Name: Claire
Location: San Francisco, CA
Size: 700 square foot (?) studio
Years lived in: : 5 (with a 10 month separation) — rented
As a friend of Claire’s for more than half my life, I will be the first to tell you that her apartment represents her past, present and future. She is equal parts modern gypsy and retro metropolitan, peppered with a bit of Sex and The City. Actually if Sterling Cooper, Amelie Poulain & Carrie Bradshaw got together to create an apartment in San Francisco, it could possibly be this one.
However, it feels more Parisian than American — when you enter the door you immediately feel the love she has for her family heritage, her friends as well as her respect of literature, music, and theater. A writer, studying for her masters at San Francisco State, she works full time at her new job with a major advertising firm downtown as a creative assistant. Not only is she helping to plan her sister’s wedding this Fall, she also dabbles in part time theater training. The self proclaimed kinship she has with this apartment truly resonates in all the tiny details and her absolute love of the city itself.
Apartment Therapy Survey:
My Style: Vintage inspired
Inspiration: I’m not entirely sure how to answer this question. I decorate my apartment based on what excites me. I love color, but always warm colors. I like for the space to feel lived in, but meaningful. Almost everything in my space has a story, or comes from my family. I’m very lucky.
Favorite Element: My closet (which we sadly didn't get any photos of.)
Biggest Challenge: Defining the space without closing off the room.
What Friends Say: They feel at home and inspired
Biggest Embarrassment: The pegs in my floor from my heels, but at the same time I think it gives it character.
Proudest DIY: I took a sewing table I found in the hallway of my building. I sanded it down, and then I spray painted it Tiffany Blue. Now I use it as a vanity.
Biggest Indulgence: I haven’t really indulged. The most expensive piece in my apartment was a gift from my mom.
Best Advice: Don’t look through catalogs, or let anyone else tell you how to decorate or use your space. Make sure it’s a reflection of your life. People will feel that. And lighting, warm lighting is key.
Dream Sources:Both of my Grandmother’s, my sister and my mother.
Resources of Note:
FURNITURE:
- • Sofa: My parents got it in 1989 from Lawrence furniture I think
• Chest: Pier One Imports
• Nightstand: a wall hanging from when we lived in Mexico City
• Vanity: from the hallway of my building
• Desk: Vintage store in San Diego
• Entertainment Center: Crate and Barrel
• Kitchen Table: Pier One
ACCESSORIES
- • Lighting: All handed down from family
• Paint: Kelly Moore
• Flooring: Hardwood
• Rugs & Carpets: Blue Rug, from a trip my mother and her mother took to Russia in the 70’s. Area Rug, Target
• Beds: A gift from a friend in college
• Artwork: Doris Manoogian (Grandmother), Ani association in Fresno, Coffee Table books
• Appliances: Not sure
• Window Treatments: Target
&bull: Hardware: Local Hardware Store
Thanks, Claire!
Images: Bethany Nauert
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Lovely house! Can you link some pics of your closet? I would looooooove to see it!
Gorgeous kitchen. Love that red wall.
thorndale, I think that photo 22 may clarify the arrangement.
Too many close-ups of vignettes and not enough room photos.
Agreed w/ KayinKCMO not enough room photos ...
so not clear on katemail00 why this is featured? good that she is happy w/ her home though
The red wall with B&W pictures is beautiful. I like the playful touch of the paper lanterns in the foyer too! Thanks for the insightful Advise....as I approach 50 I wish I had learned that much younger and started having fun decorating my home rather than dreading it!
Personally, I appreciate these types of House Tours. You always get your people who want less vignettes or don't "get" why these spaces are featured. As a matter of fact, I find them very helpful-- many of us live in tiny spaces and like to see into the lives of others- how they express themselves and how much they spent doing it. I found AT LEAST three "bits" to take from this house tour. Even if a person's whole style isn't my own, I'm here to learn and be inspired. I guess I must have an open mind and an open heart to what looks like a well-loved home, because I'm always inspired on this site. <3
The kitchen is my favorite. I'm doing dashes of red, too-- my design inspired by a jar of Nutella. :-)
Given the tumbleweeds that greeted my last diatribe on this subject, I suspect I am a voice in the wilderness.
And I know that the contributors here are enthusiastic amateurs rather than cynical professionals.
And, for all I know, the blog owners are possibly editing said contributors so that they all have the same hyper-enthusiastic voice to encourage a folksy feel.
But it is wrong.
I feel like every House Tour these days is written by a highly enthusiastic Labrador.
