Liz Arnold
Journalism
Specializing in design, interiors, architecture, arts, and trends in living.
A few clips:
The New York Times (→)
The Guardian, Weekend
Country Living
Former social media editor at WNYC.
Finalist for a 2012 Deadline Club Award in Social Media from the Society of Professional Journalists.
Creative Writing
Essays recognized in contests held by Georgetown Review and The Atlantic.
Author of Homebodies. Read about it in T Magazine from The New York Times.
Teaching artist, Teachers & Writers Collaborative. Writer-in-residence at I.S. 392 in Brownsville, Brooklyn.
MFA, Nonfiction, Bennington College.
Hello
I like to walk on my hands, parallel park, and consider using the serial comma. I live in New York.
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- Apr 24, 13Recently on a Sunday I stopped by the Williamsburg home of my dear friend Sarah Dohrmann, a writer and also "my boss" at Teachers & Writers Collaborative, the org through which I teach creative writing in public schools, and which she leads as education director. I was in her neighborhood for lunch; she was at home in a vintage sweater and crazy-print housepants, the weekend usual. Here's Sarah, pictured above, presenting her beloved otter pillow, a recent gift from writer Nicole Callihan, who gave it to Sarah when Sarah fell inexplicably in love with it at first sight in Nicole's home. Cooing sounds not pictured.
Below, a Bedford-facing window with hem and hat; an assemblage above the desk; a perfect little lamp—like if the lamp was in a cartoon, it would have this shape. More captions below...The paintings are by her friend, artist Andy Ness. I love the one of lungs. That's Sarah gesturing over a spread of his works (with otter pillow!), the result of a collaboration of his paintings and her writings. The gorgeous textile is a Moroccan Berber wedding cape that hangs on the wall next to her bed. A stack of books rests on the desk; crazy housepants and a rug handmade by her grandmother; a ribbon from a baby shower tied to the neck of a lamp (what's life without a little fire hazard?); a collage; the underside of a horned mask, a Puerto Rican vejigante, looking up. - Dec 03, 12Last week I stopped by the Manhattan home of Willa Carroll and Andreas von Scheele. She's a poet and a friend of mine from grad school; he's a cinematographer. Walking through the front door, you're greeted by this beautiful blue beast. Hello.Below are some pics from a walk around the pad. (I need to upgrade my camera-on-the-go. These were taken with an old iPod Touch.) Trees screen views of the city and the charming red Roosevelt Island aerial tram; graphic white chairs at a dark table; a wall of the old building's wavy bricks; kitty beast; tea.
- Nov 29, 12Welcome to the Living Room, a space on Main Street in Cold Spring designed for events, performances, retreats, and wild dance parties. Popular Homebodies subjects Philip Nobel and Nathalie Jonas run the operation and live upstairs, as you've seen. Here are pics of the event and the space, designed by architects* Philip and Thomas de Monchaux, along with Nathalie.Check out the dance floor, above. Remember Fortbodies? Philip has a thing for slatted wood—it's perfect for sexy nighttime filtered light. The dance floor is at the rear of the ground-floor space. The independent structure, as seen above, reflected in the mirror, is called "the box," and it houses a few rooms. Philip notes in an email to me that the "obsessively sound-proofed" box is floating on an acoustically-isolating foam pad. And then he gets heavily architectural, so here, per Philip:***The box is clad in OSB, also known as "oriented strand board." Also known as god's perfect sheet material. The walls around the dance floor are an integrated lighting, heating, acoustic, electrical-supply and storage solution, realized in god's other most perfect material, and his cheapest, the 1" x 2" and 1"x 3" pine furring strip. Me and TdM build that motherfucker.Re acoustics: that's also the inspiration for the big prow shape that comes out of the back of the box. We're really proud of the way the room sounds. Every single musician that has played here has complimented the acoustics. It's amazing. We tested it as we went along by clapping once in the middle of the room and listening to the "decay" and then adding/deleting where the "slats" would be. The mirror is tiled from off-the-shelf home depot cheapos. The floor is maple and sprung; it floats on a few thousand rubber pucks under the sub flooring.***Below, DJ Matthew H. Dearborn, and a walk through the space, with Philip showing me the ventilation inside the box; a light installation inside one of the box's rooms by notable local artist Jaanika Peerna (her huband, author David Rothenberg, also DJ'd the party); the entrance lounge; and sexy people having fun:
*"architects" or "architectural designers" or "architecturally educated people who teach/taught at esteemed schools of architecture" or "unlicensed" or/i.e./etc. - Nov 27, 12Happy Thanksgiving! I have a newsy blurb in the New York Times "Home" section today. It's on the opening of Germantown Variety, a charming store in Upstate New York. It sells mainly American-made goods, and it has an online hardware store with 40,000 items. Go visit!
