Name: Stephen & Lisa Marie Grillos
Location: Mission Dolores, San Francisco
Size: 750 sq. ft. + two units downstairs that serve as a small craft room and a "man room" (which is where Stephen does some of his rough mix recordings)
Years lived in: 1.5
How can you not love a home that the homeowners say is inspired by "50's television shows, 60's french pop, Asian antiques, grandmothers everywhere"? And art-filled, to boot? Take a look at this creative pair's funky abode in the City.
AT Survey:
My/Our style: Antiques meet Mid-Century in an Edwardian flat, with a love for pattern
Inspiration: 50's television shows, 60's french pop, asian antiques, grandmothers everywhere
Favorite Element: architectural details, wainscoting, built in cabinet
Biggest Challenge: Our apartment is very long and narrow and has very little closet space. There's a storage unit downstairs but as far as everyday wardrobe storage we had to do some creative arrangements involving tiered hangers and storage boxes. Our tall bed serves to hide guitars and laundry baskets underneath.
What Friends Say: Friends love the handmade details
Biggest Embarrassment: We haven't found the time to repaint since we moved in, especially embarrassing since one of our dogs chewed up some floorboards when she was little. We also plan to replace the kitchen flooring eventually.
Proudest DIY: The makeover on my craft room, it was such a dingy little spot when I first saw it and now I really love being down there. I included a before photo so you can see what I mean!
Biggest Indulgence: Having separate studios where we can each get our work done.
Best Advice: Don't try to furnish your home all at once, it will slowly come together. Only buy things you really love.
Dream Source: European flea markets
Resources:
Furniture: Crate & Barrel, flea markets, family hand-downs
Accessories: mostly from flea markets and garage sales, the occasional gem from Urban Ore
Lighting: Ceiling lamp seen in image #2 is from Schoolhouse Electric in Portland, the bedside lamps are from Pottery Barn
Rugs and Carpets: hand-me-downs
Window Treatments: Roman blinds in bedroom and living room are from Ikea, I made the curtains in the kitchen and bathroom with Liberty of London fabric from Britex, and the window film on the back door is by Emma Jeffs purchased at 2Jane.com (I found out about this on design sponge, without it there would be no way to cover the door glass and we'd have no privacy!)
Beds: West Elm, bedding from Crate & Barrel Outlet in Berkeley
Artwork: Anthony Skirvin of Ape Do Good--image #6(apedogood.com) Nicole Bauguss--image #7 (riproost.com, Nicole also makes really beautiful architectural boxes) Sita Rupe--image #8 (sitarupe.com) Picasso lithograph--image #13 Eric Bohr--image #14 & 18 (ericbohr.com) Susie Gharameni--image #16(www.boygirlparty.com) Lisa Marie made the window piece in image #29 (lisamariedesign.com) We love art, Lisa Marie is a visual artist and Stephen has a master's degree in art history so we really like supporting local artists and collecting pieces we love.
Paint: Soon! That's my winter project.
Flooring: We would love to get some black and white Forbo marmoleum tiles for the kitchen
(Read more about Lisa Marie at hambonedesigns and Stephen at hangjones.)
Thanks, Lisa Marie and Stephen!
© 2009 Apartment Therapy
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what a lovely, detail oriented home with wonderful artwork to discover! this is my favorite house tour in a while!
view blackrose's profile
Very inspiring - makes me want to add some more art to my new apartment. Soon...
Looks great - I really like this apartment. Go SF!
view tara1979's profile
Whoa, nice remake of the craft room. And I like the side table-cum-desk by the sofa. I tried something similar in my own living room and wish it worked as well... (it's a little bit bigger desk with a much smaller sofa... that's probably why...)
view whytephoenix's profile
Why is all the living room furniture shoved up against one wall?
view bepsf's profile
Nice, but it would have been helpful to see some wider angle shots. It's hard to piece a space together in one's mind when the shots are taken so tight.
Cool craft area and I love the artwork. I especially loved the little plant in the teacup. I think I will steal that idea :)
view WendyJ's profile
love the artwork, and over all feel of the space. i, too, wonder why all the living room furnaiture is against one wall.
love the man room and craft room!
view formosagirl's profile
Thanks everyone! All the living room furniture is up against one wall for the same reason you can't see any wide angle shots. This is a VERY narrow but very long apartment. The living room is like a long galley and the other side doesn't have any clearance for furniture. It also leaves space for my dogs to run around when they play. I've tried to rearrange to no avail, but if anyone has any ideas for me I love switching things up!
