This 535-Square-Foot Apartment Is Filled with “Style and Sentimentality” (and over 40 Plants!)
This 535-Square-Foot Apartment Is Filled with “Style and Sentimentality” (and over 40 Plants!)
It was this one-bedroom, 535-square-foot apartment’s location that drew Emily Back, a self-described “9-to-5 office girl,” who’s called D.C. home for 10 years. “I wanted to stay close and within walking distance to places I love around the city,” she writes. “It was also much larger than any former apartment I had lived in. The west- and south-facing windows are an ideal environment for our 40+ plants.”
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Emily moved into this apartment in August 2019, and partner, Trei Ramsey, an artist and bartender, moved into this apartment in June 2022. “It took me a couple years to figure out the layout, and when Trei moved in, we were intentional about how we combined our styles, focusing on art, mood, and sentimentality. We wanted it to be cozy and creative,” Emily explains.
“I frequently think of a quote from bell hooks: ‘Objects are not without spirit. As living things they touch us in unimagined ways. On this path one learns that an entire room is a space to be created, a space that can reflect beauty, peace, and a harmony of being, a spiritual aesthetic,'” Emily quotes.
Emily says she’s loved design since she was a child, “watching my mom ‘play’ by reimagining spaces and layouts in her journal. I love learning about furniture and architectural design and how it’s influenced our world. I love to write, listen to music, and I consider organizing a hobby.”
When Emily first moved into this apartment, she says it had an “awkward layout,” and explains that the “potato-quality photos on the listing showed a beige and poorly managed space with zero walking room.” But now, after she and Trei have put their stamp on the space, she says it’s truly their home. “Our eclectic space is filled with style and sentimentality.”
Resources
PAINT & COLORS
- Living Room and Kitchen — Backdrop “Modern Love”
- Bedroom — Clare Paint “Current Mood”
- Trim — Clare Paint “Whipped”
- Bathroom — Clare Paint “Blackish”
ENTRY
- Removable Wallpaper — Etsy
- Picture Frames — Level Frames, Vintage
- Black Pendant Lamp — Home Depot, DIY
- Small Entry Rug — Etsy
- Entry Table — Vintage
- Helix Wall-Mount Bookshelf — CB2
- Adorn Full Mirror — Ferm Living
LIVING ROOM
- Plants — Rewild DC, Ace Hardware, Little Leaf DC
- Gold/Wood Bookshelf — Target
- Artwork — Trei Ramsey
- Artwork — Charlie Visconage
- Artwork — Red Table Press
- Artwork — Rick Gogh
- Artwork — Thrifted, Vintage
- Prints — Nanas of Anarchy, Ink & Drop
- Frames — Thrifted, Framebridge
- Pond Mirror — Ferm Living
- Helix Wall-Mount Bookshelf — CB2
- Couch Potato Sofa — Benchmade Modern
- Dyvlinge Swivel Chair — IKEA
- Rug — Revival Rugs
- Viv Swivel Chair — West Elm
- Disco Balls — Etsy
- Sconce Lights — Lamps Plus
- Blue Pitcher — Salt & Sundry
- Zera Serving Tray — Local + Lejos
KITCHEN
- Black Bookshelf — Urban Outfitters
- Flower Vases — Perla Valtierra
- Bookends – Hawkins New York
- Grib Toolbox — House & Hold
- Dining Table — Wayfair, DIY
- Candleholders — Vintage
- Flowers — She Loves Me
BEDROOM
- Rugs — Etsy, Revival Rugs
- Spin Rotating Side Table — CB2
- Jeanneret Dining Armchair — France & Son
- Curtains — Urban Outfitters
- Bedside Floating Tables — Ferm Living
- Bedside Lamps — Rejuvenation
- Bedding — Parachute, Upstate
- Artwork — Thrifted, 1st Dibs, Vintage
- Sheepskin — Black Sheep White Light
- Mini Cylinder Table Lamp — One Kings Lane
- Crystals — District Mineral
BATHROOM
- Artwork — Death by Narwhals
- Artwork — Trei Ramsey
- Black Shelves — CB2
BALCONY
- Plants & Planters — Home Depot
- Pillows — Anthropologie, Wayfair
- Chairs and Table — Wayfair
- Trellis Divider — IKEA
Thanks, Emily and Trei!
This tour’s responses and photos were edited for length/size and clarity.
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