Interiors
Earlier this summer, I was lucky enough to meet Chris Scheurich and Ali McNally, the lovely couple behind the Uptown boutique Neon Heart. I photographed the space where they live, work and play for Apartment Therapy. You can see the full tour HERE.
And here are some of my favorites photos from our shoot:
Guest quarters
Guest quarters
Guest quarters
The couple's boutique Neon Heart, located Uptown at 1022 Lowerline Street
Chris' framing studio, located behind the boutique:
Brian and Emily’s New Orleans shotgun will have you smiling before you even take a step inside. The exterior color combination of red, purple, and bright blue is as bold and fun as the city they call home. The couple’s vast collection of folk art covers the interior walls like a modern day version of the storied Parisian salons. “We like to pile it on thick,” Emily says with a laugh.
The couple has amassed their collection from a variety of sources such as festivals, art markets, local galleries, and street vendors in the French Quarter. “I really love New Orleans and I came here because it just seemed so rich and vivid… The art I’ve gravitated towards is like this place,” Emily explains. Although they don’t buy art with investment in mind–“We buy it because we love it,” Emily says–they have a knack for finding artists before they hit it big.
Their artworks are grouped in themes: the music room is decorated with a hand-painted guitar, a bust of Elvis atop a piano inherited from Brian’s grandmother, and depictions of musicians like Lucinda Williams and David Bowie. The kitchen is a celebration of Southern cuisine–think alligator po-boy and hot-boiled crab–and includes whimsical paintings of cats eating food. The bathroom is a display of "Oriental" art inherited from Emily’s grandmother and the den is filled with hand-carved masks from all over the world.
Several distinct pieces of mid-century modern furniture–six tall-back chairs, two glass tables, and a three-piece wooden cube coffee table–make a strong visual statement in the home. The vintage pieces were designed by Adrian Pearsall and inherited from Emily’s grandmother, whose Texas ranch house maintained an early-1960s style until the time of her death.
The overall vibe of the house is lighthearted and inviting. Emily and Brian, who both work in academia, love to open their home to their friends for holiday celebrations, dinner parties, and watching Saints games. “Our style is informal,” says Brian, “because we run in informal circles around here.”
When they are not entertaining, Emily and Brian love to sit on the front porch and take in the verdant streetscape that lured them to the Irish Channel ten years ago. While gushing over all of the wonderful aspects of the neighborhood–the walkability, the varied architecture, the great people-watching–Emily sums it up with this: “The first house [we lived in] didn’t seem like a forever house, but this seems like a forever house… We hope to never leave.”
You can see a full tour of Emily & Brian's home and read more about their art collection at Apartment Therapy.
Photos and text by Jacqueline Marque
When Tiffany Napper was house hunting in New Orleans five years ago, she couldn't get her mind off the first place she saw. The little white shotgun, located near the Mississippi River, was previously owned by a 93-year-old woman who had been born in the house and lived there until she died. It had drop ceilings, faux wood paneling, and dirty wall-to-wall carpeting. The narrow 1,400-square-foot structure also boasted a dark galley kitchen, one tiny bathroom, and four small bedrooms sandwiched together without a hallway...
“My real estate agent thought I was joking,” Tiffany says, after she asked to go back to the house for a another look. “When I first walked in, I saw the potential and couldn’t let go of that idea,” she explains. Tiffany returned to the house with a video camera, then went straight to a nearby coffee shop to get to work. She sketched plans to reconfigure the cluttered building into the airy two-bedroom, two-bathroom space she now calls home.
It’s not surprising that Tiffany was up for the challenge of a major renovation. She has been witnessing the transformation of spaces since she was a child. Her parents owned a flooring business for years and tackled many ambitious projects, and their creative spirit rubbed off on her. “I’ve always had a really strong vision when it comes to design and aesthetics,” she explains. Unexpected elements, like the hardwood flooring on the kitchen ceiling and the sliding pocket doors that open to the guest room, are a testament to this.
A key part of Tiffany’s redesign is the large combination office and living space at the very front of the house. A striking brick fireplace, once hidden in a closet, serves as the centerpiece. One side of the bright and spacious room has a sleek row of white built-in cabinets and the other has two cozy seating areas, an art wall, and a hanging swing chair.
