Final Loft Reveal: {My New Office!}

Decor

In rearranging our loft to make way for little Carter, I may have given up the Apartment 34 Studio space, but I definitely still needed somewhere to work! We also still needed a spot for guests to stay. And I dreamt about how nice it would be to have a little quiet retreat to escape to…So to the upstairs I went. What was once our bedroom has now been transformed from this….

To THIS!

The first thing I did after our bed headed downstairs was paint the walls white! The lofted room only has 7ft ceilings so I needed to do something to make the space feel as expansive as possible. I’ve been a sucker for Benjamin Moore White 01 paint for quite some time. It’s the perfect soft white. It’s amazing what a fresh coat of paint can do for you!

While the upstairs feels much bigger now, actual square footage is still very limited so I had to hunt out as many space-saving solutions as I could. The first score was my adorable mid-century inspired desk. It’s just big enough to hold my computer and that’s all I really need. Sure, I loved all my gorgeous office accessories, but really, when is the last time you used a stapler – even if it is an acrylic one?!

I also wanted to create a little reading nook for the few spare minutes of relaxation I can grab between naps, so a set of picture rail shelves now serve as my magazine rack + place to display personal photos. I love how I can swap out titles to completely change the look. Two black and white botanic art prints from Buddy Editions, framed beautifully by Simply Framed add a nice contrast to the neutral color palette. They really ground the space. Carter also likes to come up and hang out with mama while she may or may not be catching up on email!

All in all, I’m really pleased with how this room turned out. It’s mult-functional, it maximizes every available square inch and just feels inviting. Now the husband often has to go looking for me because I’m tucked away up here!

If you missed the rest of the loft makeover, check it out right HERE.

home office resources: west elm floor lamp // west elm mid-century mini desk // gold speckled cowhide rug // american leather sleeper sofa // jessie balck throw pillows // simply framed custom frames // buddy edition art prints // gap bag as basket // pottery barn kids activity gym // heath ceramics bud vase // diptyque candle

original photography for apartment 34 by aubrie pick

9 Gold Pendants To Light Up Your Life

Bathrooms

A killer lighting situation can complete the look of a space—it’s like the cherry on top of a sundae…the icing on the cake…the cheese on the pizza? Alas, we digress. What we’re trying to get at is that a good light can define a space and serve to add a little bit more dimension to the feel of a room. Not to mention, extra mood lighting is always welcomed, especially when it comes to enhancing the Instagramability of our meals {#priorities}.

If you’re looking for something more dramatic than a basic ceiling light, but less showy than a chandelier, pendant lights are the way to go. The great thing about them is that they’re super versatile—you can hang them over a elegant dining table or use them to create a cozy reading nook. In our favorite metallic hue these guys offer just the right amount of interest for any decor situation!

It’s hard to go wrong with these pretty pendants—you can go singular and bold or hang multiple smaller options to create the lighting that best fits your needs. Often times, you just need that one glitzy piece to add that touch of glam to a space. We’ve scoured the web and created our own collection of gold pendant light faves!

We love the perforated look of #4. We’ll take two to hang over a long dining table, please! Which would you choose?

Get Your Shop On:

> 1. Bronze Copper Shade Pendant
> 2. Euclidean Pendant
> 3. Starburst Sputnik Chandelier II
> 4. Perforated Metal Industrial Pendant
> 5. Workstead Brass Pendant
> 6. Cell Tall Pendant Light
> 7. Caviar Adjustable Pendant
> 8. Magica Drum Pendant Light
> 9. Factory 1-Light Pendant

image 1 via Nordic Design // 2 via Apartment 34 // 3 via Zuvier // 4 via Yellowtrace // 5 via Coco Lapine // 6 via Design Milk // 7 via New Zeland Design Blog

Copy by Editorial Intern Ali Hartwell

3 Design Trends Spied at the SF Decorator Showcase

Bedrooms

One of our favorite events of the year is touring the San Francisco Decorator’s Showcase home. It’s almost like the Fashion Week of interior design where designers from all over the Bay Area come together to exhibit their talents all under one roof {literally!}. This year’s location is a beautiful historic home designed by famed Bay Area architect, Julia Morgan. Located in Presidio Heights, the home overlooks the Presidio boasting expansive views of the Bay and that mighty fine looking Golden Gate Bridge of ours!

Since each room is designed by a different designer, you’re hit with all types of styles, tastes and interior inspiration. There was so much visual interest to take in, it was hard to even find time to blink. We could have easily spent several hours exploring and we still would have missed some killer details—it was just that stunning.

