Riccione Multicolor Umbrellas, by Gray Malin
Let me take you back to an era many, many moons ago. The Supreme Court had just affirmed same-sex marriage, a record-breaking 195 countries had signed on to endorse the Paris agreement (including the U.S.! Imagine!), and “athleisure” had become a word that people actually used in casual conversation.
Another thing that happened around that time: Our family drove up to a California ranch house that we’d only ever seen in photos, and right there on our brand-new porch, waiting patiently for us, was a housewarming gift: A print of a San Francisco nude beach taken by my all-time favorite photographer, Gray Malin. It took us many days (and months, and years) to wind our way through the process of making that funny little ranch house our own, but one thing that happened on Day One was that the nude beach print went right up on our dining room wall. Once it was hung, I laid down on the floor with a cup of warm champagne and looked at it for awhile – the waves swirling up onto the sand; the rainbow of striped beach blankets; the many, many naked butts – wondering what what was to come.
Click here to check out my house tour on Gray’s site
Over the years I’ve been lucky enough to hang Gray Malin’s spectacular images in many rooms of our home, thanks to our virtual friendship and his enormous generosity, but I still find myself, from time to time, taking a moment to sit with that photograph, remembering how it made me feel like I was home.
Over on GrayMalin.com today is a tour of my house, featuring all the ways its changed since we first arrived in the summer of 2015, plus an interview where we talked about my future renovation plans, how crippling anxiety can (sometimes) work to your advantage, and why I bristle at the idea of being called an “expert.” Also! Gray is offering free framing and free shipping site-wide all week long, so if you’re as in love with his work as I am, now’s the time to make the jump.
