Tuesday, March 1, 2011

At Home


I've been looking at a lot of photographs of people's homes lately.  Not photos that were staged by stylists and lit by photographers, but everyday photographs in natural light, and I've been loving them.

This afternoon I went around our apartment--the place we're living for a year or two until we can sell our loft in Massachusetts and buy a house up here.  For a temporary house, this place has loads of charm, and we immediately felt at home here.  There's plenty of room for my magpie collections and our books. Oh, and a bed of some sort (red wagon, wicker basket, old suitcase . . .) for Scout in every room.  

I purposely didn't stage anything.  Everything's as-is in these photos, dust and all.  I'm sick of staged home photos.  What I like to see are the everyday traces of lives lived.  We all leave a mark on each day--by the things we wear, the words we say, the objects we use, and the way we move through the world.  That's what I love.  That's what inspires me.  

Everyday bling in the bathroom.

We collect and write with fountain pens, 
so there's always ink in cubbies and drawers.

I buy beat-up old medicine cabinets at flea markets, 
sand them, paint them, and use them 
to store curios, spices, books, etc.


Treasures.

A long hallway runs like a spine through this apartment 
with our kitchen at the head.  
Near the kitchen entrance is an old brick arch,  
and that's another of my medicine cabinets on the wall.  
This one stores spices and essential oils.
Yes, that's Bananagrams on the hutch.
Our kitchen walls are covered floor-to-ceiling 
with the original subway tiles.  
I love the border of black tiles near the ceiling.

Like our kitchen, 
the bathroom is tiled in white with black.  
The bird vase is from my friend Melissa.  

This step in my study leads out to the sunporch.  
It's too cold out there in the winter, 
so the step becomes a book shelf and landing spot 
for random plants and paintings.



These vintage suitcases store CD's 
and double as an end table.

Last but not least, the boots.  
You know we love our boots around here, 
but there's no place to store them, 
so we decided that they are art.
As I type that I realize 
that so much depends upon 
how we choose to see and value things.  
The small stones in the first photo
are some of the heart-shaped stones
I have collected over the past couple of years.
Once I spot them, gather them, 
slip them into my pocket,
they become talismans--

they become what I need them to be.

This "home-for-now" has done the same;

it is just what I need it to be.

More photos soon.  
Can't wait to show you my old pilasters 
and favorite books!  

xo
  








31 comments:

  1. You have the loveliest home! And if you find a pair of boots missing, please don't ask me about it. I'll deny EVERYTHING.

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  2. What a pleasure, Gigi to be invited this way and visit with you in your beautiful "home-for-now", it feels cozy and warm and very friendly :-)

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  3. I loved all these glimpses of your home! I don't know about you, but I can't help being fascinated and a little nosey when I go to someone's house-in that I love to look at their treasures and find out about them-and I like it when people do that in my house. Your post gives me the same feeling so thank you for sharing all these lovely details. Your apartment looks beautiful.

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  4. Thanks, Charlotte and Anyes! I'm guessing you're a boot lover, too, Charlotte! They make my heart go pitter-pat. :)

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  5. Thanks, Sarah! You described my feelings exactly.

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  6. It's all lovely. If it were a novel, I'd call it 'A Well-Inhabited Place.'

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  7. So much wonderful character. I love it.

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  8. ahh, just the same as when we left yesterday...bananagrams is right where we left it!

    wherever you are, your home always feels like home to me too.

    xo

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  9. Thanks for sharing your home with us. I loved seeing the boots in a row and all the other treasures, including the medicine cabinets.

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  10. First off... bananagrams? I have no idea!

    Wonderful photos. Every time we move I love going into an apartment. We all squeeze into a place that is cozy and low to NO maintenance. Life gets suspended for awhile until the official home purchase ushers in the drudgery of normalcy once again.

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  11. Gigi, thank you for the delicious tour of your temporary HOME. I'm getting ready to move to a temporary home next week. You inspire me to make mine just as much HOME as a "permanent" home. Love the boots and medicine cabinets!

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  12. Love the ease and comfort of your home Gigi. Looks like a place that everyone would feel welcome and relaxed. I just bought a pair of fry boots (being nostalgic for my 20;s) and think i should get some more just so I can display them in such a clever way. Much love XO

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  13. this is why i think some design blogs leave me cold - i want lived in, touched, comforted, treasured, home...i want to see the love - i can see the love in your collections, your books, your bits and pieces. beautiful.

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  14. Thanks for the wonderful comments, my friends. Cate, yes, we haven't touched the Bananagrams since you left, but I have a feeling we'll be playing tomorrow night after dinner.

    Char, you describe my own feeling about some design blogs, too. I like what you said: "I want to see the love." That's just it--and that's why I love visiting your blog.

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  15. What a treat to see your home, Gigi. It is lovely.

