by Furnishly | Feb 13, 2023 | Design Inspiration, Style
by Apartment Therapy Submissions
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Name: Amanda Wilson Carter; husband, Justin; and pups, Dakota and Maisey
Location: Knoxville, Tennessee
Type of home: House
Size: 1100 square feet
Years lived in: 5 years, owned
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Tell us a little (or a lot) about your home and the people who live there: The short version: We bought our house sight unseen off Craigslist because it had a dog door.
The long version is that we moved into what we thought was a temporary rental home fresh out of graduate school and accidentally fell in love with a tiny cottage in Southern Appalachia. We bought our home from our landlord a few months after moving in as renters. It is a 1950s cottage with original hardwood floors, plaster walls, arches, crystal doorknobs, wavy glass windows, built-ins, and chunky baseboards all nestled within a cozy two-bedroom, one-bathroom footprint.
I, Amanda (wildlife biologist and professor), live here with my husband, Justin (engineer), and rescue pups, Dakota (lab-pit mix), and Maisey (pit-hound-chatty Kathy mix). Over the last five years we have painted every wall and ceiling, switched out dated light fixtures, commissioned a handmade bathroom vanity, grew a native wildflower garden, laid tile with my dad, and slowly filled our home with thrifted treasures that amplify our love for nature and global travel. We have poured our hearts into this home knowing full well that we are temporary stewards of its history, one chapter of her story. And as we prepare to put our beloved home on the market, we feel so thankful that this chapter lasted longer than we planned.
As I write this, we have a “For Sale” sign in the front yard and a signed rental contract for a home we’ve never seen in a state we’ve never been. Are we nervous? Of course. But the new home has a dog door.
I identify as a wildlife conservationist, an educator, a global traveler, and a dog mom. Sustainability is at the core of our family ethos, and our home reflects that with vintage and secondhand items and natural materials that will biodegrade when we are gone. Our home is filled with objects bargained for in international markets, scavenged from the side of the trail, and thrifted from local treasure troves.
Describe your home’s style in 5 words or fewer: Thrift store, National Geographic.
What is your favorite room and why? Since working from home full-time, my favorite room has been the second bedroom/office. Morning light crashes into this room, as if to congratulate you for rising and getting to work. In the afternoon it’s a greenhouse where my houseplants bask. The dogs have a daybed fashioned from old map drawers from the geography department where they nap and watch birds. The sunlight radiates the warm tones from the Moroccan rug around the space so that by the afternoon, the room glows.
What’s the last thing you bought (or found!) for your home? I found a vintage swing arm desk lamp in avocado on Etsy that I couldn’t resist.
Any advice for creating a home you love? There isn’t one rule or single piece of advice for creating a home you love. For me, I only bring home pieces that I love. This means slowly collecting objects for my home that have soul — a lot of thrifted, vintage, and secondhand items.
by Furnishly | Feb 1, 2023 | Design Inspiration, Style
Erin DerbyPhotographer
Originally from California, but turned New Yorker since 2000, I’ve been shooting my entire life and am still inspired and excited about it. Lately I have been putting my energies into my Fine Art, which can be seen on my website and on Saatchi Art. Being infatuated with interior design doesn’t hurt either, which mixes well with my love of photographing interiors.
by Furnishly | Jan 23, 2023 | Design Inspiration, Style
Name: Meredith Raymer, roommate, cat, and chinchilla
Location: Chicago, Illinois
Type of home: Apartment
Size: 1200 square feet
Years lived in: 5 months, renting
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Tell us a little (or a lot) about your home and the people who live there: We are graduate students at Northwestern on a limited budget. Meredith tries to DIY everything she can and most of the pieces in the home have some DIY modification.
As grad students, we need flexible spaces to accommodate both of our schedules. This need led to the creation of the room divider shelf! The home design overall combines a variety of styles and objects to be minimal but not too minimal.
Describe your home’s style in 5 words or less: Mid-century modern and modern organic
What is your favorite room and why? The bedroom is Meredith’s favorite room because of the playfulness of the wavy headboard and depth achieved with the dark green fabric. The rug in the room came from Abu Dhabi where she lived for four years and adds more traditional feeling to contrast the more modern shapes.