The casual and inspiring atmosphere became the launchpad for Tiffany’s two businesses: Bats on Strings, a public relations and marketing firm for musicians and creative artists, and a handbag line called Flying Fox. The little white shotgun that was once desperately in need of new life became a place where fresh ideas are born. Tiffany ran the businesses out of her home for three years before moving the operations to a rented office space, which has her unmistakable visual stamp all over it. “Now, for the first time since I renovated, my home is just my home. It’s my sanctuary, and it feels really great,“ she says with a smile.
You can view Tiffany's full Apartment Therapy house tour and read more about her style HERE.
Photos and text by Jacqueline Marque
When Sarah and Jeremy met in Savannah, Georgia, they bonded over a shared love of collecting vintage toys, oddball objects and natural specimens. She was studying painting at Savannah College of Art and Design and he was a glassblower working at a new studio in town.
Their dates consisted of hunting for treasures in thrift stores and junk shops. They have the same idea of what constitutes a good find: “the creepier, the funkier, the better,” says Jeremy. They spent hours combing long stretches of road outside of town in search of insects they incorporated in their art. “A bug can die and it stays totally perfect,” Sarah explains, “I love butterfly and dragon wings for their delicate and lacy beauty.”
Thirteen years later, the New Orleans apartment Sarah and Jeremy share with their two young children reflects the nostalgic yearnings that brought them together as young artists. The walls are decorated with the beloved objects they’ve gathered and inherited – separately and as a couple – throughout the years.
Nearly all of their furnishings are vintage. The couple prefers to salvage and refurbish pieces rather than buying something new. “In the days before big box manufacturing, things were made with more thought; things were made to last,” Sarah explains.
Jeremy enjoys tinkering with electronics and bringing them back to life. A collection of vintage radios decorate the hallway outside of the kids’ room and a larger one is now a side table in the dining room. He has incorporated his handblown glass into the space – as door knobs, drawer pulls, chandelier embellishments – in every room.
Judging from June's growing collection of nesting dolls and silver dollars – both annual gifts from her grandfather, also a collector – and Louis' love of vintage windup toys, the kids take after their parents. Jeremy says he always had them in mind – even before they were born – as he acquired things. "I was a romantic in the way that I was thinking about my kids," he says. Wondering whether June and Louis will want to inherit their collections some day, Sarah muses, “I think it’s really interesting now, raising kids in a house with everything from previous decades, because of the newness of everything in their generation. I hope that we can instill in them an appreciation of the past."
Photos and text by Jacqueline Marque
You can check out the full hour tour and read more about Sarah and Jeremy's style on Apartment Therapy.
Six rows of neatly displayed wigs decorate a brick wall in Kerry Maloney’s French Quarter apartment. They’ve been collected from Mardi Gras costumes throughout the years. They’re decked out with stars and plumes, birds and elaborate handmade crowns. There’s the French aristocrat, the drum major, the conehead, and the wizard. Like the dozens of framed snapshots that cover the opposite wall, each of these wigs holds a memory and tells a story of spirited camaraderie.
“Mardi Gras has been so important to me,” Kerry explains, “It’s a thing that’s grown with me and my friends.” Kerry and her comrades have made an annual tradition of selecting a group costume theme for parading on Fat Tuesday. They start creating their festive ensembles as soon as each new year begins. “After New Year’s, it’s just glitter and glue until Mardi Gras,” she says with a smile, “The excitement of it just builds. And having the most glitter means winning.” Past themes have included aliens, sea creatures, a marching band and Vikings – complete with a shopping cart decorated as a ship.”
When Mardi Gras day finally arrives, the friends are awake before dawn. They paint their bodies, transform into character, and make their way to the Bywater neighborhood to march with The Society of Saint Anne, a walking club of merry revelers dressed in the most elaborate and over-the-top costumes imaginable. “We spend all day dancing in the streets, hugging and laughing. It’s the most glorious day ever,” Kerry gushes, “I can’t believe I lived for 22 years without Mardi Gras.”
