Name: Patricia Caldwell
Location: Los Feliz — Los Angeles, California
Size: 800 square feet
Years lived in: 2 months
The idea of finding a new space, packing my stuff, and making it all fit somewhere else makes my head spin. But Patricia’s one-bedroom hideaway, nestled in the lovely Los Feliz area of Los Angeles makes me think again about the moving process. Three weeks is all it took Patricia to make an empty shell feel like a home.
A moving process that she amiably refers to as “a game of Tetris,” Patricia recently discovered the difficulties of moving from a large one-bedroom apartment to a new, smaller one-bedroom home. The lack of floor space, storage, and budget posed as a real challenge in creating her ideal abode.
Filled with tons of natural light, when you first walk through the front door you are swept up into the calm nature of this space. My eyes were immediately drawn to the warm, purple couch below a cleverly placed bookshelf, nestled up against the ceiling.
It’s not just the major items that pull you into the comfort of this home, but the special care put into the details. With unique art pieces found in local, LA shops, Patricia has infused her humble 800 square feet with loads of personality. Her space is all about function and imagination: a bright, open kitchen personalized with art, a harmoniously dressed bathroom, and a warm, neutral bedroom with a one-of-a-kind, DIY closet worthy of praise.
Patricia has turned this empty home into her own private sanctuary, filled with style and character, a clear reflection of her strong, artistic point of view.
Apartment Therapy Survey:
My Style: Cozy creative
Inspiration: My mom always made our house look beautiful growing up, even though we weren’t well off. My father was stationed in the Army throughout Europe, which exposed me to lots of different cultures, styles, textures, and colors. When we returned to the States, so did a fusion of inspirations.
Favorite Element: My couch underneath the only window in the house without bars. When the morning light strikes the deep rich colors of the green bushes that line the windows, it makes me happier than can be.
Biggest Challenge: Space! Space! Space! I had to lose some furniture when I moved in here. I miss my father’s Tiffany style stained glass lamp and all my paintings are in the garage on the walls. It was a purge frenzy but I managed to get majority of my things in the house and am quite happy with the results.
What Friends Say: "Are you an artist?" I wish…
Biggest Embarrassment: That I have a fiberglass bathtub instead of beautiful porcelain and tile. And that one of the cabinet covers in the kitchen is cream, while the others are white. It drives me bananas.
Proudest DIY: The closet in my bedroom. My friend came and installed shelves and a large rod across one entire wall of the bedroom and I think it’s a pretty good solution to a massive storage dilemma.
Biggest Indulgence: Hiring a painter to paint the house as the previous tenant had used very dark colors on the walls, which made the space seem smaller than it truly is.
Best Advice: Start with the pieces that you love and build from there: one or two pieces per room and everything else can grow from that concept.
Dream Sources: Modernica, Dwell, Denmark 50, Lizzie's Antique Hardware, Walnut Wallpaper
Resources:
PAINT COLORS
- • ecru and white with black accents
LIVING ROOM
- • Black scroll wall sticker art: Blik Art
• Renaissance pillows: Inheritance shop
• 1940's vintage cabinet: street find
OFFICE NOOK
- • Desk and filing cabinet: IKEA — their office solutions are pretty hard to beat, especially for a temporary space
• Kikkerland paper scroll chalkboard: Uncle Jer’s
KITCHEN
- • Dishtowel curtains: Anthropologie
• Globe hanging planter with the succulents in moss and wood chips: Rolling Greens
• Pot rack: Crate & Barrel
• Café table: another find at IKEA
BEDROOM
- • Hanging closet: The Container Store
• Artwork: Sheppard Fairey signed prints
• Authentic Brass art rail hangers: found at an estate sale in Silver Lake years ago
• Bedding: Target
BATHROOM
- • Silver birds: Uncle Jer’s
• Shower curtain and soap dispenser: Target
• Mirrored vanity tray: Urban Outfitters
Thanks, Patricia!
Images: Asher Hung
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lovely. How did you install the bookshelfs? Please share.
Wow, 2 months? It looks like you've been there for years. Everything is exactly where it needs to be. Nice job.
I LOVE the book storage solution - I've got 5-bookcases at home, and they feel like an albatross. I want all the books, but...
Yes, please tell how you installed them!
Love! The house and the things that fill it have character and personality. They're sparse...but it still feels homey and welcoming. Great use of space.
I find it very inspirational, thanks for sharing! :)
Lovely space. (I like the little dark touches like the skull & crossbones doormat & the Dia de los Muertos angel on the wall. Also love the beautiful, simple solutions to storage problems--especially the rows of buckets in the shed or garage. & Your books look great up there near the ceiling but how do you gain access to them? Do you haul out a ladder when you want to read them or are you just super-tall?
Expertly edited. Very nice.
i agree! bookshelf info please! we're looking to do the same thing, and i haven't seen such an elegant solution anywhere else!
Agreed! Must know where you got the above-the-door-frame book shelf and how long it took you to install into the ceiling.
Nice job!
Beautiful and amazing space. This may be one of my favorite house tours.
Beautiful, simple, with a little bit of edge; I love it. I especially like the bookshelves (like everyone mentioned), the closet (or lack thereof) solution, the tea towels-turned curtains, and the little office nook. Brava!