Any advice for creating a home you love? When you have an idea go for it! Everything can be changed or re-done, but that inspired moment can’t be replicated.
by Furnishly | Jan 20, 2023 | Design Inspiration, Style
Name: Sophia S Lewis
Location: Upper West Side — New York, New York
Type of home: One-bedroom apartment in six-floor co-op
Size: 800 square feet
Years lived in: 1.5 years, owned
Tell us a little (or a lot) about your home and the people who live there: When I was born, my parents rented a junior suite in this building. Soon after, the apartment below went for sale for $100k in the mid-’90s in a sheriff’s sale. We bought it for my uncle, who was on the autism spectrum, so he could stay close to my family — my grandparents live six blocks away. My parents have since moved to California, and my uncle sadly passed away in 2019.
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The apartment was in disastrous condition — mold in the ceilings, destroyed windows by two cats, and the remnants of severe hoarding everywhere. We had to completely gut the space, redo the floors, and remove the mold. I moved back to NYC and into the apartment once the renovation was complete. So, I now live in the same building where I was born, 30 years later. Initially, my grandma couldn’t come to visit without leaving with tears in her eyes. I have since curated the space to be a pseudo-gallery of my grandmother’s paintings and turned a sad place into a happy place. My apartment includes 16 pieces of her original artwork. She is still six blocks away and enjoys coming over. I’m now taking care of her in her old age, as she once took care of my uncle — it’s a really special position to be in and a role exchange. I also have a group of friends in my building — similar to the TV show “Friends.” I love every inch of my apartment and am happy to keep it in excellent condition.
My style is a bit of a mish-mosh with bamboo cabinetry and an imported white tulip dining table from Italy. The living room features a cozy white rug and tall white shelves flanking the windows, and I’m particularly fond of the open shelves in the kitchen and the heated toilet seat in the bathroom.
I identify as an earnest empath, reflected in my apartment’s tribute to my grandmother’s artwork and maintained as a soft shrine in memory of my uncle.
Describe your home’s style in 5 words or less: Chic, art-centric, modern, clean, and textured
What is your favorite room and why? The living room features a five-foot wide acrylic painting over the velvet couch from ABC Carpet. It’s beautiful and a grand centerpiece.
What’s the last thing you bought (or found!) for your home? Honestly, shoe storage from the Container Store.
Any advice for creating a home you love? Champion women artists and collaborate with your dope granny.
by Furnishly | Jan 19, 2023 | Design Inspiration, Style
Name: Melanie Wiggins
Location: Brooklyn, New York
Type of home: Apartment
Size: 550 square feet
Years lived in: 7 months, renting
Tell us a little (or a lot) about your home and the people who live there: This is the first time I have ever lived alone — so it was a really big deal for me! It was super exciting to create a space completely my own. This apartment has everything I could have hoped for in my wildest dreams — exposed brick, hardwood floors, a dishwasher, wood-burning fireplace (!!!), in-unit washer/dryer (!!!!!!), walking distance to friend’s and the park — it’s a dream.
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While furnishing the apartment, it was important to me that I did it in a sustainable way. Luckily, being in New York, that ended up being fairly easy. Everything in my apartment (except for the bed and mattress) I got secondhand or stooped off the street. The stooping culture in the city is great — especially in the area I live in. People put really nice and valuable pieces out on the street — it’s basically its own mini economy.
My favorite pieces are all stooping pieces — the statue by the fireplace, the Sara Erenthal portrait, and the lamp painted with flowers. I think they’re all so unique, and love the surprise and delight of finding something that good on the curb. I’ve also gotten some larger pieces from stooping — including my desk, desk chair, bookcase, coffee table, and a red IKEA chair from the ’90s.
