Savannah’s Sophisticated Studio Apartment

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Name: Savannah Farris-Gilbert
Location:West Hollywood — Los Angeles, California
Size: Studio apartment
Years lived in: 1 — rent

Savannah, a Graduate student in the Architecture-Interior Design program at UCLA is perfecting her love of Interior Decorating. I think it must be a craft she honed in on very early — as she told me her mother often helps her hunt for new pieces for her apartment. Her small but cozy home was seen in the Small Cool Contest, and piqued my interest when I saw how well she created a foyer, just by partitioning off the bed from the front door.

(Image credit: Apartment Therapy)

Apartment Therapy Survey:

My Style: That’s a hard one. I would say comfortable, pulled-together, eclectic and sometimes sentimental.

Inspiration: I think I was most inspired by the furniture, actually. It started with the bed. It was romantic and natural. That lead to the settee, which I had had in my first
apartment. Then I knew I wanted an ottoman and I fell in love with the fabric which
inspired the color scheme for the room, and on it went. It was kismet. All of the
elements just lined themselves up for me.

Favorite Element: The collection of photographs my mom took. She has all of these portraits of her friend Pat from before I was born and I found them in this huge steamer trunk. I think it’s funny that I have all of these photos of a woman I’ve never met, but they are really beautiful

Biggest Challenge: The biggest challenge was breaking up the open floor plan so there is an entry, living room and bedroom. I really wanted ‘the bedroom’ to feel intimate. I actually tried it a couple of ways, but this floor plan worked the best for me. Also the folding screens were an inspired addition to the space.

What Friends Say: Warm and comfortable. If there is a magazine in sight I always find my friends curled up on the settee reading it with their shoes off.

Biggest Embarrassment: The microwave is an eyesore. I tried to come up with a creative place to put it, but at the end of the day, there wasn’t one, and I have to be able to live here, so on the chair it went.

Proudest DIY: My framed Sonia Rykiel for H&M bags. I wanted some bigger art pieces and when I brought the bags home I had an inspired moment. I got the frames from Ikeaand I cut the mattes myself, which was a lot of frustrating moments with my ruler and box cutter. It was kind of a big project since I left the bags intact, but they ended up being these amazing, poppy, art pieces that I’m going to have forever.

Biggest Indulgence: Fresh flowers and frames. I can’t afford expensive art, so I frame everything and anything.

Best Advice: Be mindful of scale. I played with the scale of my furniture, but I kept most of it small, because I live in a tiny space and I was lucky that I had a few smaller scale pieces in storage to switch out when I downsized. But I couldn’t part with the massive credenza, which I made work and I feel in love with the huge table lamp which brought some height.

Dream Sources: 1stdibs, The Conran Shop, Adesso Eclectic Imports, Decorator Tag Sale, Fat Chance, Kartell, Driade.

(Image credit: Apartment Therapy)

Resources of Note:

PAINT & COLORS

ENTRY

LIVING ROOM

DINING ROOM/KITCHEN

BEDROOM

BATHROOM

(Image credit: Apartment Therapy)

Thanks, Savannah!

Images: Bethany Nauert

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