our first sneak peek has been dubbed mid-century modern meets Japanese pop culture meets flea market chic, and is the home audrey romano. based in central, pa, audrey is a web designer and coordinator by day, and clearly has a knack when it comes to home interiors as well. thanks so much to audrey for opening up more of her fabulous home to us. click here to see more, full-sized images, and as always, all the sneak peeks can be found here. stay tuned for another sneak peek at 1pm! -anne
[to read more about audrey, click here to view her recent interview with lisa williams at shelter home!]
in audrey’s words: This is our (my husband, Jamie, and my) first house, owned since June 2006, set in central Pennsylvania (State College, PA), best known as the location of Penn State University. It’s a 3-bedroom, 2 bathroom, ~1,662 Sq. Ft. split-level house, built in 1969 in a neighborhood called Park Forest Village.
This is of special note because it was the first large suburban development near State College (started in 1956). “This neighborhood won several national awards for its design, which moved away from the straight streets and clear cutting typical of post World War II suburban developments. The use of gracefully curved streets and the retention of trees established a pattern for future developments everywhere.” (source: http://twp.patton.pa.
This house is our first and while it’s far from perfect, I’ve really enjoyed living in it so far. What I really love about the layout is that the rooms flow from one to the other making it feel open, yet still distinguishes between rooms and levels of the house. Since it was built in the late 60s, keeping with the mid-century modern vibe seems to compliment it well. While a couple of our pieces of furniture and decor have come from Crate and Barrel and IKEA, I’ve been super lucky to have found a bunch of mid-century scandinavian and american solid-wood pieces on Craigslist and at yard sales. No one around here seems to appreciate these pieces as much as I do! I also have a couple depression era pieces that I’ve inherited from friends of the family.
My decor is pretty heavily influenced by the design sites and magazines I keep up with. Some of my favs are Apartment Therapy, Design*Sponge, Decor8, and Flickr. As well as artist sites and blogs (like Camilla Engman, Lisa Congdon, Ashley Goldberg, Lena Corwin, Heather Moore, and Etsy) and shelter magazines (like Domino, Cottage Living, Blueprint, and Dwell). I am always on the search for creative decorating ideas and inspiration, as well as practical and DIY projects. I love finding out about lesser-known indie designers and artists that have different creative perspectives. There’s so much inspiration out there! I constantly find myself rearranging and weeding out decor on a regular basis.
I love colors, pattern combinations, quirkiness, and unique handmade crafts. I try to aim for personality, comfort and functionality, quality and affordability.
