Elizabeth’s Color-Filled Apartment

Name: Elizabeth Tulipana, founder of Anticipation Events + Bad Loo Loo
Location: Bucktown; Chicago, Illinois
Size: 1,000 square feet
Years lived in: 2 years; Rented

Putting together a space that functions as both a home and base for her event planning business and Etsy shop came naturally to Elizabeth. A lover of all things vibrant and patterned, her spacious one bedroom apartment reflects her dynamic spirit and boundless creativity.

Walking into Elizabeth’s apartment, I was struck not only by her ability to compose all sorts of hue combinations, but also by her amazingly playful style. I am always in awe of people who really understand color and pattern, and who aren’t afraid to experiment! Whether it’s the more warm, primary colors of her living room and kitchen area, or the cooler, quieter pastels and metallics of the bedroom, she maintains a quirky individuality that is truly her own, and makes everything in her home come together.

My Style: I don’t think I am very good at sticking to one style; I bring home things I like and find a way to make them work. Bold, eclectic, vintage with a little glam thrown in. I’m certainly not afraid of color and I love texture and patterns on top of patterns.

Inspiration: Traveling, visual displays in various stores, HGTV, antique malls.

Favorite Element: My parking space? That is a real treat here in the city. It’s the first apartment that I’ve lived in alone which has been really fun to get to choose everything and really decorate it exactly how I want to. I also love the windows in my bedroom and my globe collection.

Biggest Challenge: For me it’s storage. Because I run Anticipation Events (my event planning company) and Bad Loo Loo (my Etsy shop) out of my one bedroom city apartment, I’m constantly looking for places to store things: I try to find creative solutions so I can work efficiently and actually find things when I need them. That means my closets are full of boxes of fabric, ribbon and inventory and I try to incorporate the props I use when I style weddings into my décor: the antique globes, books, cake stands, wooden boxes, chevron canvas all live somewhere in my apartment décor, but their original purpose was for an event. I do try and keep things pretty picked up and clean because I work out of my house so it’s hard for me to shut down from work if there are piles of it everywhere.

What Friends Say: “This is so you” or “did you make that?” My style is pretty specific and bold and they more or less expect that I DIY’d a good portion of what I have in this apartment.

Biggest Embarrassment: It should probably be that my bathroom is painted pink, but damn the man, I like it. I can’t keep plants alive but I refuse to give up trying. The plants on my porch are always in various stages of dying which is pretty frustrating.

Proudest DIY: Probably the stenciling on the wall behind my bed, because it took the longest to do but it definitely makes the biggest impact in the apartment. I love when people think it is wallpaper.

Biggest Indulgence: My couch, because it was the sort of first “real” purchase I made and the two rugs. Rugs are surprisingly expensive but they do make everything a little bit cozier.

Best Advice: Do your thing; and try not to worry about what other people think. Sometimes I wish I could afford things from higher end stores but searching for things at thrift/antique stores and putting a little love back into them is the most satisfying part of decorating for me. I’m obviously not too concerned about matching, and I like that so many things in my apartment have a story: the globe that I found on a trip to visit friends in Ohio, my grandma’s candy jar, the curtains my mom made, I feel like it’s truly a reflection of me and the people in my life that I love.

Dream Sources: Salvage One and Architectural Artifacts. I would love to buy furniture from Anthropologie and I’d also love to have a truck so that I could bring more antique store finds home with me.

ENTRY

Thanks, Elizabeth!

• HOUSE TOUR ARCHIVE: Check out past house tours here.
• Interested in sharing your home with Apartment Therapy? Contact the editors through our House Tour Submission Form.
• Are you a designer/architect/decorator interested in sharing a residential project with Apartment Therapy readers? Contact the editors through our Professional Submission Form.