Name: Monique and Richard
Location: San Francisco (located between the Mission and Castro Districts)
Size: 840 sq. ft.
Years lived in: 5 months
Monique and Richard moved into their first apartment together back in September. The apartment hadn't been really cleaned or maintained for many years so they set to work on renovating the space and combining their furniture and numerous collections into their new home. Monique's love of all things home and renovation allowed her a clean slate on which to build a space that would house their collections and their lives.
My/Our style: Our style really has a lot to do with treasure hunting and finding gems. Once we find them we showcase them.
The inspiration for my home: The original idea for the space was trying to emulate faded Cuban glamour.
Favorite element: My favorite element has to be the chandelier I found in a box at a street sale for $15. I spent a fortune having it rewired and cleaned but the end result is one of the best chandeliers I’ve ever seen.
Biggest challenge in designing my home: The biggest challenge was the renovation. The apartment hadn’t been really cleaned patched or painted in a long time. Bringing the apartment around had to be the biggest challenge but of course the pay off was totally worth it.
What friends say about my home: Our friends really like our place. Even after all of the work we have done to it the thing we hear without fail is that people love our view. It is tough to compete with skyline that’s for sure.
Biggest embarrassment in my home: We still have boxes of great stuff that need places to go. I am embarrassed that we still have boxes to unpack.
Proudest DIY: I am really proud of our hallway wallpaper and cabinet backing. I used a blueprint copier to enlarge a small wallpaper sample I had been given. I just love how it looks and it really was easy and inexpensive.
Biggest indulgence with respect to my home: I have to say having a white rug seems pretty indulgent.
Best advice given or received: If you don’t love it you don’t need it.
Dream source for stuff: 1stDibs, ABC Carpet and Home, Baileys, Heath Ceramics, Design Within Reach and Denmark in Scandinavia.
Resources:
Hardware:
I have found a lot of great vintage hardware on ebay and at Urban Ore and Ohmega Salvage in Berkeley.
Furniture:
Most of our favorite pieces have come from flea markets in the bay area and in southern California.
Accessories:
Every now and again I use something from Ikea but for the most part Craigslist, Flea Markets, Ebay and Etsy.
Lighting:
All of the lights in our apartment with the exception of two that were purchased at Ikea were found on treasure hunts to local flea markets and street sales.
Paint:
Most of the paint we used was from Kelly Moore. I really like the coverage and the colors. There were two colors that I had to have matched so I went to Home Depot for that. They did a great job of matching both colors. Who knew?
Flooring:
We have been really lucky with the flooring situation. We have hardwood floors that just needed to be scrubbed and oiled. The only thing left to do is the kitchen floor. This spring I plan to rip out the linoleum and paint the floor a nice dark, glossy navy color.
Rugs and Carpets:
IKEA and S.C.R.A.P. In addition Richard has started a new collection of War Rugs but I promised not to give our anymore details than that.
Window Treatments:
I have been really lucky finding great fabrics for our windows and for our walls at Discount Fabrics at Berkeley and San Francisco locations.
Beds:
I have had my bed frame for years. It was originally purchased at Zonal in Hayes Valley.
Artwork:
We both collect a lot of art and are always on the look out. We have found pieces from galleries to auctions to flea markets. We never stop looking
Other:
I end up making a lot of things myself. It is very hard form me to find what I am looking for so I find that I have to figure out how to make something so it ends up just right.
For more on the day to day renovations you can check out Monique's blog at day at a glance.
When leaving comments about the home,
play nice or you'll be asked to leave the sandbox.)
-monique
Other Posts by Monique:
Dirty Little Secrets of Tidy Families
Hillary & Michael's Refined Roost
Good Food to Share 
The Big Book of Small, Cool Spaces 
Apartment Therapy Presents 
The Eight-Step Home Cure 
Nomade Express Slee...
Kitchen Before & After: A Cookbook Author Transforms His 1950s Kitchen
Recipe: Ham, Cheddar & Chive Egg Bakes
Very cool, funky and inviting! Amazing job on the restoration. You mention your chandelier but I don't see a picture of it :(
Oh, wow. I love everything here. Very impressed.
i love this apartment! i'm so excited to finally see more photos...beautiful job!
That tree wallpaper is amazing! Where did you get the sample from?
Oh this one! Best use of Ghost Chair *ever*.
foodiegirl - the tree wallpaper is Cole & Son's and you'll see it eeeeverywhere. it's actually quite nice to see little hints of it for once, instead of a whole wall.
I also love the tree wallpaper... and the whole desk vignette with the ghost chair, the stoic tree branch and the crazy wolverine on the floor. Good eye!
I'm completely in love with your brown bedroom. Well done!
Love the ghost chair (when when when will one turn up on craig'slist?) and the whole office area. Very nice. Congrats.
Absolutely lovely. Faded Cuban glamour -- what a brilliant source of inspiration.
Beautiful job. You have a wonderful sense of style. I'm definitely filing away the entryway for future inspiration.
that really freshens up the ubiquitous "The Woods" wallpaper. I never would have thought of that. Beautiful!
I *really* like this. So inspiring.
wow....absolutely beautiful and i am truly inspired.
