my living room

I feel like I say this about every room but this was my favorite room in my house!! For a very long time I’ve had this idea in my head to make my living room themed around my favorite movie, Sunday in New York. I’ve been collecting SINY posters and memorabilia for about two decades now and I had this vision of displaying all of it in one room, with the layout and decor also inspired by the apartment from the film!

I sadly had to sell this couch when I moved back in with my parents last year (it went to a very good home though!) but oh my god, this was my dream couch! It was the most beautiful rosy shade of pink, and it was SO comfy! My spot was in the corner of the sectional, and I spent many many hours cuddled in that corner with Arrietty watching movies and reading books. On sick days I’d pull the ottoman over and create a super-couch to lounge on until I felt better. (It’s the Eliot Apartment Sectional from Joybird in the color “royale blush” if anyone is curious!)

The ottoman had storage inside and I kept a bunch of super soft, comfy blankets to use when I had guests over!

I was so excited to have a place to display the giant French Sunday in New York poster in my collection (fun fact! David Duchovny’s daughter has the same poster, I saw a picture of it on her instagram!) It was the perfect centerpiece for that wall!

I love when I’m looking at photos now and see Arrietty’s toys in random spots — it makes me so happy I never moved them out of the way for the photo because it’s evidence of a life lived in the house!

The black poster in this photo was my holy grail for SO long. I had been searching for one of these German SINY posters for ages and finally found one the year that I bought the house. It felt like serendipity to get my most sought-after poster the same year that I finally had a chance to make my SINY themed room a reality!

The daisy shelf in my hallway was vintage, I found it on facebook marketplace! It matched one that I had purchased on ebay years beforehand. The funny thing is that my original piece was natural wood tone and I painted it pink, with white petals and yellow middles. This piece that I found on facebook had already been painted to match mine!! Is that crazy or what?!

Also how cute is the Maine Coon art print? My favorite part of the diagram is “XXL Kitty Unit” lol!

My record player got a lot of use in this house! I added an audio splitter and ran wires to the back half of my house so that whenever I wanted to play music I could hear it everywhere! I had a display shelf above the record player cabinet to display my Sunday in New York vinyl, along with the sheet music from the main theme! And I got a super cool light-up “K” on etsy to honor my favorite band, The Killers!

I don’t think this model is available anymore but I have the Crosley Switch II turntable with speakers. I have it packed up in storage right now and can’t wait until I have room to put it out and listen to vinyl again!!

The apartment in Sunday in New York has a bar and I thought it would be fun to recreate it with my own little coffee & tea bar. I made my own little kitchen area with a bookshelf & sealed butcher’s block on top. Over the years I’ve been collecting vintage glassware that matches the pattern they have in the movie, and I finally had a place to display it! Every morning I would come in here and make myself a cup of fresh iced tea and it was just absolute bliss!

I had a hard time figuring out how to add a side table to this side of the couch since there was a very tight path between the wall and the couch. I ended up finding this teeny table, just big enough to rest your drink while you’re sitting! I loved that it was clear so it didn’t really take up any visual space, but still served its purpose.

My little pink cabinet housed all of my board games — I had big plans to entertain and throw game nights all the time but ultimately I hardly ever did that because I was always worried that if I invited people nobody would show up lol. I think I’m just cut out for being a solo homebody, I’m just way too anxious to actually be the social butterfly that I want to be.

My house did not come with a fireplace but since the SINY apartment has one, I felt like it was kind of a necessary feature! I found this cabinet on Wayfair and it was absolutely perfect! (A heavy behemoth though, which proved to be VERY fun when I moved it in and then out of my second story apartment when I sold my house- yikes!) My exact cabinet isn’t available anymore but this one is kind of similar. And I used peel-and-stick brick to create the illusion that the fireplace takes up the entire floor-to-ceiling space. The stars added a perfect mid-century-modern flair! I got them on etsy.

I had so much fun going around my house collecting books with colorful spines to display in here! I know a lot of people don’t like organizing by color but in addition to finding it aesthetically pleasing, I have a very visual memory so I usually remember my books based on what the spine looks like anyway so this makes it easier for me to find them!

Perhaps my favorite part of this space was my spiral staircase. It’s one of the reasons I love the SINY apartment so much, and I wanted to find a way to include that in my living room. This bookshelf was perfect! I spray painted the metal bronze and then I also painted a cardboard poster tube and attached it on top to make it look like the staircase went all the way up to the ceiling. This is another piece that I kept in storage and cannot wait to use again someday!

This last photo was taken a few months after the rest, when I had moved the little table and chair set in front of my window out onto my patio for outdoor seating. This is the only picture I have of this wall, where you can see the enormous marquee poster hanging up! It’s literally like 80” long! I also had a midcentury style bookshelf, and I used the solid dividers on the shelf to display even more Sunday in New York 8x10 stills! I also have a spinning book rack in the corner that I used to display my movie tie-in paperback collection!

And that’s my favorite movie themed living room! This was an absolute dream come true to design and create and I am so grateful that I got to do it!!