Letters "R" me

When I was a kid watching "The Mary Tyler Moore" show every Saturday night, what I loved best was Mary's apartment. Even though on some level I knew it was just a set, I still adored the architectural details...the 'sunken' living room, the floor-to-ceiling Palladian window, the built-in bookshelves under the stepdown, the tiny kitchen with the pull-down Tiffany window. It was all so compact yet chic. And I wanted to live in someplace like that when I grew up. Now that The Beautiful Wreck is finished I sort of think I do. Sunken living room? Check. Big picture window? Check. Built-in bookshelves? A gallery wall of art? A bed in the living room? Check, check, and check. But the thing that caught my eye and that I loved the most about Mary's apartment? Her graphic "M" plaque on her wainscoted wall.
There was something about that M that said this place was hers, it was a interior design statement that spoke to me even as a child.

Mary Richards and her "M" plaque

So it's no wonder that a million years later I'd recreate the same idea in my own apartment with the help of a friend. A few years ago my good friend Jim gave me an oversize "R" as a gift, I think he found it at a flea market. I don't think it was a real piece of vintage signage but the big 'graphic-ness' of it is what I like best. The R sits on the marble ledge of the big picture window in the main room, you can see it the moment you turn the corner from the entryway.
 I know that using letters like this has become very popular nowadays, some would even say passé, but it was a lovely gift and it harkens back to such fond MTM memories that I'll never part with it.

"R" is for Ron

Here's a wider shot of the whole room, the "R" on the
windowsill...i like the light in this photo