Savannah’s Eclectic Emotional Home

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published May 5, 2015

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About this tour

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Home Type

Apartment

Location

Los Angeles, California

Style

Eclectic

Vintage

Bedrooms

Square feet

650

Sq ft

650

A painting between two bookshelves with a kitchen table in the foreground. — (Image credit: Bethany Nauert)

Name: Savannah Farris-Gilbert
Location: Los Angeles, CA
Size: 650 square feet
Years lived in: 1 year; rent

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Interior Designer Savannah Farris-Gilbert grew up in Los Angeles, raised by designers and artists. She believes there is an ease about growing up in LA and in the way in which people here interact with space. “Shoes were always kicked off my the door, there were always rugs underfoot, sun streaming through windows, the outside was very much a part of the indoors. It has a manner that doesn’t take itself so seriously. There is always a celebration of high/low.” Her home is a prime example of this idea in that it exudes both traditional and modern ideas.

(Image credit: Bethany Nauert)

Savannah believes that to design a home the most essential part to consider, beyond balance and scale, is its identity. For her, the space is it’s own being. “It has emotion and character and feeling and it is my ultimate goal, in every space, to coax that out. It is usually somewhere between the people who inhabit it and the happy accidents.”

Her home is rich with family photos, inherited artwork and furniture, tons of books and collectibles. In spite of its smaller scale, it was designed for entertaining with ease. Savannah’s dining room table seats 8 and she admittedly loves to host Sunday suppers every month. It’s not just about the “things” that take up space in her home, she believes that what holds the most value is the people with whom she shares the space. She says, “I was reading Diane Keaton’s autobiography and she was talking about people being the color in a home and I love that sentiment and couldn’t agree more.”

“Looking around I think I could probably live without most of the stuff I have bought, collected and inherited but if I had to pick an object it would be the photograph in the kitchen of my mom which was taken by Roland Fischer. She really hated the way she looks in it and never hung it. Somehow that makes it even more special to hang it where I see it every day.”

(Image credit: Bethany Nauert)

Apartment Therapy Survey:

Our Style: Casual eclectic with a love of traditional antiques

Inspiration: The house I grew up in is a huge source of Inspiration. Also every time I travel some place new I usually bring home a little something whether its an object or an idea and infuse it in my home.

Favorite Element: I really love the peach stripe under the crown in the living room. After a roadtrip through the Yucatan last year I fell in love with the old colorful buildings in Merida and wanted to infuse a sense of history into my space. My painter begrudgingly painted it by hand, but it’s wonderfully imperfect and often a really unexpected element that is usually the final element that someone takes in about the room.

Biggest Challenge: I not only live and work in the space but I quite often throw dinner parties that can range from 4-20 people so I have really had to make it versatile and easy. It took me the better part of the last year to figure out what layout works right now (and it will likely continue to get rearranged as the whim strikes) and to find enough storage for everything in my life.

What Friends Say: Comfy and collected. This is a feet on the furniture and water rings on the table house filled with a lot of really loved and used stuff. My mom would not be pleased by the rings on the table.

Biggest Embarrassment: My occasionally dying plants. I am in the process of learning how to care for plants and there have been some casualties.

Proudest DIY: The hat display above my bed. It is centered on this amazing ring I found, but it was a delicate balance between placement and hats staying on pegs and nails. Every time I want to wear one of them there is a moment of holding my breath as I pull it down. One of these days the whole thing is going to come down and I will have to start again.

Biggest Indulgence: Aside from my sofa I would say candles and Pinon. Candlelight is my favorite layer of lighting. I burn tapers and pillars almost every night, especially when I’m having a party. And Pinon triggers some wonderful sense memories from my childhood so I burn it a lot especially in the colder months.

Best Advice: Let your home find its own identity. That is probably the best thing I have learned being a designer and especially in designing my own place. Space has character and if you let go of a little control, things tend to click into place. When I lay in bed I look at the two paintings that are not hung at the same height and it makes me smile. My friend Andrew calls it a happy accident. It just feels imperfect and wonderful.

Dream Sources: Garde, Hollyhock, Mecox, Compas, Mille, General Store in Venice, March, Fat Chance, NK Shop

Resources

(Image credit: Bethany Nauert)

PAINT & COLORS

Living Room Wall: Benjamin Moore Vintage Linen, Peach Stripe: Portola Sonoma Ochre
Hallway Wall: Benjamin Moore Vintage Linen
Bedroom Wall: Portola Orchid Petal