Inside the Quirky AF Home Life of a Rad Roommate Trio

This Silver Lake rental has plenty of physical characteristics to be envious of: charming architectural features, big windows and eclectic furnishings. But it’s not the objects that make this house so special — it’s the trio of creative women who call this space home. Because I secretly wish I was their fourth roommate, I delved more into their home life. Spoiler Alert: They spend typical evenings building puzzles, playing guitar and making you want to be friends with them. Their rental house is basically Stars Hollow personified.

(and the one graciously answering this interview!)

“I am inspired by so many different disciplines—from historic architecture to feminist art to interior design to data visualization and graphic design to print publications to hospitality and urban planning.”

“Maggie has a more sporadic artist lifestyle so her schedule varies but she is the breakfast burrito queen. No matter what life throws her way, Maggie will make herself a damn burrito”

“Steph is our night owl and late sleeper. She works at a cool Thai street food spot down the street with crazy hours so she tends to go to bed way later than us and gets up later.”

Maggie and I met one fateful evening in a dorm our freshman year, Maggie was sipping a bev in an indoor hammock, fully cocooned, and I was there for a fort-style slumber party. It smelled like Christmas. That was at Pitzer College in Claremont, CA. Maggie and Steph were friends growing up in Sun Valley, ID.

We all graduated college in May 2014, (Steph from Berklee College of Music and Maggie and I from Pitzer), and decided to move to LA…Maggie convinced Steph to move to LA after she was set on moving to Seattle to pursue music, and I had moved here for a design job.

It’d probably make more sense to paint you a picture of us convening: Steph with a guitar in hand, a rainbow sampling of wine glasses all over, Maggie clad in some combination of her 11,000 pairs of lingerie and lacy pajamas, me on the floor, probably with a foam roller or yoga mat and some strange tonic concoction I’ve made that is mysteriously only palatable to me, a puzzle on the dining table (right now we’re really into a human anatomy jigsaw), and some bizarre conversation threads happening that sometimes remind me of the twitter account @NYTminuscontext. Sometimes the TV is on, but we tend to get more engrossed in each other than whatever we’re watching. I hope it stays that way for a long time. We get eaten up by technology the rest of the day.

I cook a lot and Mag and Steph order out a lot. But we sit together and steal nibbles from each other on the reg.

We all convene in the kitchen. That’s our happy place. Maggie and Steph are big winos and I often come home to them drinking wine and goofing off in the breakfast nook.

I jokingly call it “clearing spiritual space” but it is probably more aptly called friendly OCD, aka I’m a neat freak, so I tend to just clean everything. I try not to impose my crazy on anyone else ;). It works well though because they don’t care if I move their stuff or rearrange things.

The best thing about living with a friend is having a built-in family to come home to. We are all there for each other whether it be tears or triumphs or comic relief. Some days when I come home from work I get that feeling that all is taken care of, that I’m exactly where I need to be in this space with these gals. Steph writing a song against the backdrop of the purple-pink migrating smogsets that are so distinct to Los Angeles, the laundry freshness is wafting into the air, with fresh-cut herbs from our tiny box garden and the smells and sounds of wine pouring and dinner cooking…aaaah.

What’s most surprising is that we’ve become a lot closer since moving in together. We were good friends beforehand but usually living in close quarters takes a toll on relationships and slowly people become less appealing as friends. I think we’re incredibly lucky to be living the exception— we have gone from friends to family.

The funniest part about us living together is navigating singledom in Los Angeles. Coincidentally we had all three gotten out of long-term relationships just before moving in together so we’re all in the same boat whether it be zany meet-cutes, tinder dates, light stalkers, sexcapades, intense love affairs and small-scale heartbreak— we’ve got each other’s backs in what has proven to be the hardest and most rewarding phase of life thus far. They are the best that there is.

Having enough physical space to yourself is so important. If you’re going to be constantly bumping into each other that can become arduous on the relationship. But also having different schedules and interests has been cool for us in terms of pushing each other to new heights and avoiding stagnancy. We all three mutually feel like this is the best living situation we’ve ever had.

I work a pretty regular 9-5 so most days I get up, go on a run, make a smoothie and go to work. Maggie has a more sporadic artist lifestyle so her schedule varies but she is the breakfast burrito queen. No matter what life throws her way, Maggie will make herself a damn burrito. Steph is our night owl and late sleeper. The sweet dailinesses, orange peels and coffee grounds in the sink, half-empty teacups hidden throughout the house—these are all the things that make it home.