As far as the plant in the teacup goes just be sure to either drill a hole at the bottom or put some rocks down there. I found the inexpensive teacup at Urban Ore in Berkeley!
view SittingInATree's profile
lovely home!!! thanks for sharing! do you mind if I ask how you attached the parasol?
view hanako66's profile
thanks! not in a great way, i'm afraid! there's clearance between the light fixture and the weird ceiling panels so I just stuck the handle in there! there are much better items that are made for that use but I love that parasol, and i never leave the light on while I'm not down there.
view SittingInATree's profile
I love the tea cup idea, especially for the succulents. If you want to avoid overwatering and you go with the rocks at the bottom, adding a little bit of charcoal on top of the rocks will help with mold taking over the soil. Another great resource for vintage tea cups are flea markets around the Bay Area.
view monikatini's profile
ohhhhhhhh...it's *so* lovely. i love the underlying bones and the light of the apartment, but i LOVE what you've done with it!!! and the details...the tea cup, the cabinets...lovely. just lovely.
view littlebunnyfoofoo's profile
Beautiful home! Also, I can't help but identify--a lot of your things look just like mine, like the coffee table, the hat rack, the dark tribal mask on slide 16, etc... which in my case were handmedowns from our families. Love how you display these items and are in total harmony with the rest of the house. Hopefully I'll be able to pull that off!!
view Gabbs's profile
Looks great. Quick question. What did you use for the hallway wainscot (reference image #12)? I like it!
view bicoastalmogul's profile
nice job on the areas below, love the man room. do be careful, though, of the parasol so close to the bulb. you could install a cfl bulb which doesn't generate the same amount of heat as an incandescent bulb and you'll save energy. just be sure to properly recycle the cfl since they contain mercury. good luck on your painting project!
view hollandstudio's profile
"All the living room furniture is up against one wall for the same reason you can't see any wide angle shots. This is a VERY narrow but very long apartment. The living room is like a long galley and the other side doesn't have any clearance for furniture."
But you do have room for furniture away from that wall:
Try rotating the little desk towards the window and getting it out of the corner - pull the rug back so that the front legs of the sofa are on them, leaving your thru-traffic off the rug. Pull the coffee table towards the sofa leaving only @ 18" space - then float the chair out in the room angled so that the back is towards the kitchen(?) door and the seat is facing the corner of the coffee table - and place the ottoman as a second seat angled off the other corner of the table.
Put your standing lamp with the red shade from the sewing room by the chair and bring the trunk from your TV room to use as an end table where the chair is now and put the table lamp with the red shade from the sewing room on that - and place your other standing lamp on the other end of the sofa where the desk is now.
view bepsf's profile
WOW - that's the biggest 750 sq. ft. I've ever seen!
view VeryDelishVeg's profile
also, i love the dreamy/girly pink kitchen aid! makes me want to get my domestic on!
view littlebunnyfoofoo's profile
Your living room looks just like mine! Only better. Great tour.
view rosenatti's profile
bepsf: I am definitely going to do that as soon as I get a chance, thanks for the rec's!
bicoastalmogul: I'm not sure, the hallway wainscot was there when we moved in but I do love it. I used it as the background on my website and blog:
http://lisamariedesign.com/
http://alittleflea.blogspot.com/
view SittingInATree's profile
Where are the books and magazines in this apartment? I can spot about twenty books in the photos, there must be more!
view Hinke's profile
Why is that piece of artwork positioned so strangely right up against a socket in the first photo?
view Violetsrose's profile
you have done a great job on your home, thanks for sharing! I am disappointed that you didnt include a large pic of your furry ones, i did see several on your site, is the Husky yours also?
where did you get the wonderful looking table/cabinet in your craft room? what is the white "stuff" in with the "beans"?was the in the window greenhouse difficult to do? and lastly, handcuffs, is that what i see?
again, great job!
view sassydo's profile
I give it a B. The living room needs work: get rid of the rug and that black cloud of a recliner and the room will be 80% improved. Thank you for not head-dunking me in pictures of tacky clutter.
view m's profile
It didn't really live up to the description... but that large painting is interesting.
view sunan's profile
It's a lot of white walls and a lot of clutter. But it looks well loved.
view medusa12120's profile
i agree...doesn't live up to the name, but still a cute home. it's not too cluttered. why is the laundry room included at the end there?? it's an eye sore. should not have been included!
view dandelion's profile