Apartment Therapy’s News and Culture Editor Lives in a Bold ‘Boho Rainbow Brite’ Boston Home

Written by

Tara BellucciNews and Culture Director
Tara BellucciNews and Culture Director
Tara is Apartment Therapy's News & Culture Director. When not scrolling through Instagram double-tapping pet pics and astrology memes, you'll find her thrift shopping around Boston, kayaking on the Charles, and trying not to buy more plants.
updated May 20, 2020

Apartment Therapy’s News and Culture Editor Lives in a Bold ‘Boho Rainbow Brite’ Boston Home

Written by

Tara BellucciNews and Culture Director
Tara BellucciNews and Culture Director
Tara is Apartment Therapy's News & Culture Director. When not scrolling through Instagram double-tapping pet pics and astrology memes, you'll find her thrift shopping around Boston, kayaking on the Charles, and trying not to buy more plants.
updated May 20, 2020
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Bedrooms
Square feet

520

Sq ft

520

Name: Tara Bellucci plus cats Dante and Virgil
Location: South End, Boston, Massachusetts
Size: 520ish square feet
Years Lived In: 3 years, renting

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My journey to this apartment happened years ago while I was still in college. When my friends and I would explore the South End, I’d walk by my current street with its charming rowhouses and dream about living here one day. I love being able to walk everywhere, and have everything from great local shops and restaurants to convenient things like grocery stores and T stops nearby.  It may have taken a decade or so, but I eventually made that dream happen.

Now, since I work from home most of the time, I’ll happily not leave this apartment for days on end. I’m an introvert that needs a lot of alone time, but I also really love my place. It makes me happy—I get joy from spending time here. It’s really where I’m most comfortable. And my colorful decor plays a big part in that.

Credit: Samara Vise

Maybe it’s a product of growing up in the ’80s and ’90s, but I’ve always been obsessed with rainbows. I love that they are proof that all the colors, whether pastel or neon or somewhere in between, go together. In my 20s, I was trying to do a version of what “grown up” looked like, but it was when I embraced my love of color that my design style really emerged. I wear rainbows, my hair is rainbow, I have prisms in my windows that throw rainbows all day. From my first post-college pad to now, my design style has grown and changed, and this place feels like a perfect manifestation of me—even with plenty of affordable finds from places like IKEA and Target.

Credit: Samara Vise

I feel like people worry that shopping at big box stores means your place looks the same as everyone else’s. I’ve managed to make my place unique, and it’s in the details. Search your grandparents’ basement for family heirlooms, hit up your local thrift store, buy from small artists and producers. Change up things with new fabric or paint. Donate things that no longer make you happy. Frame your concert tickets. Collect magnets when you travel. For me, decorating isn’t a thing you do and then you’re finished. It’s an evolving process that you live and breathe, one that constantly changes. 

Credit: Samara Vise

Apartment Therapy Survey:

My Style: Boho Rainbow Brite Tag Sale Fantasy

Inspiration: “The Golden Girls,” Cher, Brimfield, rainbows, my ’80s/’90s childhood, Apartment Therapy, and Instagram.

Favorite Element: I’m lucky to have exposed brick walls in both the bedroom and living room—and also lucky that someone had already painted some of it white! I like brick but the unpainted parts do shower rust-hued dust down over everything on occasion. 

Credit: Samara Vise

Biggest Challenge: Cleaning. To my mother’s dismay, I am terrible at it. But when you live in a 19th century building, certain things like old windows and floors will just never look clean, anyway. And cat hair is a never ending battle. I did get a refurbished cordless Dyson when it was on sale for under $200, and that has helped a lot. 

Proudest DIY: I love a good project but I don’t DIY all that often anymore. I am pretty proud that I’ve kept (most of) my plants alive, that I finished the cross stitch I started on an Apartment Therapy team outing, and especially, though it’s not here in Boston, my mom’s new guest room

Credit: Samara Vise

Biggest Indulgence: I’m pretty good at getting everything on sale or secondhand, but I did buy my Blu Dot table new. It’s in an exclusive orange colorway that was only sold on Fab.com and is probably my most expensive purchase. My best score would probably be my vintage rattan dresser, which I found at Boomerangs for probably like $300, had to then rent a Zipcar truck, and coerce my friend to help carry it into my apartment at the time. 

