Name: Bridget
Location: Sacramento
Size: 800 sq. ft.
Years lived in: 2.5 years

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We first heard from Bridget when she wrote in to tell us about a wonderful store in Sacramento. We were intrigued by her description of her own abode, and voila, here's our first Sacramento House Tour! She says: I move around a lot. A lot. This is my fifth apartment in six years. I have lived with hand-me-down furniture, rental furniture, and even no furniture in order to have the ability to move when needed. No more. Though I most likely will move again (and maybe even again!) I decided that it was time for my home, wherever it may be, to be my haven...

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...I surrendered and decided to live with the things I loved even if it meant that I would have to move them wherever I roam. So I shed the items that I was lugging around, kept the things that carried a story and evoked a memory or emotion in me and set out to discover my authentic style. My current apartment is a 800 square foot cottage that was built in the mid-1920’s and is part of a little grouping of cottages.

AT Survey:
My style: I’d say my style is eclectic; I like lots of color and patterns; I wanted my place to be feminine but definitely not girly, comfortable without being country, a mix of old and new, classic and contemporary, with a dash of homemade.The final product is energizing but somehow calming at the same time.

The inspiration for my home: I happened upon a store in Sacramento called JettModern. There I met the very talented duo of Tim and Linda Arbogast and that orange settee. It all started with that orange settee. It was in the middle of the sales floor. I was drawn to it; perhaps as a child of the 70’s we had an orange shag rug? Tried as I might, I just couldn’t get it out of my head. It was also drastically on sale -- and who doesn’t love a bargain? With help from Tim and Linda, we made sense of that settee and the rest evolved.

Favorite element: I love having a dining area that I actually use. Prior to this, it was a pass-through space, where I dumped groceries on an old table and was continually organizing and tossing the junk mail that seemed to accumulate on it. This table and chairs has become where I read the paper in the morning, do work at my computer, and would you believe, actually sit down and eat. I love the old elements of the apartment, the ironing board, the phone nook and the little door that is supposed to hold the iron juxtaposed with the contemporary table.

Biggest challenge in designing my home: The biggest challenge that I had was actually not in the space but understanding that I wasn’t planning the furniture just for this space, but for future places that I will live in. I looked for things that I could use in many spaces in a house. I also ended up decreasing the actual number of pieces of furniture I have, making for easier moving.

What friends say about my home: It’s inviting, calming, and grown up!

Biggest embarrassment in my home: The closets. Don’t open them. I guess people in the 1920’s didn’t have as many shoes.

Proudest DIY: After years of living with rental white, wielding the roller and edger to paint the entire apartment.

Biggest indulgence with respect to my home: That coffee table. Hands down.

Best advice given or received: My sister-in-law, Elizabeth, who has impeccable taste and a fabulous eye once said, “Just get the things you love and they will make sense in the house that you grow old in.” She’s right. I recall wondering how the giant gold mirror she bought at the Brimfield Fair would fit in her little apartment; and now it graciously greets you in the entryway of their wonderful home!

Also -- someone also said that the only art that you regret is the one that you didn’t buy.

Dream source for stuff: I pore over magazines and design books. A self-proclaimed nerd, I clip stuff out and paste the favorite favorites in a big scrapbook. I like to look back and see which looks still appeal to me and which ones I think, “what was I thinking?” I love that my sense of what I like and don’t like in design is always evolving and improving.

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Appliances: Rental; I’m stuck with them. Even though they are designed for the Lilliputians.

Furniture:
• Sofa: “Pool” colored velvet with vinyl reptile welting; JettStudio Furniture by Arbogast Design
• Orange Settee: JettStudio Furniture by Arbogast Design
• White console table: Pier One Imports and painted white (don’t look too closely, this is not my proudest DIY)
• Coffee Table: Oly Studio
• Hoofed table: Oly Studio
• Rug: Company C, “Mandarin Wasabi”
• Side tables: Target
• Table: Arbogast Design
• Chairs: Jett Modern
• Zebra Rug: Jett Modern
• Mirror: Alameda
• Trunk: Found
• Painted chairs: Thrift store
• Dresser: Ikea

Accessories:
• Coral: Alameda
• Jonathan Adler Bargello Chevron pillow on couch
• Jonathan Adler pillows on bed.
• Frette Duvet Cover: eBay
• Dunn-Edwards Paint in color “Chalky”

Lighting:
• Lamps are from Target

Artwork:
• “Pool” by Kevin McCormick: Crocker Art Museum Art Auction Purchase
• “Untitled” by Kim Squaglia: JayJay Gallery, Sacramento CA
• “Untitled” by John Patrick McKenzie, Creativity Explored, San Francisco, CA
• Vintage Botanicals: Alameda
• “Lagunitas” by Elaine Coombs: Julie Baker Fine Art, Nevada City, CA
• “Untited” by Roger Wiek: Crocker Art Museum Art Auction Purchase
• “Untitled” by Steven Larsen: Sausalito Art Festival purchase
• “Cut A” and “Cut B”: Crocker Art Museum Art Auction purchase
• Family photos and my own photography

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Thanks, Bridget!