Althouse: There's no better interior decoration than Amy Sedaris interior decoration.

July 20, 2025

There's no better interior decoration than Amy Sedaris interior decoration.

49 comments:

Achilles said...: That thumbnail is where an insane person would live. That is crazy color crashing.; 7/20/25, 8:57 AM
Peachy said...: Hi I'm adorable and I have crap everywhere. All the crap has a story! When you come to visit - you will have no place to set your stuff.; 7/20/25, 9:01 AM
mindnumbrobot said...: Oh, my. That's awful.; 7/20/25, 9:02 AM
Old and slow said...: “There isn’t enough kindness in the world “ Sydney Greensteet; 7/20/25, 9:11 AM
Eva Marie said...: Trying too hard to be a character.; 7/20/25, 9:12 AM
rehajm said...: The Pee-Wee Herman aesthetic. If it makes her happy fine but...it's been done...and did they say THAT guy is the Victoria's Secret guy? Holy frijoles...; 7/20/25, 9:29 AM
Aggie said...: "There's no better interior decoration in the nuthouse than Amy Sedaris interior decoration."

Was there supposed to be an apostrophe in there, or are we 'branding'?; 7/20/25, 9:33 AM
Peachy said...: I recently stayed in an Air BNB in a secret place in Utah.
It was similarly decorated. (but no pink and no gingham.) The host was a female and she demands guests leave a written note in a leather bound book, and you must gush about your stay. Now - the place was immaculate with very positive vibes. It was in fact, downright lovely - despite being over-crowded with stuff. But there was way too much STUFF everywhere.
Zero hanging for clothes. Not much room for even a suitcase. The nightstand were cluttered with her crap. The walls were decorated in what looked like thrift store finds.

The mattress was divine. I slept like a baby.
I gave her a very positive review and kept my feelings about her crap to myself. Thanks for letting me vent.; 7/20/25, 9:42 AM
Peachy said...: Not leaving negative space for your guests - is selfish.... and rude.; 7/20/25, 9:44 AM
Beth B said...: Can't you see how whimsical she is? So much coldly calculated whimsy!; 7/20/25, 10:09 AM
tcrosse said...: I did enjoy Strangers With Candy, though.; 7/20/25, 10:13 AM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: Some people are lucky enough to live a fantasy of themselves. To cheer them on is a laudable thing.

link to a conversation clip

(I think I posted this clip before. I like it so much I'm posting it again.); 7/20/25, 10:30 AM
Biff said...: That was exhausting. Whimsy takes too much work.; 7/20/25, 10:36 AM
Ice Nine said...: She has a quite juvenile prurience to her sense of humor, doesn't she.; 7/20/25, 10:48 AM
FullMoon said...: Looks nice, just needs an 85 inch Sony to top it off.; 7/20/25, 10:53 AM
SpaceCityGirl said...: Fun to look at but not practical for living.; 7/20/25, 11:04 AM
bagoh20 said...: Less is more.; 7/20/25, 11:50 AM
Maynard said...: The narcissism of NY liberals is amazing.; 7/20/25, 12:02 PM
Eva Marie said...: From the LVB clip:
“People strive to be fantasies of themselves.”; 7/20/25, 12:04 PM
Randomizer said...: Sedaris has people, and they made or gave her things. There is no sense that she does anything. No photos she took, musical instruments she played or pottery she picked up on vacation.

The fireplace dollhouse is nice if there are no pets or kids around.; 7/20/25, 12:05 PM
Tina Trent said...: I find her delightful. I don't even think it's an act. For those missing Steve Colbert, you can see him brutally mocking gay people for three seasons of her very astonishing show, Strangers With Candy.

It might even make you feel better about his show being cancelled.

And wonder when surgeons removed his sense of humor.; 7/20/25, 12:10 PM
Quaestor said...: My aunt lived at 1 Christopher Street, 12th floor, on the SE corner. As a 9 year-old I spent a month as her guest taking in the sights, the cultural stuff, and watching a Mets game. I don't recall that view however. This was years before Stonewall, so the queers were mostly keeping to themselves. The picturesque locals were tailend beatniks morphing into proto-hippies. I didn't know that at the time, of course, to me they were just bums, my words for adults with no apparent daytime occupation other than walking around.

