by Furnishly | Dec 21, 2022 | Design Inspiration, Style
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Name: Rachel Ramsower and Ethan Troxell
Location: Austin, Texas
Type of Home: Duplex
Years Lived In: Less than 1 year, renting
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“When I came across a home with a pink kitchen, a ’70s tiled bathroom, and old character, I knew we had to move in!” exclaims Rachel Ramsower, thrifting enthusiast. “I’ve always had a love for older homes that have their fair share of quirky elements and that was what immediately drew me to our now home. My boyfriend, Ethan, could tell you he is more of a modern guy, but to my surprise, he fell in love with our little vintage space!”
Rachel continues: “I always love seeing a new space completely empty and imagining what you will put where and how you can bring the space to life. Sometimes you really struggle with this vision but that wasn’t the case with this home. I immediately felt inspired by our belongings and how they would fit in our new place. It truly felt like I was meant to discover this home!”
Apartment Therapy Survey:
My Style: If you were to talk to me for less than 30 minutes, you would probably guess that I have a love for unique things. My style is no different! Whether it be my personal style or decorating eye, I truly love bringing together random, quirky, and unique things to create something special.
Inspiration: I take inspiration from lots of different elements. Antique stores, color theory, artwork, nature, fashion… There is endless inspiration in this world. While most of my creativity is sparked by vintage elements, I also pay attention to all sorts of design, from trendy to eclectic.
Favorite Element: The kitchen! I mean, how cute is the pink kitchen! This tiny ’70s kitchen is without a doubt my favorite element of our home. A huge bonus is just how perfect my vintage blue bar cart looks in there.
Biggest Challenge: I would say the biggest challenge for us was actually blending our two styles. This is mine and Ethan’s first time living together, which meant bringing together both of our stuff meaning two completely different styles! I’m lucky to have a partner who is so easy going and allowed me to decorate really however I wanted. I still had a goal to make our space feel like both of us though and that challenged me to get inspired by things I normally would avoid.
Proudest DIY: While this isn’t a DIY project, I am in love with my purse mini fridge!! This isn’t something that takes skill, but I guess it just really inspires me. It gets me thinking on how to decorate in unorthodox ways to truly make a space feel unique!
Budget: To be honest, we work with a small budget on the daily. Rent in Austin is expensive, and it seems like just waking up in the morning costs you $5! Our strategy though has been to thrift and get most of our pieces secondhand. It helps that I absolutely love thrifting so I seem to always find more eclectic pieces for our home! But what about the pieces we couldn’t thrift? We worked slowly on investing in more expensive yet classic pieces that we know we will love for a long time. Our bar area for example was an expensive purchase. But it’s one of our favorite areas of the house so it was totally worth it!
Is there something unique about your home or the way you use it? Well, I’ve already talked about my beloved purse fridge, but I haven’t mentioned my dress-up room! Basically, our second bedroom could be whatever we wanted as long as we had a sleeper sofa for guests. There was more space to work with, and I was imagining how I would fill it. I have always loved exposed wardrobes in homes so there was no question I wanted one of my own. This room now showcases some of my favorite quirky and fashionable clothing and accessories. While this isn’t the most unique use of a bedroom, I think it’s just another addition of what makes our space so special to us!
Please describe any helpful, inspiring, brilliant, or just plain useful small space maximizing and/or organizing tips you have: I won’t pretend to be the best advice giver, but I will say I have a few tips for decorating a space! 1. Don’t over analyze it. Thinking too much blocks the creative process! 2. Be open to shopping and sourcing at places you normally wouldn’t. This will help break up your home from being just one style (if that is your goal). 3. Decorate for you and your needs! Your space is yours, which means you have the power to fill it however you want.
Finally, what’s your absolute best home secret or decorating advice? Stay true to yourself! There are so many tips and tricks that work and there are so many resources that will tell you the do’s and don’ts of home decorating. But the only person you need to please is yourself! Take inspiration from what you love and trust.
by Furnishly | Dec 20, 2022 | Design Inspiration, Style
We independently select these products—if you buy from one of our links, we may earn a commission. All prices were accurate at the time of publishing.
