What do you have when you become engaged, get married, and have a baby in the same year? So many reasons to celebrate, that’s what!
A few weeks ago, my friend threw a party for her sister, who had gone through the above-mentioned events in record time. Liza is an unbelievably talented party planner and an unbelievably talented artist, so you can just imagine what happens when an unsuspecting person like me shows up a day early to help set up.
Indentured servitude. (Just kidding!) But to illustrate, see all of these little flags I’m stringing up with the lights?
I ironed those. No, seriously: I IRONED THEM. All worth it, though, as you’ll see later.
For me, of course, the bonus is that Liza and her family live in a farmhouse that was built in 1837. The main house, that is. It’s outside Boston, in a quintessential New England setting.
You go from that vibrant yellow foyer (which I love, naturally) into this pristine retro kitchen.
It’s 1950s General Electric, baby, and the aqua on the metal cabinets — dare I say seafoam? — is their original color. (I mean, of course it is). Add the speckled laminate countertop…hardcore cool.
Can you believe that aqua stove? It’s a bit…shall we say…temperamental, but it functions. As does the cooktop.
It isn’t as convenient as a modern kitchen would be, but Liza and her husband deal beautifully. The dishwasher that hasn’t worked in years? It’s a recycling center now.
Beyond the kitchen is a modern bathroom that was built to accommodate a wheelchair-bound person. It’s gigantic and, bizarrely, had no door. Until recently, that is, when barn doors saved the day (and partygoers’ modesty).
The family room was likely a granary. And of course there’s a barn – Liza’s art studio – and a small shed that she believes was a cobbler building. Amazing.
The family room is DIY in all the right ways. The “sectional” is twin mattresses on boxsprings, and Liza sewed the tweed covers herself. And made the pillows, of course. That’s her artwork, also.
To finish up the party prep…
At the last minute, Liza decided we needed a better way to lead people to the backyard, which is where the Ikea rugs come in.
T minus an hour…
And voila.
I think the ironing paid off. Don’t you?
Quoted in publications from The New York Times to The Washington Post to Real Simple magazine, Annie Elliott is an expert in color, residential space planning, and telling people what to do in the nicest way possible. Her interior design firm, bossy color, is based in Washington, D.C