While there was an overload of inspiration to report back on, here were some of our biggest trend takeaways {the rest you’ll just have to go see for yourself!}:

1. Green is Gold. Various shades of green were used as the wall color choice for several rooms, but we were especially obsessed with the look of the matte, Hunter Green walls of Will Wick’s master bedroom. The color seemed to shift dramatically depending on which way the light hit the room—adding an additional layer of drama to the space’s already edgy feel. The use of all sorts of green hues throughout the home proved just how dynamic the color can be and for that reason it earned a spot at the forefront of our minds for future decorating projects {like this one!}.

2. Embrace Destruction. While a lot of interior design has a tendency to be super pristine and polished {and spendy!}, we love the look of subtle imperfections that give a room character and a sense of realness. Brittany Haines of Authenticity B layered in that sense of “realness” for the Showcase home’s office space. From a desk made from charred wood to a worn, lightly frayed antique rug, the room embraced life’s natural “wear and tear” to create an utterly sophisticated, yet still super approachable look.

3. Walls as Art. Of course we’re familiar with the concept of hanging art on walls, but Cecilie Starin took the idea to another level by commissioning Bay Area muralist Ian Ross to create a custom-painted, canvas wallpaper. Suddenly the walls themselves became the work of art! The organic, energetic lines of the hand painted walls played perfectly with some insanely badass gold accents to create a jaw-dropping look that can’t even be summarized with words.

These were just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the all the design happenings going on inside the 2015 Decorator Showcase house. It’s truly a must-see for any design fiends in the Bay Area. The house itself will be open for viewing through Memorial Day weekend so be sure to check it out for yourself if you’re in town! You can find all of the details on the Decorator Showcase website. If you’ve already visited, we’d love to know what design detail caught your eye!

image 1& 2 by Patrik Argast // 3 &4 by Bess Friday // 5 via Cecilie Starin // 6 by Ali Hartwell

5 Bold Interiors With Even BOLDER Art

Decor

There must be something in the water because we’ve been gravitating towards all things a little out of the ordinary lately. It could just be that we’re feeling ready for a little color ourselves these days {baby. coming. any. day now!}, but we have set our adoration for minimal white interiors aside. These over-the-top energy filled rooms are just feeling so right, right now. With statement pieces of art and in equally statement-making design decisions have our hearts beating double time – they’re exciting, adventurous! When going for a statement, there’s only one rule: go bold or go home, right?!

We love how the colorful modern piece above inspires you to have a strong point of view! The piece adds the perfect touch of playfulness to this masculine study.

A statement wall isn’t complete without statement art. One large piece on a striped wall would have been ballsy, but four fashionable portraits is even ballsier, and we like it!

We love how the art does all the talking in this otherwise muted space. We love it’s low horizon line and unusual off-centered placement.

Speaking of, this oversized piece looks like it barely fits between the molding. And we’re sure that somewhere there’s a design rule that says this “doesn’t work.” But we like it’s rebellious, pushing the boundaries {or in this case, molding!} placement!

The exaggerated doorway and bold colors below are the perfect match for this jumbo “5.” It makes us re-think where art should live – the answer is everywhere! – and for that we give this design choice a score of 10!

So why not applya bit more fearlessness and grandeur in your decor decisions moving forward? If you have a blank wall that could use a little, or in this case, BIG pick-me-up we say go for – make the big move! You can check out more boundry-pushing decor ideas here!

image 1 via Est Magazine // 2 via Greg Natale // 3 via // 4 via Interior Design// 5 via Red Architecture

How To Incorporate a Home Office into Your Living Room

Decor

In case you’ve been living under a giant pile of work lately {raise hands!} and happened to miss it, our uber-talented Editorial Director, Bianca, was just featured in the latest issue of Rue Magazine! And not just any ole’ issue, it’s the Anniversary Issue – the biggest of the year! I couldn’t be more excited to show you some snaps of her crazy hot home office space — it’s just the right amount of moody glamour and much-needed function; proof positive that you don’t even need a “real office” to achieve a similar look. Bianca’s going to take it away! Just own the envy and take notes! – Erin

Not everyone has the luxury of having a dedicated room for an office, right? Myself included. My office is actually my living room and admittedly, it was tricky trying to figure out how much “office” to incorporate into the space I veg out the most. You may remember the previous layout of the room here. The “office” was tucked away in a corner on purpose. I didn’t want it to be a focal point because really, who wants to stare at their desk more than they have to??

It worked for a while, but it really wasn’t ideal for me being shoved in front of a closet. So I moved the desk against my main gallery wall and boom, the room changed- for the better! The white desk popped off the dark wall and by clearing the paperwork, leaning some artwork and placing pretty objects on my desk, it camouflaged it enough- making it a highlight of the space without taking away from the purpose of the room.

Objects and magazines are always rotating on the surfaces of things. My coffee table already doesn’t look like this- in fact, a lot of things are different! I’m always picking up something new to add to my home. I think it’s so necessary for my sanity- to change things around. It keeps things from getting stale. I just bought this crystal candle that I’m obsessed with, this decor book called The Chamber of Curiosity and this throw– like I need ANOTHER one!

