MY BRENTWOOD APARTMENT TOUR: THE LIVING ROOM

I just said goodbye to the apartment I have been living in for 7 years. My entire time so far in Los Angeles has been here, in the only place I have ever called home in the city of angels. And now, I am moving in with my fiance in not so far away Santa Monica and I must say, it’s been quite the send off. Obviously there are many good things about this move. The most important is starting a new chapter with Arthur and his adorable little frenchie, Pierre. Second, Santa Monica is not far from Brentwood and super close to the beach so this move isn’t too much of a shock, seeing as living in Brentwood is practically living in Santa Monica anyway. And third, it’s the next part of my life here in Los Angeles, my adult home really since I left Chicago right after finishing college about two hours away. As excited as I am to start this new chapter, I must give this place I called home some credit. It was where my California dreams got to come true. As cheesy as that might sound, it was home base for everything after I got off the plane at LAX and attempted to create a future in this new city. It was the first step in becoming truly independent and #adulting. The safe haven after tough days at graduate school, extra long work weeks, unfortunate car accidents, time spent with awfully “Hollywood” people and hours on the 405 freeway. It was where my best friend from high school and I debriefed from celebrity sightings, boozy brunches and bad dates. Where we hosted all our friends from Chicago, family and new LA friends. The place we’d order pizza at 3am, pregame off my bar cart, spend hours deciding what to wear out and debate whether or not a gluten free diet was actually better than eating real carbs. The jury is still out on that one, please write in an answer if you have one. The place where I’d bring home cheese and rosé for friends to come chat and where I created this wonderful outlet you are reading from right now. The place I’d retreat to after bad breakups and to call my mom and sister. Where I’d eat ice cream in bed and overwhelm my Pinterest account. The place I’d eventually welcome a new roommate, Leila, to after Emma moved to the Southbay and I desperately needed some hope after tough breakup. It served as home base for so many beginnings and endings, and so I wanted to make sure I got an opportunity to truly honor it. Hope this tour does it justice. Enjoy!

This small space in my apartment is where I would entertain a few friends in, as well as sit with my roommate Leila, eat dinner, gossip and watch The Real Housewives of basically anywhere. I always loved coming home and relaxing on the couch, doing some work, drinking coffee and decompressing from my day. Of course my favorite thing to do was entertain, whether it was for cocktails before going out at night, Galentine’s Day or just another night better spent at home with friends rather than some lame bar. My version of entertaining always tends to fall short on a main course, since I am a terrible cook. So instead I always do pretty cocktails, a yummy cheese plate and a dessert imported from one of my favorite bakeries; similar to my 27th birthday party. For my last hoorah in this apartment, I again stayed within my range and average entertaining skill. Rosè, some fabulous triple cream brie with honeycomb and pretty macarons. Ever since my friend Melissa gave me this adorable gold pineapple dish (old from Anthropologie – another version here) I have been trying to keep it full with some variation of a Sugarfina candy. Full disclosure, we quickly had to stop refilling it because I couldn’t stop eating them all day and so now it’s just for company. Same with cheese. But when I shopped for this shoot I found these ADORABLE blue caramel eggs and was OBSESSED! It’s a great treat for anyone as obsessed with blue as me and they happen to be delicious too.

For the decor my color scheme was lots of gold accents and blue and white. Starting with Raj, our colorful elephant I actually sketched out myself from a Lilly Pulitzer image I found on Pinterest and painted with Leila, was a complete DIY project that actually turned out well. It was quite simple after an inexpensive trip to Micheals and a steady pencil sketch. We used three blank white canvases, variations of blue paint and a pencil. We put in a little pineapple decal and both our initials to make him extra special. Unfortunately none of my friends could take him since he was customized but perhaps someone with the ML initials will get lucky at the Salvation Army! Hope you enjoyed my living room tour; up next is my bar cart and bedroom.