Joshua's Dupont Circle Studio
House Call

Name: Joshua
Location: Dupont Circle, Washington DC

I moved in to this tiny studio unit when my brother moved out. He had used an interior decorator, painting the walls a neutral color and finding appropriately matching furniture and carpets. When he moved out, he took everything except the couch, the carpet, and the book case / TV stand.

I use a West Elm daybed, which also has a dark-brown cover that can be placed over it for extra guest seating. The red desk is also West Elm. The coffee table is from Scan. I chose it because I liked how the curving profile matched the facing profile of the bookcase / TV stand.

The Wassily chairs were a casualty of my parents' move to a smaller place — they're almost a little too big for the space, but they're so comfortable and futuristic-looking that I just can't part with them.

The recessed bookcase in the hallway used to house an assortment of junk — I reorganized the two closets to free up space and create shelving for several boxes of books that had also come from my childhood home.

All the framed lithographs are by Jack Perlmutter, a late DC artist who was a friend of the family. Near the end of his life, he charitably gave away most of his collection to schools, museums, and friends; after they sat in a basement for several years, my parents decided to move from our family house into an apartment. I sorted through about 75 prints and found the ones that spoke to me. The Perlmutter print in my kitchen depicts two angels flying above a city. In the center of the city is the outline of an obelisk, a coy reference to our shared hometown.

The other artwork mostly consists of prints taken by my father — an avid photographer — in South Africa and India. Two other photographic prints include work by Dick Swanson.

Thanks, Joshua!

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Comments (10)

The Perlmutter prints look great, and you're making good use of your well-organized, small space.

i really like your place. it's clean and comfortable and looks lived in without being messy. good job!

Nicely done and enjoyable commentary on your place and possessions. And how nice to even have a balcony!
Thanks for sharing.

I like it - looks lived in without looking too designed.

Love the balcony and your view. What I wouldn't give to have just a few square feet of outdoor space- makes the place feel not so small. Well done.

that couch looks so delightfully soft. i'd love to check it out firsthand...

some ideas i had :) - i would take the west elm day bed out of the room altogether. if you're single i can't imagine you really use it for anything except guests or a place to throw your jacket lol.

then i would put your wassily chairs there and place the small shelf that's by your media center in between the wassily's as a side table.

OR

put the media center on the wall were the day bed is and put the wassily's facing the couch.

you're right that those wassily's are hard to place in small places - i have the same problem with em :)

I like that an interior decorator was used in the past. Shows a respect for the space.

It looks great...and very neat!

i would get rid of that couch and incorporate that bed into the main seating area, perhaps putting the chairs where the couch used to be or playing with the area. also fix up the textiles on the bed/sofa.

very nice space!