Although my name is Amy, I am definitely more like Beth. I have to be careful, lest I become a recluse. I love all things home, and all things family. But I love all four sisters, and Louisa too! Thanks fo much for this sweet post…

ooooh! So cool you posted this! This movie was actually filmed near me… down the road from my uncle actually. It really is that pretty here:) We still have houses scattered around that look just like that one.

this is such a wonderful post.

Love this! I even named my daughter Jo! We visited the house in Concord this spring – I LOVED “Amy’s” drawings on the walls of her room. Just fabulous. . .

Oh SWOON. I always get so passionate when I think about Little Women; I get so angry at Amy I can’t even look at Kirsten Dunst. Love the braided rugs, especially.

Yes ! I already got the cat… let’s move on to four poster beds and Victorian stuff…

Five years ago, I took a road trip with my father to Concord to see the house too. It was a pilgrimage for me because we came all the way from France. Of course, we had other things we wanted to see in New England, but it was super important to me that I see the Alcott house.

love this post! Little Women is my namesake, my mother named me Amy Jo, and we’ve both had an obsession with Alcott throughout our lives. I think i have resembled all these women at different points in my life, right now as a SAHM i think i have a lot of Meg, but I aim to keep my creativeness and identity like Jo, and definitely have my Amy moments. love this blog, and thanks for the post!

i love it too! i am a combination of all of them :O)

this makes me want to go antiquing! love the wicker baskets….

i love little women. did you ever see the first version of the movie, with Liz Taylor as Amy? I loooove that one.

wow, i was just thinking about this movie and taking a trip to orchard house!

Oh I wish I could see that house! I, too, love Little Women. I remember watching all the movie versions growing up and wildly anticipating the 1994 release. Jo and Beth were always my favorites…although I’m an visual artist like Amy and a bossy oldest sister like Meg.

Oh gosh, Wendi. Amy’s room was the best!!! The kitchen also stole my heart.

PS- I’m pretty much a Jo, wild creative bursts of excitement and a white hot temper, but i’d be lying if i didn’t mention that i am a true Amy March when it comes to possessions!

Wonderful! I love this post. It is very timely too.

OMG loved nerding out for a few minutes with all you ladies today! I have always had a special place in my heart for Little Women! Loved the post :)

I absolutely LOVE Little Women! This is a great post :)
So cozy!

I love, love, love this column!! As an architectural historian, it speaks to my secret desire to spend more time dealing with the history of material culture and the aesthetics of times past. Gosh, it would be fun to provide historic consulting services to film producers, wouldn’t it?

Little Women is my #1 movie :) Love it! Love this post!! ;) One thing on my list of places to go is to the real Orchard House.

I love this series you’re doing! I can’t wait to see more. And FWIW, I always thought I’d be Jo :)

Hahaha! You are speaking my language! I am a Little Women nerd in hiding:) I usually watch it twice a year or more.
Hmmm…. I am right smack in the middle of Jo and Meg. I always felt so bad for Beth and I wanted to smack Amy…in a good way!!! haha
Great Column:)

This was a great post! I too love Little Women. I was actually just in a community theatre production of it. I played Marmee… I so related to her. Not sure which sister I would be.. parts of me live in all of them.
Anyways awesome post! Loved it. Thanks.

I love this post. My sister and I must have watched that version a thousand times, mouthing along lines like “Blast these wretched skirts” and “What do those girls doooo over there all day?” The furnishing and finds fit perfectly. Bravo!

My daughter wants the Dolls and I want the piano!! Beautiful furniture.

It would be GREAT if someone would do a “Living in” for AMELIE!!!

YESSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!! this is so on the money. i love it!

I got so excited when I saw this! I psychotically love this movie and book.

If Meg and Joe had a baby, that would be me. But I would have married Laurie in a heartbeat, so I don’t know where that leaves me.

oh my gawd, i love this post! my favourite book! and love the movie too! this is a fantastic idea for a post!

I love this movie!
Thank you so much for the posting!

I had the music from the 1994 film in my wedding! The piano song when Beth dies was for walking down the aisle (I like making ppl cry) and the main theme when exiting the church as man/wife. Sigh! I need to visit that house!!

Fantastic post! I’m secretly obsessed with Little Women & actually live very close to Concord. When my fiance & I go swimming at Walden Pond, we always try to swing by Orchard House. I wanted so much to get married at Fruitlands because of the Alcott connection, but couldn’t make it happen.

