Lauren O.’s Manhattan Apartment Is a Love Letter to Rituals
We gush about readers all the time during our Cup of Jo team meetings, and Lauren O. is a name that often comes up. A reader from the beginning, she has left many hilarious and heartwarming comments (think: “Hang loose my goose“, a birthday realization, and what happened when she deleted Pokémon GO from her phone). Other readers have asked to learn more about her, so today we’re thrilled to feature her one-bedroom Manhattan apartment, which she shares with her husband, Joe, and two darling cats…
LIVING AREA
Chairs: vintage Niels Otto Møller from Housing Works Thrift. Throw pillows: Pendleton. Stereo: “Joe’s audiophile ‘Frankensystem’ — it’s a Linn turntable on a custom plinth with a Leben amp beside it, and DeVore Fidelity speakers.”
On moving to New York: Joe and I came from San Francisco to Manhattan in 2003 so that I could intern at a magazine publisher. We originally thought we’d just stay for the summer, so the move felt low pressure. But then we sneaky fell in love with the city. Before New York, I’d never really found a city that spoke to me. So, at the end of my internship, when I was offered a full-time job, my answer was ‘Of course.’
Red lamp on record shelf: Nicholas Furrow. Record shelves: “Joe and our friend George made them.” Media center: Design Within Reach thrifted via Craigslist, similar. Red lamp on coffee table: Mantar.
On personal style: Our design vibe is similar to the Bergdorf Goodman holiday windows, if they were made by and for raccoons, since we love shiny things. I’d also describe it as a metropolitan goblin feel — there’s lots of records, books, orbs, minerals and rocks.
Art mural: thrifted from Housing Works. Record shelf: CB2, similar. Pink lamp: vintage, via Furlong. Plant shelf: Ethnicraft. Coffee table: Jordan Crowell. Red lamp: Mantar. Sectional: Saba Italia. Moth throw pillow: Timorous Beasties. Rug: Saint-Ouen flea market in Paris.
On bursts of color: Before the pandemic, there was definitely less color in the apartment. But once we were stuck here all the time, we wanted to brighten things up. Joe was actually the one who said, ‘We have to get a pink sectional.’ So, we went for it.
On a travel tradition: I used to volunteer at the Housing Works bookstore, and one day a mysterious Frenchman came in asking if we had any copies of George Orwell’s novel 1984. We pulled out all these different editions, and he was over the moon, saying that while traveling, he always goes to local bookstores and asks for an edition of 1984 from their country. I thought that was the best idea. The book was published in a zillion languages, and it has been released in new editions. If you read the various introductions, people love to frame it in terms of their country’s current political moment; it’s an interesting lens through which to see other places. I’ve now taken his tradition on as my own.
On fibre art: I go through random phases where I get the urge to make fibre art. I made a Debbie Harry portrait during our first summer in New York, when Joe was as a paralegal and never home. A few years later, I embroidered a portrait of David Bowie on a handbag for a contest held by the now defunct handbag brand Rachel Nasvik. I ended up winning!
Lauren and Maya
On beloved cat children: We adopted our cat Matty in Anaheim, California, while I was down there visiting family. He had been a stray running around in some parking lot, and we found him on Petfinder. Then we adopted Maya a year ago. She was originally living with her five kittens in a kill shelter in Tennessee, and then somehow they all ended up on Staten Island? The fact that she ended up there with her babies always makes me laugh because it reminds me of Madonna’s music video Papa Don’t Preach.
BEDROOM
Basket: Swahili African Modern. Blue bench: West Elm. Tiger throw pillows: Williams Sonoma. Duvet: “A white West Elm comforter I got on super clearance and then tie-dyed and appliquéd with a bunch of quilting scraps.”
On a long-time love: Joe and I met 26 years ago, while studying abroad at the University of Oxford in England. For one of our first dinners, he made me this fantastic, complicated, vegetarian Thai soup — even though he lived in student housing with a crappy kitchen shared with a dozen people, and he had to shop for groceries in a small town in 1999 where good ingredients were hard to come by. That gesture meant so much to me because in the past, previous boyfriends made me feel like shit for being a vegetarian. Like it was a hassle to work around. But Joe has always taken my needs seriously and my eccentricities in stride — like when I wake him up in the middle of the night because I’m sad about the way people are mean to pigeons — and he always really hears me and makes me feel taken care of.
