Our Eclectic Boho Adobe Living Room

I’ve always loved home design, ever since I was a little girl. In 3rd grade I was given a class assignment to write about what I wanted to be when I grew up. My classmates’ presentations were on firefighters & ballerinas, and mine? An interior designer. I dreamed & dreamed of the day I would have my very own home to decorate & make my own.

In 2017, my husband and I were on tour (as Flagship Romance), and we unexpectedly played a gig in the town of Truth or Consequences, NM. We took a few days-off after our show to soak in the town’s hot springs & rejeuvenate. We had already been to T or C in the past, and it was one of our favorite places to visit. Little did we know that, thanks to our friends Rob & Naomi, the two of us (born & raised Floridians) would stumble upon a little 90 year-old adobe home that was for sale by an artist owner, and we would make an offer on it that very afternoon on our way out of town before we lost cell signal in the desert.

Fast forward a couple of years & some renovations later: this little adobe is ours, and we couldn’t be more thankful to be the caretakers of such a unique and historic home. It’s hard not to be in awe of the natural light, the high ceilings, and the artistic touches in the living room. The previous owner, a British artist named Peter Bowles, took incredible care of this home, and left his creative mark on many of the spaces, including living room features such as the bamboo-covered ceilings, a Native American-inspired hand-painted border around the entire room, and a hand-painted nicho, which now showcases a painting of Ghandi’s Salt Walk by local T or C artist Hieronymus Bogs.

Considering the fact it’s about 90 years old, the ‘bones’ of our adobe are in really good shape. With the help of my parents & brother, we refinished the original wood floors in the living room, and they are SO. DARN. BEAUTIFUL. We removed the [extremely sketchy] gas heater and upgraded to a eco-friendly Mitsubishi mini-split heating & cooling unit instead. As much as we loved the old, broken, original front door, it had too many gaps, which allowed dust to get in & wasn’t good for our utility bill. We replaced it with a black steel door with diamond windows that has some serious midcentury mod charm. I still need to get a paint match for the orange border around the room, so that I can paint the door jamb and attempt to emmulate Peter’s design.

Shawn & I are big-time lovers of art. Even when we were touring full-time with only a storage unit & a Subaru Outback to our name, we collected unique pieces of art in our travels to stockpile for our first home together. Our adobe is less than 1,000 square feet, so we had to be creative with the way we would showcase the large collection we have amassed over the years. One of our favorite spaces in the home is the corner gallery wall in the living room. It features screen prints by independent artists all over the U.S., a special piece of ledger art we got as our first anniversary present at a gallery in Santa Fe, various folk art, and two little frames that exhibit screen shots of our very first text conversation in 2010 (cue the “awwwww”).

The Draplin Design Co. New Mexico Poster which is “on the line,” was a piece we ordered in the beginning of the very tour we were on when we found our home. We were having cocktails with our friend David in Delaware, and he had a Draplin coffee table book we were thumbing through. A bit tipsy, we went shopping on Draplin’s online store before bed, and purchased the Florida poster. We kept looking through the rest of his work, and when we came across the NM design, I exclaimed, “WE HAVE TO GET THIS ONE, TOO!!” Shawn obliged, and when we got back to Florida after months of touring, we opened our mail to find the Draplin prints we had completely forgotten about. It was serendipitous to say the least!

Unique interior design runs in my family, especially on my mom’s side. My grandmother (Meme, as I would call her) had impeccable taste in decor, art, and clothing. I am so lucky to own a few of her pieces of her furniture. The midcentury black lacquer arm chair in this room was one of her favorites, and now houses a fun b&w pillow and a one-of-a-kind recycled sari throw blanket by the wonderful organization Sari Bari, “an ethical fashion business that employs women who have been exploited in the sex trade or who are vulnerable to human trafficking. Women are trained as artisans to create handmade kantha products from recycled saris.”

Our vinyl corner spotlights a buffet that is a hand-me-down from my Meme, as well. I replaced the wooden knobs with black & white ceramic knobs from Anthropologie we received as a wedding present that have hand-painted compasses on them.

What really makes this room pop in my eyes are the authentic Equipale chairs we found at Jackalope in Albuquerque. We’ve been in LOVE with this Mexican chair design ever since we played a concert at a home that had a collection of them in Santa Cruz, CA. I’ve gravitated towards the orange/red/black & white color palette for awhile now, and these particular chairs are such a perfect shade of orange for this room! I especially love the layered rug look in this space. Although neither of them are super plush, the overlapping rugs give the room a warm, cozy feel.

One day, we are going to do a major sofa update (our current IKEA sofa is a hand-me-down from my parents). We have been eyeing this Joybird sleeper sofa in Lucky Turquoise (to match the paint in the nicho) so that we can have more room for guests! One thing at a time, right?

Thanks for joining me on our living room tour! I hope you enjoyed a glimpse into our sweet little eclectic adobe! XxoO, Jordyn

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Wanna copy us? Go for it:

• U-Turn Audio Orbit Plus Turntable
• World Market Organic Edge Wall Shelves
• World Market Reversible Rug
• World Market Floor Cushion
• IKEA Ranarp Floor Lamp