This is from DC finalist, Hilary. Comment away!
Name: Polly E.
Location: Georgetown
Size: 580 sq feet
Years Lived In: 2
We’ve always loved Pomander Walk, a secret alley of tiny, pastel-colored rowhouses in Georgetown. But even in our fantasies, it seems impossible to imagine where everything would fit. So we were delighted when Polly invited us into her 11-foot-wide, two-bedroom house. Although originally covered with “horrible 60s hairy rugs in lime green,” Polly knew she could “open it up and keep it very simple.”...
Polly moved from a large house, and kept only her bed and the long table with a slate top, cut from a West Virginia quarry (the other is on the two urns in the garden). Although her narrow front door meant she had to buy a small couch, she advises that people living in small spaces “can have large furniture, just not very much of it.”
Paring down her possessions was difficult—especially her large book collection—but Polly now displays all her important pieces, such as the first artwork she and her late husband purchased. The maritime oil painting had a large frame, which overwhelmed the bedroom, and so she removed it and painted the wall instead. She also enjoys her William Nicholson alphabet prints, now rearranged several times: “You have no idea how hard it is to hang 26 prints—you can see all the holes if you look closely!”
We were especially charmed by her use of the garden as an extension of the house. Although she hated gardening as a child in England, she thinks “having your own makes all the difference,” and now changes the plants with the seasons. Polly knocked down the back wall and put in glass doors, giving her a bright space where she can to pursue her painting and enjoy a secret garden in the heart of Georgetown.
RESOURCES
Painting above the sink from Baltimore’s American Visionary Art Museum
Mirrors behind the couch from Ballard Designs
White table from Random Harvest
Custom-cut rug from Georgetown Rugs [no website, 2208 Wisconsin Avenue, 202-342-2262]
Pomander Walk has inspired a children’s book, The People in Pineapple Place.
- Hilary
(Thanks, Hilary!)
Reader Vote:
The Ultimate Used Furniture Cleaning Kit
Ana Creates a Community at Home
Good Food to Share 
The Big Book of Small, Cool Spaces 
Apartment Therapy Presents 
The Eight-Step Home Cure 
Z2 iPod Dock and Wi...
Soda Recipe: Homemade Ginger Ale
Recipe: Spring Fruit and Nut Tabouli
the first thing i thought when i saw the picture of the street was "the people in pineapple place" (didn't know it was the actual inspiration, i just thought it was g'town/foggy bottom in general). LOVED that book! the alphabet prints are very neat. definitely like seeing the dc house tour (but i will say that the decorations in the house itself aren't my style).
Amazing! I want to live there ...
Was this entered into the Smallest Coolest Competition? A shame if it wasn't.
Really enjoyed the tour, but I have a question- did you leave the two squares of brick unpained on purpose?
Cute!!
Is that a combo washer/dryer in the kitchen?
this is so awesome! i love your art - all of it! the folded books on the corner shelf, what are those and who made them?? i'm fascinated!
Aw....that takes me back. My husband and I lived in Georgetown about 10 years ago. We lived a few blocks over from Pomander Walk and when we'd walk by we'd always talk about how cute those houses were. Thanks for giving us a peak inside!
I knew of the Pomander Walk in NYC, but didn't realize that there were other private little blocks of mini-houses.
huh.
I like how the handrail on your stairs blends in with the wall. We took down a bannister to open up stairs in our house as well, but have realized that we eventually need something for safety/balance that doesn't sacrifice the "open-ness". Great use of space. Thanks for sharing!
I'm with Zack--I used to live in a building overlooking NYC's wonderful Pomander Walk, but had no idea there were others. Though the one on the UWS was built as a replica, if you can believe it, of the stage set of a play by the same name. Maybe the play was set on the Georgetown street?
IM IN LOVE!!!! not only is the space, adorable, but her use of neutrals do a great job of keeping it simple, personally I really enjoy the haphazard painting technique around the oil painting ad behind the dining table. It almost looks like an art instillation! wonderful Polly thank you for the tour!
ps. i don't know how you ever leave, I would curl upon the sofa by the garden and read until my eyes fell out!
Small and cool. I love the interesting way the wall paint has been applied in the bedroom. This would be an instafinalist in the competition!
Love the space, so serene. Love you bedroom wall, great effect. The decor isn't my personal taste either but the space is well used and well lived in and looks inviting.
There is a how-to on folded books in a decor book i have at home. "Home Cheap Home" I belive. I love idea but lack the space to display them.
i remember living in gtown in 1995 when one of these went up for sale for $150K... wish i would have had the foresight to have jumped into the market at that point... it's great to see inside one that's as nice as this one.
kdkaboom: I folded up some books to a similar effect a few years back - and I think I found the first patterns in a Real Simple or something. Once you have a sense of what it takes to get the end look right, you can do new and different page folds.
http://tinyurl.com/4yuxvu
http://tinyurl.com/3sbul3
Absolutely darling! Wonderful job. :-)
Nora Rocket, that is rad! I'm going to have to try this, though I can't imagine which book is getting sacrificed for the test ;)
Thanks!!
loved the house -
the reason I voted down a cupcake is this sentence: "Polly moved from a large house, and kept only her bed and the long table with a slate top, cut from a West Virginia quarry (the other is on the two urns in the garden)"
the parenthetical just didn't make sense to me - am I missing something?
who would ever vote this place one cupcake?! it's well but not overly designed, comfortable, serene, sophisticated, lovely but not too precious, etc. etc. etc.! Perfect blend of good basics and personal touches. love all the art. love the big swatches of paint on the walls. love it all! i think the biggest compliment is how we all want to come over and sit in that living room!
