New York « a summer lifestyle

My style inspiration changes constantly. I want a scandi neutral space, then I want a bohemian, bright and luscious one. Mostly, I’m somewhere in the middle, because no way will I be able to survive without color, but there comes a point when I need to cool it, and opt for clean, white walls, and simple, hardwood floors.

We just moved apartments in Brooklyn – same neighborhood, but a little more space. I should mention, having a baby was involved, and the deciding factor when our living room became baby central (see below). We moved into Carroll Gardens apartment in 2015 as newlyweds, then transitioned to living again with our previous roommate (hence the ridiculous two sofas for football Sunday), to getting pregnant, living alone and realizing our sofa pre-2012 was full of flame retardant chemicals (insert increased levels of hormones + new parent freak out), to living with a newborn, to living with a (gasp) soon-to-be toddler who has taken over our lives, souls, and everything in between.

So without further ado, in chronological order, the transformation of our living room:

winter/spring 2015 – the early years (I’m not happy about the two sofa squish either, but like I said, football Sunday > my need for open space (or, choose your battles).

fall 2016 – Bye, roommate, hello prego nesting + beautiful, hardwood floors

fall 2016 + two days – fuck, baby research + said prego hormones decided that spending more money ala one salary was fiiiineeee for a new + safe sofa.

fall 2016 + two weeks – ah, that baby glider/recliner is actually pretty big. Nesting for the win. The glider is from Monte in Canada. Best. purchase. ever.

the nesting was intense.

Ok, so this isn’t in the living room, but right?! How good (and clean!) did this place look with the help of all my hormones!!??

winter 2016 – ok fine, having a baby does change the scandi vs boho decision being my biggest dilemma.

insert: a tired husband and baby. also insert: our attempt at plastic-free lasting 2 months.

summer 2017 – yea, it’s definitely time to move

she crawled under that barrier in about t-minus 2 mins.

Next stop: that new two bedroom + two living room (Brooklyn, is this real life?!) apartment.

I visited the Material ConneXion library this afternoon. I’ve decided to take on the certificate program at Parsons, and one of the courses they offer is Showrooms — where basically, you have the opportunity to visit amazing showrooms throughout New York: Large ones, historical ones, hipster-Williamsburghy-ones, you name it. Today we visited the Material ConneXion library located in Mid-town. This place is INSANE. Basically they are a data collection (the world’s largest collection!) of every known material that’s out there — ceramic, fiber, metals, cement, processes, and polymers. Their collection is roughly 7500, and at any given time they display 2500 of them. Unfortunately you have to have a membership to the museum (which is crazy expensive), but as a student at Parsons you can go for free. Whoop! Check out some of these killer materials I captured. It’s a pretty inspiring and an interesting space. Plus: you’re allowed to touch everything.

Recycled skateboards – could be used for a wide variety of things, including rad wall coverings.

This may be my favorite: handwoven wall coverings of recycled maps. Exceptionally expensive, I mean, it’s HANDWOVEN, but how cool would a bathroom, or wall in your office look with this all over it?

This is also a natural material — made of cork and woven cotton. It could be used to reupholster a piece of furniture, shoes, clothes, the list is endless.

So this one is kinda crazy — it’s a wood veneer with leather substrate. It’s flexible and therefore can be used again for many purposes.

These. I want a belt made out of each one. Low and hold, it’s all mosaic wood veneer. So, no belt for me, but it could be beautiful trimming, paneling, or framing (so the details read!)

I love this one! There’s glitter, there’s cork, there’s layers of paper. It’s really just cool. And it can be from recycled material which is even better.