Gold dachshunds: vintage via Atlantis Home.
On favorite books: I’m forever recommending Kelly Link’s Magic for Beginners, a series of short fantasy stories. You can feel your brain growing new wrinkles and acquiring new neural pathways as you read. She’s just so creative and I have such a crush on the way she puts her stories together. I can’t imagine anyone not finding this book magical.
Paint: Middleton Pink from Farrow & Ball. Mushroom throw pillow: John Derian for Target. Mushroom print: David Shrigley. Wolf print: “From a festival in Montreal. I saw them all over the subway and ended up writing to the festival’s team asking if I could buy one. They then sent me a couple for free.” Bed: CB2. Velvet blue throw pillows: West Elm and Timorous Beasties. Brass bookcase: One Kings Lane, similar.
On mushroom decor: It all started when I submitted a pitch to Mushroom People Magazine about an artist who made shrouds inoculated with mushroom spores that you could be buried in. In theory, the mushroom would consume you. Putting that piece together ended up spurring a lifelong mushroom enthusiasm. I’m now part of the New York Mycological Society, a group of citizen scientists and foragers who are really into mushrooms and super generous with their knowledge. Now during walks, I fetch sticks with exciting things growing on them and present them to the more expert members like a retriever with a Frisbee.
Brass bookcase: One Kings Lane, similar.
On traveling with parents: The picture of the little girl is my mom. A couple years ago, Joe and I started a tradition of going on vacation with her and my stepdad Doug. Mom and I love walking around all day, so we’ll put on our comfy shoes and head out. Then Joe and Doug will go to a sports bar and chat about baseball factoids. For our first trip, we went to the U.K., and I found a pond in the middle of the Hampstead Heath that only women can swim in. And even though it was November and freezing, my mom and I jumped in. After that, we decided we were officially pond scum and had to swim everywhere we traveled. In Iceland, we went to the lagoons, and when we visit my sisters, we always pick a hotel or vacation rental with a pool.
ENTRYWAY
Credenza: vintage. White lamp: Verner Panton. Rhino: gifted from her mother.
On special gifts: My mother surprised me with this rhino for Christmas. She was an art history major who took a bunch of studio art classes, like furniture- and rug-making courses.
KITCHEN
On working around old design choices: Our kitchen is very much not our style. But it was brand new when we moved in and is in really great condition, so I can’t imagine spending money on ripping out the counters. As a workaround, I’ve added personal touches. I’ve been switching out the cabinet knobs one at a time, so none of them match. Some are snails, some mushrooms, one is a resin knob with a bunch of moss inside. I also started drawing this mural. Changing the kitchen initially felt like an annoying task, but it has turned into this space of giving myself permission to do whatever I want. And that’s been very liberating.
Thank you so much, Lauren. We adore you! Never stop commenting!
P.S. More home tours, including a a reader’s ‘introvert nook’ and a yoga teacher whose Manhattan studio apartment is a love letter to women.
(Photos by Christine Han for Cup of Jo.)
Tags: house tours
Comments
93 commentsI’m envious of Lauren’s way with words, and her joyous way of living.
I love Lauren. I am a woman whose age can be calculated by friends whom I met on the internet 20 years ago. Lauren is still such a light in my world. She’s given my child spooky childrens’ books. She leaves the most thoughtful comments. She is a delight to behold. I’m so glad so many people appreciate her the way I do.
Lauren O, you’re the coolest. I find it entirely dear that you awoke worried about people being mean to pigeons and also recognized the love in Joe caring about it. Your cool bedspread! Mom swim vacations! What a chiller!
I love this so much. I have a huge folder of CoJ comment screenshots that I’ve been collecting for 12?… 13 years? Going through them, it’s uncanny how many come from Lauren O. I so love seeing her and her home featured here. Thank you CoJ, and thank you Lauren O for sharing more about yourself!
