“My novels all the time appear to comprise a self-fulfilling prophecy,” says J. Courtney Sullivan. “I write one thing, after which it occurs in my life.” In her newest guide, The Cliffs, a lady named Jane strikes again to her hometown and winds up in a Victorian home. Then, Courtney additionally moved again to her hometown and landed in an previous Victorian — alongside along with her husband, two youngsters, and 13-year-old canine. Come have a look round…
LIBRARY
Chairs: Inside Outline. Espresso tables: Pottery Barn. Lamp: Goal. Curtains: customized by way of Noelani Zervas Interiors with cloth by Fabricut. Rug: Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams, related.
“Many individuals I do know had an surprising life occasion within the early days of Covid — a reevaluation of some variety. A divorce, a brand new profession, a child, a canine they weren’t planning on getting. For me, it was heading again to my hometown of Milton, Massachusetts, one thing I by no means thought I might do in 1,000,000 years. I find it irresistible, however I generally think about my 14-year-old goth self, who wrote brief tales concerning the soullessness of suburbia, discovering out that we dwell right here. She can be appalled.”
Couch: Room & Board “Hutton”, related.Espresso tables: Pottery Barn. Lamp: Goal. Curtains: customized by way of Noelani Zervas Interiors with cloth by Fabricut. Rug: Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams, related.
“We moved into our home in July 2021. We didn’t have a lot furnishings, and with all the availability chain points on the time, it felt inconceivable to discover a new sofa that will arrive within a yr. So, I went to Room & Board and requested if there have been any couches obtainable instantly. There was precisely one: yellow and velvet. I purchased it and determined to construct the room round it. The navy partitions got here subsequent.”
Portray: Leo Dunn.
“A number of months after I purchased this portrait of a sea captain, my finest buddy and I walked into a large artwork gallery in Maine. There have been tons of of work on the partitions, and she or he pointed at one and stated, ‘I really like that!’ It was a Leo Dunn portrait of Captain Cogswell! She’d by no means seen mine, however now we every have our personal.”
DINING ROOM
Gentle fixture: Shades of Gentle. Desk: Duvall & Co. Chairs: Design Inside Attain. Wallpaper: William Morris.”
“Whereas dwelling in Brooklyn, we had our second child, and our eating room grew to become our son’s bed room. I didn’t wish to half with the desk, so I discovered a desk tent that turned it into firetruck. With pillows and fairy lights and books, it was the right hideaway. Now the eating desk is again to being a eating desk. My daughter and her associates do lots of crafts, so there may be glitter in each crevice.”
Wallpaper: William Morris. Mirror: body from an vintage retailer, mirror inserted later.
“For my fortieth birthday, my two finest associates every gave me a stunning ornamental bowl as a present. I bear in mind considering, Wow, so we’ve reached the ornamental bowl years. In a contented approach — I really like an ornamental bowl.”
LIVING ROOM
Sectional: Inside Outline. Rug: Classic, related. Espresso desk: West Elm, related. Facet desk: “Thrifted at a MCM retailer in Brooklyn a decade in the past,” related. Wall shade: Tallow by Farrow & Ball, Tallow. Curtains: customized by way of Noelani Zervas Interiors.
“The day after we moved in, a part of the second-floor ceiling caved in from a mysterious leak. The home nonetheless has its unique picket gutters. The partitions are filled with horsehair plaster. That is the primary house my husband and I’ve owned, so it’s a studying curve.”
“Most of the girls in my mother’s household have passed by their center names. My first identify is Julie, however nobody has ever referred to as me that. It’d appear to be I’m making an attempt for this literary affectation with ‘J. Courtney Sullivan,’ however when you checked out my kindergarten attendance sheet, it stated that, too.”
KITCHEN
“After twenty years in small flats, we have been joyful to maneuver into a giant home. Funnily sufficient, although, when all 5 of us are house, we’re virtually all the time in the identical room. When we’ve got a celebration, everybody congregates within the tiny kitchen till I urge them to go elsewhere.”
Throw rug: Sprint & Albert.
“If there are greater than three youngsters at house, somebody is shimmying by way of the little window within the kitchen. It’s the legislation.”
“There are such a lot of beautiful historic particulars, like a Harry Potter closet underneath the steps and this butler’s pantry, which we use for storing youngsters’ artwork provides.”
