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Name: Bernice & Eugene
Location: Downtown — Los Angeles, California
Size: 600 Square feet — 1 bedroom loft
Years lived in:3 months — rent

Welcome to Bernice and Eugene's brand new loft downtown. As the first residents to ever live in this home, they were excited to move in together and create their first real home together. In just three short months they shopped and pulled off all the decorating for an unbelievably low budget.

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The Blackstone Lofts downtown are part of the National Register of Historic Places in LA. It's original structure has been planted there since the 1920's. While there are sleek white lacquer cabinets and chrome sinks, they still have the original textured frosted glass windows. I'm always quite excited to see what people do with loft spaces, and downtown there are so many amazing spaces like the Eastern Columbia building and the Edison bar. Bernice and Eugene are the first to live in the refurbished loft and I am impressed how fast they pulled off the furnishings.

Bernice explained that they bought everything in the home (minus TV's, Stereos and computers) all for under $1,000.

"Our motto while shopping for the apartment was definitely, "anything we actually wanted to buy, we could probably find it cheaper somewhere else!" Even some items originally from Ikea we found on Craigslist as re-sale items. We liked the excitement of snagging a deal more than we liked buying full price from name-brand stores."

Apartment Therapy Survey:

Our Style: Whimsical & Eclectic

Inspiration: Street Art, Jazz, Humor

Favorite Element: Our inflatable plastic moose!

Biggest Challenge: Combining both of our styles and on top of that, the stuff from our individual apartments, into a single 600 Sq. Ft. Downtown Los Angeles loft. Needless to say, Bernice served as the creative director on most of the decorating.

What Friends Say: They usually don't believe us when we tell them we only spent $1,000.00 on all of the furnishings. Also, that though the style is totally random, it's still quite posh.

Biggest Embarrassment: Some of the wall art is hung up with double sided masking tape. Also, we hide our Guitar Hero equipment under our bed.

Proudest DIY: Well, we didn't build anything with our bare hands. But some things on the floor were supposed to be on the walls, and some things on the walls were supposed to be on the floor, so that probably counts.

Biggest Indulgence: We probably over-indulged in the amount of stuff we put in the apartment.

Best Advice: "Don't get it yet."

Resources of Note:
We're not too knowledgeable about design stores outside of the usual suspects (CB2, DWR, Modernica), and we usually only like 20% of what's in those stores. That said, we're open to suggestions.

PAINT & COLORS

    • Behr Ultra: Plum Smoke
    • Behr Ultra: Smoked Oyster
    • Behr Ultra: Prairie House
    • Behr Ultra: Simple Silhouette

ENTRY

    • Vintage Nikon Case: Bernice's Dad in the 70's
    • Suitcase Table: Furniture Wholesaler circa early 1990's
    • Japanese Prints: Rose Bowl Flea Market
    • Japanese Prints: Rose Bowl Flea Market
    • Photograph: Mohammad Tajsar
    • "Ice Cream Jihad"; Print by DD's: Hold-Up Gallery

LIVING ROOM

    • Couch, coffee table: Facebook Marketplace
    • End table: Urban Outfitters
    • Entertainment Center, shelf: IKEA
    • Art: Flea markets, Philip Lumbang online store, Suru (Los Angeles)
    • Rug, Chair: Target

KITCHEN

    • Horse Wine Rack: Ranch Furniture Seller on Amazon
    • Liquor Tray, Decanter Set: Ross
    • Rug: Urban Outfitters

    • Bar stools: Very nice family from Atlanta on Craigslist


BEDROOM

    • Bed: Craigslist wholesaler
    • Hanging lamp: IKEA
    • Desk Lamps: Loft Appeal
    • Mirrors, desk: Target

WORK STATION

    • Leaning Desk: Office Max
    • Bookcase (big), Bookcase (little): IKEA
    • Globe: Amazon

Thanks, Bernice and Eugene!

Images: Bethany Nauert

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