One of my favorite areas of the room is the bar area. It sits atop a dresser that holds dvd’s and computer cables. I added drawer pulls from West Elm to make it look a little more fancy! It’s a real mix of high and low. I’ve found all of my barware at thrift stores and painted the framed piece myself. Everything sits pretty next to my favorite pair of Regina Andrew alabaster lamps- my ultimate splurge! And just in case you were wondering, here are the most common questions that I get regarding my space:

> Dark paint color? Benjamin Moore Nightfall, 3 coats

> Art piece above my sofa? I painted it! Email me for commission prices and look out for prints coming soon!

> Are the black chairs velvet? Linen? They’re wool and pinstripe and ever-ee-thing!!

Be sure to read the full story in Rue’s Anniversary Issue here and another behind-the-scenes interview on what my day really looks like – including my fave music, artists, must-haves and go-to websites- here.

original photography for Rue Magazine by Aubrie Pick

Getting in the Mood the Old Fashioned Way

Business of blogging

We’re taking a poll. Who used to cut their favorite pages out of magazines and tack them onto their walls?? Guilty as charged. Oh how many Teen Beats I destroyed! Thankfully I moved onto Lucky, Domino and Elle Decor. Even just a couple of years ago I was still saving boxes of my favorite tears. But now we’ve all become wholly subsumed by Pinterest and the digital versions of our favorite glossies. It seems the old school moodboard has fallen by the way side and that makes me sad. There’s something so important that comes from the physical act of compiling your inspirations, moving them around until it suddenly just fits!

That’s why I purposefully/forcefully/willingly/excitedly created an area in our Team Apartment 34 office redesign for a physical moodboard because, really, nothing beats it! No matter what kind of photo shoot or project we’re prepping for, we always feel more focused once we go through the exercise of creating our board. It’s also a fabulous way to get our butts out of our chairs and our eyeballs away from the screen!

But in the days of digital everything, we have to get a little more creative with our creative process. You may remember this outfit we posted last month. Well, the inspiration came from the moodboard below! Despite popular belief, we don’t just throw on an outfit and snap a pic or two. Wardrobe styling is taken pretty seriously around here. We always start with a a general idea or theme, but we focus in on the final look based on our compilation of design spreads and fashion editorials. It can be a pattern, a mood, color palette or texture, light, or even typeface. The only qualification we have is that it must make us stop and say, “omg- obsessed.”

While we still pull objects, fabric swatches and yes, occasionally tear from a magazine, now we print out our favorite inspirations! You remember those things- printers? If you’re a visual person, we highly recommend adding one to your home office. We’ve been putting our Canon Pixma Pro to serious good use. The photo quality images it prints out – even of our pins – is just jaw dropping. There’s something so satisfying about getting things off of a screen and into your hands. That way you can mix, match, tack and tape to your heart’s content! You’ll be amazed at what new life images take on when actually on paper!

After we’ve amassed a good stack of prints comes the fun part: bringing everything together. If your brain hasn’t already done so, it definitely will start to detect patterns as you begin taking things from the printer and putting them up on you cork board, wall or office door. We have a wire grid from the hardware store {you could use chicken wire for a similar look!} that we spray painted white- it’s our favorite place to clip our printed images and it only cost about $7 to make!

Some of our favorite sources for inspiration boards include:

> Hit The Pavement: Go outside, walk around the block and pick up feathers, rocks or any other flotsam and jetsam that catches your eye

> Play Photog: Snap pics of cool architecture and patterns – to print out on your Canon Pixma Pro of course

> Swatch It Up: Go to your nearest fabric store for free swatches and to get your crafty brain gears in motion

> Print from Pinterest: Print out your fave pins to really bring your pinboards to life

> Scan Old Magazines: don’t forget those 1990′s Vogue issues- their pages are packed with forgotten inspo. If you don’t want to tear, scan and print, instead!

> Bobbles and Bits: scour your office or home for anything that jumps out at you- a necklace, handwritten note, the latest business card someone handed you, etc

Et voila! You have inspiration that not only helps you execute a creative project, but a process that also gets you through any creative rut that may come your way- that is until you’re ready to take it down and start all over again!

While we’ve been focused on mood boarding, after our crazy travel season we’re excited to use our Canon Pixma Pro in a ton of other ways! How fun would it be to print out travel photos we’ve already forgotten about? Need some quick art for your gallery wall? Why not create your own by printing out your very own Instagrams! They’d look stunning coming out of this printer. Really, the possibilities are quite endless.

What are some of your favorite sources for finding inspiration? We’d love to know!

original photography for apartment 34 by Aubrie Pick // styling by Bianca Sotelo

This post is in partnership with Canon Pixma Pro. All thoughts and opinions are our own. Thank you for supporting posts that keep Apartment 34′s doors open.

