I love this! So cozy. All the dark colors in the living room are my favorite - so many people want everything "light and breezy" so dark walls with dark brown furnishings done WELL makes me happy.

I love this home. The leather couch is amazing and I would love to have one of my own!

I LOVE that everything is thrifted/ DIY and that going to Ikea is her splurge! This is true design on a budget, and her place looks so warm and rich.

I like it.

The relaxing environment of this place is unreal! I'm enamored with all the rustic details. Has a very southern charm to it. What a place to call home!

i cant figure out how this is only 500 sq ft. floor plan would be much appreciated i'm not quite understanding how you fit so many sofas

I made one of those diy upholstered headboards. It's much more difficult (and expensive) than the blog tutorials make out.

I used gold dupioni for mine. It looks fantastic, but was a long, challenging and surprisingly physical project.

Nice balance between masculine lodge and tea time decor. I don't understand the layout. But what a lot of stuff in 500 sq ft.

Waiting for the flag comments to roll in.

so jealous that i can't paint or hang things on the wall in my apartment.

Thorndale: That's why I came here, to read the flag comments, lol.

Thanks for all the nice comments! It's a railroad apartment, so it's very long and narrow, with a showroom/office at the entry, a galley kitchen and a bedroom in the middle, and a den at the back of the apartment (which explains the two sofas!). It's basically a long shoebox -- hope that helps!

I wish I could paint but the landlords would have a coronary if I painted my apartment other than any shade of white. Not too many landlords would allow such a dark shade, did you decide to paint now and apologize later?

i super love the colors. and give meeee your chesterfield style soffaaaaa. :)

i really, really like this. i'd like to live here, and i don't usually say that about places on here. but i really dig this!

was going to make the move to DC in may, but it's just too expensive for me right now. philly, it is!

LOVE that dang couch in the showroom. great job :) my space is super minimal compared to this, but i love seeing little things all put together all over the place.

Your pad is truly awesome, Holly! You clearly have style, humor, and personality. Totally cool.

I really like homes like this that so clearly represent the personality of the one who lives there, but have a lot of flair and style as well.

I love your pad! I especially love your color palette. Leather, dark blues and whites! Yum.

Question: WHERE did you find that wonderful magnetic knife holder in the kitchen? I love the roughly rounded edges! it looks like pewter or something...

Your home is bold and distinct. Like a good bottle of whiskey. Love that leather couch with the dark wall.

You are like my twin. Same neighborhood, same paint color, same too small doorways that you have to pry furniture through. I would love to copy you in one other way if you can include a tutorial on those wood tubing garment racks.. Its weird, because like you, twin, i saw them on etsy a while ago and thought about trying it myself, but got pushed back on my DIY list behind reupholstering chairs and making lamps from gourds.

i assume by flag comments, people mean this:

Holly, your apartment is lovely. Your use of the American flag as a drapery/decoration, however, is against flag code. I am sure your intentions were innocent, but your use of the flag is disrespectful. If you do, indeed, wish to salute America, I would suggest putting a flagpole out on your porch...(just remember to take the flag down every night, unless you have a light on it all night)...

Based on the previous commenters' anticipation of flag comments, I suggest that apartmenttherapy does a section on patriotic decor that ABIDES by flag code. I have been seeing way too many flag pillows/drapes/table cloths etc recently. Egregious.

Gorgeous home, so unique and well curated.

@SJP I was painting over baby blue and yellow soccer-jersey-esque stripes, so the dark color is actually an improvement!
@rinconia The magnetic knife holder is from IKEA.
@dcmandy Will plan to do a DIY piping rack tutorial on the Butler & Claypool site!

Reminded of the old R&B song, Express Yourself. I was hooked on this tour from the first photo. Crates, tartan throw, bird prints? Oh yeh. While sleek, minimalist, designerish interiors oft featured here on AT are admirable, for me they are unnatural and unattainable. So much intriguing personality and confidence in 500 sq ft!

I am not a fan.

Floorplan please! Even a quick sketched one would be lovely to work out how it all fits together.

Beautiful, unique, interestingly decorated apartment, I long to go and have a wander round!

I have to say, I don't care that displaying the flag in whatever way is disrespectful, I just think it's tacky.

Love the sliding barn door and it's a genius (and cheap) way of installing. Do you find that it slides easily enough with those eye hooks and plumbing pipe?

I think your space is lovely...lots of treasures! Where did you find the brackets for your shelves? I think they would be perfect for some reclaimed wood I have from a cabin in Carmel.