This home feels warm, real and relatable. I studied at the University of Oxford too — loved hearing that Lauren met her husband there!
Oh my gosh!! Timorous Beasties made it to CoJ!!! As an adoptive Glasgwegian my heart just leapt.
Lauren O. is an icon!! Loved this feature so much!
This is so great! Thank you for sharing a little bit of your life, Lauren! Love the 1984 story and collection! Articles like this are what make Cup of Jo the best place on the Internet!
We love you, Lauren O.!!!!
The epitome of cool! I love seeing women my age with similar style. The shirt you are wearing is wonderful. I love your haircut, and the short nails painted green. And your home, and your volunteering, your books and music, and that you are a writer!
OMG, my 7-year-old son is obsessed with fungi, and he and Lauren are kindred spirits. We like to go on “mushroom walks” together, and he knows many scientific names and fun facts. I’m not in the U.S., so I’m sorry I missed out on that mushroom pillow!
I just came back from my first swim of the year in Hampstead Heath ladies pond today. It’s still icy cold (but delightful). You and your mum are very brave jumping in in November!!
that is so wonderful, sophia!
gorgeous gorgeous apartment! and that view!
This was the best. Thanks for sharing your space with us, Lauen O.!
This is the best.
Can this be a series, please? Would be fab to see the homes of more of the lovely commentators here. Gives more of a face to the wonderful community.
I love that Lauren collects 1984. That book made such an impression on me (I graduation HS in 1984) and it’s always on my mind. I may need to copy this idea.
This is exactly the top I am searching for! What is that style called? How do I find a thick cotton top like this?
I don’t know what it’s called, but I see it a lot in ’80s and ’90s Japanese stuff; this is an old Kansai Yamamoto top I found on eBay, and I’ve found similar silhouettes and thick cottons with old Issey Miyake.
I don’t know what it’s called, but I see it a lot in ’80s and ’90s Japanese stuff; this is an old Kansai Yamamoto top I found on eBay, and I’ve found similar silhouettes and thick cottons with old Issey Miyake – vintage is great for thick cotton!
Cup of Jo has the BEST people writing and reading. Dahlia’s comment on the Jon Hamm show post about women’s faces on TV, and Lauren O living with her not-to-their-taste kitchen because she couldn’t justify tearing out a brand new kitchen. THANK YOU! It seems as if everywhere we turn we are being told that our bodies and our homes and our choice of reading material and what we’re supposed to put INTO our bodies and, and, and everything about us is just not enough. But we ARE enough. We don’t need to strive to be someone or something else. We can be our perfectly imperfect selves and live amazing lives.
Yes love that about the kitchen too. That comment really struck me. That’s how I feel about functioning rooms. Love your comment too Kristen. Exactly. <3
*Aack .. I mean Kristin… A misspell :( Sorry!
This is the best.
I screenshotted the part about long-time love. manifesting for myself someone who “always takes my needs seriously and my eccentricities in stride.” thanks so much for sharing, Lauren. <3
I also don’t get why people are mean to pigeons! They are just creatures existing, sheesh! Also keeps me up at night.
I feel this way too. Why can’t people just be kind to all animals and not just ones they think are cute. I worry about pigeons all the time. Also Lauren is the coolest.
I don’t know if I’ve ever enjoyed reading an article as much as this. But first! I love her pixie cut! I also have short hair & feel like we would be great friends haha. Lauren O has such a witty, eclectic, interesting & kind spirit. But am I the only one who thought she lived in the UK?? Thank you COJ & Lauren O for the introduction!!
As we would say in Montréal, « Osti, elle est cool »
No time to write a more thoughtful comment, even though this apartment is exquisite and layered and our dear Lauren O. deserves….. HOW IS THIS THE APARTMENT OF TWO CATS? The gorgeous, tall, red lamp alone would be smashed in minutes in my house. The macrame hangers climbed like a ladder and plants chomped up??? Please share your secret!
