Design*Sponge » Blog Archive » sneak peek: ann wood

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the super talented ann wood was sweet enough to share a special diy project with us, but now she’s back with an incredible sneak peek into her brooklyn home/studio near prospect park. ann typically works with vintage or salvaged materials for her work, describing the certain tenderness in the re-use and re-purposing of things that were once personal and perhaps treasured possessions. funny how the same can definitely be said for her home as well. i don’t know how you all feel, but to me, this peek into her home feels like a look into a mythical dream world (complete with castle!), so don’t miss additional images here. [thanks so much, ann!] -anne

[above: I started pinning lace and dissected antique garments to the linen drapes about a year ago, to keep track of tiny pieces and be aware of and inspired by what I have. It has grown sort of accidentally into something I love.]

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I live and work in a small place in Park Slope Brooklyn that I like very much. It is an ideal place for making birds and owls and bats and ships, cardboard castles and other things.

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The chest of drawers was part of my father’s workshop.

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A shipwreck on a roiling, boiling, frothy sea of antique wedding gowns! And a very old table, I found it last year at the Park Slope flea market ( 7th Ave and between 1st and 2nd ) I love the curly legs and it was almost free.

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The paper snowflakes over my bed were cut by my friend David Doernberg .

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I can’t function without a big bulletin board for reminders, plans and experiments. The little pile of fabrics are wonderful vintage and antique kimono sleeves, a gift from Stephen Szczepanek. The cake stand is made from paper mache over an armature of cardboard and a bleach bottle..

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I store my patterns, buttons, tiny pine cones, acorn caps and other important little things in business card boxes.

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I’ve had the little velvet lamb my whole life.

Oh, wow, I love this sneak peek! It’s by far one of my favorite ever; it really helps me understand the working context of your aesthetic vision [and, I love your work; I wrote about it a few months ago!]. Thank you so much for sharing!

wow! I wanted to ask about every single little piece in there…like the teacup hanging over the bed? and the lamp on top of the old table (with the twisty legs). Oh, to live with all these beautiful treasures must be such a special treat.
Great Sneak Peak!

This is Wonderful Anne! The boats floating in the air make me happy. And i love seeing you your collections scattered through your space. I too need a bulletin board to hang everything i find, need, write down, if i see it, i remember and am inspired. That chest of drawers from your father is incredible.

Ahhh I love your home! It’s all so vintage and so very personal and creative. I love all the little things you have on your walls. I love pinning random little things up to inspire me. You are so lucky to have such beautifully high ceilings.
Did you make the cake stand? Could you possibly tell us how??
Polly R

I love the dreamy delicacy and the creativity that thrives here. And the apartment’s original shutters (painted or dark, dark wood?) and plaster garland are tooo sweet. They find their match in your quirky mix of things. Your place is a fairy tale and yet so real-life! A definite switch from the Danish Modern look that often prevails here (which I love too!)

Does she style Anthropologie catalogs? Some of the spaces remind me of they way they style their curtains/home accessories/furniture/linens. That curtain is so beautiful and full of history and thus meaning! It’s so cool that you can imagine the history of it just by looking at it, and that all of the different stories behind it are woven together.

Ann Wood is my hero. I have a little bird from her at home, Rebecca, that sits next to me as I work.

Thank you for posting this, I love that it’s messy and wonderful. I look at the homes on this site daily and wonder how long it took them to clean and put things away before getting out the camera – or if anyone even lives there! That’s not how artists live, THIS is how artists live – with supplies and wonderful little messy work areas out where you can see them!

Love it!

In love…. I totally thought of The Science of Sleep also, how magical. It’s a little like Where The Wild Things Are as well, just a little daintier and more ladylike. I’m so inspired.

And yes, please make the Flickr set woork, I want more!

so quirky. it’s refreshing to see someone’s home that is so very original. I appreciate that she marches to the beat of her own drum and unlike so many other homes we see, decorates just how she likes instead of perhaps how she think she is supposed to. Although I love Eames chairs, white painted furniture, and mod-screen prints, they too get old and expected. It’s really nice to see something so different. Bravo.

Thanks so much everyone for checking out my little place and the generous and kind comments. And thanks to Grace and Anne for inviting me.
polly the cake stand is paper mache over part a bleach bottle and cardboard -tip- fill the base with pennies for stability
silentfragrance – you can read about the castle here:
http://annwood.net/blog/category/cardboard-castles/
Sarah – I got the antique iron bed at a flea market

Thanks again -ann wood

I’m also totally into decorating with vintage and found objects–it’s so much more environmentally friendly and there are so many great old pieces out there! I absolutely loved the pirate ships just floating through the air!!!