Oh, I LOVE this! Love the entryway most of all, thank you so much for showing us your great home :-)
I'll just echo what everyone else has said and say your place is fabulous... one of my favourite house tours in a long while. Thanks for sharing!
Watched the slideshow twice in a row. Beautiful job.
That Cole and Sons wallpaper is literaly everywhere. Domino, this website (like five times), ReadyMade. Yes, it's cool, yes, it's interesting, but isn't there something else?
The whole house is nice but the entry way is a jaw dropper! I think Cole and Sons is perfect for the space, combined with all the light in the hallway it feels like windows surrounded by nature.
Interested in knowing how you got the paper to stick to the wall considering it's not real wallpaper? I've never worked with wall paper before, except removing it, but I've always assumed it's thicker and backed with something. Any tips?
Very unique- I love it!
I love the use of the Cole & Sons paper in the cabinets and as a border. Genius!
It's a nice place. Wish we could have seen the chandelier and rug you mentioned.
ditto on 'best use of ghost chair ever' and the cole and sons tree wallpaper. this place feels like home, lived in, but considered. very nice.
maybe this is the chandelier and the rug?
http://bp1.blogger.com/_sx9mW1_dqeQ/R08axfTn-bI/AAAAAAAAAnw/Qb8hDVCsV3k/s1600-h/IMG_7078.jpg
I'm moving in April, and this apt. is a huge inspiration, thank you for this!
I love the way the wallpaper is used. Don't think I would like the pattern if it covered an entire wall.
OK, so eclectic interiors like this one aren't as rarely seen as they used to be. But Monique's done it so WELL, with so many great personal touches--refreshingly original. I'd love to hear more from Monique on AT!
fantastic blog and this looks like such a great home! Whoever this Monique is, she's incredible! thanks for the inspiration.
wow, lots of hard work and you truly live in an art piece. thanks for sharing.
There have been a couple of questions about the wallpaper in our hallway. I wanted to answer those questions so here goes...I actually had a small 8.5x11 sample of the Cole & Sons "Woods" wallpaper that a friend of mine had given to me. I took the sample to Kinkos and enlarged it to fill a sheet of paper that was something like 36x42. I am a huge fan of the Cole & Sons wallpaper but something about enlarging the size of the design really worked and made me love it even more. I used scissors to cut certain pieces out and over lap to cover seams and make the design look like it wasn't repeating. The paper was too thin to use glue so I just used a good old staple gun to attach the paper to the wall.
As far as wanting to see photographs of the chandelier and the rug I believe that Apartment Therapy will add them to this post. Some of the photographs that I tried to send for the post didn't make it into the email so I just sent those photographs again.
I also wanted to thank everyone for their kind words about our apartment. It is really nice to know that other people like looking at all of our stuff.
Your collections are so interesting (art, rocks, trees, books, etc.). I like the way they are grouped.
I love the lost and found treasure of it all. It's like walking through someone's subconscious. I would love to read their blog. I also like how much diy they did.
I have followed the transformation of this apartment from the very beginning and I am constantly amazed at the perseverance, the talent and the aesthetic this woman has! Great job, Monique!
I'm especialy impressed with whatever route you took to convince the landlord to let you get away with this. The plastered wall is very well concieved as a backdrop for your good stuff. It looks as though you are close to filling the place up- what's next?
I found the chandelier photo, it's #26 of 32 and it is a beauty!
also like the eyeball-thingies on the rocks&driftwood, kep it up!
Wonderful creatures real and imagined amongst the trees, sand and driftwood all juxtaposed on the backdrop of faded cuban glamour--what a concept. Original and fantastic!
This apartment is amazing! I'd love to learn how to do plastering with sort-of marbled colors, it's beautiful. And the collections are so well-displayed, a truly original apartment...GREAT eye!
Can't lose with a nice Fairey and Johanson. I put two and two together, love your work Richard.
Yes, please, please, please tell us more about your treatment of the walls. My bedroom walls have been begging me to help them, and I just went in and told them I've found the perfect solution. I didn't mention I haven't a clue yet about how I'll do it.......
lots of great ideas here. I love the theme!
Is this a rental?
Can't think of anything to add that hasn't already been said. Love the art, high and low... kudos on the great mix.
Monique & Richard,
I absolutely love what you have done to your home!
I am a location scout in the Bay Area. I am always looking for great homes to submit to the editors of various national magazines, including Better Homes & Garden, Home Magazine, Decorating magazine, and several of the Women's Day magazines. Might you be interested in having me submit your home to a couple of these magazines for possible publication? Feel free to contact me if you would like to learn a little more about the process. Thanks! Sarah Alba albaworks@gmail.com
this place has me SERIOUSLY swooning. the found style is BEAUTIFUL!
and the tree border up at the top... amazing. i'm in love with it. i neeeeeed it!
Blindness! best book.
What color and brand of paint did you use in your bedroom? It's very soothing.
Love the wall behind the desk. Charming placement of things. Really good eye for space. One of the best tours I've seen in terms of choices and placement.
Thanks for sharing.
Ah! I love this space. The desk with the art above it is gorgeous, and the stacked books next to that crazy squirrel sculpture...!
The faded Cuban glam look is done well. Personally, I'd be all over your design and not the skyline! Different priorities, I guess. :)
Thank you for sharing!
I.