They look like Mews.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mews
If I could, I would give this 4 cupcakes.
We're supposed to be voting on the post, not the house, yes?
Another great job, Hilary--I think you did a good job of picking which details about the owner's story to tell. This reminds me of that story in the Washington Post recently about the "spite house" in Alexandria, except you don't sound all aghast at the idea of a really small house like the WP did, which is of course the right tone for AT.
wow...love the house! great attention to detail and overall "feel" of the house - the back is amazing.
Beautiful home with great bones. Love how you've let the wood and details come out with a neutral, relaxing palette. I would get rid of that giant urn in the kitchen that takes up the light and window view, not to mention the counter space. Great art collection. I even love the paint-job-in-progress in the bedroom. It's cool.
lovely, lovely!
Did the finalist shoot the interior--or just do the interview?
Bravo! Excellent use of a small space! What time are drinkies on that patio? I'll be right over. ;)
As a blogger audition: 3 cupcakes!
I've lived in DC for more than a decade (including a few in Georgetown) and although I've seen a few of our old residential alleys, I had no idea this one existed! So, thumbs up for giving us something new.
Great that there were links to shops, local and national, for some of the pieces in the house. I thought Georgetown Carpet was gone, but now I'll have to take a second look. I must've just spaced out.
And a huge hooray for showing us something that looks like someone actually lives there, has both respected the architecture of the building while making it somewhere to live in the 21st century, and has a style that isn't, for once, MCM.
Siobhan -- There used to be lots of residential alleys in Washington. A century ago they were home to African American laborers and domestics who worked in the same neighborhoods. Lots of people who were freed slaves that came to the city after the Civil War. They look charming now, but until recent revivals were pretty grim slums without running water. They were outlawed a few decades ago and most were demolished in one of DC's foolish efforts at urban renewal. So places like Pomander Walk are a little bit of DC's surviving history.
I love all the artistic details that decorate the house without going overboard! It gives the whole house an almost dreamlike quality.
wow i enjoyed this place and for 2 seconds i thought i should move to DC......but maybe not now...
Its so simple and artsy at the same time.
Jen Ramos
'100% Recycled DESIGNER Cards'
www.madebygirl.com
madebygirl.blogspot.com
What a charming alley, and home!
Like a previous commenter, the parenthetical made me pause. Read it a few times and had to shrug and move on.
I recently toured an alley house in Baltimore, looks very similar to this one. However, I don't think the layout was as efficient as this one. When you talk about small, layout is everything!
Glad to see all of the DC exposure!! Can't wait until the site rolls out!
I'm not familiar with that block of DC, and I love the choice of location and home for the house tour. Thanks also for the link to Random Harvest - one of my favorite stores!
I want to be there right now!
hillary great job. did u take the pictures too? wonderful post and house.
Hello all -
Glad everyone enjoyed peeking in Polly's house! She did the painting behind the dining room table as well in the bedroom.
I'm embarrassed by my mistake in the second paragraph! Polly had 2 pieces of slate cut, and she brought both with her. So it should read "(another slate top is on the two urns in the garden)." And that is why even editors need editors....
I don't think Pomander Walk is connected to the one in New York. It was renamed when its African-American tenants were evicted in the 50s so that the area could be gentrified (unfortunately, an ugly - and not uncommon - piece of Georgetown's past). It used to be called Bell's Court (I think). You can read more about it in Black Georgetown Remembered.....
http://www.press.georgetown.edu/detail.html?id=9780878405268
I took most of the pictures and my boyfriend kindly contributed some as well.
Thank you all for reading and commenting!
Hilary
Charming yet sophisticated. It deserves more than three cupcakes. Bringing the garden space into the house was brilliant. Hope everyone caught the interesting ceiling in the living room.
Lovely home and great pictures, plus the People in Pineapple Place is one of my favorite books!
Lovely post. It looks so tiny from the outside but feels so big on the inside. My favorite part is the pith helmet on the statue head as a door-stop...
Slightly too cluttered for me but it's very expressive and stylish.
The ideas presented here are good ideas, only if the average person could remotely afford them... Sorry, this blog is just not helpful to me. However, you are talented with photography, just work on the writing portion.
thanks for giving us some inspiration.
Love that courtyard patio that extends your living space.
I've walked down that street a couple times and been dying to get a look inside. Thanks so much for a real treat of a post. What a lovely home!
what a great space! I lived in Georgetown for three years and never stumbled upon this street- thanks for sharing it with us.
Wow!
I lived in one of those houses with an old friend in the 60's. It was beautifully furnished then (as a rental) but did not have the modern look as the one displayed above. Kitchen is better, but I think I liked the old back wall with the brick and French Doors better than the modern look. Certainly does bring back memories, though. I can still imagine how it looked.