What a great post! And I looooove that bed! Darn, I was looking for a bed like that a few months ago, what a fantastic price!!

Now I just want to curl up under a quilt, cat in lap, cup of tea in hand with a good book. Sigh!

Oh my goodness… I have loved Little Women and Louisa May Alcott since I was like in first grade! Thanks for the lovely, creative post and finding such perfect matches. I’m a Meg who dreams to be morel like a Jo.

Wow, I didn’t know I totally adore Little Women style until you posted this! ;)

this is one of my most favorite books and movies ever!!! The scene where Meg gets married and everyone joins hands and walks around her and her husband and sings “for the beauty of the earth” gets me every time…. I can’t stop crying after that…. :) love this post!

This the greatest post ever. I adore this movie and watch at Christmas time every year. I would totally be Jo! Fiesty and out spoken!

YES! I so wanted to suggest this movie (as I am also a Little Women nerd) but was too shy. I am so glad we understand each other. And, of course, there are some absolutely lovely pieces here. I might love you a little. Just a smidge.

i just watched this last week for the bazillionth time. way to tap into a classic. i’ve been recently motivated to pick up pieces and tidbits for our home that make me nostalgic–sort of an eclectic collection. would love to incorporate my favorite movies into that as well. brilliant!

And I would say that I’m a mix between Meg and Beth. However, I think Professor Bhaer is dreamy so maybe there’s a touch of Jo in me too?

jo was my girl. must have read this book six times between 10 and 14. cried every time. taught me so much about female strength, compassion, and intelligence. love this posting. forgot about the movie and will have to buy it.

I’ve never seen the 1994 version, but it looks right up my alley. I’ll check it out!

Maybe the next Living In feature could be…

The Girl with the Pearl Earring????

I love the look of that movie…

:)

Love it! But where can one buy a ca. 1994 Christian Bale?!

This is my favorite movie of all time. I actually know all the lines. It came out when I was in fouth grade and I couldn’t get enough.

Thank you so much for reminding me how beautiful it is!

I haven’t read the book (STILL!), but I LOVE the movie. LOVE it!

My husband and I are huge fans of Little Women. Don’t tell anyone that I told you that he is into it too. I knew I wanted to marry him when he told me that he watched Little Women in the middle of the night, every Christmas. How cute its that?

I think I am a Jo. I look at her life and see so many similarities. I LOVE her.

hugs,
Fritzi Marie

I’m right in the middle of re-reading the book for the first time in years. I forgot how much I love it. I’m looking forward to watching the 1994 movie again once I’m done. Maybe one of the older ones while I’m at it.

I grew up in a family of all girls, so Little Women was a staple in our house! Thanks for the beautiful spread

Listen here, if i had a source for a ’94 christian bale, i would be keepin it all to myself!

I love the living in series-I can’t wait to read more

Hello from Portugal. I really loved this post. I’m so far away that I can only dream of a visit to the Alcott house. Truly loved the movie and the book I read it on my early teenage years. Went fascinated about it, because I simply love everything that’s Victorian. Lovely! Thank you for reminding…

In my American Writers class in college, I remember our professor telling us that after Alcott had publishing the book, there was this enormous public outcry that Jo hadn’t ended up with Laurie, and so Alcott came out with the second volume (I prefer the first to stand as is).

I probably am more Jo with a dash of Meg and Beth and can definitely delve into Amy territory. I think most people can!

I love the coziness of this post. Bring on autumn!

*published not publishing!

Great post! I agree that there should be a living in: amelie in the future. I also just saw (500) days of summer and am in love with both of their apartments, especially the chalkboard wall behind the bed (although in reality it would probably make me sneeze).

oh la la, i’m also a big fan of the march sisters. it was my favorite book when i was 11, and even now i still love it. reading it is perfect during long winter evening (particulary on christmas period) with a cup of tea and cakes. jo was my girl ! but now i’m sure i’m more like meg !

I’m boring ol’ Meg. Thanks for this post- I love that bed!

I just adore the book and 1994 movie too. I think I’ll have to read it again this year. I guess I’d have to say I’m like Jo, am like Beth at the thought of parties and like to dress up fancy like Amy. You can call me “Jethy.” I just love the movie ambiance when they’re playing in the attic.

might I suggest my favorite Katherine Hepburn version (ca. 1934)? I do believe I wore out the public library’s VHS copy as a kid. Hepburn makes the most fanatastic, bold and passionate Jo. Plus the setting is also quite charming (even if it is black and white…)

LOVE this post and love that you are a nerd for little women. I actually collect old copies of the book and ask for them in every used book store I go to!

one word: LOVE.

