We gush about readers all the time during our Cup of Jo team meetings, and Lauren O. is a name that often comes up. A reader from the beginning, she has left many hilarious and heartwarming comments (think: “Hang loose my goose“, a birthday realization, and what happened when she deleted Pokémon GO from her phone). Other readers have asked to learn more about her, so today we’re thrilled to feature her one-bedroom Manhattan apartment, which she shares with her husband, Joe, and two darling cats…
LIVING AREA
Chairs: vintage Niels Otto Møller from Housing Works Thrift. Throw pillows: Pendleton. Stereo: “Joe’s audiophile ‘Frankensystem’ — it’s a Linn turntable on a custom plinth with a Leben amp beside it, and DeVore Fidelity speakers.”
On moving to New York: Joe and I come from San Francisco to Manhattan in 2003 so that I could intern at a PR magazine. We originally thought we’d just stay for the summer, so the move felt low pressure. But then we sneaky fell in love with the city. Before New York, I’d never really found a city that spoke to me. So, at the end of my internship, when I was offered a full-time job, my answer was ‘Of course.’
Red lamp on record shelf: Nicholas Furrow. Record shelves: “Joe and our friend George made them.” Media center: Design Within Reach thrifted via Craigslist, similar. Red lamp on coffee table: Mantar.
On personal style: Our design vibe is similar to the Bergdorf Goodman holiday windows, if they were made by and for raccoons, since we love shiny things. I’d also describe it as a metropolitan goblin feel — there’s lots of records, books, orbs, minerals and rocks.
Art mural: thrifted from House Works. Record shelf: CB2, similar. Pink lamp: vintage, via Furlong. Plant shelf: Ethnicraft. Coffee table: Jordan Crowell. Red lamp: Mantar. Sectional: Saba Italia, similar. Moth throw pillow: Timorous Beasties. Rug: Saint-Ouen flea market in Paris.
On bursts of color: Before the pandemic, there was definitely less color in the apartment. But once we were stuck here all the time, we wanted to brighten things up. Joe was actually the one who said, ‘We have to get a pink sectional.’ So, we went for it.
On a travel tradition: I used to volunteer at the Housing Works bookstore, and one day a mysterious Frenchman came in asking if we had any copies of George Orwell’s novel 1984. We pulled out all these different editions, and he was over the moon, saying that while traveling, he always goes to local bookstores and asks for an edition of 1984 from their country. I thought that was the best idea. The book was published in a zillion languages, and it has been released in new editions. If you read the various introductions, people love to frame it in terms of their country’s current political moment; it’s an interesting lens through which to see other places. I’ve now taken his tradition on as my own.
On fibre art: I go through random phases where I get the urge to make fibre art. I made a Debbie Harry portrait during our first summer in New York, when Joe was as a paralegal and never home. A few years later, I embroidered a portrait of David Bowie on a handbag for a contest held by the now defunct handbag brand Rachel Nasvik. I ended up winning!
Lauren and Maya
On beloved cat children: We adopted our cat Maddie in Anaheim, California, while I was down there visiting family. He had been a stray running around in some parking lot, and we found him on Petfinder. Then we adopted Maya a year ago. She was originally living with her five kittens in a kill shelter in Tennessee, and then somehow they all ended up on Staten Island? The fact that she ended up there with her babies always makes me laugh because it reminds me of Madonna’s music video Papa Don’t Preach.
BEDROOM
Basket: Swahili African Modern. Blue bench: West Elm. Tiger throw pillows: Williams Sonoma. Duvet: “A white West Elm comforter I got on super clearance and then tie-dyed and appliquéd with a bunch of quilting scraps.”
On a long-time love: Joe and I met 26 years ago, while studying abroad at the University of Oxford in England. For one of our first dinners, he made me this fantastic, complicated, vegetarian Thai soup — even though he lived in student housing with a crappy kitchen shared with a dozen people, and he had to shop for groceries in a small town in the early aughts where good ingredients were hard to come by. That gesture meant so much to me because in the past, previous boyfriends made me feel like shit for being a vegetarian. Like it was a hassle to work around. But Joe has always taken my needs seriously and my eccentricities in stride — like when I wake him up in the middle of the night because I’m sad about the way people are mean to pigeons — and he always really hears me and makes me feel taken care of.
Gold dachshunds: vintage via Atlantis Home.
On favorite books: I’m forever recommending Kelly Link’s Magic for Beginners, a series of short fantasy stories. You can feel your brain growing new wrinkles and acquiring new neural pathways as you read. She’s just so creative and I have such a crush on the way she puts her stories together. I can’t imagine anyone not finding this book magical.
Paint: Middleton Pink from Farrow & Ball. Mushroom throw pillow: John Derian for Target. Mushroom print: David Shrigley. Wolf print: “From a festival in Montreal. I saw them all over the subway and ended up writing to the festival’s team asking if I could buy one. They then sent me a couple for free.” Bed: CB2. Velvet blue throw pillows: West Elm and Timorous Beasties. Brass bookcase: One Kings Lane, similar.
On mushroom decor: It all started with submitting a pitch to Mushroom People Magazine about an artist who made shrouds inoculated with mushroom spores that you could be buried in. In theory, the mushroom would consume you. Putting that piece together ended up spurring a lifelong mushroom enthusiasm. I’m now part of the New York Mycological Society, a group of citizen scientists and foragers who are really into mushrooms and super generous with their knowledge. Now during walks, I fetch sticks with exciting things growing on them and present them to the more expert members like a retriever with a Frisbee.
Brass bookcase: One Kings Lane, similar.
On traveling with parents: The picture of the little girl is my mom. A couple years ago, Joe and I started a tradition of going on vacation with her and my stepdad Doug. Mom and I love walking around all day, so we’ll put on our comfy shoes and head out. Then Joe and Doug will go to a sports bar and chat about baseball factoids. For our first trip, we went to the U.K., and I found a lake in the middle of the Homestead Heath that only women can swim in. And even though it was November and freezing, my mom and I jumped in. After that, we decided we were officially pond scum and had to swim everywhere we traveled. In Iceland, we went to the lagoons, and when we visit my sisters, we always pick a hotel or vacation rental with a pool.
ENTRYWAY
Credenza: vintage. White lamp: Verner Panton. Rhino: gifted from her mother.
On special gifts: My family surprised me with this rhino for Christmas. She was an art history major who took a bunch of studio art classes, like furniture- and rug-making courses. When she and my dad got married, they were as poor as church mice, so they basically made everything in their apartment. Her thing was that if you ponder something long enough, you can figure out a cool way to make it. She is a big influence on my sisters and me. We’re always wondering, ‘What can I make to go in our space?’ and ‘What can I make for other people to show them how much I love them?’
KITCHEN
On working around old design choices: Our kitchen is very much not our style. But it was brand new when we moved in and is in really great condition, so I can’t imagine spending money on ripping out the counters. As a workaround, I’ve added personal touches. I’ve been switching out the cabinet knobs one at a time, so none of them match. Some are snails, some mushrooms, one is a resin knob with a bunch of moss inside. I also started drawing this mural. Changing the kitchen initially felt like an annoying task, but it has turned into this space of giving myself permission to do whatever I want. And that’s been very liberating.
Thank you so much, Lauren. We adore you! Never stop commenting!
P.S. More home tours, including a a reader’s ‘introvert nook’ and a yoga teacher whose Manhattan studio apartment is a love letter to women.
(Photos by Christine Han for Cup of Jo.)
