I love to visit others homes and have a little look inside to see what their lifestyle is like. I am always inspired by how others make their life easier and efficiently run, not to mention, see the decor. We have a fun home to share today. It’s the home of Greg and Erica Reitman and their basset hound, Oliver. Greg has a wonderful blog called 30 Second Life where he does a 30 second video about his life. I really love watching these because some of the simplest moments are the best. Erica has two blogs, F’d In Park Slope and Design Blahg. She pretty much says what we all think but would never say, and for that, I thank her. Enjoy the tour!

Here is a little Q&A with Erica.

Q: Your style is very eclectic. How long did it take you to put together your current look? 

A: My style is sort of a patchwork quilt of my various decorating obsessions…once I get into something I REALLY get into it. When you buy a Co-op in NYC, the process usually takes 3-4 months as you need to be approved by the board, get your dog approved by the board, etc. During that time, I went crazy with figuring out what we wanted to do for our place. It was sort of like I was the interior decorator and Greg was the client; I would present him with 3 or 4 options, he would pick one, and then we would move on. With the exception of one of our couches, we started from scratch with our apt, so everything you see was either brand new (or new to us for vintage pieces). My dad gave us the best housewarming gift I’ve ever received in my life, which was a $500 ebay gift certificate, so that’s pretty much where all of our accessories came from.

Q: What is your favorite object in your home and why is it meaningful to you? 

A: This one is easy: my fave object is the antique letter box (pictured on top of the wicker bench) which was given to me by my parents as a wedding gift. My mom and dad used to love to go to auctions back when they first got married, and this box was one of my mom’s favorite finds from that time. It sat on top of their dresser in their bedroom for as long as I can remember, and I was always enamored with it. It’s all the more meaningful to me now as my mom passed away a few years ago, so it’s one of those things that I know will always be with us no matter where we live or what style decor we have.

Q: You have great art. Where are your go-to places for finding great art? 

A: I’ve found some great pieces on etsy (like the large painting pictured behind our couch). Whenever I find an artist on etsy that I really love, I’ll add an RSS feed from their shop to my reader so that I can see whenever they’d added new pieces of artwork. I also really love 20×200 and The Poster List has some great things too. My newest obsession, however, is my friend Nicole Cohen’s paintings (from Sketch42 Blog). The large painting over the wicker bench is hers and we have another one on the other side of the living room. I joke with her that we might have to buy a bigger apt soon as we don’t have any wall space left to fit any more of her paintings! The “art” painting over our banquette in the kitchen is something I actually did myself–It’s cheeky and just works really well for the spot.

Q: Who takes up the most space? You, Greg or Oliver? 

A: Definitely me…I have way more crap than anyone else around here. Though Greg gives me a run for me money with his sneaker collection. The dude seems to think he’s a rapper or a basketball player or something, but soon we’re going to need a separate closet just to accommodate all his sneakers.

Q: You’re an opinionated lady. What are your decorating pet peeves you avoid in your own home? 

A: Well, I hate things that are too matchy matchy…like how are there still people out there in the world buying bedroom furniture sets? That drives me insane. And I also really don’t like it when a woman turns the bedroom that she shares with her husband into a frilly, girly, ruffle fest. I tend to like more masculine styles in general, but we tried really hard to make sure that our entire apt was a reflection of both Greg and I.

Thanks to Greg, Erica and Oliver for letting us hang out and photograph your home!