My landlords must have hated me!

Yikes! I am about to get very personal. I can't believe I'm about to share this with you, but its so bad and funny its kind of good. My husband cleaned out his storage space yesterday and brought a box of my things home.  In it I found this Polaroid of an old apartment I had back from 1998-2003...



This poor apartment got painted and redone A LOT! It was my testing grounds. It got me thinking back to other apartments I had.  I dug through boxes of old photos and was able to find some gems.


 This one here was from my super funky and colorful period. We are talking 1997-98.  I lived in New York. I remember lounging around here and watching alot of Absolutely Fabulous on Saturdays with my girlfriends after a big Friday night out...


Way out there! I ripped the rug out of the place and painted the floor with orange stripes.

I had a brief phase of palm tree love, until I killed them all.
I upholstered the sofa in purple velvet remnant I found. I remember Friends was on and I was in love with Monica's multicolored apartment...that is the only explanation I have for the craziness. 

Here I am...

So embarrassed. I actually went out in public in a slip!

At the time I was in school and working as a decorative artist...

So I practiced alot of my decorative painting on my pads...

Ripped out another carpet and practiced "faux" marble and stone on the floor.
Can't believe I got my security back!

Right before this I had another apartment that I went through a
"DRAG ANY CRAP OFF THE STREET AND DECORATE WITH IT"
phase...
Didn't everyone decorate their T.V.?


WTF is going on here???

A hanging branch, ivy with ornaments on it, a wall sculpture I made with junk.
This was 1995-97. I was in art school and looking back at my paintings I was also in a
dark introspective phase...

this was actually one of my more cheerful paintings.

I also went through my hippy phase at this time.
Here is me and my little sis KK at Bread & Puppet...
A few years later we cleaned up a bit and I moved to Boston.

My little apartment in Salem, MA saw more paint than any other. Come to think of it I tore the rug out of this place too.  Brazen! I was here for 5 years...


I was attending the Boston Architectural Center and working at fabric showrooms in the Boston Design Center.  Discontinues patterns were my friends. I began slip covering just as often as painting.

Lesson learned. Satin is a gross and ugly choice for a slipcover.

I wallpapered the ceiling of my stairwell. I also tented the whole shabang too. I wish I had a photo of that! It took 50 yards of white drapery lining. I really was/am nuts.


This room got painted 6 times that I remember and wallpapered twice... once with stars (here) and lastly with grass cloth.


I made my zebra rug out of a drop cloth and paint. It actually held up well.

Below I made a painted "leopard" runner out of canvas.
When the hell did I sleep? No wonder I look exhausted.
I also think its funny that my accents for this room were navy and  fuchsia, a combo I am really loving now.

It is interesting to look back at where you came from and find similarities and growth.  I experimented heavily, and throughout this learned a lot through mistakes. I really think mistakes are one of the best parts of life, be it in design, choices or relationships. The learning curve is so much bigger
than sailing safely along.
 I still love over the top, color and pattern... and I think I can safely say I always will.  It is also safe to say that junk is junk, and I will not be bringing it into my house.  Anyone else have angry landlords ot there?


HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND!!!

10 comments:

Samantha said...

That is fascinating. All part of the process of being the fab designer you are now. (That cool little spindle table survived a few redos. Great piece.)

jandjhome said...

You have totally made me laugh today. I needed it, I was a little annoyed by a comment earlier. I love how you have always expiremented and continue to do so. That is how creativity is born. Love the outfit, too.

Brandi@ Flights of Whimsy said...

What a wonderful post! I posted my dorm room and some of my first apartments last year. So nice to see how you've grown!

LindsB said...

I love this!! Its so fun to look back on things that I used to think were cool too.

I'm at the BAC now and I love it!!

court. said...

GREAT share!!!! I'll post some of my bad blunders too this weekend!

Bri@Meyouandawiener said...

I honestly think you did your landlords a favor, I think they were sad to see you go. Awesome post! I should have taken pictures of my barracks it was like living in a cell with a microwave.

Heather said...

Love this! I've been posting flashbacks every friday (this week I shared some god awful stencils, inspired in part by your gorgeous ones of late--you can see them at http://loveyourspace.blogspot.com/2011/02/flashback-friday-tasis-bathroom.html), but there's something about seeing all these together that show the things that changed--and the things that changed the same in your taste. Fun. Thanks for sharing.

lemondropdreams said...

How fun! BTW I just bought a settee similar to the white wood frame you have. Love seeing how your taste grew through the years

Jennifer @ Belclaire House said...

I love it! Great post! I just found old pictures from my house in college. I covered milk crates in burlap and hung them on the wall as shelves. I also watched a lot of AbFab back then :) So fun to see all of the changes over the years.

Nichole Loiacono said...

This a great trip through your design evolution. I painted the kitchen cabs and tiled in the last place without permission. Of course, we are still waiting for our desposit. Hehe. Sometimes you just need to bite the bullet and do it.

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