lucilleduquette:

i’ve written a lot (mostly complaining) about my move to the attic floor of an old house in ditmas park, brooklyn. i had several requests to post some photos of the apartment, and i finally feel that the living room, at least, can be posted without too much embarrassment. i still have a lot to do, but since i’m not very talented with decorating, i thought i would show what i’ve got, and ask for suggestions. so, here’s the view from the hallway- it is an odd space with two levels.

here’s the top level, for now. i had initially planned to make the lower level for seating/watching tv, and fill the upper level with a large dining table. then i realized the lower level would be too cramped with a sofa + tv stand, so for now, this is the arrangement i’m trying out. 

the sofa is a new acquisition. the night before i moved, i realized my much-loved room & board sofa wouldn’t fit through the narrow doorways of the house, so it had to go. the boyfriend and i took a trip to the bronx to visit the ABC home & carpet warehouse store (true story: mimi and i once saw alexander wang shopping there with his parents). we didn’t have much time, so we hurried through the store, and found 3 affordable sofas we liked. my 1st choice was a beautiful tufted leather sofa, but turns out, it was too tight a fit through our doorways, so we ended up with this calvin klein one, which was the boyfriend’s 1st choice. i liked that the upper cushions are a different fabric from the rest. anyway, i highly recommend the ABC warehouse if you find yourself in a furniture emergency!

my end tables came from craigslist, the pillow and fur rug from ikea, and the rest from various antique stores in ohio. i loved the marble horse bookends because my grandma has a very similar set. and the face vase was another lucky find, during a time when i was doing research on visual illusions.

here’s the lower level of the living room, which is mostly empty, except for a few too-small pieces of furniture. eventually i plan to put the little white table in the backyard, but until i can find a proper dining table, it’ll stay here. the wooden coffee table was made by my boyfriend’s father. right now it is hiding our internet router, and storing magazines. 

so clearly, i still have a lot to accomplish. the main things i need are a place to sit and eat, a place to put my feet up while sitting on the couch (i think my dad is going to make me 2 x-bench ottomans for this!), and additional seating. if you have any suggestions for pieces of furniture to look out for, ways to arrange the room, ways to accessorize, etc. etc. i would really appreciate it!

and in case anyone is wondering, here are some details—

sofa = calvin klein; rug, pillow, and white boxes = ikea, wall color = restoration hardware sycamore, framed infinite jest poster that needs to be hung = sam potts (this poster is one of my favorite things in my whole apartment), coffee table = custom made, everything else = vintage or antique

last night we had a ton of snow - only to wake up to a winter wonderland all over again.  since i missed the first snowstorm because i was out of town, this makes me so very happy.

and it was perfect timing because my new snow boots just arrived last night.  after much fretting over which shoes, i decided to go with a vintage pair of eddie bauer boots.  very similar to the ll bean maine boots, but only $20!  yay!

the rest of the outfit here is pretty neutral, paired with my favorite red-orange lipstick, a vintage brass knot necklace, chevron bracelet and geometric ring.

vintage sweater, eddie bauer boots, coat, chevron bracelet and knot necklace; h&m men’s belt, levi jeans

in nyc all of a sudden it went from winding-down summer days, to what felt like full on winter.  but then we finally got a few days of pleasant fall weather.  it’s my favorite weather for clothes, where it’s chilly enough to wear fun tights and little jackets and blazers, but not full on winter coats and snow boots.

i love this tweed wool skirt, but the length was making me feel a bit school-marm-ish, so i decided to let my legs throw a little lace-tights-party.

this little pyrite necklace was a recent creation of mine.  i love pyrite so much!  i think it all goes back to my childhood when i was obsessed with all gems, and…all rocks pretty much.  but pyrite was always my absolute favorite.  i think it was because i always thought the rock people had to slip up and let some real gold through sometime.

so, i’ve gotten a few comments on my recent daily wear of my glasses.  my eyes are recovering from a little scratch, so i’m on glasses for a bit…so it’s a good thing that earlier this year i completely stocked up on a million pairs of new glasses.  i found out that you can buy glasses (frames + lenses) online for something crazy like $8 to $40 a pair.  so, i went a little crazy and could now wear a different pair of glasses every day of the week.

these are some of my favorites, but you definitely have to dig through the sites to find the good ones, because there are some horrible ones on there, AND you can’t really try them before you buy….but when you can get a whole wardrobe of glasses for $15 each, it’s worth the risk. this is pair that i’m wearing above, and this website has all of the sites, and has a ton of information.

thrifted wool skirt, pyrite cluster necklace, thrifted sweater, seychelles heels, tights (i can’t remember), freeway glasses, thrifted evan picone jacket