A San Francisco Studio Fits Over 40 Plants in Just 400 Square Feet

Name: Annabelle Ling and 40+ plants
Location: Lower Pac Heights — San Francisco, California
Type of home: Studio
Size: 400ish square feet
Years lived in: 4 months, renting

Tell us a little (or a lot) about your home and the people who live there: I’m an East Coast transplant, originally from Pennsylvania/DC. I moved to San Francisco at the end of 2019 and unfortunately with the pandemic didn’t really get to put down roots yet. With rent in SF dropping quite dramatically, I jumped at the chance to move into my own space at the beginning of this year. Right now, it’s just myself and over 40+ plants, but fingers crossed I’ll be adding a Goldendoodle puppy in the fall!

I’m fully embracing the California boho style with lighter and brighter furniture and décor and basking in the gorgeous sunlight filtering through the bay windows everyday. I purposefully chose white furniture pieces, accented with gold and light wood tones, to maximize space and evoke a sense of airiness.

My collection of blue-lid jars have moved with me cross-country and is the centerpiece of my pantry. Although they’ve now had to share with my growing collection of tropical plants!

Describe your home’s style in 5 words or less: Airy, light, California boho

What is your favorite room and why? This question is so hard! Being a studio, everything is a big room, but I appreciate different zones depending on times of the day. I’ve been working from home the past year and really value carving out a dedicated office space even in a small studio. My living room area is where I do daily yoga and meditation sessions, feeling the warmth of sunshine during savasana is quite the treat! And I love my morning routine in the kitchen and dining area: whisking matcha and listening to NPR while checking up on my plant babies.

What’s the last thing you bought (or found!) for your home? Leca clay balls! In the process of converting all my houseplants to leca, an alternative to soil medium, and it’s drastically simplified my plant care routine.

Any advice for creating a home you love? Before moving in, I used Floorplanner to sketch out the placement of large pieces but really lucked out with how well everything fit. I honestly bought many of the big pieces, including sofa, bookshelf and desk, kitchen shelves, and bathroom shelves just based on the floor plan, which was quite risky. But I had a vision of where things should go and how they would look, and it really paid off!

This submission’s responses and photos were edited for length/size and clarity.

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