The movie makes me cry throughout the entire thing! I love it, but have to make sure I’m ready to cry before watching it. I have no idea which sister I am! I’m creative like Jo, but not such a tomboy. I’m probably a mix between Jo and Meg. Now I want to watch the movie…

love this column, and love that you chose this film. i’m a total jo.

This is beautiful post, thank you.

Someone recently pointed out to me how many books for young women revolve around three or four different types of girls, usually each with a different color hair. We all need to find ourselves in one of them, whether it is Jo, or Betsy of Betsy-Tacy, or the over-age girls of Sex and the City.

Little Women was the favorite game to play day after day on the playground under the big trees amongst myself and three friends in grade school. I was always Jo. When the movie came out in college, we reunited for a dinner.

This just made me want to re-read Little Women. :)

This is a great new feature on Design*Sponge! You have to check out the movie INDOCHINE with Catherine Deneuve …SO AMAZING.

I love everything about the set of Little Women! It is absolutely my dream home, especially the wide plank floors!

Beautiful post! Just the other day, I was telling a friend that the scene in which rose petals are dropped over the dolls after Beth’s death is the saddest movie moment I have ever seen. Your selections are perfect!

I borrowed Little Women and sequels from the library as a 10yo and would read them under my blankets with a torch after I was meant to be asleep.

They (and Anne of Green Gables) had a huge influence on me… for a start , really getting me into reading. But also understanding that education was important (first in my big family to finish high school and go to university).

I totally and completely identified with Jo. Though now as a new mum, my attention is more on home and family, perhaps I’m morphing into Meg.

Yes yes yes, love the book, love the movies!!

I loved that book so much as a child. I still have my worn paperback copy, with the cover ripped off. I always thought I was a Jo as a child, though these days, I often find strength in emulating Marmee.

Oh my gosh. I have been in love with this book since I was a little girl. I bet you I am one of few 3rd graders who listed Little Women as their favorite book. The movie became one of my all-time favorites, even though it isn’t as good as the book. I got it for Christmas when I was young and refused to open another present until we watched the movie. It has since become a tradition to watch the movie every Christmas in our family.

I am probably most like Meg, loving home and cherishing family, a little bossy. Maybe its an oldest sibling thing. :-)

I love love love love love these movie features. I would LOVE to see a design guide for Paris When It Sizzles. The apartment and clothes, and of course, Paris is so glamourous. The definition of glamour. Le sigh.

I discovered Little Women during middle school and have reread it over and over again. I got so excited when I saw it was the featured movie this week. I am, or at least I hope I am, very much like Jo. (:

I actually just made my first “pilgrimage” to Concord two weeks ago on a New England trip with my husband! What a great experience.

A few months ago I read what is now one of my favorite books, Eden’s Outcasts, about Louisa & Bronson Alcott. I would highly recommend it! http://www.wwnorton.com/books/detail.aspx?ID=8527

Crazy that you posted this. I just made my pilgrimage to Concord in July! I loved it!

How funny, a friend and I watched this while crafting this weekend; of course we had the obligatory ‘Which March sister are we?’ conversation. Glad to know there are other nerds like us out there!

I’ve loved Little Women since I was nine years old and discovered an old copy belonging to my mother. This is a sweet post and makes me want to do another re read (probably the 10′th time.)
For anyone who ever wondered about the mostly absent Mr. March the Grealdine Brooks novel ‘March’ is a wonderful book.

perfect post! honestly, perfect. louisa alcott has been my favorite author since I was a little girl and I’ve read Little Women so many times I’ve worn out three copies! I’m definitely a Jo, but have a lot of Beth in me too. Thanks for such beautiful inspiration!

I was thinking about Little Women the other day for the first time in years when I found an ancient copy in the library of the villa in Umbria we were staying in… I loved those books passionately and can’t wait until I can read them to my own daughter (she’s 7 months old now).

Which sister? Well, naturally I wish I was like Jo, of course, but I think I have a strong streak of Amy in me! I’m sure most style bloggers do, really, don’t we? She’s determined, stylish, more patient than she lets on and she succeeds.

I hate to say it, but I usually had to sit on a desire to strangle Beth, I’m afraid.

