takgoti

Favorite Photo of the Moment

Georgetown is an area of Washington D.C. that is often rife with the rich and the pretentious.

And yet.

To quote that show [Friends] that I seem to be able to quote in any given situation, “maybe a little pretension never hurt anybody.”

There is something undeniably exciting, for anyone who loves to shop, about walking down M Street and being greeted by storefront after storefront of exquisitely designed window dressings. This line of retail bliss, which credit card holders eagerly queue up to snort, is broken up only by a number of restaurants and specialty eateries which guarantees that you can easily spend hours in this relatively small pocket of the district. Georgetown is about the closest thing that we get to an outdoor mall on the northern edge of this coast; something that the Californians have mastered but we have little need for as the temperatures drop and otherwise harmless weather can turn nasty without much warning.

There is an aura about Georgetown that I have not seen duplicated anywhere else to date. It seamlessly mixes together romance and metropolitan sophistication with hints of the Old World and cutting edge modernity. Taking an afternoon stroll down to the Potomac with a Baked & Wired cupcake in hand, ducking into Birreria Paradiso to grab a beer or two in front of the fire while snow begins to coat the brick sidewalks, or meandering through the airy space of the Paper Source to pick up some fun projects for home; these are all things I have done in Georgetown.

In my early twenties, however, I discovered Cady’s Alley.

Cady’s Alley defines what I call the Interior Design Wing of the M Street drag. In its own little section, away from the bars and the underground mall, it typically remains unvisited by the majority of Georgetown walking traffic and therefore retains a sense of quiet tranquility. The prices range from expensive to astronomical, but if you want to see what designers are using to mold those impeccable images gracing the glossy pages of house and home magazines, this is the place to visit. Be warned though, familiarizing yourself with retail fronts like Ann Sacks, Bulthaup, or Waterworks may leave you with an incurable sense of longing.

This picture was taken during a trip I went on with my BFF Aki to gather ideas and inspiration for her being-built-now townhouse in Maryland. I have always appreciated a beautiful interior, and as I am about to go to school to throw myself into the profession I am beginning to look at interior fixtures and furniture with new eyes.

The lighting in this particular store, Boffi, is dramatic in the best kind of way. It shows you just how much the angle and intensity of a spotlight and its ambient counterparts can highlight, focus, and affect the mood of a space.

As a girl on a nearly nonexistent income, I can enjoy and understand the value behind repurposing, reusing, and making the most of a tight budget. However, I will never, ever underestimate the power of quality, and there is something about superbly designed cabinetry or a breathtakingly gorgeous bathtub that will always make me yearn.