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  16. Hi Gigi - Thanks for the nice tour! Even though it's a temporary stop until your next adventure - you have given it a feeling of being 'settled in' and 'at home'. I love the heart-shaped rocks and the end table made of old suitcases. If they could talk - I bet they'd have a few great stories to tell!
    I've started a project of writing a very brief explanation (post-it note size) of special momentos (i.e. details about grandma's locket or a Rookwood vase etc), photographing the notes next to the item, & putting them in iPhoto. I personally want to remember each and every "story" and to share them with whomever ends up with them someday. It may be a bit obsessive - but it's been kinda fun too.
    Thanks again for sharing your home with us! Holly

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  17. I love still lifes. It tells alot about a person when you see how they arrange things around them. You have a lovely home. If houses are a reflection of the people who live in them, your's seems to fit you perfectly.
    textilediva.blogspot.com

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  18. LOVE, love, love your home, Gigi! I was such fun having this little behind-the-scenes... You have such a great eye for decorative details. Every corner a wonderful still life, a work of art. The cowboy boots art is great fun--they look ready for line-dancing at a moment's notice. ;o) Love the peek into your white, bright kitchen. Your place feels so homey & cozy. We're just getting ready to spruce-up our kitchen (deciding on paints, new floors, etc.) and this week I've been doing a big spring clean around the house. So I've got home matters much on the mind just now. Thanks for welcoming us into your home in this way. :o) Happy Day, my friend ((HUGS))

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  19. Gigi, I love the glimpse into your home that you have given us! I have featured your blog today on stylesson.com. Thank you for telling the story of what is in each photo - and for the writing that you share!

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  20. i just love your house, real house envy going on here; it's just the kind of place i would love to be in, reminds me in some parts of ours. i'm very envious of your junk store finds, sadly nothing like that out here - but we do have a wealthy of very good fundi's (experts) who can make absolutely anything you ask them to.

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  21. Wonderful, comfortable, personal and lived in...great photos!

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  22. What a fabulous home, Gigi...and just how I picture you would live! I, too am a boot girl from way back when. I was just at the dentist this morning and the hygenist and I were having quite the boot conversation too...(she had commented on my boots and it went from there!) Have a wonderful day! xxoo :)

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  23. You are a true homemaker Gigi...I love that....xv

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  24. Thank you so much for giving us a peek into your nest...and it is such a nice, friendly, happy nest! I am in love with your tiled kitchen! I do not believe you didn't do a little dusting first though:) And now I am off to do a little housekeeping....

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  25. Gigi ~
    This post made me realize that I need to hop on a plane and come sit in your kitchen and talk for hours! I love your home and every special treasure you shared...another glimpse into what makes you so incredibly special. Those boots, oh my dear friend, absolutely fabulous!
    Bisous,
    Melissa
    P.S. Sadly, we will not make it to Savannah this trip. Although, now that I have typed that I may just have to do everything possible for a quick swing through en-route to FL. I'll keep you posted. :)

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  26. I love seeing the "everyday traces of lives lived." I agree with all your sentiments--I love seeing how people live in their spaces; I love seeing the real people/real loves displayed. Your vignettes are so beautiful. You definitely have an artistic touch. Thank you so much for sharing with us. I can't wait to see more!

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  27. I can relate to everything you said. But you say it in such a beautiful way. And the photos are perfect. They convey a home filled with love.

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  28. Oh, your boots are all so shiny and beautiful. I love them so much. I also love the treasures and talismans with which you've surrounded yourself. And the medicine cabinet idea... and your words... and ... and ... and...

    I just love you.

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  29. This is wonderful, not staged, just as it happens.
    I am also tired of "decorated" homes - contrived is the word that comes to mind first and foremost.My husband and I have always been at a discord over his penchant for new perfection and my love of marks, dents and dings. To me it's evidence, a tangible record of someone having been there. The little marks on our kitchen table read as damage to him but for me, they are a reminder our children sat there, heads bent over schoolwork and the pen scratching away fast and fusiously as they hurried to finish while friends waited.
    I enjoyed this post very much!

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  30. I love your heart-shaped rocks! I've been collecting them about two years myself. A year ago, my sister passed suddenly. After her death, I started finding heart-shaped rocks in my gravel walk-way. I'd never found even one heart-shaped rock myself before then. Now, I've found a little over 20 in my walk-way on my own property in under a year. I feel that my sister shows them to me as a way to let me know that she's OK and that she loves me and misses me as much as I love and miss her.

    I also really like your heart-shaped bottle. I'll have to be on the lookout for one of those to put my rocks in!

    Sharon

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  31. Your space is so beautiful! So full of things that are meaningful to you, placed with care, so they can be cherished. Oh, and the beds you make for Scout...I love that! An old suitcase here, a red wagon there...

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