(Welcome to Sarina from Seattle. She is one of the bloggers trying out for a place on the Apartment Therapy editorial team, covering different cities in the NW. Comments welcome!)
Name: Sarina (and my dog, Richard)
Location: Seattle, Washington
Sarina shares her own home as part of her blogging tryout - she writes: I'm not an artist in the conventional sense; my apartment is my canvas. I'm entertained through my surroundings and love to feel like I'm the curator of my own little art gallery, which is my home. It is important that my apartment be visually interesting from...
... whichever angle you are looking, which is why there is seating in every area so you aren’t restricted to one view. Since this is a rental, painting is not an option and poses a challenge common among renters: offsetting the starkness of white walls. Luckily, my aparment still retains the original wood moldings which add a lot of warmth. To add more color and interest, I cover the walls in art, don the couch with vibrantly colored cushions of different patterns, and dot the chairs with alpaca poufs and cashmere throws. Just like with fashion, accessories are a great way to dress up your furniture and change their outfits to suit your changing taste.
Movement comes from a mobile hanging in the corner, made by my younger brother and my beta fish that hangs on the wall below. Since I live in a studio, my goal is to make it ever-changing and interesting by filling it with things that are important to me, whether it be craigslist finds I have reupholstered and made my own, art made by my brother, or one of a kind hand me downs from my design savvy mother; I surround myself with things that make me smile. I also keep a cache of furniture in my storage space in queue for the next time I have an itch to change things up.
We've had amazing response to our Apartment Therapy House Tour Submission Form. While we will work with homeowners of our favorite homes to feature full tours, we will also share the best as House Calls — short, quick tours of readers' homes. Submit your home here.
-Sarina
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very nice post! good luck Sarina. Watch out when you take your pics though -- the first 4 look pretty yellow-toned. Good way to avoid that is to only take pictures during the day so you have natural lighting.
Such a lovely and cozy little place. You have a very well-edited collection of furniture, and I love how you have used fabric to tie together different areas of each room. I also LOVE your little bed-cave... so inviting and snuggly!
I have to laugh because I actually liked the yellow tone to the rooms it made things seems cozy. Beautiful place and great post!
What a great place! I love the houndstooth print on the chair, as well as the little dining nook. Good luck!
This is a lovely apartment and a lovely post, although I agree it's a shame about the excessive yellowness, and also the blinding bulbs in the dining light fitting (which I would like to see minus the blinding effect). Good luck Sarina :)
You have done a great job with your place. It looks very spacious for a studio, and has a very comfortable vibe. I really like the the long planters under the windows, and your purple draped bed nook! The yellow color in the photos does give a warm feeling, but I think that it negatively impacts the post because it makes the text a little confusing. You mention stark white walls, but I could swear that the corner behind the orange chair is painted avocado green.
lol yea before I read everything I thought the walls were cream/yellow too , not "stark white". But what a lovely, cozy home!
thanks for the inspirational way you hung all your posters. i have a bigger apartment and tons of tempting wall space and about 18 posters and i was loathe to hang them all together but now you've inspired me!
I love the couch......I live in Seattle also , if you ever tire of that couch let me know. Great studio.
I have a feeling she's using a little point and shoot and you CAN adjust the white balance on most of the better ones yourself, which is easy to forget to do. If she had, the first 3 photos would be more white. :-)
And with most P&S, unless you have manual exposre options of which so many don't, you are getting what the camera gives you by leaving it in auto, that said, the dining nook shot probably metered on a somewhat darker spot, causing the lighgt bulbs to bloom some.
That said, a great space and I love how this space has many of its original details such as that old fixture in the dining nook still there. A well done job if decorating and arranging of the space and it almost looked like an apartment I onced lived over in Uptown.
Love seeing my city represented!
I need more houndstooth in my life.
Great apartment. There are so many things here that I like: the planter boxes, the houndstooth, the bed in the nook, and the pops of red. Very nice. Thanks for sharing, Sarina.
Lovely apartment and looks much bigger than a studio. I started at the last pic and thought that was your furry friend on the bed!
My only complaint is not seeing the kitchen, for some reason I think I must see everyone's kitchen.
Good luck, it is a lovely post.
I vote for seeing the kitchen too! (and the bath while we're at it) This is a lovely space, I don't think white walls detract from it at all. I also really dig the "bedroom" -sacrificing a walk-in closet to keep your living space uncluttered REALLY works here.
This looks like a great unit. I think a lot of people can appreciate the limits of decorating a rental, and not having the option to paint. An older building with more character definitely helps, but you have done a really great job of incorporating part of yourself in so many aspects - from furniture to art work. It's a really warm and inviting space.
amazing! i love the way you hung your artwork. i've never been good at hanging more than one piece on a wall, like a gallery. you take risks and they pay off nicely!
look forward to hearing more from you!
Wow! Great posting. I love the hot pink pillow in the middle of the couch with the other more demure patterns. Really makes a splash. Great use of space. Even though the lights are bright in the photos I really like the lamps! I will definitely be using some of these ideas for my rental! Thanks for sharing Sarina! I look forward to reading more of your posts.
I love the bed nook! That looks so cozy. In the thumbnail I thought that was the dog in the bed!
Very cute! Love the walls too:) I'd be a littler claustrophobic in the bed, but it still looks rather comfy!
I love, love, love {L-O-V-E} the little guest room / closet thing. I would use it for naps and reading favorite novels. I am now pulling out the measuring tape to see if I could fit a single in my closet!!!
Man if I had an apartment like this I would never leave. It looks super comfortable and surprisingly spacious. I will be the first to admit that I don't know much about design, but I do know what I like and I like this this apartment. And what a eclectic collection of artwork and furniture. Nice job Sarina and good luck.
Great apartment! Ah, Seattle. Oh, and I, too, mistook your bed pillow for Richard until I spotted him in the second picture and realized he was a little black pooch. A very cute little black pooch.
Awesome little space, very dynamic! I LOVE the retro furniture and decor, it streamlines together very well and its variety shows how resourceful you are. Great overall color, pattern and texture choices... I think the gallery idea is a clever way to keep the main room fresh by changing up the collection and colors from time to time. Great work Sarina, I hope to see more posts from you. Good luck!
I love this creation! It really looks like someone's work of art. I like how she was able to put in so much art in the walls and still make it fell light and cozy. That is no easy feat. I appreciate also the retro feel some of the furniture contribute. Very good use of limited space, and very cozy and artistic results. Congratulations to Sarina.
Lucky Richard! He must find inspiration daily from this space! Have to admire anyone who does their own re-upholstery! Hope to see a post on this in the future. And the bedroom! How clever is that?
Wow what a cute place! Making a apartment feel like your own is hard to do but it looks like you mastered that! Great job and I think the pics are great...it looks comfortable!
I really love the salon style arrangement of your prints on the wall in the living room. Great write up! Good luck Sarina!