They don’t seem to know they can jump to the plants in the bookcases (shh), and the hanging burro tail is just barely too short for them; everything else is a spiny cactus! There are two scratching posts in the living room (on the floor under the red lamp on the right and past the sectional on the left), and that mug of live wheatgrass and the goblet of ice behind it are bribes for Matty. In the photo where I’m sitting on the floor petting Maya you can see a white thing behind me; that’s the cat box we have to keep DIRECTLY BESIDE THE FRONT DOOR, because Maya has decided she will drop deuces there and only there.
This is wonderful. What a cool person!
Nothing but heart eyes for Lauren O and everything she shared! The commenters are such an amazing part of this blog and it feels really special to get to know one of them better! Also, I strangely believe I’d feel better, in general, if I spent more time in womblike environments (see Lauren O’s pink bedroom and pink couch)
Lauren O, you are a treasure!
Love Lauren O! Love that you featured one of us!! Also, that 1984 story is very similar to mine—I collect different language editions of the Little Prince (also endless translations!) and whenever I am traveling I try to find a used bookstore with this mission. I also enlist my friends and family when they travel! I have 18 languages and each edition is absolutely gorgeous and different. Highly recommend this hobby and loved seeing it referenced here❤️
You look just like I imagined you would – beautiful, cool, kind of punk.
Lauren O looks nothing like I imagined! (She had mid length blonde hair with a cool cut and quirky glasses in my head). Maybe COJ could make a “Readers Around the World” series? I nominate Cerwiden (Australia, I think?), Agnes (“With love from Paris), and Nigerian Girl (presumed Nigeria!). Let’s gooooo!
I love this idea!! Yes, please!
I was already howling with laughter at the “Bergdorf Goodman holiday windows, if they were made by and for raccoons” comment, but the bit about waking up at night and going on a rant about people being mean to pigeons? All the heart emojis – I feel like I’ve found my spirit animal!
This house tour reconciles me with my habit of collecting beautiful objects that inspire and comfort me: small figurines, art walls, fabrics… Thank you, CoJ and Lauren, for this.
The woman, the myth, the legend! What an absolute thrill to see Lauren featured, she’s incredible.
I just wanted to say that I did not connect before but figured out from this piece that I’ve been reading your blog for years! Not even sure how I initially found it, but I honestly think about what you wrote about the experimental theater project all the time (was briefly devastated when you didn’t write about the third part)! your words are out here, bouncin around. Thanks for sharing them.
It was also wonderful but not as intense as the first and especially the second; I think about that project all the time, too. The convergence of that particular staging and that particular moment in the pandemic and my life was just everything you hope experimental art can be.
theater artist here– could someone share a link to the blog post? I’d love to read!!
I loved this SO much! Lauren O – what a legend! It would be awesome to see more reader profiles like this. Everyone has such interesting lives.
I agree would be interesting to connect on a more personal perspective of peeking into readers lives
As someone who is also often sad about pigeons (we brought them to this country as companion animals! they’re like dogs; they like us), I think what struck me most here (other than the obvious beauty and joy in this apartment – also, the view, damn) was the fact that my own partner of 19+ years–we have our ups and down, and a kid–would definitely not be happy to be woken up to hear about my pigeon feelings. Maybe he would have before kids; maybe I pulled away first. And if he woke me, murder. Anyway: this is a beautiful thing, a partner who doesn’t mind being woken up about mistreated pigeons. I love this for you, Lauren O.
Pigeons aren’t wild! They’re feral! Bring them back into the fold.
My sleep is sacred – nobody better wake me unless it’s a medical /true mental health crisis. I think it’s ok? We are all different…
legendddddddddddddddddddd
This is a very Gen-X decorated home.
OMG I am smitten! This is such an old-school eccentric Manhattan apartment, inhabited by a gloriously most charming, kind, creative person. Lauren sounds just incredible. My heart is lifted by all of this today. Absolutely love seeing readers featured here. Also: Thank you again for using bookshop.org for links!
Holy shite = Lauren O! It’s like a COJ comment lottery winner, but we all get the cash. This post was a visual stroll through Gen X archives, plus a side of sob because of familiar pigeon chats.
Lauren O. of legend and lore!
