This Millennial’s Minimal Home Boasts Handmade DIY Furniture and Decor
Name: The Minimal Millennial, husband, 1.5-year-old daughter, and 25 plant babies
Location: The Marina District — San Francisco, California
Type of home: Apartment
Size: 1, 650 square feet
Years lived in: 8 months, renting
Tell us a little (or a lot) about your home and the people who live there: I live in the Marina District of San Francisco with my husband, our 1-year-old daughter, and our 25+ plant babies. We recently relocated from Venice, California and both work in tech (like just about every other person in the Bay).
We live in a second floor walk up in in a three unit Mediterranean Revival that was built in the 1920s but fully renovated about four years ago. The apartment gets great natural light and has three large, south-facing Palladian windows. The owner did a great job on the reno and managed to preserve the classic details of the apartment, like the original hardwood floors, while bringing the apartment up to date with modern details like marble counters and opening up the kitchen and dining area.
Describe your home’s style in 5 words or less: California cool, minimal, modern, organic
What is your favorite room and why? Definitely our living room. I love the unique architectural details like the three massive Palladian windows, the curved ceilings, and the ornate mantel and fireplace. We have been thoughtful with the little furniture we have in the room to ensure it doesn’t take away from the structural elements. Coming from L.A., it would have been really rare to find a place with so much character.
If you could magically change something about your home, what would it be? Make the bathrooms a little larger. Though we have 1.5 bathrooms, the full bathroom is pretty small. This building dates back to the 1920s and though we love the classic details and character, bathrooms were so much smaller back then. All things being considered, as far as San Francisco apartments go, we feel really lucky!
What’s the last thing you bought (or found!) for your home? My husband and I are really into DIY projects. Most of the things in our house were either built, refinished, or customized by us. It is a fun way to personalize our space and helps us avoid feeling like our decor is too cookie cutter. We recently added a small George Nelson-style bench and accompanying shelf to the space between our kitchen and dining room.
Any advice for creating a home you love? I think it is really important to make a space feel like it represents your personality. Rather than buy something off the shelf, we always try to do DIY projects instead so that the space feels like it is our own. It’s more work, but in the long run we appreciate it so much more than anything we just bought. On top of that, we know we will never see the same thing in a friend’s house. 🙂 Another thing is to reduce and declutter. It’s simple but true, less really is more. By stripping our furniture and belongings down to the minimum, it helps to add more focus to the things that are there as well as the negative space. And of course, plants, lots of plants.