As for Anne of Green Gables, now…

I’m from Pakistan, and I loved Little Women as a child!
I loved revisiting them, it has been ages now, and the coziness and sweetness,love,lessons and sadness still stirs the memory!
Truly a universally popular story written by Louisa M Alcott.

When the 1990s movie came out I dragged my then-boyfriend to it for MY birthday. Kicking & screaming, I might add. He LOVED it. He had no idea Little Women was about such spirited funny people. When people haven’t read it they think it is sentimental and Victorian, but it is really about being who you truly are.

My parents were wonderful enough to take me to Orchard House when I was 12 years old, on a family driving vacation from South Carolina. I’ve been back since because it’s two towns over now. I loved the book so much I had to move to New England!!!!

Im an Amy, god i loved that book. I always thought of jo as pretentious, even though she was my favorite character lol. I wish I was more of a Jo, but Im stuck up and snobby and spoiled like amy…I was poorly raised.

I always loved that house, something about civil war decor is so beautiful and rugged. Right before the gilded age when we were trying to hold on to the past, our grandmothers quilts, and old family chairs, etc. Everything during that time was so old until everything became so new, that was the beauty of that time.

I LOVE the March sisters!
In the ’50s my mum and her sisters used to act out Little Women in their garden and get the local children to pay to watch – mum always had to play Beth and die on the clothes mangle (made to look like a bed). It’s now become a tradition to cry ‘Your only beauty!’ when my sister or I gets a haircut.
Thanks for the great post.

I love Little Women! I am glad my mother bought me the books when I was growing up (it is not common children literature in Europe) :-) Jo is my absolute favorite, such a great woman!

!!! This is incredible, Amy! I’m swooning over everything, but my favorite “piece” is obviously the adoptable kitten. Cutie!

This post and these comments may have just convinced me to finally see the movie… I’m so crazy about the book, I never have–I know my expectations are way too high!

Hi Amy,

Any chance of a Fried Green Tomatoes Living In post?

I love Little Women! This is so sweet!

Thanks for showing a braided rug! They’re so great — rugged, reversible, and classic Americana. Plus there are tons of looks out there for everyone. I design braided rugs, and I just wanted to make sure you guys at d*s know I appreciate the shout out — so many people forget about braids! Love the site — read it everyday!

this might be my favorite ds post yet! my friend and i visited concord years ago but didn’t make it in time for a tour…another trip is top of my list!

i’ve always been told i’m a beth but i think i’m becoming a hybrid of marmie/meg/jo as i get older!

I love that movie, not sure which sister I’m most like . . .hhmmm.

Ah, this post hit the heart of it, didn’t it? Design and homemaking and warmth and comfort. Orchard House ranks up there with all those places that I feel I design/decorate/home-make to create, Orchard House, Bag End, The Burrow, Green Gables, the list goes on. We’re all inspired by these places – they’re our homes too! Lovely lovely post.

loved the book, the movie, and now this post. what a great series!

Does anyone know why rose petals were spread on Beth’s bed after she died? I’ve never heard of that custom.

OH my…..I just arrived on this from from A Cup of Jo and I know I’m a little late, but I almost cried reading all the responses because i love this movie/story SO MUCH. i watched the wynona ryder version again just a few weeks ago and cried my eyes out!! This is one of the greatest posts ever!! I really would like to go see Orchard House myself. I didn’t know you could!

oh- and i have to say, i have a little bit of all of them in me, but i’m pretty much a jo…

I know you wrote this ages ago, but I have to tell you about the time in my life when, at 14, I watched Little Women every night – alone in my house – cross stitching samplers on linen. Oh, how I still wish for the transcended life of the March sisters!

I love these “living in posts”. Amazing! And especially this one. Now I want to redecorate my room :)

i loved he movie and i like it so much i still watch the movie

Thanks for the post. Thrilled to find others who love Little Women, too. I was lucky to visit Orchard House a few years ago. My mum, the wonderful women who named me after one of the March sisters, and my sister. A special holiday.

Checked the comments, and though I don’t think anybody else mentioned, sorry if I’m repeating any information here…but that bed isn’t $390. It’s discounted by that amount, but it’s actually $499.

Haven’t seen this in quite a while. I like house and the furnishings with the exception of the oval braided rug. I’ve always found those ugly.

this is soo cool. My daughter loves this film. Beautiful post.x

This is my favorite movie, and this is a beautiful site.
Thank you so much for sharing it.

Thank you for this beautiful site.
This is my favorite movie and you have captured it beautifull.