I made a mood board from the motel room outpost in Miranda July's All Fours

It's feminine, "tastefully opulent," and I'd live there, too.

Well that was fun! I made my first-ever mood board, inspired by the motel room the narrator of Miranda July’s All Fours makes for herself after leaving her family for a road trip and holing up in the motel instead for two weeks.

I did this instead of watching the news yesterday.

In the novel, the narrator hires a young designer, Claire, to help her transform a room in drab mid-century LA motel into something of a physical extension of her perimenopausal self.

Yes, the narrator pays $18,000 to redo a room she only plans to stay in for two weeks. If this feels ostentatious, let me say that you must never have been a perimenopausal woman enacting a novel-sized thought experiment.

MY TWO WORD BOOK REVIEW: “That tracks.”

“But surely a woman was more complex than a puppet boy and she might become herself no once-and-for-all but cyclically: waxing, waning, sometimes disappearing altogether." — The Narrator, in Miranda July’s All Fours

I’m late to reading All Fours, I know. But everyone in my circle can stop bugging me because now I’ve both read it and imagined the room for myself, along with its accompanying bath, and the L.A. Mid-Mod hotel, based on the clues July leaves throughout the book.

So here’s what we know about those spaces, as well as some mood boards I came up with instead of watching the big event this week.

Bedroom

DESIGN BRIEF:

Create an artist’s retreat inspired by the Le Bristol Hotel (Paris) for a perimenopausal, somewhat famous artist in an dilapidated, mid-mod L.A. hotel — a place she can retreat to once a week to engage in self-reflection, dreaming, kinky sex, and continuing the process of becoming her next self. Two-word descriptor: “Tastefully opulent.”

Clues, and (what I went with)

• Salmon Coverlet (Amity Home “Tudor Quilt”)

• The peony/dahlia wallpaper (Kate Blairstone “Heirloom Roses”)

• wool carpet (by Ernesta)

• soft cream linen dress (Rosedress “Classy V-neck”)

• chintz curtains (Anthropologie “Hyacinth” printed curtains)

• (Modern flush mount by Kelly Wearstler)

• Bed (Anson upholstered bed by Interior Define)

• Classic pink velvet chair x 2 (Casa Victoria)

• “tastefully opulent”

I started with the 1920s salmon coverlet that features prominently in the book (and what the artist herself started with). Then I scoured the Internet for an appropriate peony or dahlia wallpaper, a fool’s errand (someone get on designing it). I went instead with a paper close to my heart — Kate Blairstone’s “Heirloom Roses” wallpaper. At this point, it was a challenge to not be influenced by Casework’s design for Sara Fristch, the creator of Tigress Studio. I looked for items that screamed “tastefully opulent",” and leaned towards super feminine, with a touch of glamour. I struggled to find the right bed — one that would suggest the French hotel. There was so much else going on in the room that I left the bed kind of simple. The chairs feel sculptural and antique but also oddly modern. I was really excited by the cream linen dress, and I have no idea what the artist would wear, so here I went with a structured piece I would wear myself. Chintz curtains from Anthropologie added some contrast for the window treatments, and might allow some beautiful sunset light on the whole, like in the book.

Hope you enjoyed it!

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