Small Home Big Style: Living Large In A Bohemian Cool Los Angeles Home

Hi Everyone!!

Happy Monday friends!  Remember like 3 years ago when I started the Small Home Big Style series? Well Im FINALLY back with another feature! I’ve missed this series so much guys and I’m so excited to be bringing it back.  I knew when I got back into blogging the SHBS series had to be at the top of the list. My love for small space living has grown exponentially since we downsized, and I love discovering others who share in that love as well.

Today I’m SUPER excited to have my instabae Erica here sharing her small home story.  I discovered Erica a couple years ago on IG and it was pretty much love at first sight for me.  She’s so freakin witty and raw, and I LOVE her boho style.  I absolutely adore her fabulous L.A. digs and Im so stoked to have her here sharing how she lives in loves in her small home…

Where/What city do you live in? Los Angeles, CA…in the Glassell Park neighborhood. 

Who do you share your home with? I live with my husband Greg, and our super senior 12-year-old Basset Hound Dudley
Do you own or rent? We bought our place 2 years ago, did an 8 month reno, and moved in last summer. 
How many sq ft is your home? We have a tiny main house and an even teeny tinier guest house. Our main house is 750sf…our guest house is probably 300sf. 
What do you love most about small space living? I love that you have less space to decorate, buy stuff for, and most of all, clean! I also love the design challenges that you often have to solve by living in smaller spaces. 
What challenges have you faced? My biggest challenge is that I have a vintage shopping problem. I absolutely love to buy unique art pieces, but we live in such a tiny house I honestly have zero wall space left. 
Any unique storage solutions? I often use my decor for storage. I’m addicted to vintage baskets and I have them stacked all over our home. If you opened any of them up, you might find our extra batteries, all of my leftover yarn, or even some craft supplies. I try to make use of every nook and cranny when it comes to storage. 
What’s your favorite room in your home? My fave room is our main room, which is open, so it includes our kitchen/living room. It’s where we have the highest ceilings in the house, and also the best light. I’ve been a huge fan for white floors for many years (we even had them in NYC), so I knew I wanted to put them in this house too. That’s also where the one TV in our house is, and I’m kind of addicted to every bad reality TV show ever. Oops. 
Do you every wish you had more space? When we first moved to LA, we moved into a house that was almost 2000sf…and we didn’t use 95% of the space. There were rooms that we honestly would never even walk into. I think after living in NYC for 12 years, we’ve just been conditioned to be more comfortable in smaller spaces.
Best piece of small space living advice? Think outside the box! Which is sort of my best advice for all decorating. But I find that with small spaces, you really have to get creative. For instance, if you search for “bedside table” online, a boat load of stuff will come up. However, NONE of it, fit into our tiny bedroom. So we’re using a plant stand and coat rack as bedside “tables”…yep, a coat rack. We have a craft table in our kitchen as an island, and an Ikea closet as a pantry. There are examples like this all over our house…cause I rarely like to use something for what it’s actually meant to be used for. I march to the beat of my own drum 🙂

I’m telling you this woman is one after my own heart!  Gimme all the baskets #pleaseandthankyou.  Thank you so much Erica for allowing us a peek into your home and life, and for sharing your small home story with us.  Guys, if you aren’t following her on IG you’re literally depriving yourselves of some seriously good stuff. You need to get on that ASAP! You can also find her over on her blog giving the real deal no bs skinny on all things design.  Erica’s home is definitely one that proves you don’t have to have a big home to have big style!

Until next time friends…

Xo-Shavonda

 

Posted By: Shavonda Gardner · In: features, interiors, small space living