May Russell, mug shot from Sydney, Australia, 1922.

I imagine May Russell always had it rough. Perhaps she was an orphan before meeting her husband. Only to be abandoned again when he left for the WW1. But May was scrappy I bet. She did the one thing she knew how to do well – survive.

May entered the workforce, cut her hair short, and pretty soon found herself excelling in a man’s world. May would push her way through the ranks. No one would expect an impish girl of racketeering.

May would sit in her office watching as the police raid began. She’d pour herself a drink and wait, her face revealing absolutely nothing.

An office imagined* for May:

Security Boxes by FunRetro, Vintage Barware by Brooklyn Retro, Industrial Tray by Old Crow Farm, Brass Hand Paper Clip by High Street Market, Antique Swivel Chair by Daily Memorandum, Vintage Desk Calendar by High Street Market, Vintage Bell Lamp by Daily Memorandum, Tanker Desk by Past Present Future, Glass Decanter by Fernswood Pixie.

*Actually the whole story is imagined inspired by this Justice and Police Collection photo.

Dora Carrington, from the archive at Kings College Cambridge of 'The Bloomsbury Group'.

She: a young British artist who graduated from the Slade School of Art in London, where she was irresistible to men with her cropped pageboy haircut. She was known as being troubled by her sexuality.

Lytton Strachey oil on canvas by Dora Carrington

He: a quirky writer and critic, known for establishing a new form of biography in which psychological insight and sympathy are combined with irreverence and wit. He was also openly homosexual.

She was in love with He. He loved her too, but he also liked her husband. They lived together for many years. He died of stomach cancer in 1932, she killed herself two months later.

I am writing of the artist, Dora Carrington and the writer, Lytton Strachey, of whom I just learned about through the fabulous movie, Carrington. I rather hate drawing my Room Muse inspiration from movies, because it lends an already established palette to my dreamed up designs. But these two were just too fascinating.

This is Ham Spray, the house Lytton purchased in the name of Nora’s husband, where Dora and Lytton lived together (with their significant others), and where Dora’s ashes are buried.

And this the living room I imagine for Dora and Lytton. Colorful landscape paintings by members of the Bloomsbury Group. Loaded bookshelves. A desk, an armchair, a footrest, an urn. Faded painted walls and bright florals. Beauty and complexity. Love and tragedy. Lytton and Dora.

On his deathbed Lytton Strachey is rumored to have said “I always wanted to marry Carrington, but never did.” Here, I imagine they are together.

My favorite literary character of all time is definitely that “Anne girl” from Lucille Maud Montgomery‘s series “Anne of Green Gables.” I’m reading a novel about Maud and how she came to write the Anne series. So I thought it appropriate to create a room, created with vintage and salvaged pieces, inspired by Anne.

Note, if you’ve seen the Canadian TV mini-series of the book, you have a vision of what Anne’s room looks like. But the room I’m conjuring up isn’t similar to that of a poor orphan girl. It’s the room Anne would dream of. A room in a house located by multiple “lakes of shining waters” in which she and her “bosom friends” would share their most confidential secrets.

Anne’s dramatic bed would hold a fluffy mattress and be dripping with silk sheets. In front of it would be a late 1800′s ottoman, suitable for a queen, to set upon a tray of evening cordials or to rest weary feet. Across from the bed would be a overstuffed chair, perfect for lounging and writing. To the side of the chair would be a small, ladylike round table.

The side table would hold a study lamp made of a marble bust, as well as a vintage book with a new book cover. Perched on one side would be a cake stand used as a candy dish, for Anne’s late night treats. A beautiful, old, gilded mirror would be hung on one wall.

Oh Anne. I absolutely adore your romantic notions, your adventures, your spunk, your quick temper and your innocence. I think we are kindred spirits.

UPDATE: I was thinking about this on the train this morning. Though Anne yearned for adventure, a truth of the novel was that Anne loved her Green Gables, and in the end she wanted to be no place else. So maybe this room for Anne would be beyond the Haunted Forest,  just across Lover’s Lane, upstairs in a room at Green Gables.