Name: Darian Darling
Location: Queens, New York
Size: 800 square feet
Years lived in: 2½ — rented
Taking a break from her busy and glamourous entourage duties on Lady Gaga’s Monster Ball tour, lifestyle blogger, makeup artist and nightlife hostess, Darian Darling, graciously gave us a peek into her glittering abode. A direct reflection of her glitzy and engaging personality, Darian’s unique and inspirational home is full of eye-candy in every corner.
On her self-titled blog, Darian Darling: A Guide to Life for Modern Blondes, Darian offers her expertise on all things blonde - covering makeup, the world of baking, and of course – her obsession with pink. It’s no surprise that her home would represent her interests in such a distinct manner.
Color matching her own paint hues at home depot, salvaging Barbie Mannequins from the MAC makeup store in Manhattan’s Soho neighborhood, and scouring Ebay for Hollywood starlet-worthy furniture finds are all prime examples of the creative ways Darian has kept her apartment “on brand” with her glamorous persona.
When challenged with an eye sore of a bathroom, Darian turned lemon colored tiles into lemonade by displaying her Wonder Woman collectibles and adding a vibrant fringe shower curtain. Mixing fabulous vintage finds from Ebay and throw pillows from PBteen, she has used ingenuity and humor to create a space all of her own.
Her 1980’s Nail Salon-inspired living room feel surprisingly serene and totally liveable, and she cleverly incorporates her many priceless doll collections (most of which began in her childhood) without cluttering up the space. Fusing the unexpected with a fluid layout and subdued paint colors keeps the home both relaxing and obviously, thought-provoking. This home is a prime example of inspired living - and how wonderful to see a dwelling that is truly reflective of one's personality, especially when it's as delightfully vivacious as the one and only Darian Darling.
Apartment Therapy Survey:
My Style: Barbie’s Dream house
Inspiration: I am really inspired by beauty and glamour. Oh, and obviously Barbie and pink!
Favorite Element: Definitely my bedroom because it’s so relaxing and has become my own little sanctuary. I believe in the feng shui teaching that there shouldn’t be electronics where you sleep, just books. The room has so much natural light and I can curl up in my satin sheets and just be fabulous. It feels like a glamorous, movie star’s boudoir.
Biggest Challenge: The bathroom was really dodgy and when I first moved in - there wasn’t even a sink! It’s the size of a small closet but after a few adjustments, it works now. Ideally I would love a huge bathroom with a great tub – but with New York apartments, there always seem to be one issue!
What Friends Say: This is my friend’s favorite place to hang out. It’s not necessarily their style but it’s so inviting and I love entertaining and hosting brunches. Several of my friends have requested to have their birthday’s here – my most recent party had 50 people.
Biggest Embarrassment: The bathroom… I just hate that bathroom! The tile is a gross, weird yellow color - I mean what do you put with that? A fringe shower curtain and wonder woman, what else?
Proudest DIY: Well, I’m not a big DIY-er but, I painted the kitchen (the super painted the rest of the apartment) and I’m very happy with my work, because that hot pink paint was extremely hard to work with.
Biggest Indulgence: The settee and antique chair in the bedroom are vintage pieces from the 1800’s and still have the original velvet. When I saw them on Ebay, I knew they were quite the investment – but I had to have them.
Best Advice: Paint your bedroom a color that you look great naked in.
Dream Sources: ABC Carpet and Home, Ebay, CB2, IKEA, and www.target.com
Resources of Note:
ENTRY
- • Paint Color: Silver Berry by Baer
• Woman Painted on a Subway Map: Sharon Pell
LIVING ROOM
- • Paint Color: color matched to a Christian Dior sunglasses case at Home Depot
• White Leather Couch: IKEA
• Acryclic Coffee Table: CB2
• Pillows: mix of PBteen and Pottery Barn http://www.pbteen.com/
• Suede Shag Rug: IKEA
• Pink Chair: vintage, from the late 1960’s
• Metallic Zebra Pillow: Bed Bath & Beyond
• Mirrored Side Tables: www.target.com
• Patrick Nagel Artwork: Ebay
KITCHEN/DINING ROOM
- • Dining Room Table: From one of those random furniture stores in Chinatown. I demanded they throw in a fake flower arrangement as a bonus!
• Dining Room Chairs: IKEA
• All dishes: Fish’s Eddy
• Console and Cabinet: both from IKEA
BEDROOM
- • Paint Color: Mauve Mist by Behr
• Antique Settee and Chair: Ebay
• Both Dressers: Ebay
• Bedding: Bed Bath & Beyond
• Lady Lamp: Ebay
• Nightstand: Ebay
• Candelabra: QVC
• Fringe Curtains: Salvaged from a window display from the MAC store
BATHROOM
- •Fringe Shower Curtain: Linens n' Things
Thanks, Darian!
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Wowza! That's definitely a home with personality. :-)
I love the collection of glasses-- mine looks a bit like that, but with cars and comic strips instead of strippers on poles (yours rock!)! Also, I love the figure-cut mirror!
