Wall to Wall Art, Plants & Vintage Goodness in a Quirky Cool DC Apartment
Name: Georgiana
Location: Adams Morgan/Dupont Circle — Washington, D.C.
I live on the 7th floor of a building built in 1923 in Adams Morgan/Dupont Circle neighborhood (I can never tell which it is), there are definitely some quirks to such an old building, the elevator for example is terrifying – a fair-weather metal box that is not built for anyone that has an aversion to elevators that may or may not work. Though the building is pretty bare bones, arriving into my 7th floor apartment always seems like a breath of fresh air, especially with east-facing windows that pour the morning sunlight in and a direct view of the Washington Monument.
I work at a DC-based non-profit art space, Transformer, and am the co-founder of a local DC arts publication (DIRT), so my walls are covered top to bottom with art, sourced from artist + friends work from all over the country (even a few international!). Two of my favorite pieces are the huge Calvin and Hobbs painting in my entry way and the Micky Mouse painting in the living room, which are both works done by my boyfriend and local artist/curator Joseph Orzal (obviously am a little biased). I am quite fortunate to have such amazing artists as friends and have developed a large collection of works that have yet to be framed (now living inside of the flat file in my kitchen).
My favorite room changes almost every day depending on a range of thing – what I most recently purchased and where it’s living, which room is the cleanest or most organized at the time, or the kind of light each room is getting! Right now, I’m really feeling my living room, mostly because it’s where the majority of my plants are living and I’m excited to see them finally growing, but also because the entire apartment is on a slight angle, the room proved to be quite a challenge for figuring out layout – after trying many layouts I am finally happy with how it’s looking.
I have been going through a bit of an obsession with houseplants (and apparently so are all millennials according to this Nylon article I just read), but I can not stop myself – especially with Little Leaf being so close to my work- I have actually had to stop going in there because every time I do I leave with a new little friend. My most recent addition – a swiss cheese pothos plant.
As for recent furniture finds, I am most proud of my two newest Craigslist finds – a large CB2 infinity floor mirror (originally $399, which i scored for $150 after almost harassing the seller via email MANY times) and a huge FlatFile ($100, from an architecture firm that happened to be around the corner). Both these finds, I had been desperately wanting/needing – I had seen this exact mirror in my friend’s’ apartment a few weeks beforehand and really fell in love with the scale of it, and needed a large mirror for the bedroom. The FlatFile is something that I had been looking for online for awhile, the real old school metal ones run from $400-$700 new, and I knew I would never pay that amount but I put it out there in the universe and finally after months of fruitless craigslist searches I finally found one! If you don’t LOVE something, wait for something that you do. Waiting for the perfect items to appear has definitely paid off for me, almost all the furniture in the apartment were Craigslist finds – the headboard was $50, the pair of vintage velvet mustard chairs $60 for the set, the amazing yellow hutch in the living room $65 – I am obviously a little obsessive about checking it and jumping on the right items.
Most of the higher-end items that have definitely added to my home were hand-me-downs from my parents – my mom is an interior designer, and my dad is an antique collector and a dedicated regular to the Georgetown Flea Market – so they definitely have given me some amazing advice and pieces. The chesterfield sofa was something that has been in my parents house since I was little and that I have always loved, so I love having it my home now. Also, the oriental rug in my living room was perfect size for experimenting with rug layering, and the green leopard wing chair was something that my mom got re-upholstered that I LOVE.
Thanks, Georgiana!
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