I think some of the floor plan confusion come from it being a house, but only being one floor. A lot of houses in DC are plait up by floor into single units, apartments of condos. And soooo many of them have that weird add of porch/room in the back like someone went through block by block and did an addition on every house. Holly appears to be lucky enough to have the first floor and thereby the porch, color me jealous!

I love the place, I think it's really masculine, but in a way the works for a couple. And that Chesterfield is amazing. What your favorite used furniture sources in DC? It looks like a lot of your stuff is from day trips to the further 'burbs.

I'm a sucker for antlers, and she uses them perfectly! Dark colors are so hard to use without making a space seem small but here it looks absolutely cozy. Well done!

www.readgeetikasblog.blogspot.com

Hey, it's my neighborhood! :)

While it's practically the polar opposite of my personal style (I prefer feminine and airy decor) your apartment has a ton of personality and I adore that. I especially loved seeing your creative solutions for storing clothing and shoes. I'm guessing you live in a Victorian house with little or no closet space like most of us on the Hill.

Your comment about furniture getting wedged in doorways reminds me of the time I came home from work and my girlfriend announced that we had a problem. During a bout of rearranging she had attempted to move a small loveseat down our very narrow staircase where it became impossibly stuck. The two of us were eventually able to move the loveseat, but it was a beast to extricate. One of the many pleasures of living in a very old house!

Technically, that's not an American Flag. The fabric she has draped is all stars on one side, and all stripes on the other.

@DINABROWN- you mean, it's folded?

Visual overstimulation. Too much stuff.

@Katherine M.G. The brackets are from IKEA
@Jeslett In DC/closer-in 'burbs, I love GoodWood, Trohv, and Red Barn Mercantile, and occasionally find stuff at Miss Pixies. But Housing Works and Second Chance in Baltimore, plus Lucketts Store in Leesburg, are my all-time favorites.

Another woman with too much clothes and no closet space. It's currently my problem too. In my old rented apartment it had one closet and not in the bedroom. When it comes to rentals, garment racks are great, but when you own, it's nicer not to have to see it. The way its arranged still looks great though.

I love the dark paint both as the accent wall and the main attraction. I'm just not bold enough to use it. Loved the hanging door. It was an AT DIY for those who also like it.

I wish there was photos of the bathroom and the kitchen since I've never seen a layout quite like this before.

This is a little more my style. Only without the leather sofa (leather furniture gives me the heebeejeebees!). Love the rustic look going on within a place so uppity as DC! LOVE that desk!!! Barn door! Love it! But would like to see the bathroom and the kitchen area. Was surprised they were featured in the tour. Amazing amount of activity going on in such a tight space. Impressive.

Darn it! Meant to type "surprised they were NOT featured in the tour".

@ mec7812

Yes, you're so right. Someone needs to tell all the people responsible for the incredibly tacky overuse and disrespectful use of flags, flags, flags everywhere on the likes of Fox News (backdrops, graphics, pins, set decor, etc) and the Republican Convention (hats, clothes, jackets, chair pillows, drapery, swags, banners, tableskirts, etc). It really takes away from the special-ness of our flag when one-- as a focal point-- would have so much more impact and not seem like exploitation.

I love your space!

Why oh why do people here feel the NEED to nit pick the poor homeowners to pieces over stooopid stuff like--a hairdryer-in plain sight! The horror! And--a pair of jeans--on the WALL! Surely THIS is why the terrorists are winning.

If you don't like something--GO AWAY. Didn't you learn this in grade school?

I LOVE what she's done to the place. And I think a lot of people didn't READ the post --ya know; the part where it just happened to mention that she is running a BUSINESS out of one of the rooms here? One that REQUIRES clothing and decorative items to be on display? And in this small a space with NO closets or much other hidden storage she is doing well to CELEBRATE that fact with beautiful and interesting objects.

I make my living scouring thrift stores and flea markets and church sales and then re-selling the items. And a lot of times the ONLY place I have to put these is--hanging about the joint. I enjoy seeing them for the nonce and then--they fly away. And meantime because altho I live in a bigger place than this--I live with 6 OTHER people and all of THEIR stuff and 3 dogs and assorted creatures and little kids. And--none of us is Martha Stewart or on the staff at REAL SIMPLE. The minimilist lifestyle is great for SOME but in real life--not so much. Real life is-messy. And there are just so many sacrifices we can or are willing to make to look like modern day hermits owning nothing but a begging bowl.

Reality bites. Real life is amazing. Get over yourselves.

Where does she store her feet?