OFFICE
Desk: Theodore Alexander. Wall shade: Dix Blue by Farrow & Ball. Desk chair: classic Steelcase, related. Globe Lamp: Classic Dansk from Ramble Market. Rug. GreenRow.
“The centerpiece of my workplace is the desk my husband gave me 15 years in the past, once I give up my day job and began writing full-time. On my desk, I’ve {a photograph} of me and my childhood buddy Noreen making a snowman in a blizzard. The picture is a day by day reminder of what drives us to create.”
“When Kevin and I have been first courting, we bonded over a mutual love of the artist Leanne Shapton. Leanne and I labored collectively on the time, so I requested if she had any work she may be prepared to half with. She ripped two pages proper out of her sketchbook — a watercolor of brownstones — which I framed for Kevin as a Christmas present. Then, once I turned 35, Kevin commissioned the artist Samantha Hahn to create a customized Child-Sitters Membership cowl, primarily based off a photograph of me and my childhood associates.”
LANDING
“At one time, a woman named Clara will need to have lived on this home as a result of she carved her identify into the picket doorways. It’s all the time thrilling and a little bit spooky to find a brand new one.”
PRIMARY BEDROOM
Yellow quilt: The Firm Retailer. Wooden bench: related.
“With youngsters, it’s a lifetime of extremes. My husband and I are both on this very quiet, beautiful home working from house, or the youngsters are right here and it’s completely bananas.”
“Once I was nonetheless ingesting, I discovered myself drawn to issues written by individuals who’d give up. Ann Leary wrote an unbelievable guide referred to as The Good Home that I take into consideration on a regular basis. I’ve written typically concerning the ‘good lady’ in a household of alcoholics. In my newest novel, I made a decision to be extra trustworthy and say generally the ‘good lady’ is additionally an alcoholic who must face that. There have been numerous occasions once I felt like I actually wanted to cease ingesting, but it surely didn’t appear attainable. It was attainable. In October, I’ll be eight years sober.”
SON’S ROOM
Bedding: Pottery Barn Youngsters. Mattress: Pottery Barn Youngsters. Nightstand: Ikea. Rocket lamp: Goal, related. Curtains: Pottery Barn Youngsters.
“Once I was a child, I all the time wished to learn The Child-Sitter’s Membership, however my dad instructed me to learn ‘actual books.’ Now I volunteer on the library, which has all of the books I bear in mind from childhood, and the youngsters simply wish to learn graphic novels. I really feel a bit like my dad once I catch myself considering, What about Anne of Inexperienced Gables?! However a part of instilling a love of studying includes letting youngsters learn what they gravitate towards.”
DAUGHTER’S ROOM
Mattress: Pottery Barn Youngsters. Map: Cavallini Papers. Nightstand: Ikea. Curtains: Pottery Barn Youngsters. Rug: Pottery Barn Youngsters.
“Just about each win in our family is well known by going to Dairy Freeze, so once I completed my guide The Cliffs, we did simply that. My husband was saying, ‘Yay for Mother, she completed her guide!’ My five-year-old goes, ‘Now you by no means have to write down once more!’”
“When my mother and father moved out of my childhood house, they referred to as to ask what I wished to maintain. I used to be dwelling in a studio house in Brooklyn, so I instructed them they need to give away my childhood toys — however the one factor they saved was my dollhouse. I’m so glad they did.”
STAIRS
Wallpaper: Farrow & Ball.
“I used to be consuming pizza with a buddy one night time, and I requested her what to do with our again stairs. I had 1,000,000 paint swatches. She recommended wallpaper as an alternative, so I acquired out all of the wallpaper samples I had. She picked one from the pile, held it up, and we have been each like, ‘That’s excellent.’”
PORCH
“The entrance porch is the perfect place to nap, drink espresso, or watch a rainstorm. Each September, we participate in Milton Porchfest, the place bands carry out on folks’s driveways and porches. It’s our favourite day of the yr on this city.”
Thanks a lot for sharing your house with us, Courtney, and congratulations on your new novel!
P.S. Extra house excursions, together with a colourful Swedish house and an introvert’s nook.
(Photographs by Lyndsay Hannah Pictures. Noelani Zervas supplied some inside design providers. As Courtney put it, “After making some daring decisions, like portray a complete room navy, I bumped into determination fatigue. Noelani gave me so many nice concepts for methods to pull issues collectively and recommended items I completely love and by no means would have discovered by myself.”)
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