Talk of the Town - City girl, country girl June 05 2003
New York transplant in an Avondale Estates townhome
Two years ago, native New Yorker Linda Amaru lived in a tiny studio apartment. Her life was tres NYC: a fashion career, an ex-husband and 300 square feet to call home.
But things change: Amaru shed that skin and moved to the South as a single gal. Last fall, she bought a roomy townhome that’s bigger than her last two NYC apartments combined. She marshaled her fashionista instincts and developed a clear theme for every room: contemporary, Betsey Johnson-esque, Art Deco.
She lives in Avondale’s Stratford Green Townhomes, the antithesis of “cookie-cutter” development: Each townhome has a unique exterior, and there’s a slew of available floor plans.
Creative Loafing: After NYC, why Avondale?
Amaru: I was kinda looking to slow down a little bit. In New York, I was married to a musician and it was all about rock ‘n’ roll. I was in the fashion industry and everything was in high gear all the time.
I wanted to find a place that was beautiful, but also had that city-urban feel to it. I like nature and the city. That’s what really struck me about Atlanta. Here I am living in Avondale, which is just minutes from downtown. And I have this really cute community, with trees, grass, birds and a garden.
Your living room has a clean-line “contemporary” feel: black-and-white Hollywood photos, stark shelves. But the wall color — is that “mustard”?
It’s called gold. I know contemporary is about stark, but I wanted to warm it up a little bit. My shelf unit is actual shelves, painted black, with cinderblocks.
Trying to avoid that “picture-perfect Pottery Barn” look?
I am a thrift shop/garage sale junkie. I go with my parents every weekend. It’s in our blood, actually. When I was a kid, it used to embarrass me, you know, “My mom goes to garage sales!” And now, I mean, that’s what we do on Saturday mornings.
Gotta ask about the blood-red dining room. Recently, I helped a friend paint a room red — and failed. After three coats, it resembled sticky lip gloss. But yours looks great.
At Home Depot, they said five coats max, if you do the primer and do everything [they] say, which I did. But after five coats, it looked almost like pig’s blood. I kept thinking of The Amityville Horror. I’m like, “OK, I have pig’s blood on my walls.” It was clotting, and I was almost in tears one night, thinking it will never look good. It took me seven coats and a week, because I had to wait 24-hours between each coat. Insane.
Describe this “Betsey Johnson-meets-antiques” vibe in the dining room.
I want it to be over-the-top gaudy. I want to get a really big gaudy chandelier for over the dining set.
After living in a studio, you must relish all these rooms to decorate.
It makes it more fun for me, because I can collect different things. I’m not stuck in that one mode of “I only collect red glass, and that’s all I collect.”
But you do collect red glass. It’s sitting in the red dining room.
I do [laughs]. But now, if I go to a garage sale, there’s always something to find: gaudy Indian/Asian fusion, contemporary, cutesy Pottery Barn stuff for the kitchen. Every garage sale is a good garage sale.
cityhomes@creativeloafing.com
But things change: Amaru shed that skin and moved to the South as a single gal. Last fall, she bought a roomy townhome that’s bigger than her last two NYC apartments combined. She marshaled her fashionista instincts and developed a clear theme for every room: contemporary, Betsey Johnson-esque, Art Deco.
She lives in Avondale’s Stratford Green Townhomes, the antithesis of “cookie-cutter” development: Each townhome has a unique exterior, and there’s a slew of available floor plans.
Creative Loafing: After NYC, why Avondale?
Amaru: I was kinda looking to slow down a little bit. In New York, I was married to a musician and it was all about rock ‘n’ roll. I was in the fashion industry and everything was in high gear all the time.
I wanted to find a place that was beautiful, but also had that city-urban feel to it. I like nature and the city. That’s what really struck me about Atlanta. Here I am living in Avondale, which is just minutes from downtown. And I have this really cute community, with trees, grass, birds and a garden.
Your living room has a clean-line “contemporary” feel: black-and-white Hollywood photos, stark shelves. But the wall color — is that “mustard”?
It’s called gold. I know contemporary is about stark, but I wanted to warm it up a little bit. My shelf unit is actual shelves, painted black, with cinderblocks.
Trying to avoid that “picture-perfect Pottery Barn” look?
I am a thrift shop/garage sale junkie. I go with my parents every weekend. It’s in our blood, actually. When I was a kid, it used to embarrass me, you know, “My mom goes to garage sales!” And now, I mean, that’s what we do on Saturday mornings.
Gotta ask about the blood-red dining room. Recently, I helped a friend paint a room red — and failed. After three coats, it resembled sticky lip gloss. But yours looks great.
At Home Depot, they said five coats max, if you do the primer and do everything [they] say, which I did. But after five coats, it looked almost like pig’s blood. I kept thinking of The Amityville Horror. I’m like, “OK, I have pig’s blood on my walls.” It was clotting, and I was almost in tears one night, thinking it will never look good. It took me seven coats and a week, because I had to wait 24-hours between each coat. Insane.
Describe this “Betsey Johnson-meets-antiques” vibe in the dining room.
I want it to be over-the-top gaudy. I want to get a really big gaudy chandelier for over the dining set.
After living in a studio, you must relish all these rooms to decorate.
It makes it more fun for me, because I can collect different things. I’m not stuck in that one mode of “I only collect red glass, and that’s all I collect.”
But you do collect red glass. It’s sitting in the red dining room.
I do [laughs]. But now, if I go to a garage sale, there’s always something to find: gaudy Indian/Asian fusion, contemporary, cutesy Pottery Barn stuff for the kitchen. Every garage sale is a good garage sale.
cityhomes@creativeloafing.com