Name: Claire Oring and pets
Location: Playa del Rey — Los Angeles, California
Type of home: Two-Bedroom Condo
Size: 1140 square feet
Years lived in: 3.5 years, owned
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Tell us a little (or a lot) about your home and the people who live there: I bought this condo a few years ago, purposely choosing a spot to be near my dad. I fell in love with the arched windows in the Spanish-style building, the abundant natural light, and the crown molding.
The living room is distinctly bright and cozy with lots of sage greens, woods, white, and mauves. I redid the kitchen January of 2020 and feel like it really adds a great pop of color into the space. I love layering texture and pattern and filling the home with lots of art and personal decor.
The primary bedroom I redid April of 2020. It’s inspired by the English and French countryside and is extremely cozy and calming. I had wall trim put up and mixed a custom paint color for it. I only have paintings up in the walls in here to really push an old world vibe.
I also redid the bathroom (I need to take better photos) in a bright style with gold accents and a beautiful Art Nouveau wallpaper. It’s filled with light from my prisms in the window each day.
Finally, my guest room was designed as an office that could be used as a guest room. I had a Murphy bed custom made from Wilding Wallbeds and it’s so sleek and beautiful. The room is white and blue and I wanted to keep it calm and charming and neutral so working in there feels relaxing.
I’ve really tried to put my mark on each room!
I’m a creative director and I absolutely love playing with color and antiques. I’m constantly on the hunt for unique found objects and love to mix new with old, just like my personal style, which is quite the same. I’m a swing dancer so I’m constantly going out to see live jazz and soul bands in LA and my personal style is very ’50s/’60s.
I own a creative studio called Oui Create here in LA and I love how calm my space is when I often work from home. My twin ginger cats are great assistants. My mood is really affected by my surroundings so I really tried to make this my dream home!
Describe your home’s style in 5 words or less: Charming, Eclectic, Cozy, Bright, Old World
What is your favorite room and why? The living room — it’s really one big room combining the living, dining, and kitchen. I love all the colors and textures from every direction. Also, the big arched windows are really dreamy.
I’m currently in stained glass classes and I hope to create some stained glass work for the window arches in the year to come.
Any advice for creating a home you love? If a wall is feeling too bare, add some wall trim or wallpaper. I added wood paneling and a shelf to my living room wall and added a pop of color and it brought the entire room together.
If you’re not in your forever home, buy pieces that could adapt anywhere — you can always have them refinished in new colors down the line. I may repaint my Murphy bed and dining hutch one day and stick them in the same room.
by Furnishly | Oct 15, 2021 | Design Inspiration, DIY, Style
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Name: Joel and Jessica Nickerson, their two girls, and Pip Squeak the cat
Location: Outside of Dallas Texas
Size: 2,200 square feet
Type of Home: House
Years lived in: 3 years, owned
From the second I saw this house online I could picture us in it. The neighborhood it’s located in is sweet, too, and it’s walking distance from our girls’ school. When we came to see it, we walked from the front door to the backyard and we were already talking about making an offer. I loved the layout and the charm it had. You could tell it had been loved… but it needed updating (you can see the pictures I took on moving day, here). Thankfully that’s my favorite thing! We’re only the third owners (it was built in the early ’70s) and the last owners raised their girls here and the family that built it had girls too! I love that!
Apartment Therapy Survey:
My Style: I used to say “eclectic” because that meant I could justify whatever I liked. I’d still say that but I’d add vintage, traditional, and a little modern.
Biggest Challenge: I think we can easily forget that turning a house to home is a process. It takes time and money and patience. That’s okay! Enjoy the process.
Proudest DIY: When we moved into our home, our kitchen was on the list for a someday- demo. A year and a half into living here, we made a few adjustments like removing the soffit, adding open shelving, and replacing the counters. We painted EVERYTHING and besides the countertops, everything was bought secondhand. We love our kitchen now. It’s no longer a top priority.
Biggest Indulgence: I usually purchase most things secondhand on Facebook Marketplace but I wanted a table in a specific size for our dining area and had looked for months with no luck. I worked with a local wood worker, @kaleocarpentry, to design a table that is heirloom quality. It was more than we’ve ever paid for furniture (roadside finds are my jam) but so worth it. It’s beautiful and will be perfect for our family for years to come.
Is there something unique about your home or the way you use it? We ditched a dining room for the reading room. The under the stairs closet is a “craft room” for our girls and I turned a hall closet into a mudroom. Your house should serve you and your family. Nothing has to stay the way it was intended.