In terms of secondhand, I’ve gotten a lot of things on Facebook Marketplace and Buy Nothing groups. I also frequently go to thrift and vintage stores. The key to reusing things is to know that it can be a long process to get it right. For awhile I was rearranging my apartment almost every week. I would find a piece, switch it out for something I already had, and then give my old piece to a friend, throw it up on Marketplace, or put it on the stoop with a “free” sign. Because the price point is significantly lower when you’re reusing, you’re able to take things as they come and rotate things out when you find the right one. It also involves going to different shops pretty regularly. I recommend finding out what day of the week they restock and going the next day to have the best selection!
Another thing I was really excited to do was create the feel of a conversation pit — even though the architecture does not have something like that. I did that by getting an L-shaped couch (from my neighborhood’s Buy Nothing group) and placing it on a very fluffy rug with a few poufs on the ground for sitting. I feel like it gives an intimate feel of the conversation pit without having an actual conversation pit. I also don’t have a TV, which was a purposeful choice to encourage less screen time!
In the same vein of creating space for socializing, I had a housewarming party about a month into living here and took a lot of Polaroids there. I was nervous about living alone and being lonely (even though I was really excited to do it) — so I wanted reminders of the wonderful people and community I have. I DIYed some photo hangers and have them all on the wall now. They make me smile every time I see them!
I wanted the space to be very welcoming — somewhere I could have friends over. I included bright, playful colors, flowers, and have a sign from a protest in support of ratifying the Equal Rights Amendment above my bed.
I’m also a songwriter who seeks out stories that haven’t been told before. I believe that everything has a story to tell if you look close enough. Storytelling comes to light in terms of what I’ve filled my home with — where all the pieces have a past. Even when choosing an apartment, I really did not want to live in a luxury building or something that was new or gutted. I kept saying “if the apartment isn’t haunted I have no interest in living there.”
A great example of this is my gallery wall. There are so many beautiful and interesting pieces there from all different places. My mother is an artist and she likes to paint places I have traveled, so I have a couple of her paintings up — one of London and one of Malta. I also have some photographs and a cross-stitch by a couple of friends. It’s another way that the people I love are incorporated into the apartment’s design. There is a Life magazine cover from 1969 with the headline “That Young New York Look” and a woman wearing a really timeless outfit. I like being reminded that being young in this city and feeling like you’re new, edgy, and pushing boundaries, is actually a time-honored tradition. Finally, there are several pieces that I bought from small artists at flea markets and on Instagram. I love supporting local artists and displaying their work.
Describe your home’s style in 5 words or less: Sustainable, funky, loving, comfortable, creative
What is your favorite room and why? My favorite space in the apartment is the fireplace and mantel. Wood-burning fireplaces are mythological in this city. It’s illegal to install them now, so you have to find one that already exists and has not been blocked up. I love having a fire, so I was so excited to actually find a place where I could do that.
A lot of fun trinkets are on the mantel. I have miraculously kept a few pothos plants alive, and they are draped across the brick. There’s a handmade vase I purchased in Santa Fe, some crystals, and a small portrait of Harry Styles that my mom got me at an art fair.
The main piece on the mantel is “A Bar at the Folies-Bergère” by Manet, which hung in my parents’ living room growing up. I love it for a bunch of reasons — as a kid I was fascinated with the lady in the painting, and the painting reminds me of home. However, there is also some controversy over the painting itself. It was Manet’s last major work. There’s a lot of discussion over whether or not the figure is standing in front of a mirror or not. It’s also implied that the figure is a prostitute, which was pretty risqué for high art at the time. Like I said — I love when a piece has a story behind it.
What’s the last thing you bought (or found!) for your home? Last week I bought a little bud vase from Housing Works, a thrift shop down the street that is run by a charity to support people with and affected by AIDS/HIV. From their website — the shops provide funding “to ensure that all people living with HIV/AIDS have access to quality housing, healthcare, HIV prevention, and treatment, among other lifesaving services.” They’re an incredible organization that I love supporting. The vase is shaped like two people sitting back to back and you can put little sprigs of flowers in their heads. It’s very sweet!
Any advice for creating a home you love? Be honest about who you are and what matters to you, and allow your space to reflect that. There are so many pretty, shiny pictures on Pinterest of perfect houses, but that might not actually make sense for you or your lifestyle. It’s a little cliché — but your home should be as unique and interesting as you are!
