When I think about the things that I accomplished before turning 30, it’s pretty crazy to think one of those things was buying a home! In all honesty, I wasn’t looking to purchase a home and was actually looking to rent but when I was looking over my financial assets and increasing cost of rentals in Los Angeles, it made more sense to use the money I had saved and invest in a home.
I loved living in DTLA and came upon this hidden oasis, on the top of a hill in Highland Park. As soon as I saw the unit, I was SOLD! 12 bids later and a personal letter with a picture of Mila and I, we landed ourselves a steal and we prepared to move into our new place.
Now, interior design became a growing passion after I went through several processes of designing commercial spaces for the nails salons and ice cream store. So with my new home, I wanted to have some fun and bring more life and personality to the space!
Here’s some pictures of the condo before I moved in.
What stood out to me in this unit versus the other properties I look at were - vaulted ceilings, top floor location (no noisy footsteps echoing throughout my place), dual master bedrooms on opposite ends of the space, laundry room and the balcony which overlooks a beautiful green hillside. The only thing was, I felt the color of the walls was too dark and drab, in addition to the kitchen cabinets looking a bit outdated.
Now, I’m a very visual person and did not have a budget to hire interior designers to help render the space, so I went ahead and created a blank document for each area of my place and pulled photos from online to get a better idea of how the space would look! Here are the renderings that I put together, keeping in mind the dimension of each space and the furniture measurements.
Huge thank you to Joss & Main and RoveConcepts for helping me furnish my place! Additionally, I used Dunn Edwards paint to change the color of the walls, giving it a more fresh, clean and modern look. The walls were painted in Heirloom Shade and the ceilings were Cool December. My vision was to create a space that combined Transitional pieces with Mid Century modern vibes and for the bedroom I wanted it to be as chic and modern as possible. I had to hire a painter due to my vaulted ceilings, but I'm proud to say I built 90% of the furniture myself.
Now the kitchen is in the process of getting it’s final touches, but I cannot even begin to explain how huge of a difference it made to just paint the cabinets and replace the fixtures! I meannnnnn.....WOW! I can’t wait to replace the countertops and upgrade the appliances. But after I painted the cabinets white, attached new fixtures and replaced the kitchen sink, it really made a world of difference.
When moving into a new space, furnishing is a huge expense. So I’ve been adding little by little! I’m currently working on re-vamping my bathroom and I feel like the dining room needs some artwork.
Hopefully this gives you all a nice feel of my home and gives you some ideas for how to decorate your space! If you have any design tips, I’d love to hear.