What are your favorite products you have bought for your home and why? I love our vintage rugs. Two of them (my favorite ones) were my great grandmother’s but I’ve also gotten a couple at estate sales and online. They are beautiful and have so much character.
Please describe any helpful, inspiring, brilliant, or just plain useful small space maximizing and/or organizing tips you have: I’m just really inspired to have less. Being more intentional with what we bring into our home gives us less to keep up with, clean, and store.
Finally, what’s your absolute best home secret or decorating advice? DO IT. I’m a really big advocate of jumping in there and getting the job done. I want you to love your home so if there are things that you can do right now to give you that feeling, you should do them. Don’t be afraid to try a new paint color or hang art. Make nail holes!! Move your furniture around. These things are low-cost, low-stakes changes but they could lead to you feeling better about your space, more confident in your abilities, and more content in your home. Can’t beat that!
This house tour’s responses were edited for length and clarity.
by Furnishly | Sep 27, 2021 | Design Inspiration, Style
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Name: Alyssa Owens and Alex Matthews
Location: Carlton, just north of Melbourne’s CBD
Size: 800 square feet
Type of Home: Apartment
Years lived in: 2 years, renting
The heritage apartment sits in Carlton, on the edge of Melbourne’s CBD. It’s part of a late Victorian residence that once held the Commonwealth Bureau of Meteorology. The mansion was later cut up into smaller apartments, one of which we were lucky enough to snag in May 2019 when we moved to Melbourne from New Orleans. The soaring ceilings and elaborate plasterwork are striking, and we’ve tried to balance them out with simple, modern furnishings. What you see in the photos is mostly vintage or used, a mix of our favourite pieces we shipped from Louisiana or sourced here in Melbourne’s second-hand market.
The space is perfect for big, loud dinner parties. We made the most of this when we first moved in, but Melbourne’s lockdowns put the parties on hold. So, the apartment has mostly been for us over the past 18 months. We feel grateful to have had such a comfortable space to ride out the pandemic while both working from home. Alex is an Australian consultant who’s spent the past decade working in strategy in Melbourne, New York, and New Orleans. Alyssa is an educator who now works at a global non-profit that helps unemployed people access meaningful work. She’s spent most of her adult life working in schools in New Orleans. One Louisiana summer, the two of us met on the bayou.
Apartment Therapy Survey:
Our Style: Modern, collected, textured, and always evolving
Inspiration: We’re most inspired by our travels, by art, and by other people’s beautiful spaces.
Favorite Element: The ceilings — 16-feet high with traditional plasterwork — are stunning. They’re the first thing you see when you walk into the apartment.
Biggest Challenge: Temperature control. Soaring ceilings are lovely to look at but make heating during the Melbourne winter feel impossible.
Proudest DIY: We used vinyl decals to cover up tired, gray floor tile off the kitchen and en-suite bathroom.
Biggest Indulgence: The Beni Ourain rug in the living space is really the only big-ticket furniture item we purchased new. We worked with an incredible weaver in Morocco to design it. He helped us get the size and color just right for the space.
Is there something unique about your home or the way you use it? We don’t have a TV, but on most locked-down Friday nights we rearrange the living room furniture and remove artwork on the 5m x 6m wall to convert the space into a makeshift home theatre. All it takes is a classroom projector, a portable Bluetooth speaker, and a willingness to put everything back into place on Monday morning before Zoom calls. Our spare bathroom also doubles as a storage closet — but that’s just not as fun.
Finally, what’s your absolute best home secret or decorating advice? Start with one item that you absolutely love. Then design the room around it. For our living room, that was the rug. Also, go slow and buy secondhand whenever possible. Vintage and thrifted furniture lasts longer, is more interesting to look at, and holds onto its value.
This house tour’s responses were edited for length and clarity.
by Furnishly | Sep 9, 2021 | Design Inspiration, Style
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Name: Lily Harris (she/her), Llew Mejia (he/him), and three cats (Spooky, Poe, and Wody, one Sphynx and two Cornish Rexes)
Location: Bushwick, Brooklyn
Size: 700 square feet
Years lived in: 2.5 years, renting
“We do not remember where half of our stuff is from,” shares Lily. “We don’t buy a lot of new things, we pick up antiques when we see them during moves and travels, and we have found a lot of free gems from people moving in and out of New York.” Fashion designer and Holistic Health Practitioner Lily and her partner, Llew, an illustrator and folk tattoo artist, have moved around the United States a lot (though NYC has been their home for six years now) and the only things they’ve really kept from move to move are their antiques. Antique furniture and decor are on full display in their space, including a set of monogrammed trunks passed down from Lily’s great-grandfather, an antique armoire that Llew found, and treasures from their visits to the flea market and travels.
