For the March issue of Lonny magazine, Melanie Acevedo offers a glimpse of her personal life through photos of her home and her children, Rocky and Violet. She also shares the vision behind the many stylish choices she made for the family’s home, located in the beach town of Sea Cliff, New York.
“Unstyled and unaffected, these spontaneous images from a regular routine at home record one family’s experience at its most authentic,” write the editors.
To read the story and see more images, visit “An Ordinary Life.” And to see more of Melanie’s photos of Rocky and Violet, visit her blog, Another 52 Weeks.
“Comfort is the most important factor in the way I choose to live and the things I have in my house. We spend a lot of time in the dining room, and a big communal table is something I’ve had in all my homes. I got this one 20 years ago at an antiques store on the Jersey Shore. It was my office table for a long time; it’s been all sorts of different colors,” says Melanie.
“We also have a daybed in the dining room, and Violet likes to lie there and read.”
Rocky playing in his room.
“Violet loves stuffed animals. At the cusp of young womanhood, she’s still a little girl at heart; before she goes to bed, she places them all around her in a certain way so she feels comfortable. Her room has Serena & Lily beanbags, which are childlike but adult and chic at the same time. And I gave her a John Derian glass table that used to be in my bedroom so she has a desk to do her homework.”
““The house is 100 years old. It used to be a tiny bungalow that was slowly added onto, room by room. When we bought it, the kitchen consisted of two rooms with a brick wall and rotted-out cabinets. We decided to make it simple and graphic. So we just got IKEA cabinetry and metro shelving and some nice appliances, including the Fisher & Paykel industrial stove. The floor was linoleum; we put in the black-and-white tile. Everyone told us to get rid of the little window above the sink, but I love how funky it is.”
““We’re big cuddlers. We’ve had our kids in bed with us since they were babies. After a hard day, that’s where we’ll talk and read and watch movies together. When they wake up, they come and get into bed with us; Rocky eats his oatmeal and fruit there every morning. We have a king bed, with a down comforter from IKEA and a whole mix of linens—some are from Restoration Hardware, some from Eileen Fisher.”
Rocky in the living room.
Melanie with her kids.
