Decorating Guides
See a Seattle-Area Home Steeped in Graciousness
Brimming with welcoming touches, this condo shows that a home short on space and decorating funds can still go long on personal style
In the movie My Cousin Vinny, Marisa Tomei created one of the most memorable moments in cinematic history when she stomped her foot and shouted, "My biological clock is ticking!" I have the same kind of moment every few months, when I stand in the middle of our living room and announce that "it [stomp] is time [stomp] to see [stomp] my grandchildren [stomp, stomp]!"
My husband, Mikey, always acquiesces, and in short order we're trading the golden hills and sun-drenched vineyards of Northern California for the leaden skies and dripping rain of Seattle. Of course, the delighted whoops of joy accompanying the long and wonderful hugs from our family make the trip well worthwhile. As does an additional perk: the opportunity to visit our dear friend Gail Marion. We scuttle across the parking lot of her condominium complex, desperately dodging puddles and gusts of wind. But all is well when we reach her patio, for no matter what the season, a welcoming token awaits us. This October it was a lit candle with a happy, bulbous pumpkin arranged on a small iron table.
I invite you to enjoy her home with me. It's a place that proves that you can live big with small — in terms of both budget and square footage — and that mixed styles are surely a key to an inviting, welcoming interior.
Houzz at a Glance
Who lives here: Gail Marion, cat Milo and a roommate
Location: Bellevue, Washington
Size: 1,160 square feet; 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms
Photography by Gail Marion
My husband, Mikey, always acquiesces, and in short order we're trading the golden hills and sun-drenched vineyards of Northern California for the leaden skies and dripping rain of Seattle. Of course, the delighted whoops of joy accompanying the long and wonderful hugs from our family make the trip well worthwhile. As does an additional perk: the opportunity to visit our dear friend Gail Marion. We scuttle across the parking lot of her condominium complex, desperately dodging puddles and gusts of wind. But all is well when we reach her patio, for no matter what the season, a welcoming token awaits us. This October it was a lit candle with a happy, bulbous pumpkin arranged on a small iron table.
I invite you to enjoy her home with me. It's a place that proves that you can live big with small — in terms of both budget and square footage — and that mixed styles are surely a key to an inviting, welcoming interior.
Houzz at a Glance
Who lives here: Gail Marion, cat Milo and a roommate
Location: Bellevue, Washington
Size: 1,160 square feet; 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms
Photography by Gail Marion
Marion's condo is less than 1,200 square feet, including two bedrooms and two baths. But she stretches her space by including the patio in her living area. Here that marvelous pumpkin with its accompanying votive greets family and visitors alike.
The covered patio's wicker sofa, with its plump and comfy pillows, is married to a pleasingly battered wooden desk and a cloth-draped coffee table, assuring that Seattle's wonderful but rare warm days can be enjoyed to the max.
The organic and tactile vignette on the wooden desk changes with the seasons — and Marion's mood — although this fabulous birdhouse is a constant.
When I marvel how she surrounds herself with beauty, Marion just shrugs. "It's easy to do," she says. "Just bring in a squash and some branches and a candle!"
Marion's front door opens into her dining room, living room and kitchen, giving the relatively small space a great-room effect. The dining table and chairs were acquired from the kitchen of an old friend in California, who was redecorating. The Navajo-style rug strewn across the table looks equally well when set for lunch or dinner, and its linear pattern is the perfect foil for the tchotchkes Marion loves to collect. "Besides," she says, "it takes a lot less stuff to make a small place look great."
Her somewhat pedestrian sideboard was given a totally new look with some elbow grease and paint. She covered its original white finish with brown paint and then added a coat of that marvelous green, so that when she rubbed some of the green off, the brown showed through. The piece provides both needed storage and another venue for displaying mementos.
The living room is anchored by an 18th-century-style camel-back sofa covered quite unexpectedly with a comfy chenille floral fabric in the dusty, desert-y Southwest colors that Marion loves. A pair of purposefully mismatched chairs in equally purposefully mismatched plaids flanks the fireplace, providing just the right spot for curling up and getting warm on a damp night.
Over the fireplace hangs a serious oil painting that is given a humorous spin by the primitive placard placed below it. This kind of playful touch is so important in a room! It not only elicits a smile, but it instantly puts your company at ease.
Another corner of the living room holds a rustic ladder displaying books, family pictures and a large Indian pot that Marion found at a gallery in Jacksonville, Oregon, while visiting her daughter in college. Every time her eye catches that pot, she thinks of her daughter and those long-ago college years.
In a nod to English country style, the oversize iron and glass coffee table that followed her from Arizona is laden with favorite books, which serve very nicely as a resting place for cocktails and appetizers.
The condo reeked of 1980 when Marion bought it. But with the kitchen cabinets refaced from a light stain to creamy paint, and new carpeting and moldings installed, the feeling is timeless and classic.
The space leading to the bedrooms is festooned with another statement from Marion's Southwest past: a patinated saddle with blanket and boots, watched over by her smiling grandchildren.
One of my favorite touches is this diminutive chair in the master bath. It adds such warmth and interest to what is so often an austere room, and functions beautifully as a place to dump clothes on.
Marion's cat, Milo, rules this particular roost. Here he has laid claim to an antique Victorian crazy quilt thrown over the end of the bed.
Limited space requires that Marion's bedroom pieces serve double duty, and this chest obliges, acting as both dresser and TV cabinet. Its faintly distressed pine finish is complemented by the antique chair perched beside it.
A round table serves as one of the nightstands, while its open base helps keep the bedroom from getting crowded with heavy pieces.
The other nightstand does double duty as a small desk. The petite French chair welcomes you to sit down and write a note — provided, of course, that you can unseat Milo.
This vintage secretary reminds me of the scene in Star Wars where Obi-Wan reminisces with Luke Skywalker about what an elegant weapon the lightsaber was. “Not as clumsy or random as a blaster,” he says. In the same way, no computer desk can match the elegance of the writing desk, with its little cubbies and drawers meant to be stuffed with notepapers and pens, and to perpetuate the elegant tradition of the handwritten note.
I actually received such a note in the mail the other day — from one of you! — and I appreciated it all the more because of its increasing rarity. (Of course, I’ll respond by email.)
I actually received such a note in the mail the other day — from one of you! — and I appreciated it all the more because of its increasing rarity. (Of course, I’ll respond by email.)
A graceful silver tray is topped with a crystal and silver cotton ball container, a silver-handled brush and crystal jars containing mascaras and eyeliners, bringing a genteel and personal dimension to the otherwise mundane morning makeup routine.
After good food and conversation with a dear friend, we are once again out the door, where glorious autumn colors invite us to return soon.
And return we will, as soon as my need to see the grandchildren causes my foot to twitch. But next time the patio tablescape will say "Welcome to Christmas."
More: 18 Ways to Bring English Country Charm Home
More: 18 Ways to Bring English Country Charm Home