{"id":85612,"date":"2024-10-08T21:44:29","date_gmt":"2024-10-08T21:44:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/2024\/10\/08\/j-courtney-sullivans-colorful-home-is-peppered-with-reading-nooks\/"},"modified":"2024-10-08T21:44:29","modified_gmt":"2024-10-08T21:44:29","slug":"j-courtney-sullivans-colorful-home-is-peppered-with-reading-nooks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/2024\/10\/08\/j-courtney-sullivans-colorful-home-is-peppered-with-reading-nooks\/","title":{"rendered":"J. Courtney Sullivan’s Colorful Home Is Peppered With Reading Nooks"},"content":{"rendered":"


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\"J.<\/div>\n

\"J.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy novels always seem to contain a self-fulfilling prophecy,\u201d says J. Courtney Sullivan<\/a>. \u201cI write something, and then it happens in my life.\u201d In her latest book, The Cliffs<\/a>, a woman named Jane moves back to her hometown and winds up in a Victorian house. Then, Courtney also<\/em> moved back to her hometown and landed in an old Victorian \u2014 along with her husband, two kids, and 13-year-old dog. Come take a look around\u2026<\/p>\n

LIBRARY<\/p>\n

\"J.<\/p>\n

Chairs: Interior Define<\/a>. Coffee tables: Pottery Barn<\/a>. Lamp: Target<\/a>. Curtains: custom via Noelani Zervas Interiors<\/a> with fabric by Fabricut<\/a>. Rug: Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams, similar<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cMany people I know had an unexpected life event in the early days of Covid \u2014 a reevaluation of some kind. A divorce, a new career, a baby, a dog they weren\u2019t planning on getting. For me, it was heading back to my hometown of Milton, Massachusetts, something I never thought I would do in a million years. I love it, but I sometimes imagine my 14-year-old goth self, who wrote short stories about the soullessness of suburbia, finding out that we live here. She would be appalled.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"J.<\/p>\n

Sofa: Room & Board \u201cHutton\u201d, similar<\/a>.Coffee tables: Pottery Barn<\/a>. Lamp: Target<\/a>. Curtains: custom via Noelani Zervas Interiors<\/a> with fabric by Fabricut<\/a>. Rug: Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams, similar<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cWe moved into our house in July 2021. We didn\u2019t have much furniture, and with all the supply chain issues at the time, it felt impossible to find a new couch that would arrive inside of a year. So, I went to Room & Board and asked if there were any couches available immediately. There was exactly one: yellow and velvet. I bought it and decided to build the room around it. The navy walls came next.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"J.<\/p>\n

Painting: Leo Dunn<\/a>. <\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cA few months after I bought this portrait of a sea captain, my best friend and I walked into a massive art gallery in Maine. There were hundreds of paintings on the walls, and she pointed at one and said, \u2018I love that!\u2019 It was a Leo Dunn<\/a> portrait of Captain Cogswell! She\u2019d never seen mine, but now we each have our own.\u201d<\/p>\n

DINING ROOM<\/p>\n

\"J.<\/p>\n

Light fixture: Shades of Light<\/a>. Table: Duvall & Co<\/a>. Chairs: Design Within Reach<\/a>. Wallpaper: William Morris.<\/a>\u201d <\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cWhile living in Brooklyn, we had our second kid, and our dining room became our son\u2019s bedroom. I didn\u2019t want to part with the table, so I found a table tent that turned it into firetruck<\/a>. With pillows and fairy lights and books, it was the perfect hideaway. Now the dining table is back to being a dining table. My daughter and her friends do a lot of crafts, so there is glitter in every crevice.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"J.<\/p>\n

Wallpaper: William Morris<\/a>. Mirror: frame from an antique store, mirror inserted later.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cFor my 40th birthday, my two best friends each gave me a gorgeous decorative bowl as a gift. I remember thinking, Wow, so we\u2019ve reached the decorative bowl years<\/em>. In a happy way \u2014\u00a0I love a decorative bowl.\u201d<\/p>\n

LIVING ROOM<\/p>\n

\"J.<\/p>\n

Sectional: Interior Define<\/a>. Rug: Vintage, similar<\/a>. Coffee table: West Elm, similar<\/a>. Side table: \u201cThrifted at a MCM store in Brooklyn a decade ago,\u201d similar<\/a>. Wall color: Tallow by Farrow & Ball<\/a>, Tallow. Curtains: custom via Noelani Zervas Interiors<\/a>. <\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cThe day after we moved in, part of the second-floor ceiling caved in from a mysterious leak. The house still has its original wooden gutters. The walls are full of horsehair plaster. This is the first home my husband and I have owned, so it\u2019s a learning curve.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\u201cMany of the women in my mom\u2019s family have gone by their middle names. My first name is Julie, but no one has ever called me that. It might seem like I\u2019m trying for this literary affectation with \u2018J. Courtney Sullivan,\u2019 but if you looked at my kindergarten attendance sheet, it said that, too.\u201d <\/p>\n

KITCHEN<\/p>\n

\"J.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter two decades in small apartments, we were happy to move into a big house. Funnily enough, though, when all five of us are home, we\u2019re almost always in the same room. When we have a party, everyone congregates in the tiny kitchen until I beg them to go elsewhere.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"J.<\/p>\n

Throw rug: Dash & Albert<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cIf there are more than three children at home, someone is shimmying through the little window in the kitchen. It\u2019s the law.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"J.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are so many lovely historical details, like a Harry Potter closet under the stairs and this butler\u2019s pantry, which we use for storing kids\u2019 art supplies.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"J.<\/p>\n

