LIVING WITH STYLE…EVEN WHEN THE GOING IS TOUGH

This post really got me. It’s everything I love rolled into one: vintage furniture, creative partnerships, blue tiles and a flair for living well EVEN (or especially?) when it is hardest. Throw in some estate pieces from my all-time favorite writer, Joan Didion, and I’m gone! Enjoy….

The story starts for me, not with the gorgeous Architectural Digest feature below, but with my friend Liz’ insistence that I watch a Netflix documentary called “American Symphony” produced by Michelle Obama’s team. I had many other things in my queue but this went to the top — & was subsequently watched by yours truly 3x in the next week. It. Is. That. Good.

Author Suleiki Jaouad with her pooch on a road trip - from her memoir

The documentary is “supposed” to be about polymath musician Jon Batiste’s ambitious production of an original symphony at Carnegie Hall, and it is. BUT it is his romance with essayist extraordinaire Suleika Jaouad (author of Beyond Two Kingdoms: A Memoir of Life Interrupted) and the return of her cancer that becomes the focus. All of which makes the home they are building together in NYC more meaningful - a place of beauty and healing as you can see…

The painted brick walls and Thonet chairs are everything, aren’t they?!

This beautiful house in Brooklyn brings together their unique styles (his from New Orleans and hers from Europe/Tunisia)….all orchestrated by Suleika’s close friend and interior designer Hallie Goodman, who seems to channel their personalities flawlessly. (BTW, I’m in love with Hallie’s approach to design - you must check out her portfolio! Upcycled pieces from her brilliant thrifting, keen eye for negative space so it’s all very breathable, color as an instrument to inject life exactly where it’s needed - not overpowering, and PERSONAL meaningful talismen throughout each space. Talk about harmony!)

Dressing room complete with Grammy’s, of course:)

My friend Liz worried the coverage of Suleika’s cancer journey might hit too close to home for me, since I was in CancerLand not long ago. But I found the story absolutely uplifting. Suleika & Jon pour themselves into their art (writing, painting & music), practicing what Suleika calls “survival as a creative act.” I 100% identify with that! In fact that was the spirit behind starting this very blog when I was going through chemo. It felt so good to think about something other than hospitals - and also to connect with YOU during the process, as we discovered so much beauty and good design together.

One of the MANY awesome nurses who guided me through the 15-month treatment….

A bit cringey, but to finish the point - it was during that time that I threw my name in the ring for top blog in a national review by High Point Market (see embarassing pic below with my chemo curls that I tried to mow down with flat iron:) It’s as if illness, or any challenge really, can give you this strange adrenaline from seemingly nowhere to do something you’ve never done before. Maybe it’s a Carpe Diem thing? Anyway, it’s powerful and the film puts that all on display in way you can really absorb.

Ok, back to the show. As you can see below, the kitchen that Hallie designed for them is so warm and personal….even a non-cook like me could feel comfortable in there! My friend Sophie Donelson (former Editor in Chief of House Beautiful) is on a crusade to tell people their kitchens don’t always have to be white and sterile like operating rooms and she’s right. If you check out her book Uncommon Kitchens, you’ll get lots of great ideas for how to pull off this kind of livable kitchen style in your own house.

The kitchen island is really more of a sculpture in my mind - color, pattern, marble, wood, curves. Lovely!!!

And then, just when I thought Suleika couldn’t possibly get ANY cooler - gorgeous, funny, and a writer turned painter - I learned via AD that she writes on Joan Didion’s former desk, which her husband Jon bought for her in that famous auction. I was obsesssssssed with Didion from the first time I read Slouching Towards Bethlehem at age 14 and subsequently wrote my college essay about her work. I can only imagine the spirit of that desk and all the incisive language that was typed on it. Goosebumps!

The painting above the mantel is by Suleika, part of a series of “fever dream” paintings that came to her during her latest hospital stay.

What beauty can you bring forth for yourself today? Maybe you’re having a crap day so far and you need to buy yourself some flowers. Maybe you need to frame some sketches you did way back when?? Maybe you re-arrange your bookshelves for 20 minutes and donate any books that don’t fit in your life anymore….Whatever you do, that time and effort will come back to you 10 fold in energy and spark. I promise. And if you don’t believe me, believe Suleika Jaouad - the most powerful warrior for beauty I know! What a path she’s blazing….you can follow her on Insta: @suleikajaouad along with her 259k fellow warriors:)

Hope you’re doing well - I just got back from Sweden, am in London now and still waiting for Spring weather but healthy and can’t complain!

xo

Lee