Introducing: Dollhouse
Meet Anya Kordonowy, Trash Panic’s new interiors and design columnist.
It is a truth universally acknowledged that making friends in the state of Minnesota is a feat considered nearly impossible — good luck, babe!
A tight community known for impenetrable friendship bonds forged at childhood hockey practice, most folks will tell you that a Minnesotan will “give you directions everywhere except their front porch.”
When we purchased our 1953 midcentury home, I knew it was going to take great Herculean effort to undo all the horrific things the previous owner (a flipper, yuck) had done. I have a lot of pride about my sense of taste, personal style, and eye for making a house a home. I was convinced I could reimagine this space perfectly, and all on my own.
Fast forward to my third, fourth, fifth breakdown in the paint aisle, helplessly staring at an infinite wall of endless shades and tones, completely overwhelmed by the fact that thousands of square feet of wall and room and dwelling needed to have a harmonious flow.
Enter: Anya.
In what now feels like kismet, I had discovered Ornament (her interior design business) on Instagram far before stepping across the Minnesota border. I went on a roundabout research rabbit hole for female contractors before anything in our Texas home was even packed. Bitches (complimentary) get stuff done!
Anya’s distinctive approach to creativity and design is a welcome change in the age of consumption-pushing-algorithms, Prime 2-day shipping, and an endless feed of AD Open Door tours. As someone who takes their taste very seriously, I struggled with the idea of not being able to take full credit for making our house a home, but bringing her into our renovation adventure made sense the second I sent the introduction email.
When we first discussed working together, her intake was less “show me your pinterest board babe”1 and more “tell me about a favorite piece of art that makes your heart pitter pat, your favorite room or space to be in and how you feel when you’re in it, the most gorgeous film you’ve ever seen, a color you absolutely hate and all the reasons why2.”
Most of our meetings have run hours over their scheduled allotted time as we end up on conversational side quests — weird artists, strange movies, local gossip, creative venting, career aspirations — dare I say, I’ve made my first Minnesota friend!3
Trash Panic is all about celebrating the weird, wacky, and wonderfully unique. And while I love having Substack as a home, there’s a growing echo chamber of sameness I feel we need to be actively fighting to really start to find ourselves in the digital age.
I’m excited to introduce Anya as a monthly collaborator who will bring her extensive knowledge (you should see her book collection!!!) her whimsy (we love a BIG imagination!) and her disruptive thoughts to this tiny little Trash Panic orbit.
Without further ado, her first dispatch.
Hi, Trash Heads! Anya from Ornament here!
I’m so jazzed to be sharing space with Glenn every month to spill on the weirder, off-kilter edges of the homesphere that I engage with. Thankfully, nothing is off limits here at this Dollhouse.
I have to admit that I have a bit of stage fright (my personal calling card from age 12-16 when shoved onstage at our local Jewish Community Center productions…) to be entering into this wonderfully thoughtful part of the internet that Trash Panic has created for itself. So when thinking and rethinking and overthinking about this holy First Post my mind went to a million different places, as it often does. But then I had the realization that the First Post is usually used as a space to introduce oneself and show the audience (you, hi) a bit of who the writer is (me, hi) and why you might be interested in anything I have to offer... So here goes nothing!
My overarching philosophy when it comes to the world of interior spaces is that a place is best when it’s an uncomplicated representation of the people who inhabit it and has a corner or two that feels a bit… naughty.
What makes a corner “naughty”? you might wonder. There are these Unwritten* (yet seemingly) Universal Home Decorating Rules that I simply do not believe in or ascribe to.
*It’s very probable that these are, in fact, written somewhere but I haven’t read these particular books/articles/blogs - no interest, please do not send.
But what I do believe in is that people love rules (even if they say they don’t). I know this and am now an expert of people loving rules because I’ve been doing this a while and constantly find myself at odds with these Unwritten Universal Home Decorating Rules.
I am here, in this space, to show you you can break one (or more!) of these Rules and you can have fun doing it and, best of all, you can like your space a little bit more afterwards. Like a real life Dollhouse, you can try things out, you can push the boundaries, it’s not that serious.
Voilà: You're a little naughty now.
While encouraging you to break rules I will try to give some historical context or grander explanation to my insistence that it’s worth trying out being naughty but sometimes… I probably won’t. I know you’re just getting to know but, just trust me!(?)
THINGS/THOUGHTS/TOPICS I will likely consider in this space (in no particular order) (I’m sure there are more but no one likes an overabundance of bullet points) :
color [all of them]
process [sometimes more fun than the result]
fun [best to have it most of the time]
clutter [or ‘the home perfected’ imo]
old stuff [all of it]
longing [permission to not have it all figured out]
patterns [why are they so great?]
philosophy [not as serious as it sounds]
books [never enough]
gentleness [with yourself, with others]
senses [more than 5!]
reference [the past as much as possible]
All of that being said, this Dollhouse is just one dollhouse in a world of different dollhouses and I have a very “take-it-or-leave-it” attitude toward all frivolous things in this life (home decor being near the top of the list of frivolous things in 2025) so if something here doesn’t feel right for you then you have your answer for whatever question you might be here to find a solution for.
Since this First Post is an introduction and not a dissertation it feels very apt to leave you with a list of 5 Things I Love. I was going to include a list of 10 Things I Hate but honestly it feels really negative and there’s enough of that out there right now so let’s stick to love, shall we?
5 THINGS I LOVE :
Using a bright color for a neutral.
Current favorite color to employ this way : Benjamin Moore’s Butterfly Wings 090
Books.
Now & forever a favorite & guiding light for Ornament : A Pattern Language* : Towns, Buildings, Construction. *So much more to come on this.
Online auctions.
Current sampling of my saves :
Current heartbreaker I lost & won’t soon forget :
Josef Frank.
Currently really enjoying the brand spankin’ new and gorgeously laid out Taschen book about Svenskt Tenn, appropriately titled, Svenskt Tenn. If you don’t have every book about Josef Frank (guilty) this book offers a lot of BOH intel, imagery and even writings by the man himself. Highly recommend!
Current weird-y I stumbled upon & love : Brushwork : elementary brush-forms.
That’s it for me! I hope you found a nugget or two to like here, I’ll be back at the end of July!
Until then,
♥ Anya
You can find Anya here, here, and here (she makes great playlists!)
spoiler alert: she worked her witchy magic and now that color is being used in multiple rooms in our home! (it’s purple, if you must know lol)
Dollhouse title image: Model with Room Designed by Grace Meyercord, André Kertész
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Didn't know I need this so bad..... Really looking forward to your monthly contributions Anya! The word "remodel" is like a dirty word for me, makes me think of desaturated living, but it's feeling like an inspiring word again after looking at your retrofitting work!!
YAY! purrrrfect timing. moving into a new place finally and looking forward to Anya’s guidance/inspo/ideas/hate list.