In musician Bev Stanton’s cozy bedroom, a chic mannequin perches on the dresser. It is spray-painted gold and is wearing a British police officer’s Bobby helmet that a relative who had been on the force gave her. (Photo by Adam Cuthbert)
advertisement
advertisement
|
MONICA HESSE
Friday, August 26, 2005
BY DAY, BEV Stanton works for the New Israel Fund as its “Web shiksa.” But her nighttime gigs have made the lesbian performer a staple on the local music scene during the 15 years she’s lived in this area.
Stanton plays bass for the Baltimore-based group The Window Shoppers and deejays with the First Ladies DJ Collective. And her one-woman band, “Arthur Loves Plastic,” so named for a cat who adored grocery bags, has won numerous Washington Area Music Awards in the electronica category.
Stanton’s cozy Silver Spring apartment is an inspiration for her creativity and homage to her passion: She sacrificed her living room space in favor of a music room with a keyboard and sound mixing equipment.
Each room is painted a different set of bold hues — navy and celery for the music room, carnation pink for the bedroom and bathroom, marigold and tangerine in the kitchen.
“When I moved in, the walls were white,” Stanton says. “But then two gay guys moved in downstairs and taught me the marvel of painting rooms. I became a swatch queen. It was like ‘Queer Eye for the Gay Girl.’”
Stanton’s downstairs neighbors also encouraged her to rip up the carpeting in the four-room space, revealing warm, blonde wood floors beneath.
“When we took up that awful blue carpet, I couldn’t believe it,” she says. “Covering these floors was like putting Angelina Jolie in a burka.”
NOT THAT STANTON needs too many decorating tips. Years of living in band houses left her with music paraphernalia, funky wall hangings, and as she says, “a whole lot of stuff.”
The lead singer of her last group painted on the side, and gave her a lot of his work, including the haunting multimedia piece depicting a soldier that hangs on a wall in her music room.
Stanton’s father was also an artist, frequently commissioned by amusement parks. “My dad isn’t a fan of my friend’s artwork, so when he found out I had it all over my house, he felt like he had to combat it, so he sent me a bunch of his art, too,” she says.
Also in the music room hangs a watercolor rendition of a water ride — screaming fans hold their arms in the air as the hollowed-out log plunges into a pond.
In the hallway, photographs of Dolly Parton and Pope John Paul II, each proudly brandishing paintings, adorn the walls. Upon closer inspection, it becomes clear that Stanton’s dad did these paintings.
 |
| The lesbian musician’s eclectic decorating philosophy is that interesting doesn’t have to mean expensive. Christmas lights and artwork from her father and friends adorn the walls of her four-room apartment, though she says, ‘I get most of my stuff off the side of the road.’ (Photo by Adam Cuthbert) |
Then there are the art contributions that Bev makes herself. In the bedroom, a chic mannequin perches on the dresser, spray-painted gold and wearing a British police officer’s Bobby helmet, donated by a relative who had been on the force.
Bev’s coffee table is covered with sparkly silver contact paper. “I fell in love with it in Amsterdam,” she says, “And made my friend send me a roll when I got back home.”
Throughout the apartment, the lighting design is also Bev’s doing: hundreds of Christmas lights — some colored, some white, some shaped like fish — cast an ambient glow in every room.
Each of these components reflect Stanton’s general decorating philosophy: Interesting doesn’t have to mean expensive. When asked where she does her shopping, she shrugs: “Usually, I get most of my stuff off the side of the road.”
SOMETIMES, STANTON HAS found, her apartment’s décor has taken on a life of its own. That’s what happened with the flamingoes.
Born in the Bahamas and raised in Florida, she bought a figurine of a pink flamingo to remember her upbringing. Friends caught on, and now her home is filled with flamingo statues and even flamingo-shaped Christmas lights. Her favorite object in the apartment is a glowing flamingo lamp given to her by friends which, when plugged in, lights up in an iridescent neon.
When asked what her No. 1 tip is for making the most of an ultra tiny living space, she offers: “Have a lot of shelves.”
Of course, it doesn’t hurt if you also have a lot of Christmas lights, a lot of paint and an eclectic and helpful bunch of friends.
|