- Nov 27, 12I have a new story in Country Living about a renovated 1840s house upstate in Athens, New York. There's also a carriage barn (above), which the residents completely overhauled to serve as their arts studio.I haven't seen the feature in print, but here's the online slideshow version. I actually went upstate to report this piece, too, so I can attest that while the photography is beautiful (and art directed by my talented friend Jami Supsic), the place is even more charming in person.
- Nov 09, 12Please say prayers for my friend Kevyn Lloyd Aiken, who fell ill a week ago and has been in critical condition since. We're trying to stay positive, and I think he is, too. After all, this is the guy whose Optimism Party I wrote about back in 2009. (I'm not sure who took this photo of him, but I love it.)I'll be back next week with photos of the Living Room, as I promised last week. Distractions.
- Nov 27, 12Next week, I'll post photos of The Living Room, the events space on Main Street that Philip and Nathalie operate. They live upstairs.
Here's a picture I took of the hallway during a dance party at The Living Room. Dark wood, white light. I was running upstairs for vodka and ice. - May 17, 13Coffee in the kitchen. I was drinking out of a mug that had printing around the lip: "Da Da Da Da." Weird, I thought, for a baby/DaDa design. Then I noticed the serifs on the letters, and I recognized the logo—not DA, but AD, as in Architectural Digest. I guess AD gave them out years ago to contributors, including writer Philip Nobel. This one is a "limited edition" Tiffany & Co. number, made in Japan.Philip pointed out that the pretty hourglass Chemex coffee maker is curiously sold at both high prices and low. I bought one soon after—at the low price.
- Oct 31, 12Happy Halloween? Here in storm-wrecked New York, it's hard to imagine the little ones getting dressed up tonight. This is the first Halloween I've lived in New York in a house, with a gate, a stoop, a buzzer, and have kids as neighbors, so I guess we'll see. I wrote the rest of this post last week:
I think I re-post this photo every Halloween: Author and trickster Phillip Lopate shows off his favorite costume for spooking Carroll Gardens trick-or-treaters. Phillip, whose home I visited a few years ago, is famous for his wonderful essays—Publishers Weekly recently named his 1986 piece "Against Joie de Vivre" one of the 10 best essays since 1950. But among the knee-high set brave enough to knock on his door, he's Crazy Scary Knife Man. Boo! - Oct 30, 12A note: I wrote all of this week's posts last week, the ones about Philip & Nathalie's place. None of them mention the hurricane, which devastated the East Coast last night. The degree of damage is shocking, though I was lucky. No power outage, no limbs down, concrete bunnies still sitting on the ledge in the garden.My heart goes out to New Yorkers today, and everyone on the East Coast who is less fortunate. ❤ I can't stop listening to Brian Lehrer's coverage on WNYC. You can listen online if you're not in the area to tune in to New York Pubic Radio on 93.9 FM. Take care!
- Oct 30, 12I never would've thought of orange for a nursery, not that I think of nursery design, ever ever, but I love this baby's room. Orange is so pretty with the pastels, and it gives the room a warm glow. (Notice that even the edge of the door is painted orange—nice detail.)Anyway, cute fuzzy blobby figures dance from a mobile at the window and are very pleasant to stare at and beyond. Keeping in the (mostly) no-faces tradition on Homebodies, here's Dad and Baby underneath a Dali, real or fake, who knows; a portrait of the family is reflected in a historic New York Times framed near the kitchen: "MEN WALK ON MOON, Astronauts Land On A Plain After Steering Past Crater."