About that video, I assume it's meant as gently ironic satire. The wigged out comment was a chuckle, though the rest... meh.; 7/20/25, 12:22 PM
Rosalyn C. said...: She seems strange and charming as well, but there really is nothing strange about buying the apartment above her. That’s extremely rational. Obviously, she will never sell it for the reason she bought it to begin with.
The fact that she’s asking for suggestions on how much to charge is no doubt she realizes what an imposition the decor is. It’s not a very pleasant to stay some place with so many personal objects belonging to another person. I wouldn’t pay market rate to stay there. But maybe other people would find it fun especially if a tour is included.; 7/20/25, 12:53 PM
Temujin said...: Wow...got half way through it and I'm feeling like that's a pretty good effort on my part. I'm not as charmed by the Sedaris clan as some. I get that she can be quirky, perhaps cheeky, but making videos of your own quirkiness tends to scream something else.
On the other hand, she has an audience for this sort of thing, so why not? But is it me, or does it seem that there is an entire city full of people in Manhattan making such videos of themselves or writing articles that most would consider trite and self-indulgent twaddle?; 7/20/25, 1:04 PM
Megthered said...: I don't know who she is? Should I?; 7/20/25, 2:00 PM
Iman said...: She’s strange(ers with candy) and bears the taint of Stephen Colbert…; 7/20/25, 2:16 PM
Iman said...: But she was, as the kids say, “funny AF”.; 7/20/25, 2:18 PM
tcrosse said...: Last time I visited the ABC Home and Carpet store at 19th and Broadway there was a whole floor full of that sort of twee stuff. So Amy must not be the only one in Lower Manhattan with that sort of taste. De gustibus....; 7/20/25, 2:33 PM
Just an old country lawyer said...: I get a 5 year old girl/little old granny/fag hag combo vibe, so yes, Pee Wee Herman. I couldn't get to sleep in that room.; 7/20/25, 2:37 PM
Tina Trent said...: Peachy, I'm afraid I've got you beat. We were once put up by my husband's boss in a small inn where each room was based on a different movie, except they also had the usual trappings of gingham, plaid curtains, gee-gaws, etc. Our suite was based on Kubric's Space Odyssey. I don't know how to begin even wondering why. The walls were painted silver. Christmas ornament icicles symbolized ... outer space? The bedding was also silver. There were maps of the solar system and glow-in-the-dark stars that did not fade when we shut off the lights. Yet the curtains were gingham. There was also a large fake bear outside at the turn-around, rearing up seven feet with its arms raised, which utterly terrified our dog. The lady was a sweet, stereotypical B&B innkeeper who served us too many stale muffins and scones. She told us that anyone with pets had to stay in the Space Oddysey room.

Point taken.

I like to think John Waters had discovered it at some point. I also stayed in an Elvis replica room with a round velvet bed in Ocala once, which had a VCR built into the ceiling of the bed, which was sort of a cocoon with a half-ceiling, supplied with VCR porn tapes, but, objectively, gingham Space Odyssey was actually far more unsettling, bar the fear of getting some nameless infection from the Elvis bed.

One more piece of advice: never, ever stay in Valdosta.; 7/20/25, 2:49 PM
tcrosse said...: You may also wish to avoid the World Famous Clown Motel in Tonopah, NV,; 7/20/25, 2:57 PM
Peachy said...: Tina - you do have me beat - because you've described something more than unpleasant .. borderline mildly horrific.

The BnB I stayed in was lovely - she just had way too much crap sitting around. Had she removed 50% of it - it would have been perfect.; 7/20/25, 2:59 PM
Just an old country lawyer said...: Thanks for sharing, Tina. For the handful of you not intimately acquainted with the geography of our beloved state of Georgia, Valdosta is a mid-sized town located in the deep south of the state, far below the Gnat Line. This time of year it is hotter than Satan's attic, without the charm. Ironically, it appears to be named after Val d'Aosta, a lovely valley in the Italian Alps.; 7/20/25, 3:06 PM
Peachy said...: I moved to a different air BnB's to be closer to the airport on the final night - and save some money. I think it was owned by a Spanish-only speaking illegal. (did not know this when I booked it) She communicated with me using a language conversion app. Never met her -but her husband was there and he appeared nervous. it was a condo where all the upper rooms were rented to air bnb. It was fine - no frills.
Safe - enough. Clean-- enough. BUT the bed sheets were so perfumed with cheap fabric softener - I could hardly breathe. won't do that again. I got about 4 hours of sleep.; 7/20/25, 3:06 PM
Jim at said...: You may also wish to avoid the World Famous Clown Motel in Tonopah, NV

A good friend stayed there last year. She's always been a bit of a free spirit and willing to try different things.