This is equally creepy and fabulous!
YOU HAVE MY JEM POSTER ON THE WALL AND ON YOUR COMPUTER!!!!
I am the original Jem artist! What a hoot!
I am still in love with PINK!
My new kitchen counters are Durat #150, a rather Barbie pnk!
yes! I was Jem for Halloween this weekend...
I adore this place, but not enough time has gone by since the 80's for me to be able to appreciate Nagle posters.
I love the way this place totally screams personality. It shows exactly who lives here and doesn't hold back for anyone. Awesome!
+1,000,000 points for the JEM stuff
this place looks really fun
I love it. It's "truly outrageous"--glamour and glitter, fashion and fame.
Bravo for embracing that part of your youth that makes so many of us smile!
LOVE!!!!!!!!!!
you can always tell when someone has decorated their home for themselves instead of others...
this pad is all about the owner!! LOVE.
A home with artwork that reflects the owners is one of the best things ever.
This home is full of kitsch, but isn't kitschy. So very well done!
Total wacky fun!
Best. Advice. Ever.
Brilliant photography, you guys really captured Darian's personality so well! I think the metallic pink frying pan is the item du jour ;)
i LOVE your patrick nagel collection. well, i love patrick nagel, period
i am also bit envious of your original barbie collection
OMG- You had me at Barbie. Or was it at Jem? Or was it at MAC?
Truly, truly, outrageous...
Your space is absolutely adorable. I wish the photos were bigger so I could zone in closer on the details. Your home would make a great coffee table book.
I often see the doll lamps (bedroom) in antique stores but I have never seen one used outside of traditional "grandma" or "grandma chic". It's perfect in your space.
Super super cute. Thank you for sharing your home!
That's a lot of darlings to live up to, but it seems you're winning the challenge. Wow. (I gave those strippers-on-a-pole glasses as a wedding gift and the Alice ones to a Wonderland collector; go Fish's Eddy!)
I remember the '80s a little too well, but this is still fabulously groovy and so much fun to see.
It's like Swinging London meets Less Than Zero. Shag cuts and shoulder pads!
LOVE IT!
Darn. I was hoping I'd never have to see Nagel ever again :(
Hmmm ... No. Definitely not. Uh uh. But the evening gown mirror is to die for.
What a fun place to live. Would be a bit scary at night though. That mirror is hot and I am jealous of your wonder woman collection. She was my hero.
Oh my god, it's outrageous. I'm in love. I have a bathroom full of action figures, too. Somehow they just make awful NY bathrooms so much less awful. I wish I'd thought of the fringe curtain, though!
I adore Jem so very much I must share this picture of my friend and I in our Jem costumes (she is Pizzazz, and I love my Jem wig more than anything in the world): http://www.cosplay.com/photo/1719344/
I have to go paint something pink now...
I can imagine dreaming of this home when I was twelve.
Such a happy apartment!
I do admire it and all the creativity and personality that's in the space... waaaaay too girly-girl for me.
FWD
Your costumes were AMAZING! And you both looked GREAT in them.
JEM's mom.
Best apartment ever! Where did the cool subway map come from? I have to have that!!
Pepper
www.pepperbeaumont.com
Pepper,
http://pellmell.com/
For the most part not my style, though I can totally get behind following you own aesthtic, but the hot pink kitchen- Genius!
Holy moley....Life has taught me enough to know how ugly a thing envy can be so I do my best to keep it at bay... and then people like darian come along. LOve LOVE LOVE it all.... love.
I checked out your tour twice! Love the life size mannequin Barbie! The entire collection makes me smile ;)
Love your place, thanks for sharing!
I have never had the hots for pink - even when I was a kid and played with Barbies - so umm, this is not for me and it would make me feel very uncomfortable - the living room gives me goosebumps (pls note that I am judging from the colour as displayed by my monitor, who knows how much off it is) - but thanks for sharing.
So much style and personality in an amazing space! That's the first time that I've seen so much glamor on this site--and it's done is such a tasteful, artsy way. I love it! And I love the pink French chairs in your bedroom! Delish!
Totally creeped out by the mannequins but other wise definitely unique and cute.
This place is like eating a box of chocolate covered cherries. I wouldn't want a whole diet of them, but how indulgent and how fun!
Wow congratulations in displaying all of your collections successfully! Very cute! Looks like you had alot of fun. I definitely agree with your statement, "I believe in the feng shui teaching that there shouldn’t be electronics where you sleep, just books."
Just make sure there are not TOO many books in your bedroom or all you'll be doing is reading in bed if you get my drift!!
OHHH EMMMMM GEEEEE!!! I love this girly and glamour inspired apartment!! And I used to have that poster above your TV in my bedroom in the late 80's/90's!!!! And where is it now -- in your home!!!! LOLs!
Christine
I like everything except the Nagels. Ohmigod, it reminds me of the old lady hair salon my 83-year old mother goes to! Love the Barbies and Barbie wigs.
