Mr. Peacock's Habitat

Mr. Peacock would like to thank Grace at Design Sponge for the "Sneak Peek" yesterday. Here's some shot's from my habitat, and you can also see more at Design Sponge.

I've moved and lived in so many different places and apartments in my life and was always afraid of accumulating stuff. I never wanted to be weighted down with "stuff" and look what happened in a few short years! An apartment filled to the rafters with books, records, magazines, dishes, journals, et all...

The apartment is a mix of old & new, cheap & expensive, tacky & chic, with lots of sentimental hand-me-downs and gifts from family and friends. Most of the artwork is my own work (paintings and collages), with the exception of a floral painting by my friend Robert (thanks!), in the kitchen. The walls are painted in a Martha Stewart brown tone called mushroom and all of the doors are painted a glossy black. My grandmother's coffee table and white leather chair (in the left mirror reflection) take center stage in the living room (see above). As a child, I made endless little arrangements with my grandmother's nic-nacs on that coffee table (of course she had a larger and thicker piece of glass on top). I would get scolded for spinning in that white chair—now I scold my friends for spinning in it. Not really, there's nothing too fragile or precious anywhere in this apartment I share with my partner, Jason, and we use everything.

The entire space is an "evening apartment" and comes to life at night. The apartment becomes warm, comfortable, and cozy—and everything twinkles from the soft lighting throughout the apartment. I love the Gio Ponti chairs. The scale of these chairs (see above) is perfect for an apartment.

My grandmother's embroidered pillow rests on the Philippe Starck chair, with the George Nelson Eye Clock looking down.

My DIY Decoupage Ceiling in the entry way looking into the sunny living room, with the surreal hand key holder.

The kitchen is stuffed to the rafters with books and dishes. I'm an avid cook and foodie and the kitchen gets a thorough workout. I decoupaged the table ala Piero Fornasetti. You can buy the original table by Piero and Barnaba Fornasetti here.

I converted the old fashioned built-in ironing board into the ultimate spice rack—I've already run out of room. My mother found an old roll of contact paper at my grandmother's house and saved it for me, because she knew I would like it. The pattern is black & white line drawings of buildings in some imaginary city—it reminds me of a hybrid of Brooklyn and London. I xeroxed it and lined all of the cabinets in the kitchen and the bathroom with it.

My friend, who lived in the apartment before me—who's not a cook, covered the small amount of counter top with black latex rubber. I love the deep glossy blackness, but it's not very practical as a frequently used surface. I installed the mirrors above and under the cabinets. The cabinets are painted in a gray that was called "elephant." All of the cabinet drawer pulls are vintage milk glass.


I love the horizontal and crisscrossing stripes in this Ladytron video (I love Ladytron too!) for the song Runaway. The bathroom currently has black & white toile wallpaper, but this video has inspired me to go with stripes. I'll show you the results down the road. I hope my peacock habitat inspires and gives you ideas for your own home.