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The Empire Strikes Back - A 19th-century gem in Cambridge, Massachusetts, gets a tour-de-force restoration thanks to Frances Merrill of Reath Design.
Is it possible to simultaneously go back in time and leap forward? This was the challenge a couple set for themselves upon purchasing a salmon-pink 1869 house in Cambridge, Massachusetts, not far from Longfellow House, the National Historic Site that served as George Washington's headquarters during the revolution. We loved all the beautiful old details of this house, the homeowner says.
Just Like That, But Cheaper. -One writer tried to replicate a classic ELLE DECOR interior in his apartment. Could he do it for $500?
It was all about the green curtains. In 2008, to my great surprise, I was offered a ninemonth fellowship based in New York City. I had lived there twice before, both times unsuccessfully, meaning I had failed to create any kind of significant social life, and so this was a chance not only to do research for my new novel, but also an opportunity to get things right. I swore I wouldn't let the city break me a third time.
And How! - Decorator Nick Olsen transforms a Sag Harbor home into a Hamptons retreat with an irreverent humor.
If you must go to the Hamptons, however-because it is devilishly good fun, after all-you may notice an apparently modest, low-slung cottage on Sag Harbor's Main Street and think, with a comfortable sort of feeling, Now that is how a house should look. Nestled amid the Botox bars, helipads, and club-staurants, it could almost set the sordid world aright both a rebuke and a solution to the chaos that surrounds it. A real home.