Fun apartment!
I LOVE IT. This is fantastic, although I don't think I could live there. It's like Legally Blonde: The High School Years. That's a compliment. (If this is Jackson Heights, I'm so proud that this is in my 'hood.) Miss Piggy on a motorcycle--perfection.
Not what I'd want to surround myself with, but everything works. Somehow she managed to display all of those collections and still keep each living area livable and even lovely.
WOW! amazing collections, so much to look at. Love the bedroom.
Only one other person noted Miss Piggy on a motorcycle? Surely, Miss Piggy is due more respect than that. And, my 3 year old thinks we "should buy a fancy house like that."
...JEM!!!
I freaking love this. LOVE.
How could I not know who "JEM" is?
I have no idea what this Jem thing is, either.
I don't do girly, frilly, or pink, but I think it's great that the place suits the owner and to hell with current fashion. Also love the bold use of color (I only wish the color in question wasn't pink!)
This is way out of my age range, I guess. I might lose my mind after a half hour gawking at the barbies and other doll paraphanalia. If Pee Wee Herman were a girl, I'm sure his place would look a lot like this.
AWESOME !!! YOU HAVE JEM !!! WHERE DID YOU FIND THE JEM STUFF ?? I love Jem..OMG..
Great Job Tho
FAB. Could not live here (I'm sure it would reject me within minutes for my non-blondness), but I admire its vision. SO well done! From Barbie to Nagel to Miss Piggy! Brava!
Thank you everyone who left a comment! I appreciate all your feedback.
This is the first time I have ever lived alone and because of that I was able to decorate without compromise. Obviously some of my choices aren't for everyone BUT I'm glad people seem to be able to appreciate it and understand my vision. I put a lot of time and thought into every aspect of decorating this space. I really just wanted to stay true to myself and create my own hyper-feminine and ultra-glam world. It needed to be playful and show off all my glamorously kitschy collectibles but in such a way that wouldn't read as kitsch. I wanted it to be chic and grown up while at the same time also being a little girl's doll house...only I'm the doll and NOT the little girl! Hahaha!
To answer a few questions:
The paint color in the living room is actually my favorite neutral- gray. It looks pink/lavender in the photos because of the daylight shining through my sheer hot pink curtains and because of the purple neon light on the Nagel painting.
The JEM and the Holograms dolls I have collected for years and I actually created one of the first JEM websites, JEM Grrrlz way back in 1997.
You can read my own breakdown of my apartment decor and aesthetic on my blog here --> http://dariandarlingnyc.blogspot.com/2009/09/every-barbie-deserves-her-dream-house.html
All the best,
DD
Wow. This place is surreal.
Meticulously adorable. (and amazing that the space makes the Nagels look good.)
i love the kitchen. Everyone has preferences. I would take everything off the door of the frig. sincerely, mary
So not my style and yet I can't stop smiling! Lovely to see some truly fearless decorating.
Wow. What an eyeful. Unfortunately if you lived through the 1980's you may not be quite ready for this but the effort is astounding...
To me, this is what a house tour should be. A decorating style that is something you don't see everyday, and fits the personality of the owner. Great job!
love the pink, love the rocker glam, but the mannequins are super creepy
What a fun, feel good apartment! I love a home that truly reflects the style of the person who lives there, not of a designer or magazine.
I love this... very fun, inviting and glam. Well done!
@mslewis... so you're the style police huh??
Love your flat dah'ling, if we all did the mid-century modern thang on AT I'd just not bother coming back to the site!! It's apartments like this that push design forward. Everyone knows the great designers take their inspiration from their peers, friends, street and city.
I love how totally original your space is! Really cool... It makes me miss NY soooo much :)
This is the apartment of a child with access to too much money. I'd rather AT concentrate on adults with less money.
Great space...very personal and well designed. And I guess I should add that I sculpted two of Jem's friends for Hasbro dolls!
I love that you simply surround yourself with things that YOU love....just can't help picturing a guy when you bring him to your place for the first time. You can tell me-how many have ran screaming?
I used to love Jem...she was in the ONLY cartoon where they changed their clothes...hated the story lines just wanted to see what everybody....including Phyllis..was wearing!!!--LOL..sigh...um old...
I do admire anyone that can have fun with their home..and it looks like you did just that..you went out of the box...LOVE IT!..in a closeted way, boy I could not live there, but would love to visit sort of way.
love this place! I have a collection of pinups myself and now I need to put them on the wall. Love the girliness of it all.
love it all. just great!!!
Fun!Fun!Fun!
I. WANT. THAT. KITCHEN. NOW!
Where do I start? I love it!!!!! That pink kitchen is fierce! I love the molding, wood floors and details of the apt... reminds me of my last apt. in NYC (am in LA now). Seeing your apartment made me want to move back. So feminine... So much a setting for mani/pedis, champagne, cupcakes, cocktail parties, smooching, Valentine's s day :) and a bunch of other stuff I like... Sincerely, A Blonde Sister