A Shared 450-Square-Foot Rental Apartment Is Small, But Full of Personality

Name: Lizzy Rich and Chris Freyer
Location: Santa Monica, California
Type of home: Apartment
Size: 450 square feet
Years lived in: 3.5 years, renting

Tell us a little (or a lot) about your home and the people who live there: We found the apartment on a whim while searching for our first place to live together after two and a half years of dating. While small, it had (almost) everything we wanted. Hardwood floors, a good, mostly quiet location, and some architectural elements that make it unique.

While the living room doesn’t get as much natural light as we would like, we’ve tried to keep the colors in the apartment bright and bold, and made sure that most of our plants are happy with low light. The bedroom, on the other hand, always has plenty of relaxed light that is perfect for lounging and afternoon naps. The kitchen is small, but the removable floral wallpaper we added gives the kitchen a personal, homey vibe that leans into the vintage look of the tiles.

We try to have as much art as we can fit into the apartment without overdoing it (even having to store some of it under our bed!). From the original paintings to concert posters to photographs we’ve taken ourselves, each art piece is personal and has a story behind it. We try to keep our eyes peeled for the perfect vintage furniture as much as we can. Nothing is better than finding that perfect piece that brings the whole apartment together, like the antique window frame in the dining area that Lizzy bought from her favorite clothing store when it was sadly going out of business.

Living in Santa Monica, we both work in entertainment. Lizzy works at a production company while Chris is a script coordinator and writer. We have been together for five years. Our styles usually coalesce, but sometimes Lizzy tends to veer toward more maximalist, while Chris definitely would rather keep things minimal. We think we’ve done a pretty good job at compromising both those visions into an apartment we are always so happy to come home to every day.

Describe your home’s style in 5 words or less: Vibrant, inviting, relaxed, eclectic personal.

What is your favorite room and why? Our apartment design is set up so that the living room, dining room, and kitchen are all an open floor plan, so if we could just cheat and say the whole apartment, we would! We’ve tried to create a design flow that blends seamlessly and harmoniously between areas. But we love our bedroom and bathroom too! We’re so proud of how we’ve taken the bland bathroom and transformed it into an enjoyable place. The bedroom is always cozy and inviting. It’s hard not to just plop onto the bed and not move for hours!

What’s the last thing you bought (or found!) for your home? On a recent trip to Palm Springs, we spent most of the time we weren’t lounging by the pool scouring vintage shops and antique stores. We weren’t looking for anything specific, but when we saw the Dutch mid-century modern coffee table (now in our living room), we knew we couldn’t walk out the store without it. It provides the perfect balance between the hardwood floor and the black cow skin rug. The coffee table is from JP Denmark, who’s staff was super helpful and awesome.

Any advice for creating a home you love? It takes more time than you think to create a home you love. It’s better to do it slowly, accumulating pieces you really enjoy and love over time, than rushing and buying a bunch of stuff just to have stuff. BUT, to completely go against what we just said, we do think getting art or photographs on the walls as soon as you can is important to building your space and feeling like it’s your own, especially in a rental where you can’t paint the walls. This is both of our first times living with a partner; we’ve come to realize that compromise is essential to creating a house you both love. Be open to letting each other’s styles mix and contrast and come together, because you’ll end up with a much happier, and more beautiful, home. Your house should be a place you can return to after your day to unwind and relax. Whatever that means for you is what you should be working toward.

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