I focused this study on borderland spaces of modernism, specifically the artistic salons of three distinctive women: Jessie Fauset, Mabel Luhan, and Gertrude Stein. By "reading" books from these authors alongside the physical/cultural space of their salons, I saw each of them manifesting concerns with the meaning of modernism, patronage, sexuality/gender, domestic/cultural ritual, public/private space, and the meaning of "home." The salon space became a venue for enacting the liminal culture of modernism; but for these women, the salon also gave them flexibility to control and explore their worlds. Ultimately, I discovered the salon to be as created and readable a "text" as any other work of art, particularly for the modernist period when artists and intellectuals attempted to re-create culture in general. Border spaces are not comfortable, but they are rife with opportunities and these women used them as such in dynamic, personal, and intriguing ways.