When Kerry, a wedding photographer with a background in journalism, moved to New Orleans, she never thought about living in the French Quarter. “It didn’t seem like anyone lived here,” she explains. But something kept pulling her back to the neighborhood. When she spotted a rental sign in the window of a duplex with a porch – a rarity in the Quarter – she knew it was where she wanted to live.
Six years later, Kerry is still happy with her choice. “There’s always something going on here. Everyday someone walks by playing an instrument. Every week there’s a parade within earshot.” Even though she lives in an area heavily-trafficked by tourists, Kerry still feels a sense of community in her neighborhood. Her next door neighbor Jim has lived in the other half of her duplex for over 20 years and Catherine, who is in her 90s, has lived in the Creole Cottage across the street since the 1960s. “We look out for each other,” Kerry says.
Photos and text by Jacqueline Marque
Click here to see the full tour of Kerry's space on Apartment Therapy.
You can check out Kerrys' beautiful photography here.
If you're planning a trip to Newport, I have the perfect place for you to stay: our house!
When we found out that we would be moving to New Orleans, we knew we weren't ready to let go of our beloved 1928 cottage (which is actually located in Middletown), so we decided we would turn it into a vacation rental so we could share the special space with people coming to visit the City by the Sea.
We've put a lot of love into making our home a warm and inviting refection of ourselves since we bought it in 2009. Although our personal art collection and some sentimental pieces of furniture came down South with us, we've left our house fully furnished and ready for visitors to make themselves at home and feel like a local during their stay.
Our vision for the space is to eventually have it feel like a living gallery, with our photography on display (and for sale) throughout our home. That's our next step. For the time being, I added color to the walls with vibrant textiles, which are kind of an obsession of mine.
We've always spent a lot of time gardening and tending to our grounds, which include a large deck, several flower beds, and tall hedges that keep the property, the last house on a small dead end street, feeling private. Landscaper Jonathan Hall and gardener Catherine Curtis will be taking over those jobs to ensure that our guests to be able to enjoy the beauty of our outdoor spaces as much as we have.
To book a stay, contact Lisel Woods at liselwoods@gmail.com or 401.714.4303.
Photos by Jacqueline Marque
Continuity is the most important element in a home for Douglas and Caryl Sickul. “It has to feel like it all belongs together,” says Douglas, who has been designing and building homes for 35 years. Douglas’ passion for creating inspiring spaces has lead the Sickuls to move a dozen times in their almost-50 years of marriage. “Doug would see a piece of land and get a vision and want to build a house,” Caryl explains.
The concept for their Tiverton, Rhode Island home, situated on 3.7 pastoral acres, was serenity and connecting with nature. As with all of the houses he has built, Douglas hand-picked all of the wood used throughout the interior. “The materials themselves affect us," he explains. “I worked at it so everything feels like it keeps flowing along. Nothing stops you, jars you, or hits you in the face as you walk by. It all flows.”
Curved lines both inside and outside the home, inspired by Zen and Japanese design, make the house softer. “The intention is for the house and garden to flow as one,” Caryl elaborates. “The sun, moon, and earth are elliptical, as are the features of land and faces. ‘All is one’ as the Dalai Lama says.”
The element of fluidity lends itself beautifully to Caryl’s life and work as a dancer and yoga instructor. A large 18’ x 36’ studio, with a wall of windows on two sides, provides an inspiring space for Caryl to dance and guide students through Vinyasa yoga classes.
Caryl’s long career as a dance professor – her area of expertise is sacred and ritual dance and yoga – provided a life of adventure for the Sickuls. Her research sabbaticals sent the couple to Africa, Australia, Bhutan, India, Indonesia, Mexico and New Guinea, where they observed performances, community ceremonies and events that Caryl would later share with her students. The ethnographic art displayed throughout their home reflects the deep impression these travel experiences made on their life. “People make the things they cherish,” Douglas says while pointing to a mask he and Caryl watched a little old man hand-carve in New Guinea. “Once you see that, and feel that, the objects you take home from there are just different.”
The continuity Douglas and Caryl seek in a home carries over from their work into their life. Creative expression is fluidly woven into the fabric of their everyday existence. Making their artistic pursuits a priority has given these septuagenarians the energy and glow of newlyweds half their age.