Sit!
Describe the house. Not the putative personality of the owner.
Let the house speak for itself.
Shhhh!
I dunno...I am hardly a naysayer ever and this is cute and this is how a few of my not-yet-established friends live and it reflects their personality but they also don't care about the decor. For someone to actually care about decor and interior design, their place might be a bit more creative or at least edited well.
I do think this is cute but I don't think it is designed? I see elements I like though, so maybe that is enough. The various bottles, for instance, are nice, and so is that green vanity. Love that color.
I agree with a previous posters regarding too many close ups. I vacillate between wanting to see “real” homes in situ to also wanting to see those perfectly staged shots. Love the red wall in the kitchen but the piles of books teetering on a printer and the wrinkled bedding leaves me cold.
Incredible, some pretty harsh comments here... I happen to appreciate the homeowner allowed to share their space. I don't care they own/have very expensive designer lighting throughout their home. Many people are living this way - NOT spending what it is better saved these days. Paint, is inexpensive and just a little goes a long way.
Love that red wall and the blue table. Thank you so much for sharing your space.
This is nice and more interesting to look at than most people's homes, but it's not quite ready for prime time.
With all due respect, but one paints a wall in red, places black & white pics and the home is featured? Sorry Apt Therapy, but this was not up to your (or at least my) standards. And what's with those close ups? Nothing better to show, I guess?
This is OK for a twenty-something on a very tight budget. I don't really see why this would be featured anywhere as an inspiration to others. Just a hodge podge if you ask me. AT: Your standards need some serious ramping up!
I have to agree that there are too many close-ups and not enough whole-room pictures. I particularly don't understand pictures 4, 13, and 15: the unstyled shot of the edge of the table and window, and the 2 close-ups of books. Are we supposed to admire the dead rose in front of the row of paperbacks?
I like this apartment as a place to live. It looks like any one of my friends could live there, which is probably the issue.
I love, love, love your apt! Where do I start? Love the strong, red accent color you use in various spots; big, black and white tiles in the kitchen are my favorite; I really like the black, white and pale pink combo in the bath; and the cluster of paper lanterns in the foyer is to die for! Great job!
Jean
I used to like this kind of place.... back in the early 80's! It's both pretensious and messy. Well, at least the main room. All the tchochkes can't hide that there isn't much design there. I like the kitchen, though.
And what's with the close up on the shelve of books? Are we supposed to be impressed by that? Are the girl's book purchases a design element? If you were trying to illuminate how the bookcae is used within the layout of the room, you failed miserably.
I love the bathroom, looks so nostalgic, and the paper lanterns and the kitchen. Really nice.
I think AT readers got used to staged photos, for example, if there were a bowl of fruits (red apples?) on the kitchen board, or a vase of flowers, and if the bed were perfectly made like in other posts, the tour would have looked completely different.
I don't think it's a problem with the apartment but rather with the photos.
A little bit of this and a little bit of that does not necessarily mean good design.
You can do better AT......
This woman is a genius! Perfect grey in the bedroom, and the bathroom is amazing!!
I love it. I simply love it.
I second Brooklynindiana!
I'm all for the sharing of opinions and ideas, but not the hyper critical crap from some of the posts here. Did your grandmother teach you that if you had NOTHING good to say, to shut your yap? Maybe she should have!
Why in the world should every space be perfect in detail and "follow the rules" imposed by stuffy and ridiculous designers to be acceptable? I am an associate at a design firm, and I have news for you, possession of the pieces of paper we have hanging on the wall does NOT mean we know truly what makes a space design WORTHY. In fact, a lot of the designers I know lack any original vision at all, and just wait to see someone talented they can imitate.
This is a space that it's owner truly loves to live in and I applaud the courage it takes to open your home to photographers to capture a few colorful moments that have been created called your life. Who cares where the inspiration came from for the red wall?! I could care less if it was a color on the side of a 1947 Mercury in a junkyard! I love the red, and would like to ask for the color and manufacturer to tuck it somewhere in my own home.
Beautifully done and adorable.
It doesn't matter if this person's home makes her happy. Obviously, she chose everything so she must be happy with it.
The point to the criticisms is that Claire submitted this to be featured on a design blog. Blasting people for criticizing the design is just strange. Look: saying something negative about a design element does not mean people are being mean to Claire. They're questioning some of her choices, but they're not saying she's an awful person or has awful taste. Not every effort is worthy of high praise or should be immune from critical comments. Grow up.
Claire, I love it!
Love the red wall and green desk. Thats all. :(