While all the painting and staining was happening, I was also starting to collect furniture for our new room.
I originally thought that we would put a couple of couches in and fill most of the room with rows of mismatched chairs, which is the usual scenario for “listening room” type shows.
But as the project evolved and we made the decision to be open for coffee during the day, I decided to create more of a lounge using upholstered furniture to make cozy conversational areas. I wanted to go in a different direction than the sparse industrial aesthetic that is so prevalent right now. I wanted it to feel like you’re hanging out in a good friend’s living room having a glass of wine and settling in for some conversation therapy.
In 2016 I designed a funky, bohemian VIP tent for the artists who were playing the NY State Blues Festival here in Syracuse.
You can read all the details about how I did it HERE.
I still had most of the thrift store furniture I used for this project, so the VIP tent became my inspiration for our new lounge.
I began scouting area thrift stores and scored some really lucky finds. This velvety gold vintage custom upholstered sofa was marked down to just $10! It was in near perfect condition.
This 1970’s rust sofa was another awesome find, and it’s now one of my favorite things in the room.
I didn’t go into the project with a lot of preconceived ideas and I allowed my thrifty finds to drive the direction of our “look”. The sofas were all $80 or less, the occasional tables were $5 to $40. The fabulous thing about going with an eclectic bohemian style is that it gives you a lot of latitude with your decor choices, which makes it A TON easier to furnish the room on a budget.
THANK GOD, because we are definitely launching this venture on a shoestring.
In the early spring, my partner Joanna and I were working on a promo idea for a new Red Shoes Black Bag production, The Disco Ball. Our creative-genius friend Robyn, owner of Graphik Nature Studios, suggested that we mock up a 1970’s NYC apartment and stage our performers as if they were getting ready to go out for a night on the town at Studio 54.
Cool, right?
I offered up the room because I already had a few funky 1970’s pieces, including the sofas pictured above. Most of the room was still a complete wreck, but we made it work by focusing on one reasonably presentable area. I designed the set, which was a blast! I picked up some thrift store items, found a peacock chair at an antique store and borrowed some groovy 1970’s props (we even had an 8-track tape deck!) from The Curator of Cool which is an antique store specializing in mid-century modern and 1970’s artifacts.
This is the final result:
Photo courtesy of Graphik Nature Studios
So much fun!
This project ended up influencing the look of the space, though sadly the orange and yellow shag rug went back to the antique store. I’ve never been a big fan of mid-century or 1970’s decor but I found myself really digging what was going on in the room.
443 was starting to take shape and I continued scavenging through area thrift stores for several months to find everything I was looking for.
We were now a full year into the project and everyone involved was feeling like we had to put the pedal to the metal and start making things happen.