The 700-square-foot apartment also checks a lot of items on their list of design aesthetic must-haves. A wall of windows, a feature they prioritized when looking for a new space, provides a lot of natural light in their open loft industrial space. The windows make the space seem more open, highlight the tall ceilings, and display all of their antiques and found pieces. However, windows are just one of the features that make this apartment the right home for the couple. It also allows them to find a happy work-life balance; they find enjoyment in being near friends, having easy access to work, and having a space that supports their love for antiques, books, and plant life.
“It’s conveniently located between where our friends live across Brooklyn, Lily’s full-time job in Midtown Manhattan, and we love our cozy neighborhood spots like Pearl’s Social & Billy Club and La Cantine,” they wrote. “We work a lot! Llew runs his tattoo studio in a separate space on the first floor of the building. Lily works from home in both fashion and holistic nutrition right now. We spend a lot of time in our apartment, and New York is a place where it’s hard to find personal space, so we want our apartment to feel like our home.”
Apartment Therapy Survey:
My Style: We’ve both moved around a lot, now landing in NY for almost six years, which is hard to believe. The only things that we’ve held onto through the moves are antique. We lean towards warmer colors, leather, and wood. Lily is from Minnesota, while Llew moved around between Mexico, the Southwest, Minnesota, and more, so our space tends to look like a mix of our previous homes.
Inspiration: We’ve collected pieces for our apartment to pair with the pieces that we’ve kept through moves. I have a set of monogrammed trunks from my great grandfather, which have seen a lot, and Llew collects antiques. We like to go to flea markets, where we’ve found a few treasures.
Favorite Element: We have become a two-couch household. Llew happened to be moving studios, with an extra couch and nowhere to put it, so we brought it into our living room. Now we can spread out and our guests always have space to sit. We’ll never go back to having only one couch.
Biggest Challenge: Living in a small Brooklyn space can be a challenge. If you collect things, they accumulate quickly and personal space as a couple can be interesting. We have a tiny oven (meant for RVs) with unreliable temperature settings, and Lily cooks a lot, so that can be a challenge, especially for baking bread. We both love clothing, so more closet space would be nice. If we could change anything else about this apartment, we’d add a full bathtub, add a real bedroom door for a bit of separation, and maybe find a quieter upstairs neighbor. Also, we have too many books.
Proudest DIY: Our friend Rob Bezrutczyk runs a CNC fabrication studio, Thirdkind Studio (and Instagram here) in Bushwick. He created custom pieces for us that elevated our space including kitchen shelves, bedroom shelving, light fixtures, and a curtain rod. We don’t know what we would have done without his skills and perfectionism. Beyond that, we tore out the cheap and completely worn down “IKEA-looking” bathroom fixtures and replaced them with vintage pieces, which helped a lot.
Biggest Indulgence: As we’ve mentioned, we love our vintage couches. Llew collects antiques and oddities, which can be fragile items to handle and maintain, especially with three active cats prancing around. Lily has a slight addiction to ceramic mugs, but Llew has cut her off from buying more… for now.
Please describe any helpful, inspiring, brilliant, or just plain useful small space maximizing and/or organizing tips you have: Lily is an introvert and Llew is an extrovert, so when it comes to finding personal space and alone time in a small Brooklyn space, Llew goes out on the town often, giving Lily some time to decompress in the form of face masks, home cooking, and reading.
Finally, what’s your absolute best home secret or decorating advice? Having moved quite a few times, we’ve learned that the cheap things we’ve purchased in the past just to make do get thrown out quickly, so we no longer buy them. Buy timeless pieces that you plan to keep for life and don’t bother with the rest.
This house tour’s responses were edited for length and clarity.
Chinasa Cooper
Contributor
Chinasa is a photographer from New York City who loves to capture those details that make your event, your product, your home true to you.
