*Lyrics from Wild Women Do as performed by Natalie Cole from the hit 1990 movie Pretty Woman. Those of you too young to know, the late 1980’s were a time of great sexual empowerment of women (note the sarcasm dripping from these words – there was no other empowerment allowed), and a time of great artistic achievement in music video technology where incorporating the film that the song was written for in the background (and sometimes foreground) of the video was the height of sophistication. Also, Pretty Woman has been in rotation on cable, most likely for the parallels between Richard Gere’s character and Mitt Romney’s stint as a ruthless businessman who bought companies only to chop them up and sell them during that same time period. It was de rigueur for the time, I guess, just like terrible perms, lip liner, and super-tight spandex everything. But I digress.
So, okay, so the house hasn’t sold yet. Which is to be expected, I suppose (summer is slow, historically, for selling houses). I’ve never sold a house before, and every market is different, and every home is different (just like every buyer), so, well, we’re waiting. Turns out impatiently waiting. So we decided to go ahead and rent a small apartment – may we call it a pied-à-terre? mais oui! – in Brooklyn, in the neighborhood where we’re aiming to eventually move to permanently. Or at least as permanently as can be.
Shocked? I am, and I was part of the decision-making process! We’re going forward with the next phase of our life, despite the obvious obstacle of having not sold our home yet, and not knowing how long it will take to do so. Clearly, we have the most beautiful home on earth (duh), but clearly we are waiting for just the right person(s) to claim this home in the name of their god and country (ok, or just their family).
If you follow me on pinterest you may have noticed that I added a board last week called Pied-à-terre where I have been pinning inspiration and options to furnish the tiny thing. Since we’ll be splitting our time between the big house (not that ‘the big house’) and the little apartment, we’ll need to furnish the place separately from our proper home. And since it’s so small, it’s not really going to cost that much to get us started. And, and since it’s so small we can’t really fit most of our permanent belongings up the stairs and into the flat (widest opening = 31.5 inches, including the stairwell; yikes). So we have to think creatively, and use our budget wisely to create a comfortable home-away-from-home atmosphere while leaving our main house alone.
To that end, I thought I’d share with you some of the inspiration we’ve come up with for the color scheme, the basic vibe of the space, and the challenges in designing a for an itty bitty space, with a pretty small budget, in a short amount of time (and for a temporary home). We’re looking for wow, for punch, and for comfort, and we’re looking for it right now.
The general feeling of the space based partly on colors we like, art we owned, pieces that would fit, and the budget we set aside for the revamp.
We really liked the idea of trying to incorporate some more bold concepts (dare I say, trendy?) – deep hues, graphic patterns, lots of patterns, and sparkly stuff – while realizing that the tiny hallways and smallness of the space would limit what we could actually choose. We have a so-called junior one bedroom that’s about 400 square feet (or is it square foot? I can never remember) small, with a bedroom area open to the living room area, and a separate eat-in kitchen. With a mix of moody, cool, jewel tones, earthy and rustic (some say ‘world’) pieces, and an eclectic mix of modern and thrift, I think we’ll end up with a comfy spot that’s good enough for right now, and good enough for the next few however-long-it-takes-to-sell-days-weeks-months.
For the most up to the minute updates and inspiration, follow me on instagram (search for @sohappyhome), or check out my pinterest board. I’ll be back in the coming weeks with some before pictures, and some updates on the progress we’ve made (and are making) to turn this little, junky-but-sweet, little spot into a nice little nest for two (because, really, that’s pretty much the maximum capacity here – did I mention it’s small?).
Until then, happy fall, y’all! May our season be full of adventures, plentiful and pleasurable! xoxo