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Name: Lily Tsutsumida, husband Evan, and cat, Otis
Location: Costa Mesa, California
Type of home: Apartment
Size: 1000 square feet
Years lived in: 13 years, renting
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Tell us a little (or a lot) about your home and the people who live there: I’ve lived in this rental for 13 years now, first with a roommate and now with a spouse (and always with at least one orange cat). The bones of the apartment are pretty dismal — it’s a very ’80s space that came with linoleum countertops, popcorn ceilings, boob lights, and beige carpet in every room. Still, we love the neighborhood, so we’ve updated what we could and tried to design to distract attention away from the rest. I’m an artist and art therapist by trade, my husband enjoys photography, and we both like a good DIY project, so our home is filled with images and items that are handmade or hand-updated by us.
Evan is a minimalist at heart, while I lean more toward vintage and eclectic style, so we’ve settled as a couple into “mediumalism,” using a base of clean neutrals and bright negative space to create a calming energy, then filling in vignettes with my collection of funky vintage and handmade things.
Describe your home’s style in 5 words or less: Eclectic, bright, modern, handmade, mediumalist
What is your favorite room and why? I’m pretty obsessed with our stairwell. We updated the floors, sanded down the handrails to a natural wood color and turned it into a gallery space. What used to be a beige-carpeted nothing zone is now a place dedicated to showcasing my own drawings, vintage family photos, and leather patchwork pieces my mom made in the ’70s. I also love how the geometric wood wall hanging I made for the stair landing takes center stage and beckons toward the upstairs.
What’s the last thing you bought (or found!) for your home? One of the more recent DIYs we did was an IKEA hack to create the litter box cabinet for the top of our stairs. We started with the IKEA BRIMNES cabinet, cut out an arch on one side panel before assembling, and replaced the hardware with some more interesting cabinet pulls from Etsy. The piece functions visually as a console table to display some vintage decorative items, and nobody would suspect its true purpose.
Any advice for creating a home you love? If you’re partnered with someone who has a different style from your own, embrace the opportunity to find a way of designing that celebrates both of your identities and preferences. The result will be something different than what you’re used to, but it will be a reflection of the relationship itself and can bring pleasant surprises. For me, learning to embrace a more minimalist base in my home gave me a surprising sense of calm and organization, which I’ve really come to appreciate. Also, be resourceful! Almost all of our furniture was handed down from family members. The pieces we didn’t love we experimented with and turned them into something we felt good about. Enjoying furniture and decor we created or modified ourselves is much more fulfilling for us than buying something new (and cheaper too, which was the real reason we got into it).