Ellen & Matt’s Fun, Creative Home for a Growing Family
Location: Los Angeles, California
Katie is a photographer and submitted some gorgeous photos of her friends Matt and Ellen’s home!
From Katie: “Ellen has a brilliant design mind and works at Sugar Paper LA. Matt is a writer/director/actor. They just received their two foster kids – the most precious twin boys. I asked Ellen to answer a few questions about her home and this is what she said. . .”
My husband Matt and I have lived in our home for a little over two years. We had been living in apartments or duplexes for the first 5 years of our marriage and we were ready to live in a stand alone home with room for kids. The house is a three bedroom (something we were shocked to find in our price range in LA!) and was built in the 1940s.
When we first saw the house it was in really rough shape! It was obvious nothing had been updated in a really long time. By the time we moved in though, new floors had been put in and the kitchen had been freshened up. We told the owners not to paint any of the walls and to leave all the vertical blinds off the windows because we knew we wanted to put our touch on everything.
The first order of business was painting the walls and putting curtains up. The rest of the home has slowly come together over time and will probably never be done in my mind. I know I will be working on it until we move to our next home. There are always things I want to change!
In some ways, I feel like this is the home in which I became an “interior design grown up”. While I still love a bargain, I have learned it is worth it to invest in pieces I really love and that will last where as before I just wanted the cheapest, non-ugly solution to the problem. For instance, our rug and marble coffee table in the living room were something my husband and I saved up for. We haven’t regretted those purchases for a second!
My current favorite room in the house is probably the nursery as it is such a representation of the excitement and hope we have for the future. We just became certified foster/adoptive parents and will be bringing a little one home with us any day now. Sometimes I go sit in there at night and get so excited thinking about the addition we are about to have to our family.
I am so grateful for our home. Not only is it the place where I get to have such a fun creative outlet, but it is the place where I get to be with the person (and soon people!) I love most.
Thanks Ellen, Matt, and Katie!