House Tour: our very first one, in the West Village

I am thrilled to present our first house tour. My friend Penny invited me to her lovely apartment (though to call it an apartment seems decidedly reductive) in the West Village (that’s in New York City to those who are not natives!). Here are some lovely photos with a little bit of storytelling to go along. Enjoy!

The lovely brick facade of Penny's building

Hallway to office and bedroom

This office doubles as a guest bedroom

The office setup

Penny's ribbons

Penny's fox foot

Penny is an avid horseback rider and also a fox hunter. On the day that she made her first kill, which I think means the dogs catch the fox, she was “blooded.” A person can only be blooded once, as it is a ritual associated with one’s first kill. The foot is cut off in the field and the person being blooded has blood smeared on his or her face: forehead, chin and cheeks, and cannot wash the blood off until sundown. Then Penny brought the foot to a taxidermist to have it properly stuffed and preserved and here it is!

One of the most interesting features of Penny’s house is that there are three offices! The office above is her “work” office, where she conducts her professional work and internet-related work and research. Then she has a more “personal” office for correspondence and bills, in the anteroom to her bedroom (how many of us have an anteroom to the bedroom?!?), and then there is a charming old desk in a corner of the living/dining room where Penny also occasionally sits to write letters and such.

Penny's personal office

The bedroom

The head of the bed

Wall opposite bed

Penny's perfect reading corner

Turtle^haus will be introducing a feature called “The Perfect Thing” which will showcase places in people’s work or living spaces that they consider to be perfect for whatever reason. Penny’s perfect thing is the reading corner in her bedroom, where she loves to curl up on a lazy afternoon.

Penny's kitchen table

Between the autumn leaves outside the window, the pots and pans on the wall and the rustic brick facing of the wall this kitchen just has such a warm, country, homey feel to it. Great vibe!

Penny at the kitchen sink

Collection of vintage Tampax cases

Bathroom sink

Laundry closet

Bookcase lining hallway

Dining room

The dining room is part of the living room and I would like to point out — aside from the fact that Penny and I must be soul mates because of all the bookcases in her house — that she had the great idea of making this “internal” window you see above the bookcase. This window gets light from the bathroom and adds light to the living/dining room which, being in the center of the house, has the least amount of natural light.

Living room

One last glorious look at the bookcases

All these delicious books! And she has two lovely cats who were shy and hid in a closet. This was a great house tour and I loved every minute of it. If you want to see more pictures, you will find the whole set, which you can view as a slideshow, here. Thanks, Penny!

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