Is Minimal Bohemian Retro-Mod Asian/Moroccan a Style?

My apartment and I are having a love affair. Indeed, my place hugs me every night upon returning from a stressful job in the city and has eased my broken heart. I live simply and humbly, and even though this is by far the smallest home I have ever had, it has inspired the most prolific artistic period in my life. I am obsessed by decor, love decorating magazines and blogs, love decorating my place, and helping others decorate. I have no budget, but creativity greatly eases poverty and I thank God for my creativity.

My furniture has either come from the curb, second hand stores or through trading.

sfgirlbybay is one of the many design blogs I love to read. I completely understood when she described an identity crisis in her apartment. Sometimes I am so flooded by ideas, I can't decide. It probably doesn't help being a Libra!

When I first moved into the apartment, I wanted to defy the rules. My brother and I painted the walls in a saturated fushia and I bought an Italian, orange daybed. My brother built a room divider for my collection of pottery.

THE PAST:

Orange day bed, white dresser, acrylic lamp, goddess prints, pink and periwinkle pottery - all sold during unemployment. Cest la vie.

I loved the place, but I just couldn't believe it. For years I had done white on white and was an avowed lover of minimalism. While my place was the smallest I'd ever had, conversely I displayed more stuff than ever before. Sometimes too much stuff makes me panic. I go into minimal mode and want to get rid of everything.

We have long, dark winters here. During the work week I often only see the sun on Saturday. I found the color too heavy during the winter and I didn't like the way my art looked displayed with the fushia. So, I caved. I painted the walls white. By the way, Behr paint is the best. When I started earning a little money again I bought a red (RED!) mid-century modern day bed at my favorite vintage store. It was cheap, built better than any new sofa (and prettier) and sturdy. For a long time it was my bed too.

I love it, but often cover it in white sheets and many pillows.

Lately, I have been obsessing about the color turquoise!
Turquoise vases from Target, a gift from my sister-in-law.

This is from Turquoise's showroom. Isn't this gorgeous?

These beautiful and inexpensive vases are from Z Gallerie.

And beloved Casapinka hasn't helped matters with her beautiful foyer.

I fell in love with textiles after reading Tricia Guild's book White Hot, where she described being influenced by the colors of India. Pillows satisfy this urge nicely, as do scarfs carelessly thrown over lamps or used to tie back curtains. I was influenced by Bohomo (Bohemian Modern). I wanted my place to have an undecorated look, a kind of careless abandon, but with restraint. And I love orange and blue, but I still don't like patterns too much.

Orange and blue pillows. See my flickr site for more information.

Pink bulbs, pink scarf thrown over retro moon lamp purchased from CB2 with overtime money. I always wanted one of these lamps!

Some of the beautiful things I love are lanterns, prayer beads, buddha heads, exotic glass bottles, erotic hindu prints, Noguchi lamps.

Lantern, Pier 1. Blue glass vase, Salvation Army, $1.99! Prayer beads, see my flickr site for details.

Amber buddha head bought at garage sale.

Vintage erotic Hindu print. Vineeta, do you know who the artist is? Buddha postcard from Indonesia bought at City Buddha. I'd like to have this image rasterbated for over my bed.

Buddha heads from CB2. These are so cute and the price is right, only $14.95. I'd sort of like to have the green one, but I don't really like resin. Still, they are cute. I think they had orange last season. It would be fun to have different colors lined up on a shelf.

I'll save Noguchi for another post since I love his work so much. But, all I can say is thank God for Target, I can't afford a real Noguchi.

I've moved things around many times and created many different looks. In fact, often when a painting is incubating in my mind, I start moving things around in my dining area. Okay, I vaguely remember the rule that art shouldn't blend in with a sofa. Well, I've already talked about how I feel about rules. Furniture, lamps and pottery are like sculpture and when moved around they start dialoging with the spirit of my apartment.

The dialogue lately is about Moroccan design. I love poufs and ottomans. I have several ottomans, which I found on the curb. Ottomans are incredibly versatile, can be moved on a whim, can be used as tables or seats. I've even served tea on them to my nephews.

Then along came the current issue of Elle Decoration, UK Edition, reading my mind. There are several absolutely stunning pictures of Moroccan design. Now I want to start over and completely redo my place! Maybe I should just sit in the corner and take a deep breath. Ahh. Sometimes I just wish my place were done.

Oh, and did I mention that my favorite color is pink?