- Oct 29, 12Look familiar? A pattern has emerged: visit good friends Philip & Nathalie up in Cold Spring, crash in the bunk beds, sleep near a glass of water on the floor, post my photos months later. While looking back at earlier blog entries about their place, I realized that Philip & Nathalie have been featured way more than anyone else on Homebodies! I hadn't noticed, but I'm totally not surprised.Remember when Philip gave us that great tour of the apartment a while ago? This time, he gestured toward some updates since my last visit. Highlights: the great long table in the dining room/hangout space; the corner niche, detailed by him and his architect/writer friend Thomas de Monchaux (don't ask how long it took for them to painstakingly choose nailhead designs and decide on spacing); the built-in bench behind the long table, also built by him and de Monchaux. The biggest change since my last visit: stacks of colorful baby clothes!
- Sep 21, 12Remember the artist Shantell Martin whose bedroom and hand-drawn world I wrote about for The New York Times? Her first solo show opens tonight at—how appropriate—Black & White Gallery in Brooklyn. The opening reception is from 7-10 pm, so swing by to see her installation that sprawls all over the walls plus outside on the courtyard walls. I'll be there.
This isn't a show of framed art, by the way; she was given the gallery's white space to do as she wished, so she's been drawing every day for weeks. I got a sneak peak this week and there's some new experimental styles, as well as a collaboration or two. There may or may not be something like a door prize, and that's all I'll say.
Here are more pics of her place I haven't yet posted. (See many more photos here.) This table above is a "sound piece," she told me. The slatted shelf underneath is covered with lyrics for her musical project. The rest is lines, lines, lines. - Sep 16, 12You see the potential, don't you? To transform one half of a long tool shed, across the driveway from my family's house in Michigan, into a writing studio-slash-hangout room? When I was little, we used the loft, accessible by an old ladder affixed to the wall, to store our sleds when there wasn't any snow. In terms of Michigan weather, that could mean from May to September.My mom has always used this half of the shed for garden tools, and my dad used the other half as his man cave: building stuff at the old work table, storing machines, and cleaning guns while listening to classical music. I love the smell of his half--gasoline, dirty rags, sawdust, rusty metal--but I loved the Mom cave because a barn door opens up to the field and my favorite tree. That is, if you can slide the barn door through an overgrowth of weeds, once you get around the wire mesh on the ground to guard against the woodchucks. (Sigh, the terrifying, eat-through-everything woodchucks.) This side of the shed has a dirt floor, so they burrow or eat through the door.And because this side of the shed has a dirt floor, it didn't get the love and attention of the other side, where concrete poured a hundred years ago still supports antique tools and furniture. The floor makes it usable.So when I was in Michigan recently, I took photos of my late father's half (that I'll post), and then I wandered next door. This time, I didn't feel the usual dread, the feeling I had as a kid when most times when I opened that Dutch door it was because I was about to climb the ladder to the loft in snowpants with my wood-and-metal sled in tow, and hurl it up over the wall and into the the darkness on the scary other side. I also wasn't fazed by the hornets that have always hummed around rafters. This time, the junk that had piled up in the room barely registered. Instead, I envisioned a sitting area facing the door instead of the upturned cart that was leaning against a plastic barrel. I imagined a desk on some sort of finished floor. I saw the fields I knew were past the door, which was closed.
What I said to my mother launched the three-day project: "Can I clean this out?"More photos to come. We hung up found barn tools! Sickle chic.
- Aug 08, 12Things have changed since my last visit to the Nobel-Jonas residence in Cold Spring. (Remember Philip's architectural tour?) These days, the morning after a party, booties and banana peels top the kitchen table--not a beer bottle in sight. I met their baby girl for the first time a few weeks ago, and she's sooo adorable. Long lashes, smiling disposition (didn't cry once), and she's a powerhouse twister-scooter (below)--look at the strength in those toes!The apartment looks quite different since my last visit, so I'll post pics of all the improvements as soon as I get up off the floor and stop admiring the bebe.
- Jul 27, 12Don't be fooled by my infrequent posts as of late; I've been working on the other side of things: visiting homes! I'm currently visiting my mom in Michigan, and she has a dial-up internet connection and I have no patience, so I'm largely offline, if you can imagine such a thing. Yesterday I spent the afternoon in my late father's toolshed in a hundred-year-old building, taking close-ups of the antique vice and his collection of ear muffs and my mom's collection of powered and manual saws. We make things. I'm also cooking up a plan to covert the other half of the toolshed into a sort of reading room or lounge, whatever. More on this later, because I have loads of pictures.Meanwhile, check out a mix of photos from recent visits. I played a keyboard (above); I got the back story on his boa (below, as are the rest); I danced; I met my friends' baby; I showed up early and admired the building's steps from an iron bench. I can't wait to post more.