I've lived in my apartment for a year and it doesn't look nearly this nice! I especially love the office nook and the whole space is so well edited.
I wish I could get those living room pillows somewhere! So cool.
Patricia, you have a truly beautiful home! I admire your solutions to the lack of space (bookshelf, closet), and I'm now eyeing my own space to see if I can do either one - hope you don't mind!
I love how your home has both modern and old combined - you did that really well. Just a wonderful feeling space. Congratulations on your new home.
You have helped me solve my problem of kitchen curtains. You are a genius! Thank you!
Loved the quaint curtains over the kitchen sink!
So much charm! Love the dishtowel curtains. I'm really impressed how comfortable and lived-in your home looks in only two months.
The bookshelf ceiling supports look like threaded rod. A toggle bolt would support the weight in the ceiling, and a nice flange with a washer and nut would complete that neat little system.
I'm absolutely using that in my future house.
Simple, no fuzz beauty....
I love the plum couch, Shakespearian pillows, ceiling high bookshelves, and dark curtains with light walls/floors. You have a great sense of composition and edited your home perfectly with not too much/too little stuff. It reminds me of autumn.
I would LOVE to live here... I love the Fairey work, I have yet to put up our Henry Rollins tour poster that he had done and signed... Such inspiration is just pouring out of these images! Thanks for sharing!
Gee whiz - thanks guys. Whew, here goes:
The shelves were here when I moved in. I was eager to remove them as a matter of fact, because I felt they "squished" the space, but then when my antiqued wooden bookshelf wouldn't fit...well, what's a girl to do but work with what's given? My guess would be IKEA. The hardware has that distinct look of an afternoon's headache involving an allen wrench.
The headboard is from Crate & Barrel, of all places - floor sample, I believe. My first purchase after paying off my student loans with acting work :}
And finally - you too would cover your windows with curtains if your house bordered on slight ghetto and your Cannondale bike was stolen days after moving in. Plus the bars are just too, too depressing.
Oh - one last bit - I got the pillows from Inheritance on Beverly Blvd - great folks: http://www.inheritanceshop.com/
Cheers!
Absolutely charming. Especially nice touches include the Elizabethan couch cushions and the dishtowel curtains.
The only flaw? Words can't express how much I hate Lucky Bamboo (on the bedside table and again in the bathroom).
Love, love, love it! The front door is a fun touch of whimsy and I adore the kitchen curtains! Nice!!!!!
I LOVE your home! This might be my favorite house tour, ever.
I'm torn about the shelves - they do squish it a bit, but they also add a wonderful, cottagy feel to the rooms. And really practical.
In an 800sf place, I wouldn't worry about having to pull a stepladder out every once in a while to reach books.
The rest of it is cute as a button - nice work keeping things fun to look at or practical, editing the rest.
love this! simple but with lovely touches that just reflects the owners personal taste...
Anita Pillai
http://www.comfyheaven.com
Custom made handcrafted silk cushion covers
Love the tea towel curtains in the kitchen! You're giving me ideas!
Way too many vignettes though. I'd trade them all for a floor plan.
I don't think I could stay neat with that clothes closet arrangement.
Lovely and so well organized!
Love the bedroom. Love the closet solution. My husband and I had a white sheet "curtain" clipped to rings on an aircraft cable for a couple of years before we could build real wooden doors to close in our Home Depot wire shelving. But the dang thing didn't keep the dust out! This solution will, and looks cool, too.
I live in a tiny Los Angeles house and am so grateful for this house tour. It gave me tons of ideas and inspiration. Thank you so much!
1. I love this. Cute as a bugs ear!
2. I have the same shower curtain.
3. would LOVE to see an exterior shot of the house itself.
Love the Anthropologie towel curtains. I did that in my kitchen, too, although I like how you did them better. Great inexpensive solution to kitchen blinds!
Wow, I really love this! Great space, classy, color is wonderful... I'm filing this post for personal use.
I love the shelf over the window above the couch and immediately went and looked above the window over my couch, LOL! Sadly, there isn't enough space. The books couldn't be more than 4" high if I put a shelf there. Yours looks great though and thanks for sharing!
Opressive. Funereal. So very uncomfortable.
I like the bathroom window.
This is delightful.
Patricia -- Just curious, how tall are your ceilings?
Your home is inspiring.
For me less is more and when you live is an condo it better be.
Love your place! What's the paint color on the front door? I'd like to try it on mine.
I love your place, and the way you made it into a haven in spite of "slight ghetto" outside and 800 square feet. I live in almost ghetto mixed with some Section 8 myself, and do not want that to define how I feel about my space (my first home of my own.) I want to put shelves way up high all around my place. My mom had floor-to-ceiling shelves installed in her study area; she found an antique wooden ladder on wheels that had been used in a library. It was the highlight of the room and we kids loved it. I like the skull-and-crossbones mat at the front door but have to wonder is it for Halloween or to warn away potential bike thieves? Thanks for sharing.
Warning, Patricia! Re: your paintings on the walls of the garage. I put college texts in garage of rental bungalow in nearby Glendale. It rained, lost them all. Landlords often ignore leaks in garages roofs.