Flashback Friday: First solo-apartment Bedroom

Love that space: Park Slope, 1999

The Vision: Tropical Mod

The Elements: bed on the floor, sheepskin rug, bamboo blinds, 1950s barkcloth in a tropical floral, leopard print throw pillow, plexiglass tulip chair with zebra print seat.

The Huh? Factor: a 1920s blown-glass lamp with a fringed shade--see it on the windowsill? (Total DIY, by the way. There weren't entire stores devoted to lampshades back then, so I bought a plain white cone shade and hot-glued 3-inch magenta fringe in a zig zag around the base!)

The Analysis: After almost two years sharing a 300-sf one bedroom apartment with my roommate and best buddy Jeff, I moved into an 850 sf park slope 2-bedroom, solo. I bought the full sized bed and ran out of money. The barkcloth throw had been the curtain in my old room, and dressed up the all-white bedding nicely. This was before there was a Home Depot and Lowes in every town, and the bamboo blinds came from Pearl River, an amazing Asian department store on the southern fringe of Soho. All in all, I have to say the room is casual and "undecorated," but has some style. Or maybe I mean guts.

What Remains: that exact sheepskin is in use in our bedroom (okay, actually in the closet.) The barkcloth calls to mind the bols tropical print on the curtains in the girls' room. I will always love bamboo blinds. And I wish to goodness I hadn't sold that rockin chair!

What did your first solo bedroom (or post-college bedroom) look like?