Best Advice: Life is too short for beige. Stop wondering if things “go together;” if you like it, it goes together. Amuse yourself; decorating does not have to be so serious. Make “mistakes!” You will never learn what works for you if you follow someone else’s rules. 

Credit: Samara Vise

What’s your best home secret? Be smart about maximizing your vertical surfaces. My place has two closets: one I use for clothes, and another I use for everything else—luggage, painting supplies, potting soil, yoga gear, sewing machine, cat carriers… you get the point. Almost every door in my apartment does double duty with hooks or storage of some sort, sometimes one on each side! For the visible hooks, I chose items from my closet that I love looking at so that it becomes decor. 

Resources

Credit: Samara Vise

PAINT & COLORS

  • Benjamin Moore — Decorators White
Credit: Samara Vise

ENTRY/HALLWAY

  • Bench — IKEA
  • Coat rack — Amazon
  • Bookcase — IKEA (currently only available in black)
  • Sunglass holder — Thrifted
  • Mirror — One of Provincetown’s many home decor stores (can’t remember!)
  • Rug — RugsUSA
  • Crossstitch — Made at Craft Jam 
Credit: Samara Vise

“LIVING ROOM”

Credit: Samara Vise

“DINING ROOM”

  • Table — ​Blu Dot (limited edition color that’s no longer available)
  • Chairs — IKEA (not currently available in the US)
  • Chair cushions — H&M Home
  • Curtains — Fabric from Zimman’s & sewn by me
  • Pendant — Vintage from eBay
  • Rattan tray— Target
  • Bowls — Thrifted & Target
  • “In the Library” by Tatsuro Kiuchi — No longer available on 20×200
  • Chad Michaels print  — Chad Sell
Credit: Samara Vise

“OFFICE”

  • Desk — Thrifted
  • Drawers — IKEA
  • String lights — Amazon
  • Sconce — IKEA
  • Cher doll — A gift
  • Pen holder — Target
Credit: Samara Vise

KITCHEN

  • Hutch — Craigslist
  • Rattan wine tower — thrifted
  • Dino planter — Target
  • Lemon planter—Target
  • PTOWN prints — Tim-Scapes
  • Holstee Manifesto — Holstee
  • YES print — 20×200
  • Musical tray — Vintage from Brimfield
  • Small cart — IKEA (discontinued color)
  • Kitchen island — Amazon 
  • Polar crate — Vintage from Brimfield
  • Microwave — Amazon
  • Kitchen wallpaper — Spoonflower
  • Julia print — A gift
Credit: Samara Vise

BEDROOM

  • Bed frame — West Elm
  • Duvet — West Elm (discontinued)
  • Sheets—Target
  • Euro shams — Target
  • Lumbar pillow — Target
  • Hamper — Amazon
  • Rug — RugsUSA
  • Chaise — From a friend
  • Throw — H&M Home (discontinued)
  • Green & pink pillow — The Rug Company
  • Turquoise pillow—Lola y Tula
  • Lucite Z table — vintage from Brimfield
  • Sconce — IKEA
  • Ferris wheel print—Etsy
  • Carousel print—Etsy
  • Turquoise nightstand — vintage from Brimfield
  • Wood nightstand — Target 
  • Apartment Therapy Pattern of the Year 2019 tray—Society6
  • Gold croissant—Anthropologie
  • Pineapple lamp — Target
  • Rattan Lamp — Target
  • Faux bamboo dresser — Thrifted
  • Constellations print—Holstee
  • Glitter Cher album — A gift
  • Caboodle—Ban.do
  • Woven planter — HomeGoods
  • Blue & white planters — Target
  • Macrame hanging planter — IKEA
  • Floor mirror — IKEA (actually a PAX mirror door)
  • Pink chair — Vintage from Crompton Collective
  • Heywood Wakefield ottoman — Vintage from Brimfield
  • Wood bench — IKEA (discontinued)
  • Seagrass baskets — Target
  • Plants tapestry — Society6
  • Boats tapestry—Society6
  • Salt lamp — Marshalls
  • Cat ceramic — Thrifted then painted gold
  • Piggy bank — Patch NYC
  • St Thomas charcoal drawings — Thrifted
Credit: Samara Vise

BATHROOM

Thanks, Tara!

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