It speaks to me with a sweet memory…at age 4 or so, I was hanging around my mom’s kitchen chair while she played canasta…bored, gazing out the window, I vividly imagined a beautiful clipper ship sailing across the night sky…I have never forgotten that childhood “hallucination”. An observation:
Can it be that the reason I’ve never really made much use of the tiny pine cones, scraps of paper, pebbles, seeds, etc. that I’ve been collecting all my life is bc I don’t organize them? And to think that there is organization in this lovely, inspiring fairytale environment is very odd indeed.

I would love to go to her house for a rummage sale. I’d snag up her father’s work chest, the gorgeous white frame, the bat sculptures that look like pencil drawings on my screen, and the curtain and bedding are just fabulous!

What a magical dream. It’s practically the apartment version of Sarah Ryhanen(Weeder’s Digest)’s bouquets. So personal, wilty, decadent, musty, inspiring and bloody gorgeous!
Thanks for sharing occasional sneek peeks that don’t feature that dang Eames rocker!
;o)

FINALLY a space that looks like somebody LIVES and creates there. So often the photos of featured houses are SO immaculate and though beautiful a bit sterile. I love this sneak peek. Ann Wood you rock.

The ceiling height, ribbon plaster detail, old floor – LOVE it. All the stuff is fabulous stuff – not “mess” as some call it – it has to be there ready to be inspired by or transformed into beautiful birds, ships and other wonderful whatevers! Thanks so much, Ann, for letting us see it.

I think this home/studio is perfectly fit for purpose. We are afterall looking at the home/studio of an artist who works in found objects NOT a designer who sits in front of a computer all day. Im not sure Brad Dufton was being at all kind when he made his “cluttered home, cluttered mind” comment, but then Im sure Brad has probably never produced a great work of art, a good website maybe, but not a great work of art.

This isn’t meant to sound as gloomy as it did when I first thought it…lol!
BUT I love all of this. It screams youth, independence, freedom…print all these pics out and do not lose them or youth (at least in spirit), the indepence, the freedom.
Don’t succumb to ‘growing up’ no matter how young or old you are.
(print this comment too…keep it with your pics!)

Ditto others–this is exactly how I imagined Ann’s house. I was lucky enough to have a pair of Ann’s bird cake toppers for my wedding cake, and I have loved her work since. Thanks for featuring the Sneak Peek of Ann’s wonderful home!

Thanks again everyone for taking the time to comment on my place, thank you for the encouragement, also, I can certainly appreciate that it’s not for everyone, it’s not meant to be – it’s for me. This isn’t a style of decorating – it is my life and my process of working, it’s where I think and work and it is work I truly love so I am happy and grateful.

Everything is just divine- perfectly divine. I’ve been a big fan of Ann’s for quite some time now, we have a similar aesthetic I think. I really enjoyed seeing the glimpses of your home/studio. Like you I live in the same room I work in, so I totally understand the need to screen off the sleeping area- I’ve done it with a bookcase. Otherwise I’d just stare at my desk and think while I should be sleeping!

Thank you Design*sponge- this is a very heartfelt post. <3

I love this. I’ve been feeling that other sneek-peaks lately have been a bit repepitive, lovely but repetative. This is like a breath of fresh air. I finally know what my homes been lacking, floating tall ships!!!! And it’s not messy, it’s layered.

I have loved Ann’s work and process since I saw her featured in Home companion years ago! So fun to see a mini update and to see her offering her whimsical ponies for all to play with!
How generous you are Ann to let us into your work space to get a little feel of your process! As an artist myself I am totally feeling the method to your madness and completely seeing the love that goes into your work because of the treasures you have found ,created and the sentiments that are attatched in your work! xoxo Sheri DeBow

this is totally freaky but i wanted to comment b/c i was going to say that something about ann’s place reminds me of the movie “the science of sleep” and upon peeking at the comments discovered a few others said the same thing!!

anyway, this apartment is the home of my dreams!! i love places that really show someone’s creativity, personality and love. so inspiring!

this is absolutely lovely. it is so nice to see a space that oozes with creativity, projects, and inspiration all in one. i much prefer this sneak peak over the oh-so-neat, composed spaces that could never look that way from day to do. thank you for sharing!

Oh Ann,

How I love this sneak peek into your world. It makes me more comfortable with my own place. Like you, I also have huge bulletin boards for notes and reminders and as I work with paper, I have sheets and sheets of paper hung up on trouser hangers so that I can be inspired by seeing them! Thank you for allows us a peek into your world!

Lisa

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