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Kelly’s Retro Artist Loft in Downtown LA

Alysha Findley
Alysha Findley
Alysha is a photographer and designer living in Seattle who loves dark chocolate, tea, and all things furry. In her spare time you'll find her with paint in her hair renovating her 1919 Craftsman and sharing the process on her blog Old House New Tricks.
published Aug 30, 2011
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Name: Kelly Reemtsen
Location: Downtown — Los Angeles, California
Size: 3600 square feet
Years lived in: 11 years — rented

When you enter Kelly’s loft you are taken aback by its enormity, the wall of floor-to-ceiling windows, great lighting, bright colors, incredible art and mid-century charm. Kelly is an artist in Los Angeles who has lived in her space for over a decade and is one of my dearest friends. When she secured this studio in the extremely sought after artist community at The Brewery many years ago she knew that she would be there for the long haul. This space is an artist’s dream come true and isn’t the kind of place that comes around too often, so when you get it you hang on for the ride.

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Kelly’s home is a perfect union of her passion, personality and profession. One of the greatest parts about this loft is that it gives her the convenience of rolling out of bed in the morning, passing through the sliding glass doors and right into the adjacent studio. This incredible loft allows her the space to create whatever she wants in a large work area completely separate from her living area. Depending on the day, you may find a full size trampoline that takes up a mere quarter of her work space.

Her home is spacious, bright and colorful with the perfect balance of white, brown and what I like to call “Kelly Orange”. Most of the items in her home, from the furniture to the accessories to her wardrobe, are mid-century and have been used as props for her paintings at one time or another. Her artistic sensibilities and interests are seen all throughout her home which make it a very personal, creative and quirky environment. I hope you enjoy your stroll through Kelly’s lovely little world!

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Apartment Therapy Survey:

My Style: Mid Century Modern

Inspiration: Raw Open Spaces

Favorite Element: I love the light and the fact I can work and live in the same location. 

Biggest Challenge: Not buying and filling it with too much stuff. 

Biggest Embarrassment: My bathroom (not pictured) is a bit of a disaster.

Proudest DIY: I recently made and installed black out curtains on two 15′ sq windows.

Best Advice: For a space this size do a little at a time becasue EVERYthing needs to be big so it doesn’t get lost.

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Resources of Note:

PAINT & COLORS

    • I have only one wall that is not white. I love the look of a giant vanilla box filled with colored objects. The wall I painted is in the kitchen and I matched my Russel Wright “lemon ice” residential melmac. It is a very soft and light chartreuse. I use bear paint from home depot.

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Thanks, Kelly!

Images: Vanessa Stump

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