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Name: Sabrina Ward Harrison
Location:Silver Lake — Los Angeles, California
Size: Approximately 1100 Square Feet
Years lived in: 5 months — rent

Sabrina Ward Harrison, a prolific Los Angeles based artist, has shared her entire life in print for over a decade. Mixing medias such as photography and painting in with her text, she has this sentimental way of bringing out the rawest of emotions through everything she writes about. For the first time ever, she's allowing the ultimate self portrait – a view inside her home.

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Many years ago in San Francisco I picked up Sabrina's book, Spilling Open: The Art of Becoming Yourself, and it had a profound effect on me. Not only did I begin to produce art and photography with much more vulnerability, but I found it refreshing to see another woman who embraced the messiness of life with such spirit. Her home is now a living breathing installation of her past and present tense.

Much like discovering her work through her books, the moment you step foot into her world you immediately have to engage. This is the home of a true artist. There are tubes of paint piling up in corners, glitter on the floors, rolls of canvas and paper laid about and an incredible collection of vintage cameras. The natural light that diffuses all the bright colors allows this wonderful dreamy quality to the afternoon, something that comes easily to a home on top of a hill in Silver Lake. There are old journals lining the doorways, with family photos sprinkled around each room and little notes of her poetry stashed in jewelry boxes, old suitcases or by the side of her bed.

Previously a student at the California College of Arts and Crafts in the Bay Area, Sabrina is formally trained in design and photography. However, her approach to her work is so much more authentic that anything you would learn in a classroom. It is this very authenticity that lends itself to the design of her live/work space and it is ever changing. Her home is over 1,000 square feet, but she doesn't possess much furniture — every piece she does have was either from a vintage shop, found on the street or something she created herself. There is no television in sight but there are a ton of books crowding the shelves in her kitchen pantry and music is blaring throughout the rooms. Sabrina has the perfect dwelling to live creatively &mdash, it's a happy and abundant home!

Apartment Therapy Survey:

My Style: Fort style

Inspiration: My mother's style & our family homes. Henry Miller during his years in Big Sur ("Big Sur and the Oranges of Hieronymus Bosch"), Designer Ilse Crawford, Reggio Tutta

Favorite Element: Family History Details

Biggest Challenge: Making a functioning workspace and a place for everything

What Friends Say: "oh my gosh..."

Biggest Embarrassment: The spills that have occurred

Proudest DIY: Studio table

Best Advice: Make spaces you truly love to be in!

Bethany's additional questions for Sabrina:

1. What is the single most important thing in your home? My journals and family photos

2. When you think of designing a home what is the most essential part? I learned from my mom that you can design an entire room from a single leaf. The leaf or tree can incorporate such a distinct palette of corresponding colors. You can really find complimentary tones in almost anything.

3. How has the lifestyle and culture in Los Angeles effected your personal design aesthetic?
I'm on the top of a hill — I am so drawn to the light and the birds here in Silver Lake.

Thanks, Sabrina!

Images: Bethany Nauert

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