OFFICE<\/p>\n

\"J.<\/p>\n

Desk: Theodore Alexander<\/a>. Wall color: Dix Blue by Farrow & Ball<\/a>. Desk chair: vintage Steelcase, similar<\/a>. Globe Lamp: Vintage Dansk from Ramble Market<\/a>. Rug. GreenRow<\/a>. <\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cThe centerpiece of my office is the desk my husband gave me 15 years ago, when I quit my day job and started writing full-time. On my desk, I have a photograph of me and my childhood friend Noreen making a snowman in a blizzard. The photo is a daily reminder of what drives us to create.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"J.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen Kevin and I were first dating, we bonded over a mutual love of the artist Leanne Shapton<\/a>. Leanne and I worked together at the time, so I asked if she had any paintings she might be willing to part with. She ripped two pages right out of her sketchbook \u2014 a watercolor of brownstones \u2014 which I framed for Kevin as a Christmas gift. Then, when I turned 35, Kevin\u00a0commissioned the artist Samantha Hahn<\/a> to create a custom Baby-Sitters Club cover, based off a photo of me and my childhood friends.\u201d<\/p>\n

LANDING<\/p>\n

\"J.<\/p>\n

\"J.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt one time, a girl named Clara must have lived in this house because she carved her name into the wooden doors. It\u2019s always exciting and a little spooky to discover a new one.\u201d<\/p>\n

PRIMARY BEDROOM<\/p>\n

\"J.<\/p>\n

Yellow quilt: The Company Store<\/a>. Wood bench: similar<\/a>. <\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cWith kids, it\u2019s a life of extremes. My husband and I are either in this very quiet, lovely house working from home, or the kids are here and it\u2019s absolutely bananas.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"J.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I was still drinking, I found myself drawn to things written by people who\u2019d quit. Ann Leary wrote an incredible book called The Good House<\/em><\/a> that I think about all the time. I\u2019ve written often about the \u2018good girl\u2019 in a family of alcoholics. In my latest novel, I decided to be more honest and say sometimes the \u2018good girl\u2019 is also<\/em> an alcoholic who needs to face that. There were lots of times when I felt like I really needed to stop drinking, but it didn\u2019t seem possible. It was possible. In October, I\u2019ll be eight years sober.\u201d<\/p>\n

SON\u2019S ROOM<\/p>\n

\"J.<\/p>\n

Bedding: Pottery Barn Kids<\/a>. Bed: Pottery Barn Kids<\/a>. Nightstand: Ikea<\/a>. Rocket lamp: Target, similar<\/a>. Curtains: Pottery Barn Kids<\/a>. <\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I was a kid, I always wanted to read The Baby-Sitter\u2019s Club<\/a>, but my dad told me to read \u2018real books.\u2019 Now I volunteer at the library, which has all the books I remember from childhood, and the kids just want to read graphic novels. I feel a bit like my dad when I catch myself thinking, What about Anne of Green Gables?!<\/em> But part of instilling a love of reading involves letting kids read what they gravitate toward.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"J.<\/p>\n

\"J.<\/p>\n

DAUGHTER\u2019S ROOM<\/p>\n

\"J.<\/p>\n

Bed: Pottery Barn Kids<\/a>. Map: Cavallini Papers<\/a>. Nightstand: Ikea<\/a>. Curtains: Pottery Barn Kids<\/a>. Rug: Pottery Barn Kids<\/a>. <\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cPretty much every win in our household is celebrated by going to Dairy Freeze<\/a>, so when I finished my book The Cliffs<\/a>, we did just that. My husband was saying, \u2018Yay for Mom, she finished her book!\u2019 My five-year-old goes, \u2018Now you never have to write again!’\u201d<\/p>\n

\"J.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen my parents moved out of my childhood home, they called to ask what I wanted to keep. I was living in a studio apartment in Brooklyn, so I told them they should give away my childhood toys \u2014 but the one thing they kept was my dollhouse. I\u2019m so glad they did.\u201d<\/p>\n

STAIRS<\/p>\n

\"J.<\/p>\n

Wallpaper: Farrow & Ball<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cI was eating pizza with a friend one night, and I asked her what to do with our back stairs. I had a million paint swatches. She suggested wallpaper instead, so I got out all the wallpaper samples I had. She picked one from the pile, held it up, and we were both like, \u2018That\u2019s perfect.\u2019\u201d <\/p>\n

PORCH<\/p>\n

\"J.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe front porch is the best place to nap, drink coffee, or watch a rainstorm. Every September, we take part in Milton Porchfest<\/a>, where bands perform on people\u2019s driveways and porches. It is our favorite day of the year in this town.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"J.<\/p>\n

Thanks so much for sharing your home with us, Courtney<\/a>, and congratulations on your new novel<\/a>!<\/strong><\/p>\n

P.S. More home tours<\/a>, including a colorful Swedish apartment<\/a> and an introvert\u2019s nook<\/a>.<\/p>\n

(Photos by Lyndsay Hannah Photography<\/a>. Noelani Zervas<\/a> provided some interior design services. As Courtney put it, \u201cAfter making some bold choices, like painting an entire room navy, I ran into decision fatigue. Noelani gave me so many great ideas for how to pull things together and suggested pieces I absolutely love and never would have found on my own.\u201d)<\/p>\n

Note: If you buy something through our links, we may earn an affiliate commission or have a sponsored relationship with the brand, at no cost to you. We recommend only products we genuinely like. Thank you so much.<\/em><\/p>\n

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8<\/span> COMMENTS<\/p>\n

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