- Jul 13, 12Good morning! That's an overdue hello. Two weeks ago, I moved from a studio in the Village to the entire floor of a three-family house in a quiet Bushwick neighborhood where Brooklyn meets Queens. According to the languages overheard in a nearby Catholic church I pass on my walks, it's also where Ecuador meets Poland. I hadn't been looking for a new apartment, but in New York, when a good deal comes up, you jump--and order used cardboard boxes (.com).I'd been to this apartment once before for a party. My friend and former WNYC colleague Carolina Miranda, a writer and arts critic who I know and love as the brains behind C-MONSTER.net, lived here with her husband, street artist El Celso. I was so charmed by it -- the room-after-room railroad layout, a so-bad-it's-good mix of 1970s linoleum patterns, chunky door casings painted orange and shellacked like mad, the older Sicilian couple from upstairs who ventured down for the fun -- that months later, when I heard the news and got over my selfish disappointment that she and El Celso were relocating to Los Angeles, I found myself wondering: Hey! Should I move into their place?First, I should say that having working with extraordinarily talented Carolina, I knew that the New York art world was about to suffer a huge loss. Who else goes to art shows and combines solid reporting with ridiculous hilarity while writing about the overstimulating architecture of cruise ships, "testosterone art that's also huggy," and a Frida Kahlo-like sculpture that is a carnal strawberry? Los Angeles art world: you scored. In fact, I think we all score. Los Angeles needs more arts coverage, and New York publications need to run it.So, I moved. I definitely scored. Thank you, C-Monster and El Celso! The Sicilians upstairs who own the building have covered what I fondly called the Linoleum Palace with a new wood floor. I mean, wood-floor-printed vinyl. Same thing! I'm finding all sorts of touches left behind, like rubber fishies strung from the low-hanging chandelier (below) in the dining room that became my bedroom (I added necklaces), and a patch-up job in a kitchen cabinet that puts to use some of El Celso's discarded artwork (bottom). My friend Jill Singer, design writer and co-founder of Sight Unseen, gave me her knock-off Tulip table from IKEA (above) when she found an original. (Who knew that the Saarinen original has the most beautiful silky touch!) Things are coming together. Boxes are collapsed. Internet is installed. I can now find my keys. I just have three more rooms to furnish, or a roommate to find.I don't normally post filtered photos here. Realism > fantasy. But these pics are conveniently snagged from Instagram, where you can follow me all dreamy and sentimental at lizarnold. More soon.P.S. I haven't forgotten about the 10-year-old's posts! Approvals and such.
- Jun 20, 12This past weekend I invited some friends over to see my apartment in the Village before I move to Bushwick, Brooklyn, by July 1. One of the friends is 10 years old, the other is 8. I gave the artistic 10-year-old my camera and asked her to guest-blog for Homebodies, and she did an amazing job! Here's her take on my $5 television, which hasn't been turned on since...what month are we in? (The 8-year-old wasn't interested, and she had more fun playing dress-up with my clip-on earrings.) More pics soon...
- Jun 15, 12One way to think about it: laterally. As seen above Shantell Martin's bedroom light switch.
- May 29, 12Following my story for The New York Times last Thursday about artist Shantell Martin, I thought I'd post some of my pics of her place from when I first visited. You can see the bed, above, had a dark frame just a few months ago; by the time it was photographed for the story, she'd painted it white. And drawn all over it.
I have loads of pics I'll save for posting here and there in the near future, but for now, check out her desk area, below (she doesn't like comfortable chairs, because she doesn't want to sit too long at the computer); that's a note above the monitor that says something like, "Shantell: No Facebook today!" Shantell, fiddling with a recorder (am I on video?); dotted-outline man shooting big spotty-headed man with a dream, one of Shantell's favorite little scenes; bottles; sweatshirts (buy Shantell Martin's art and clothing and other stuff here); gessoed toys (she's also since drawn on the shelves); the laundry room.
She made me tea. - May 27, 12
Check it out: I have the cover of The New York Times Home section today! All credit goes to Shantell Martin. She's the artist whose place I've been hinting about here. I'll be back soon with a few of my photos of her amazing Brooklyn apartment...