You can check out the full house tour and read more about the Sickul's home on Apartment Therapy.
Photos and text by Jacqueline Marque
You don’t even have to enter Vanessa’s home to know that it’s not your typical seaside cottage. Unique bullseye glass details embellish bright green doors and custom-designed bamboo fencing. A horse made of rusty metal tools grazes on the front lawn. The tidy gardens, framed by a single stone arch and a curved brick pathway, are peppered with whimsical planters and sculptures. Impeccable craftsmanship, attention to detail and a fun-loving owner who doesn’t restrict herself to a singular style make this small cedar-shingled house shine.
When Vanessa, a real estate developer and designer who owns an equestrian center in rural Rhode Island, purchased the home in 1999, she was enchanted by the privacy and tranquility of the oceanside property. She capitalized on the stunning location with all new landscaping and the addition of outdoor entertaining areas, including a deck with a full-sized dining table, a gazebo with a stone fire pit, and a private dock.
The house itself was nothing special, but Vanessa saw it as an opportunity to design everything exactly the way she wanted it. She gutted it down to the studs and looked to magazines and her world travels for inspiration. “You go to these places and see things you’ve never seen before. Travel was my education in design,” she explains. Some decisions were based on the love of an object; bright blue granite became the starting point for her kitchen. Others were more practical and forward-thinking; pickled grey floors were chosen to hide the dirt that would inevitably be tracked in by her dogs Solomon and The Dude.
Vanessa’s furnishings, art and decor reflect a wide range of styles and origin. It doesn’t matter if it’s antique or modern, traditional or folk; if Vanessa loves it, she incorporates it into her home. Her aesthetic influences span the globe. There are bright Moroccan tiles in the bathroom, carved Mexican cougar heads in the guest room, and teak Tibetan monk statues from Thailand in nearly every corner.
Vanessa’s playful and unrestricted approach to homemaking makes her house unique. Tiny plastic figurines from toy stores and vending machines, plus funny pop culture references that appear throughout the house keep the feeling light. “I find my house personally entertaining,” says Vanessa. “I just sort of laugh and enjoy. I think that’s what a house should be all about.”
You can see the full tour and learn more about the Vanessa's style and inspiration on Apartment Therapy.
Photos and text by Jacqueline Marque
There had been no talk of moving in the Nelson family when a house in Providence caught Laura’s eye in the newspaper one Saturday in 2009. Pictures of the sun-drenched kitchen and unusually large backyard jumped off the page. And the charming College Hill colonial, built in 1772, was a mere two blocks from Laura’s childhood home. “It reminded me of the house I grew up in, but re-imagined in a much fresher, more modern way.” Thinking ahead to the urban life they planned to resume in retirement, Laura said to her husband Jim, “When we move to Providence, that’s the house I want to buy.”
The couple had been living in a wonderful Dutch colonial in the suburban community of South Kingstown for 16 years. Situated near the University of Rhode Island and within close proximity to both the woods and beaches and thirty minutes away from Providence, the Nelsons had access to a lot of resources. While they loved the life they had built raising their four children in South Kingstown, Jim, a high school principal, and Laura, who works at a marketing communications and public relations firm, are urban dwellers at heart.
In addition to the five years they lived together in Manhattan before spending a year traveling the world, the couple lived in a Greek revival they gutted and renovated in Providence’s Armory District. When they eventually moved to suburbia to satisfy their need for better schools and more open space, they always knew they would one day find their way back to the city. They just didn’t imagine it would happen so soon.
Laura was planning to visit her parents in Providence the day the newspaper article was published. Unable to resist the urge to see the house, she called the agent and asked if she could take a look even though it was a day before the open house. “I saw it and fell in love with it that day.” The next day, she and Jim went to the open house. They made an offer that night.
“We just loved everything about it. It was impulsive,” Laura concedes, “but we don’t regret a single bit about it. We loved it exactly the way it was…Even though it retains all of the charms of the period, it feels modern at the same time.” After listing all of the things that won him over – the light, the openness of the main floor, the kitchen, the yard, the radiant heat in the master bathroom – Jim simply states, “It’s the perfect house.”