Wonderful home, so full of character and fun! Lauren O – you seem like an interesting and delightful human. Is Lauren O. the name you write under? I will keep an eye out for articles. I love the photo of your mom, that gorgeous cat, and swimming while traveling is an excellent quest. Wishing you well! thanks for sharing your home!
I’m stealing “hang loose my goose”. Lauren O you are a delight.
Love everything about this home. I remember moving into my first place after getting married and feeling so overwhelmed because I wanted it to already be perfectly homey and have the right vibes. But the truth is, you have to build the vibes slowly over time. We’re celebrating five years on Friday, and our new apartment is the first place I’ve felt like really has my fingerprint on it. I’m hanging pictures, rearranging furniture, scouring Craigslist and antique stores for cool stuff, and really taking my time building up the layers of coziness. Finally enjoying the journey rather than fretting about the destination, I guess.
Ooh, I also wanted to add, I’ve been meditating for years and read a book recently that talked about the importance of having a place to meditate that can inspire you, so I made myself a meditation nook. The main features are my cushion and a little table where I’m putting things that inspire me and remind me of qualities I want to embody in life. Highly recommend carving out a little space for your spiritual health.
This home tour is almost a bigger deal than when I saw Patti Smith eating at Twelve Chairs in SoHo. At least as big a deal. We all love you, Lauren O.
Patti Smith !!!!! Neat-O !!! 50th anniversary this year of Horses !!! Carried that album around with me to friends’ houses as a teen..I’m 66 ! Saw her at the Tower Theater in Philly when I was maybe 17 ? not sure. Patti Smith is a beautiful human <3 Love seeing her mentioned here
Love this home – I’d want to sit and stay for hours! Also love that you were real about the kitchen – I see so many folks ripping out perfectly functional kitchens for something that better suits their aesthetic, but I really appreciate that you worked with what you had and made it yours without putting a new kitchen to waste.
In Germany when you move into a new apartment literally nothing comes with your apartment. Not even lights! We moved during the height of the lockdown and I would have loved to have had a kitchen already installed. It took about half a year before we finally got one. We washed dishes in the bathtub until it was installed.
“Bergdorf Goodman holiday windows, if they were made by and for raccoons…” WHAT A VIBE, love it! As I’m currently not on social media, COJ is my primary source for stumbling across beautiful people doing their thing in the world, like Lauren O. Thanks so much, COJ!
“Our design vibe is similar to the Bergdorf Goodman holiday windows, if they were made by and for raccoons” is possibly my favorite sentence ever written about design. This was a DELIGHT all around! We need more Lauren O’s in the world!
obsessed with that Sturgill Simpson poster (and a lot of other things!) Thanks so much for sharing, this felt like going to your cool friend’s apartment.
I love this for us. Thank you for featuring my celebrity crush, Lauren O! It’s meaningful that the CoJ team invests in their readers. I’ve added two books to my library holds, and I have a new phrase to describe all the things from nature that I bring into my home haha!
Yay for Lauren O! And yay for books and things! It’s so nice to see someplace so loved and lived in. The trend of various shades of beige or gray and minimalism that will not let go has exhausted me. Decorations for raccoons by raccoons forever!
Lauren, you ooze personality, charm and fun! I immediately downloaded Magic For Beginners!
OH MY GOD I gasped out loud when I saw this was a feature on Lauren O! This is 100% my favorite home tour of all time. I want a mushroom pillow!!
Lauren seems a very cool lady and has a very cool apartment. I have to say I get commenter blindness as in I don’t read the names of commenters and don’t recognize any regulars. I often skip headlines too – definitely need to work on that. re the pigeons: I have a hard time loving them as my daughter has actual pigeon phobia and we had a very hard few years living in a city when she was younger. She did some VR-assisted behavioral therapy which helped some but she still needs to give them a wide berth (they only bother her, when they are on the ground, not when they are flying).
I love the book-buying tradition – I do the same thing! After ten years, I have over 70 editions of Wuthering Heights; every single one is a different edition. I’ve collected copies from Tokyo, Dublin, Munich, Amsterdam, New York City, San Francisco (and many more!), and each one is special and vital in its own way. My husband will look up local bookstores for me before we travel to a new country, and OH the funny looks we get from storekeepers when we search for that one particular title. My favorite copies may be from Paris, where we found a copy at one of the book stalls on the banks of the Seine (a true treasure hunt!), or perhaps Rome, where we found a dusty, *gorgeous* old copy in the Campo de Fiero. Gifts, all of them.
