Jenni & Esai’s Michigan Home Full of Geometric Patterns

Name: Jenni and Esai
Location: Heritage Hill — Grand Rapids, Michigan
Size: 1,000 square feet
Years lived in: 2.5 years; Rented

Jenni and Esai’s apartment is a loop. The living room leads into the kitchen/dining room, which flows into the bedroom/office/nook, which is open to the living room. While photographing the space, I notice chevron curtains, art pieces featuring triangles, a striped blanket, a striped rug, a parallelogram rug, a diamond rug, and lots of circles. “So, you like shapes?” I uncouthly ask…

“Yes, I really like geometric patterns,” Jenni eloquently replies. She explains her graphic design background and Esai showcases his preferences for good design and clean lines. The couple’s interior design aesthetic fits well with the Heritage Hill home’s preexisting details: crisp white picture molding, mint green bathroom tiles, and large-scale black-and-white checkerboard kitchen flooring.

Our Style: Geometric, colorful, eclectic, minimal.

Inspiration:
Jenni: I’m inspired by patterns, interesting color combinations, and anything gold.
Esai: Traveling provides a lot of inspiration and we love bringing ideas home with us.

Favorite Element: There are so many things we love about our apartment. The high ceilings are a big bonus! We love the open floor plan and that it feels like an escape when we come home.

Biggest Challenge: We are lucky to have a lot of space, but our biggest challenge has been filling it. When we moved in, our inventory consisted of our bed, a bookcase, and a microwave—so we’ve come a long way. As we add new pieces, the layout evolves. It’s something we’ve really enjoyed working on together.

What Friends Say: “This place is huge!” and “If you ever leave, I’m moving in.”

Biggest Embarrassment: When we installed our dining room light, we may have left a few fingerprints on the ceiling. Alcohol may or may not have been a factor.

Proudest DIY: We both really love the wolf art installation, and it’s usually one of the first things new visitors ask about or notice.

Biggest Indulgence: We do a lot of budget decorating and DIY projects, so we don’t often indulge in big purchases. Our living room furniture was a big purchase when we first moved in. And since then, rugs have been the biggest investment. Rugs are surprisingly expensive!

Best Advice: If you can’t choose the wall color, work with what you’ve got. We probably wouldn’t have picked the mint green/orange combo in our bathroom. But we decided to pick neutrals that could work with the color palette.

Dream Sources: Pinterest and antique markets.

• Couch: Art Van
• Black leather chair: Art Van
• Coffee table: IKEA Lack
• Rug: IKEA Lappljung Ruta
• Yellow side table: Target, painted
• Pillows: Target, Hobby Lobby, World Market
• Gold metal arrows: Hobby Lobby
• Mantle accessories: Target, HomeGoods
• Gray ombre curtains: Target
• Hexagon wood tray: Hobby Lobby
• Lamps: Jenni’s dad’s basement
• Antique mirror: garage sale
• White faux fur rug: IKEA Tejn
• Wolf art: DIY made from prints adhered to foam board

• Shower curtain: Target
• Silver tray: dollar store
• Gray geometric rug: HomeGoods
• Dog print: Coco de Paris on Etsy

• Table: DIY
• Gold sunburst mirror: DIY
• Dining chairs: Craigslist, Century Antiques, Jenni’s dad’s basement
• Metal clock: Target

• Geometric vase: HomeGoods
• Lamps: Craigslist, Target
• Pillows: Target
• Geometric wood panel: DIY made from plywood and acrylic paint
• Desk: IKEA Linnmon top and IKEA Lerberg trestle legs spray painted gold
• Tan Eames chair: Jenni’s dad’s basement
• Mid-century dressers: Jenni’s parents’ first dresser set, originally from Stanley Furniture collection
• Typography print: Etsy
• Frames: Thrifted

• Mustard throw blanket: HomeGoods
• Orange and white rug: Urban Outfitters
• Black chevron bench: Amazon.com
• Tan suede chair: a gift from friend Shelly
• Black and white striped throw: IKEA Eivor
• Magenta vase: HomeGoods
• Vinyl world map: Amazon.com
• Spiral painting: a gift from friends Kit and Murray by artist Kathy Jones

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*Re-edited from a tour previously published