The place freaked her out.; 7/20/25, 4:17 PM
Peachy said...: Ann and Meade know all about the House on the Rock in Spring Green.
Need some freak out time? Go there.; 7/20/25, 4:22 PM
Clyde said...: Tina, there's a hotel in Mackinaw City, Michigan, that also has movie-themed rooms. I stayed there in July 2021, in the Casablanca room, while my mom and her husband were in the Sweet Dreams room next door. I really would have liked to have been in the Field of Dreams room, though. They were actually very nice, with the movie poster being the major extent of the themed decor. And it being midsummer in the far north, I got spectacular sunset pictures over Lake Michigan and even more spectacular sunrise pictures over Lake Huron the next morning. The Mackinac Bridge going over to the Upper Peninsula is the dividing line between Lakes Michigan and Huron, which is how I got sunset over one and sunrise over the other!; 7/20/25, 6:32 PM
effinayright said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 7/20/25, 6:42 PM
effinayright said...: PJ Media's Vodka Pundit" Stephen Green says he launched his blog on a "well planned whim."

I'd say this lady did much the same---calculated whimsy, we might call it. The Brits might label it as "twee": relentlessly twee

(Still, I liked the closet full of gingham ...whaddayacallems); 7/20/25, 6:44 PM
Tina Trent said...: Valdosta, now known for sweet onions, was once the abortion capital of the South. Bordering Florida and Georgia, it is also near the setting for Flannery O'Connor's serial killer story, A Good Man is Hard to Find. When I was travelling between Florida and Georgia on a regular basis for horrific family crises, I just submitted to the zeitgeist. I thought, fuck, at least I'll die where the onions are magical, and I hope I don't outlive the lice.

If you adjust your standards, you can enjoy the Waffle House scattered, smothered, and covered that much more the next morning. That is the only travelling of which I approve.; 7/20/25, 7:01 PM
Tina Trent said...: Clyde: they really are mini oceans, aren't they?; 7/20/25, 7:03 PM
Rocco said...: Peachy said...
“Hi I'm adorable and I have crap everywhere. All the crap has a story! When you come to visit - you will have no place to set your stuff.”

That also describes my sister-in-law’s outdoor cat and the barn she lives in.; 7/20/25, 7:03 PM
Kai Akker said...: Gingham = old-fashioned femininity and happiness.

Was Amy S arch and alienated about it? I have no sound right now. Many are drawn to old-fashioned happiness. It seems to be a reaction to the world about us, and gives me hope. Some can only play it as a distanced phenomenon. Don't know if that includes her.; 7/20/25, 7:05 PM
Howard said...: It's a passive dust removal system that helps purify the indoor air.; 7/20/25, 7:25 PM
Tina Trent said...: The Sedaris clan seem genuinely weird. Strangers With Candy is the best outre tv show since public access Uncle Floyd. It is also unalloyed by any political correctness. In fact, it's a direct attack on it. I believe she's really like that, and her famous brother says she is a very able person during crises. I feel bad about the cane. Hope it's temporary. I adore her, though I lean towards brutalism in architecture and minimalism within. Swedish adobe is my goal.; 7/21/25, 7:52 AM
JAORE said...: "...Waffle House scattered, smothered, and covered ...".
A disgusting mess.
And, yes, when I say all the way I want BOTH the gravy and the chili on top! I refer to it as scattered, smothered and shat upon. It was one of my rarer guilty indulgences. Sadly Doctor Nofunattall now forbids such.; 7/21/25, 7:59 AM
Clyde said...: Tina: Freshwater and shark-free. My one time visiting Lake Superior (at the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum) was a calm, sunny summer day. I would not want to see it angry.; 7/21/25, 12:17 PM
Lazarus said...: Strangers with candy made me sick.
The show I mean.
I couldn't get past the premise and the promos.; 7/21/25, 6:14 PM
Tina Trent said...: A shipwreck museum sounds like my kind of place. I love the Maritime And Seafood Museum in Biloxi.; 7/22/25, 8:56 AM