Four-and-a-half years later, Jim and Laura couldn’t be happier with their decision. “There’s nothing in New York that we can’t get here and it’s really just more manageable here,” Jim explains. Their expansive back yard, surrounded by a picket fence, offers them the kind of privacy and open space you don’t often find in an urban setting. Great food, theater, art and cultural events are just footsteps away. It seems that Jim and Laura’s impulse was spot-on; they have landed exactly where they belong.
You can see the full tour and learn more about the Nelson's home and inspiration on Apartment Therapy.
Photos and text by Jacqueline Marque
I fell in love with Miranda Lake's home after seeing it beautifully featured in Valorie Hart and Sara Essex Bradley's wonderful book House Proud: Unique Home Design, Louisiana.I knew right away that I had to meet the woman behind this magical home with the 1952 double-decker bus in the back yard. Miranda's home is fearless, playful and offbeat. I'm delighted I had the opportunity to explore this strange wonderland and share it with you.
Stepping onto the grounds of Miranda Lake’s New Orleans home feels like being transported into the whimsical world she depicts in her artwork. Just as her encaustic collages portray surreal scenes featuring cleverly juxtaposed animals and objects, Miranda’s Uptown home treats visitors to a visual feast of artfully assembled vignettes with similar motifs. The front porch alone is a delightful display: A plastic deer head peers out from a pot of colorful flowers; a small toy horse rests in front of a vintage scale holding an arrangement of succulents; a collection of tiny birds emerge from a rusty typewriter.
“I see this house as an extension of my portfolio work,” Miranda explains. “It’s as much me and as much of my art as it is a house. It is an experience.” The experience is filled with collections of “beautifully strange” decorative objects she finds in a variety of places including junk stores, eBay, Etsy, Craigslist and travel. Her love of biology, zoology and all things having to do with animals is abundantly clear. In addition to her two dogs, Mr. Whipple and Birdie, and four bunnies, Tumpta, Flapjack, Toofus, and L.B. Fou Fou, the house is filled with creatures of land and sea in various forms: plastic toys, ceramic vases, entomological specimens, faux and real taxidermy. Animals are depicted in paintings, printed on pillows, and seem to appear wherever you turn.
When Miranda bought the house 15 years ago, she knew right away that the 1910 shotgun house on Jena Street was perfect. In fact, it was the only house she looked at. “It’s a special house. It’s deceptively large. It looks teeny from the front but keeps going, going and going.” The back half of the house is divided into a separate apartment, adding the bonus of a built-in source of income. If she needed any proof that it was meant to be, she got it two weeks before she moved in when she was shopping on Magazine Street. The stars aligned when she stumbled upon a fated find: a hand-painted 1920’s wood bar with a tag that read, “Made by the Coco-Cola Company for the Jena Street Social Club.” The bar is now the focal point of her parlor.
When Miranda acquired the empty lot next door just before Katrina hit in 2005, she was able to add a swimming pool and transform the property into the compound it is today. It is a rarity in New Orleans for a modest home to have so much yard space.
It’s hard to believe the grounds that surround Miranda’s home started out as an empty patch of grass surrounded by a chain link fence. A lush garden path filled with little surprises – a claw foot tub filled with small horse figurines, antique toys tucked into the greenery – winds around the property and leads visitors into a magical adult playground where Miranda’s unique artistic vision comes to life. A fully restored ’62 Shasta camper trailer and a 1952 double-decker bus, which she describes as “one big shiny, giant happy pill you can actually get inside of,” are parked alongside a stunning lap pool. Miranda bought the bus from a friend and plans to get it water tight and eventually hook up electricity, air conditioning, and install a sound system. She envisions it as a poolside cabana. The atmosphere is perfect for Miranda’s casual lifestyle, where friends feel free to drop by for a swim.
Miranda’s home embodies the easy, offbeat spirit of New Orleans. Although she was raised in rural Connecticut, she has found a muse in the Crescent City. “The crumbling decay is just eye candy for me. It’s like Shakespeare here. The whole cycle of life is very easy to see and feel. It’s all around you.”
You can see the full tour and learn more about Miranda's style and inspiration on Apartment Therapy.
Photos and text by Jacqueline Marque