Photo here (for the Times) by Trevor Tondro. - May 22, 12This is a photo from my friend Kevin's old place in L.A. I always loved the color of the blue-grey walls--grey changes so much throughout day, depending on light, and you can see it here from the pale blue near the window to the cooler shade on the right.
A slouched torso of a pillow.
I recently removed all the bookshelves on my walls that were secured with brackets I drilled into metal studs under the conflicting guidance of four employees at Ace Hardware across the street. (A metaphoric life lesson: No one knows the best way to drill into a wall, and you don't know what's on the other side until you do.) I've been wondering--god, I hope I don't take this on--about painting a wall either a dark blue, like Wayman did (that's Benjamin Moore's Abyss), or something light like this grey. Complicated, I think, and not only in terms of the sophisticated color scheme. Wish me luck? - May 27, 12Who are you? I am deliriously busy. And I've been working on a story on this artist, so I'll reveal her and post more pics next week when the story's up.
Who's going to Design Week? The Cooper-Hewitt has the amazing new informational site, designweeknyc.org. By the way, Kurt Andersen is funny about the over-propped house, and I've always had a thing for benches.
UPDATE 5/27/12: Subject revealed! This is at the home of Shantell Martin, whose room I wrote about in a cover story for the Home section of The New York Times. - May 27, 12I'm writing about someone who draws, and the pens (above) live under desk (below) in organized bins. Sort of like a garden at your feet. Stay tuned for the story, and I'll reveal her identity (and many more pics) when the piece is published...UPDATE 5/27/12: Subject revealed! This is at the home of Shantell Martin, whose room I wrote about in a cover story for the Home section of The New York Times.
- Apr 27, 12Yesterday at the end a particularly stressful day, I zoned out taking pictures of my Begonias and the Propagation Project. Who likes drinking out of stemless wine glasses, anyway? Happy weekend!
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- @Margit: How can I, as a freelancer/consultant, separate work and personal emails in Gmail? Labels? Folders? Any advice? #IWNYSystemMay 21, 13 from web Reply, Retweet, Favorite
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- Josh Ritter show tonight. Fans reaching for set lists. ❤🙌 @ Terminal 5 http://t.co/9voeTecWs7
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- RT @jimog: Want to find Wi-Fi and cell service in the NYC subway? Easy. Check out this map: http://t.co/R9laR7wveSApr 25, 13 from web Reply, Retweet, Favorite
- My Homebodies visit with @twc_org's Sarah Dohrmann: a writer and her otter pillow http://t.co/OpA36oMliHApr 24, 13 from web Reply, Retweet, Favorite
- RT @barerliterary: Hooray!! @mlazarusdean has won the @GraywolfPress Non Fiction Prize! https://t.co/YactmpiOJIApr 23, 13 from web Reply, Retweet, Favorite
- @katierosman switching up social media here, but nice to be reconnected on FB! I'd gone off for a few years xxApr 23, 13 from web Reply, Retweet, Favorite
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- @marklamster Great piece! "Everywhere competent, it nowhere rises to a level of inspiration." So many mentions of NY in lame comments (+bio)
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- Summary
I write on a freelance basis about design, interiors, and trends in living. And other things. My blog, Homebodies, is about the homes of people I visit—somebodies, nobodies, and anybodies in between (www.lizarnold.blogspot.com).
Experience- Sept 2010 - PresentTeaching Artist / Teachers & Writers Collaborative
Writer-in-residence, I.S. 392K, 2012-2013
Writer-in-residence, I.S. 392K, spring 2012 - Mar 2006 - PresentWriter: design, interiors, culture, arts / Freelance Writer
- Mar 2010 - Oct 2011Social Media Editor / WNYC Radio
- Sept 2005 - Mar 2010Editor and Writer / Story Worldwide
- Feb 2009 - Feb 2010Contributing Editor / Surface
- Jan 2008 - Jan 2009Contributing Editor / Lexus magazine
- Jun 2003 - Aug 2005Associate Editor / Western Interiors and Design magazine
- Jan 2003 - Jun 2003Editorial Assistant, Angeleno magazine / Modern Luxury
Education-
2009 - 2011Bennington CollegeMFA in The Writing Seminars (nonfiction)
- University of California, Los AngelesContinuing Education Classes in Journalism
- University of MichiganBA in English Literature
Additional Information-
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