This Antique Lover’s Home Is a Master Class in Gallery Wall Curation

Through the decades.

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“I started collecting when I was super-young, just going through my grandmother’s basement,” says Ali Arakawa. “She always had antiques and strange art down there, and she would let me take things.” Years later, Arakawa has turned her knack for scavenging into a career, and her home into an antiques-filled wonderland.

Arakawa co-owns Fare Well Trading—an online antiques store where shoppers can unearth such items as 1860s apothecary bottles and 1970s novelty pencil sharpeners—with her friend Mia Graffam. The two started sourcing for their shop in fall 2012 and opened it on Etsy in January 2013. Since then they have mastered the art of antique sourcing and selling, filling the site with everything from turn-of-the-century to mid-century finds, but they all strike a similar aesthetic that’s evocative of classic American tattoo art. Think: Patrick Nagel–style illustrations and Sailor Jerry–esque iconography.

Dresser topped with dried florals in front of green wallpapered wall
Photography by Cody Guilfoyle

“There’s a specific style that’s hard to describe that’s underlying in my taste,” says Arakawa. “I tend to have a masculine aesthetic, and I’m drawn to typography and advertising. Mia and I are heavily tattooed, so a lot of imagery is drawn from that.”

Corner of living room with white walls, graphic art prints, and plants
photography by cody guilfoyle

Kitchen with blue countertops and white cabinets
Photography by Cody Guilfoyle

To bring it all together in her Queens, New York, home, Arakawa focuses on precise color palettes. The gallery walls that fill her rooms range in time period and style, but they all have a similar strain that unites them.

Pink room with Patrick Nagel prints, pink walls, gray sofa, and lots of plants
Photography by Cody Guilfoyle

“I based my living room decor on a mid-century furniture set. On the wall, I have a tiger silk screen—which was made by my mom in the ’70s—and a big Patrick Nagel print,” she says. “I started with those three things. Even though they’re all from different eras, they work together because of the colors. I like to mix animal portraits with human portraits and landscapes. As long as there’s a color story, they mesh.”

Office with framed old-fashioned paintings on gallery wall; wooden desk with chair
Photography by Cody Guilfoyle

Assortment of tchotchkes and dishes on shelves
Photography by Cody Guilfoyle

In other rooms, bold wall color brings additional dimension. Arakawa based one navy room on a red plaid blanket she had picked up on a road trip, and a pink space found its color inspiration from the two Nagel-esque oil paintings that hang on its walls. “Usually, one or two things inspire me, and I just kind of run with it,” she says. “It always ends up coming together.”

Ali Arakawa in her home
Photography by Cody Guilfoyle

Her background in store display design helps Arakawa to draw her varied inspirations together. It’s also the thing that inspires her to continually decorate and redecorate as she adds her discoveries to her shop, brings new antiques into her home, and finds a spark of inspiration in something as simple as a needlepoint or painting.

Wall full of old fashioned portait paintings
Photography by Cody Guilfoyle

“My space is constantly changing. Sometimes I get sick of things, so I sell them, or sometimes I’ll find things and swap out other pieces or move them elsewhere, and then that might inspire me to paint the wall a different color,” she says. “If it doesn’t feel right, I’ll change it until it does. My house will never be done, and that’s fun for me.”

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Julia Stevens

Contributing Editor

Julia Stevens is a Domino contributing editor. Basically, she’s a professional online shopper. She started at Domino as an intern and spent almost seven years in the style department curating products for our gift guides, trend roundups, and product reviews and on set styling the beautiful homes we get to share. Off hours, you can find her scouting New York’s newest design shops and restyling her shelves