At Home With Linda Rodin

Remember my stylish friend Linda who was featured in the March ’08 issue of Domino? Last weekend I stopped by her place for a visit and brought my camera along so I could give you a peek inside her quirky cool apartment in Chelsea.

Linda has lived in the same building for something for something like 20 years and this her third apartment in the building. Her sunny one bedroom is quite spacious by New York standards. She lives there with her eight year old basset hound, Billy, who you can in the photo above curled up in his bed just underneath the window. (He has a plush doggy bed in every room in the house except the bathroom). Looking around the apartment it’s clear that Billy is the king of the castle!

Linda’s place is eclectic and bohemian, filled with treasures from around the world and every single piece has a story. Her blue chenille sofa from Paris doubles as a twin bed for guests. Draped over it is a gold vintage crochet throw that covers up stains, spills and dog hair. Above the sofa are several paintings from her very enviable art collection. On the left are three original paintings by Hugo Guinness that she bought for a song from John Derian a number of years ago before Guinness became an über popular Vogue darling. On the right is a painting of a gypsy woman that she purchased directly from the well-known artist Hunt Slonem.

The brass side table with rope and tassel detail shown here was found at the antique show at the pier here in the city. Just about everything in Linda’s apartment came from flea markets or antique stores. Some of Linda’s favorite places to shop in New York for her home are Penine Hart Antiques, John Derian, ABC Carpet and Home, the 25th Street Flea Market and the Brooklyn flea market. She also loves Indigo seas in LA and will shop any flea market around the world whenever she has the opportunity.

Here’s another view of her living room. Aside from her many paintings, Linda owns an amazing collection of photography some of which you can see propped on the floor here. I love the beautiful 18th century French Gilt cabinet that sits atop her console. It’ has a tiffany blue interior and  houses many of the vintage perfume bottles which she collects among other things. On the floor is a Harry Allen piggy bank that was all the rage a few years ago and on the white slipper chair is one of her rose pillows from A Détacher which was one of her favorite picks in Domino.

Here’s another little vignette in Linda’s living room. She found the dress form at  25th Street flea market.  The form is dressed with vintage silk flowers that she purchased from Dulken and Derrick, a company specializing in gorgeous silk flowers that are often used to embellish haute couture creations as well as more mass market fashions like J. Crew. The graphic pink and white throw on her chaise which I love is actually a cashmere scarf she found at Barney’s!

Among the many things Linda collects are seashells and here are several displayed atop a chinoiserie cabinet.

Just inside the entry to Linda’s living room is her “office in a closet” which was featured in New York Magazine last August. This is where Linda works on Olio Lusso, her line of amazing face and body oils that are a favorite among celebs, models make-up artists and beauty editors alike. Olio Lusso has been generating a ton of buzz, with recent features in Elle, InStyle, Marie Claire, W, Oprah, Domino, The New York Times, international editions of Vogue and Bazaar and many more top fashion and lifestyle publications. Very exciting!

One of Linda’s most beloved pieces in her home is this mural sized painting done by a student of the renowned Mexican painter, José Clemente Orozco. A friend of hers saw it in an antique shop in Cold Springs, NY and knew she would love it. A year later Linda finally went to visit the shop and the painting was still there. Of course she loved it and bought it on the spot.

Here’s a view of Linda’s bedroom. Billy clearly prefers the comfort of Linda’s bed over his own custom hot pink doggy bed! Above the bed is a portrait of Linda’s mother that was done in the 1930s. Her mother was an interior designer who also owned an antique shop. The giant linen pillows on the bed were custom made and they’re accented by two of the rose pillows from A Détacher. The blue chandelier is from Ruby Beets.

More shells are on display in this bedside cabinet. The hand-hooked rug you see in the picture is another one of Linda’s favorite things. It’s from an art center in California called Creative Growth Center that supports artists with physical and mental handicaps. She has two of these rugs (one on either side of her bed) and like the Guinness paintings, she bought them years ago for a steal. Now the rug collection, called Hooked Up, sells at Moss for thousands of dollars. Go figure.

Linda says that at the moment she’s obsessed with books. Next to her bed is a stack of colorful books piled on top of a Chinese side table. She’s currently in the midst of finishing Thomas Hardy’s Tess of the d’Urbervilles!

Here’s a closer look at the artwork from the very first photo in this post. They’re portraits of Linda, done in oil pastels, that she commissioned from a talented artist named Noa Ain.

On top of her dresser are more family photos, jewelry and other objets d’art. She adores her table mirror, seen here draped in jewelry. It came from her mother’s antique shop. When I asked Linda what her favorite thing in her apartment was she couldn’t choose! “It’s like someone having so many children that you can’t pick out the one you love the most,” she says.

Another view of Linda’s dresser. I’m loving that pink patent Gucci clutch!

The piéce de résistance in Linda’s kitchen is this antique cabinet from an old barbershop in India. It houses all of her kitchen and entertaining essentials. The piece belonged to John Derian, who Linda has known for years. It was in his apartment for a while and then he finally decided to put it up for sale in his shop. The second he did, Linda snapped it up!

Here’s another view of the kitchen. At the top of the photo you can see a bit of her seashell chandelier hanging from the ceiling. She bought it while traveling for a photoshoot. The white cabinet houses more of her prized shells.

Here’s a closeup view of some of the shells in the kitchen cabinet.

Here is Linda’s bathroom which is filled with more of her quirky finds. I always say that surrounding ourselves with things we love is the key to creating a home that’s warm and comforting…this is a principle Linda wholeheartedly embraces. She loves her shells so much that even her toilet seat is filled with them! I asked her where she found it and her response? Seashelltoiletseats.com. Where else?!

I hope you enjoyed this peek inside Linda’s home. For more info on Linda or Olio Lusso visit oliolusso.com.