Graydon Carter's NYC Apartment

Today was spent in our room organizing tax paperwork while continuing to watch the 9/11 documentary. Riveting stuff. So why don’t we look at something a little more beautiful and inspiring?

I’ve been obsessed with former Vanity Fair (and current Airmail News) Editor in Chief Graydon Carter’s old New York City apartment for years. It has a maximalist quality to it that you don’t see much of in today’s design world. Speaking for both me and PJ, who are definitely maximalists in our own right, I love seeing a cozy, controlled-chaos sort of style that feels relaxed and unpretentious. One where artifacts and collectibles and books and things take center stage and create an atmosphere you just want to get lost in.

The interiors were shot way back in 1996 but still feel surprisingly current. It goes to show you that good, classic design never goes out of style (that kitchen! those leather chairs! that map collection in the office!). Click here for the full tour.

(photo via Scene Therapy)

Is It Ever Too Early To Start Decorating For Fall?

I mean truly, is it ever?

It’s a question I ask myself every year around this time as we inch closer and closer to September. When is too early to start decorating for our favorite season? Or, do you even decorate at all? It could be something as subtle as an orange vase or some branches in a room, or a wreath on the front door, or maybe an extra throw blanket on the couch. Or even my personal favorite: a new fall candle.

I brought an orange vase into the living room from Holiday House the other day with some branches PJ found years ago on the side of the road and it was just the small touch of fall I think I needed to get me excited for it this year. Even though autumn is reportedly going to feel different this year, we still get excited about it all the same and I don’t think that’s ever going to change. After all, we did get married in October (6 years ago!).

A few photos from last year’s fall:

So we haven’t gone full-out in decorating for fall yet; we don’t usually do that until September. It’s 93 degrees today with no signs of getting cooler any time soon, so the A/C will be turned down to 70 for the next couple of months until it feels good enough to open the doors and windows and let the cool, fresh air in.

Happy Friday Eve, friends!

The Living Room Renovation at Holiday House is Officially Underway

Here we go!

After almost a year of owning the little cottage on our farm, that we lovingly call Holiday House, we have officially, finally, begun renovating the most used room in the house: the living room. It’s the first space you walk into when you come in the front door, so being the first thing you see upon entering, I know I speak for both of us when I say I’m so excited to see it fixed up.

It’s actually a really good sized room for such a small-ish house. It’s almost the same size (if not slightly longer?) than our living room at our house in town. The room gets the most amazing light pretty much all day until the afternoon, and it’s going to be getting even more once PJ installs the new, bigger windows on the wall facing the mountain. Sooooo beyond ready for those babies to go in!! It’s going to make the room feel even bigger and you’ll get a better view of the hill and the mountain and the trees behind the house.

We’re on a bit of a time crunch on this renovation since it’s for an upcoming collaboration we’re doing with a brand we absolutely adore. PJ is there right now actually taking out the doors and the small window in order to get ready to frame in the new windows. The good thing is, we already have all of the windows we’ll be using since PJ has been addicted to Facebook Marketplace this year and found a ton of windows at super good prices. That man, y’all. What would we do without him?

We’re going to be carrying the vertical wooden boards that PJ installed on half the room earlier this year throughout the rest of the room to give it a cozy, cottagey feel. We want Holiday House to feel welcoming and warm as soon as you step through the door, so we’re planning to paint the walls an earthy tone. TBD on which color we end up going with, though I still keep trying to talk PJ into painting it white!! It’s not going to happen, but a man can dream.

So real quick, here is everything we plan to do to the living room at Holiday House:

• new flooring

• add headboard to the ceiling

• new windows

• add wood paneling to the walls

• paint

• install new lights and get rid of the two fans (possibly add just one fan in the middle for air circulation?)

PJ just got home for the day since it’s 92 degrees here and way too hot to be working outside. I was only there for a few hours with him and sis as we checked on the pond progress (so much has already been done since yesterday!) and I bagged up a bunch of insulation. Not my idea of a fun afternoon, but it’s going to be all hands on deck this week if we want to get it finished in time.

Stay cool out there, friends!

New Curtains For the Living Room!

Yay for progress (no matter how slow)!

We’ve been in the process of giving our living room a little makeover refresh for 6 months now (where has this year gone), but everything sort of halted when we turned our full attention to working on the farm and Holiday House. We painted the walls white for a completely different look and feel, we got a bigger couch that takes up the entire window wall and has enough room for the whole family, bought a new TV console table, and moved an old rug from another room in there.

The photo above was taken back in January and it looks the exact same today. The plan was always to get blue velvet curtains to add a little drama and to cozy things up a bit, but like I said, we haven’t really done anything design-wise in here in a while. But now, that’s about to change!

I ordered a few pairs of velvet curtains in the perfect shade of navy blue and I am obsessed with them. They came in the other day and I was so happy when they arrived until…PJ pointed out I got a size too big. Womp womp. I ordered the 9’ when I should have gotten the 8’ panels. Face palm to the face and a million “Uggghhsss” are in order. So I am returning them today and ordering the size that will actually fit the room and get these things up once and for all.

I can’t wait to see what they look like in here. The room definitely feels a little…stark, and it has for months, so we think the curtains will be just what it needs to feel like the cozy family room we’re going for. It gets great light pretty much all day, which we love, but we’re excited to have curtains on the French door wall, too, because they’re blackout curtains, so we’ll (finally) be able to completely block out the evening sun if we want.

Hoping to have them up by next week!