Meghan, I do the same with Persuasion! My favourite copy is from a tiny secondhand bookshop in the grounds of Winchester cathedral where Jane Austen is buried. Persuasion is my favourite JA, and to be able to buy a beautifully worn copy from the place where she is buried gave me goosebumps at the time, and again now as I relive it!
Oh Meghan, hunting with the bouquinistes on the Seine was one of my favorite things, too! I was so proud of asking in my rusty French if one guy had any copies, and he just as proudly gave me a copy of the 1984 Michelin guide (he only sold culinary books and I hadn’t noticed). I love having that side quest when we travel, and Joe gets into helping find the stores for me, too! Sara, I remember so clearly how I felt as I read JA’s ledger stone in that cathedral floor. How perfect for you in your quest!
LAUREN O, as I live and breathe?!? WE STAN LAUREN O.
Love your apartment. Its so nice to see people that like “stuff”. I like “stuff” too!!
I needed to scroll back up again to look at all the pictures – this only happened because I got sucked in reading the text and couldn’t stop. Love Lauren O’s whole LIFE
Love, love this little lair of books and color!
Love, love this elegant description.
I can’t really explain myself, but the sheer fact of this post, that the Cup of Jo team got to meet Lauren O. and bring her unique lens on the world to us in this deeply personal, vulnerable way, I’ve been crying since I read the title. Lauren O., thank you for being you. Can I copy your (his?) 1984 collection?
Getting featured on Cup of Jo is fully peaking.
I love the love for mushrooms! I have happy and sad reccos to share, I’m going to get sad out the way first: we domesticated pigeons for all sorts of tasks which means we as humans taught them to want to be around humans, and then when the telephone arrived we discarded them. So now their instinct is to be around us and they don’t know why and we are so mean to them! They don’t carry any more disease than other birds and you have to really get up in their grill (like, be a breeder) or have a compromised immune system to have any ill-effects from pigeons. So while they are feral, we can still be kind! Now, fun rec for any mushroom fans – The Way Through The Woods by Long Litt Woon is a beautiful memoir about mushrooming and grief xx
The last time I was in NYC, I saw the most amazing thing: a cloud of pigeons flying in a synchronized way over a rooftop. My friend told me that someone had trained them to do that. It made me really happy that someone in the city was trying to give these pigeons a new purpose.
I didn’t know that! Thank you for sharing. Even though it’s another nail in the coffin of our relationship with the rest of the world, it helps to understand their behavior and makes me love pigeons even more.
The gasp I gasp’d when I saw her name! Lauren O!!!!!!! You are beautiful. Your home is beautiful. Thank you for the way you move through the world, for everything you are. We need you.
Lauren O! Now there’s a true celebrity. And this house tour lives up to alll my expectations. Giant stacks of books. A pink couch. Random yet prize winning fibre art. Retrieving mushrooms. A Madonna True Love reference. Cats. A favourite book of magical surreal short stories. A mural in progress. Truly all the good things. Going now to track down and read every single thing she’s ever written because Lauren O is the best.
Lauren O., you are a legend! This was such a delightful piece to read! I was smiling the whole way.
i wasn’t aware of lauren o comments but wow am i a fan now. can’t express enough how much i loved this. the copy of gris gris (one of my all time favorite records), maya the adorable cat, pond swimming, fibre arts, the handmade rhino.
Joe, in Delighted Vinyl Guy: “Tell her it’s an original pressing!”
:) from a fellow record collector- that’s awesome!! thank you for responding and thanks even more for sharing your home- it’s very inspiring as it reflects the creative richness of your life.
As it happens I know Lauren O., and she has one of the top 3 minds (creative/intelligent) I’ve ever met among people who didn’t invent a part of the Internet. So lovely to see her getting such deserved love and accolades here:).
Just really love this corner of the Internet so much.
Lauren O’s home tour brought me so much joy!