apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Our style: Mathias “Is this a multiple choice question?”

The inspiration for our home: We like color and really just whatever we find that moves us. Admittedly we have some disagreements about our style choices. In our last apartment Mathias hung everything up with black electrical tape, but in this apartment I gave him the office. “Do whatever you want with that room.” But so far I approve of all his choices. He’s also more bold with color choice. I tend to be a bit more conservative.

Favorite element: We love being up high with trees. The apartment feels a bit like a treehouse. We also love all of the natural light the apartment gets. Since this house has such a fabled history, we’ve been told that it has ghosts, but if there are they’re friendly ghosts.

Biggest challenge in designing my home: We have moved a lot and each space is unique. Finding out what works for the space is part of the adventure. There's lots of storage here but we always feel like we could have more. Also some of the storage isn't necessarily where you'd like it to be. There's a huge closet in the bathroom that's perfect for coats, crafting supplies, etc… but I find that it's not always easily accessible. You have to dig for things a bit. I'd also like more storage in the kitchen.

What friends say about my home: The first thing everyone says is "Oh my goodness, how many stairs did I just climb." Also the entry way to the building itself is dramatic and people always want to ask questions about its history.

Biggest embarrassment in my home: Mathias is way more diligent about keeping clutter to a minimum. I have a hard time with that.

Proudest DIY: Besides getting our furniture up those stairs. We're really proud of the kitchen floor. When we moved in, the kitchen was carpeted. We got permission to pull up the carpet, but underneath was really old linoleum and it was pretty gross. Mathias took on the DIY adventure of completely retiling the kitchen. We went and picked out the tiles and he laid it all himself. I think I might have put a few nails in, but really it was all him.

Biggest indulgence with respect to my home: The kitchen floor and our bedroom rug. The rug was our biggest splurge. We lived near Peace Industry in Hayes Valley (www.peaceindustry.com) and we had been eyeing it for a while. The rug is from Iran and it is felted wool. We love it.

Dream source for stuff: Ooh any of the cool shops in Hayes Valley. Such beautiful, cool stuff. I also love Design within Reach.

Resources:

Appliances:
We're pretty minimalist with our appliances. We don't have a microwave or a tv. We use a french press rather than using a coffee maker. We both work on the computer all day so usually we come home and unplug. Any appliances we do have, we got from Bed Bath and Beyond, or maybe even Walgreens.

Hardware
Our hardware all comes from Home Depot

Furniture:
Ikea via craigslist. In San Francisco, folks tend to be in transit quite a bit-- lots of artists, drifters, folks here for a few years and then moving. You can easily find things on craigslist, etc.. Also there's this crazy street culture where people just leave things on the street. You can find some great stuff. Once we found a working organ (the musical kind). It didn't work perfectly, but where else will you find an organ on the street!

Accessories:
Everywhere, Pottery Barn, West Elm

Lighting
Ikea

Paint
Home depot, also always looking for eco safe paint options

Flooring
Home Depot for the Tile

Rugs and Carpets
Peace Industry

Window Treatments
Curtains Ikea

Bed
Ikea

Artwork
Random places, we don’t buy art in the store, usually it's something a friend gave us or we made.

Thanks Larissa and Mathias!

-bethany

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