tour

AROUND MY HOME /// Mark Salvie


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Name /// Mark Salvie  
Age /// 26

What would you call your decor style?
Quirky, modern, comfortable, curated, and cheeky.

How long have you lived here?
Since November 2012.

What is the square footage?
A little over 2,000 square feet.
Favorite room in the house or where you spend most your time?
With two roommates, a dog, plus all our friends/families/neighbors/lady friends/supper groups/couchsurfers/etc constantly visiting, my home usually feels like a frat house or youth hostel.  So I'm VERY grateful my bedroom is so calm and relaxing, as it provides a temporary retreat from the glorious insanity of the rest of my house!
Where do you gather inspiration from?
My mom, traveling, cool restaurants, old photographs, Wes Anderson's color choices, my hip friends' Instagrams (especially instagram.com/sarakatestudios), Liz Lambert's hotels, the internet.

Favorite Design Blogs or Magazine?
I don't really read these too often anymore, but when I first bought my house and felt pretty overwhelmed, the following few websites were lifesavers and/or great inspiration:

manhattan-nest.com (hilarious and good encouragement to take on more DIY projects)

What is your biggest challenge in decorating?
A lot of my walls have curved edges, which makes multiple paint colors rather tricky.  Also, my ceilings are fairly tall so scale is really important to consider when purchasing art and furniture.

Do you follow any rules when shopping for your home?
I have a few general rules.  First, everything I buy needs to either a.) serve a very specific function or b.) spark curiosity, creativity, or whimsy.  Second, I try to buy from a lot of different sources.  Nothing feels more sterile than walking into a room and everything's straight out of a Ikea or Restoration Hardware catalog.  Finally, I try to always buy original art.  Original art doesn't have to be any more expensive than the mass-produced junk from Target or Pottery Barn, and it has a much greater impact on a space's identity.

Go to places to shop for home goods?
Reeves Antiques is by far my favorite store here in Houston.  The owners are honest, hilarious, and have impeccable taste, plus two Jack Russell Terriers hang out at the store most days!  I also like Native Citizen, The Guild Shop, and Kuhl Linscomb here in Houston, although the secret of the Guild Shop is officially out and the selection is pretty picked over these days and I can't really afford anything in Kuhl Linscomb.

Every time I'm in Dallas I'll pop into We Are 1976, an effortlessly cool store that sells awesome screenprints, custom lighting, and random knick knacks.

I shop online fairly often at CB2, Joinery NYC, Etsy, and Amazon.

Finally, I really like buying art and "home goods" as souvenirs when I'm traveling.  Shipping and transport can be difficult sometimes, but I enjoy seeing little reminders of fun vacations scattered around my home!






AROUND OUR HOME: LINDSAY + JAY

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Names:  Lindsay and Jay Snider (and Reece)
Occupations: Business Analyst and Musician
Hobbies:  I like projects.  Jay likes movies.


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Dining room:
Table - Crate and Barrel
Chairs - Marshalls
Chandelier - in the house when we bought it - I just painted it and moved it in here from another room
Trees - I fell in love with the super trendy Cole and Sons woods wallpaper...but it costs something insane like $125 per roll.  And we would have needed several rolls to cover just the 1 wall (gotta line up those trees...).  So then I was depressed because I'm just not going to spend $500 to wallpaper a single wall.  Then one night I was looking online at Ikea's website and saw those panels.  I made Jay get in the car and rush to Ikea with me at 9:45 (they close at 10!) to buy the panels.  All in, the project cost about $100.

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Front living room:
Couch - Craigslist (we had reupholstered)
Floral chair - Craigslist (we had reupholstered)
Club chairs - free from parents (we had reupholstered)
Side tables - 2 from Craigslist and 1 free from parents
Green lamp - free from parents (I spray painted on a whim at 1 am one Wednesday night after going to see Freelance Whales...it just seemed right; shade is Anthropologie)
Brass lamps - saw at a garage sale in our neighborhood when I was out running and sprinted home to get $$
Record player cabinet - from Jay's parents (originally his dad's dad) and I painted white with my mom
Records - from both dads
Display shelves - we built - I got the idea from a picture of a museum gift shop's book display
Rug - West Elm
Pillows - my mom helped me make them - fabric from Ikea


Living room:
Couch - The Dump
rug - stole from my sister (ie free)
piano - from Jay's parents (originally his mom's dad's)
table behind couch - made it
brass lamps - found at a garage sale down the street from the brass lamps in front room while sprinting home for $$
black table thing - was a dresser that someone gave my sister.  We ripped off the hardward, removed drawers, and painted little table by window - was an ugly brown table that had been in my parents' garage for as long as I could remember. I was helping my dad carry it to the curb to trash and he starts telling me that his grandfather made it from what the called zinc boards during the depression.  They lived in a town that had a zinc smelter.  Zinc would be brought in on rail.  They would break open the boxes, and his grandfather had an agreement with the railroad to collect the box pieces and would make furniture from it.  I decided we should keep it, so Jay and I stripped off all the paint, cut off the rotten feet, and stained.  It's a little awkward and doesn't serve too much in function, but I like its story.
rug - stole from my sister (ie free)
Painting behind couch by Scott Erickson (www.scottericksonart.comI painted other 2





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Kitchen: 
Original cabinetry - had outsides painted and then decided to paint the insides ourselves - terrible idea (I cried multiple times). Updated counter top (marble), backsplash, appliances when we moved in and ripped a hood out from above stove.Breakfast area (still a work in progress) - I just bought the table and chairs from Craigslist last week but want to recover the chairs; also bought a chandelier from Craigslist that I will paint and hang in here; bar stools I stole from my sister (ie free)Painting by Sam Wedelich (www.dwelldeep.com)Bar Cart from Ikea



Master:
Rug - West Elm
Bed - Star Furniture
Lamps - Target
Side tables - 1 free from parents and other is from Ikea
Dresser - My dad worked in DC for 10+ years.  When he retired, we took this from his house there.  I always loved the DC house, so I really like having a few things from it.
Painting was designed by my sister and painted by me

Guest:
Bed - free from DC house
Side tables - free from my parents
Lamps - free from Jay's parents with Target lampshades
Rug - free from my parents
Mirror - Was in master bathroom when we looked at the house but the owner's removed it right before closing.  Jay made them bring it to closing on principle.  It sat in a closet for a year and a half.  I finally painted it and hung.
Oriental table - my mom and I bought from a store going out of business
Painting by my sister