Put A Prop On It: {Office Styling Revealed!}

Business of blogging

They say your home is the museum of your life. I’m first to admit I can take that to a bit of an extreme. I’ve just always loved decorative objects. I find them on trips, the flea market, random boutiques. They always remind of the time and place where I found them. Thankfully, with all the styling we do around here these days, my accessories collection now comes in very handy! We decided to kill two birds with one stone with the Apartment 34 office redesign: store all our props and use them for our own decor!

When it comes to styling office shelves – especially when you’re working with a lot of accessories, the key is to keep things from getting totally overwhelming. In our case, there was editing involved {although you might not be able to tell!}. In order to avoid a hot mess, we styled the bookcases with a cohesive neutral color palette in mind: white, gray, creams and tans. A few pops of green, blue and bronze keep it from feeling too monotonous. Anything that didn’t work in our color scheme got stored out of sight.

Another shelf styling rule of thumb is to create vignettes in threes. Each shelf got its own mini-threesome {or two!}. We grouped bowls, candles, vases and the like. Be sure to always vary the heights of your accessories to create balance!

Stacks of books {and my never ending collection of Vogues!} also helped break up horizontal lines and offer additional texture. There’s something about books that immediately warms up a space.

We also incorporated a variety of our glass objects {vases, carafes & even a selection of my favorite wine bottles} to keep the shelves from feeling visually heavy. Adding in plants {we picked a rubber leaf and snake plant} injected the entire space with life {duh} but I also love their different shapes and textures.

We broke up the all the business we’ve got going on at our coworking desk by creating a distinct seating area on the opposite side of the room. It’s a lovely spot for group brainstorming sessions, magazine browsing and general decompression from screen time! I mixed a traditional sofa with more modern chairs and sweet white enamel side table. I used the art to inject the area with color.

Finally, you may remember our office supply closet DIY from last year. Well, now we get to fully enjoy it because we removed the supply closet doors! I was pleasantly surprised how much it opened up the room. Now all we see is all that great bright white space, styled desk supplies {yes you can be picky about your office supplies and it DOES make a difference.}

Even with all our details proudly on display the office feels more open, more spacious and really inviting. By keeping our edit tight and the floor plan spread out we keep the room feeling overtaken by stuff. Now when we’re working on our next shoot everything we need is right at our fingertips!

original photography for apartment 34 by Aubrie Pick

Office Makeover Reveal: {Design Is In The Details}

Decor

Having the office done is Such. A. Relief. From day one, I set out to create a space that would really help get the team’s creative juices flowing. I wanted ideas to literally bounce off the white walls. But trying to stay minimal can be a bit tricky – design is very much in the details when every piece counts. And when you’re working on a budget making the perfect choices definitely took more time than expected!

But as promised, we’re breaking down some of those details today {and over the next couple of weeks!}, first focusing on the upgrades to the walls. We found affordable, simple and most importantly fun ways to really make the space feel brand new!

We spend the vast majority of our time glued to screens, so I really wanted to capture wall space for old school inspiration. I used to have boxes and boxes of magazine tears, people – that I moved cross country…twice! As we worked on the redesign, we always kept our eyes peeled for new and interesting ways to display pieces of tangible, physical inspiration. That hunt became the source for our most economical DIY yet! Can you guess what it was??

We’d been seeing metal grates pop up all over our fave Scandinavian blogs, so we decided to try and make one ourselves! A simple trip to the hardware store yielded the perfect large scale wire grating for $7! To take it a little beyond junk yard chic, we simply laid it down on some cardboard and spray painted it white. Now it simply hangs from picture hooks. We call it our modern pin board and we’re all obsessed.

The grate is the perfect solution for an awkward wall space that needs some visual interest {it hangs on this weird blank spot right before you enter the bathroom!}. It adds texture and interest all on its own, but we use it to hang styling ideas for upcoming shoots, odd knick knacks and our favorite art for a seriously cool 3-D statement!

Since half of the team is facing a wall when sitting at our new co-working desk {the now iconic Strut Table from Blu Dot, btw!}, we needed something inspiring to look at there too. Instead of doing a typical gallery wall, we loved the idea of creating a rotating inspiration shelf. With acrylic clipboards from Muji {they proved more economical than these gorgeous ones from Russel & Hazel!} and a simple picture rail, we have a chic and quickly interchangeable moodboard to display our most recent magazine musings!

In our book, no office is complete without a bar and we wanted ours to be a highlight of the space! We started out by creating a black statement wall {painted with Flat Silhouette by Martha Stewart Living for The Home Depot}. Keeping with the minimal style, we floated a clean-lined Ikea console with white lacquer doors and Ikea-hacked it with a customized black surface {aka $10 black contact paper purchased on Amazon!} Then we brought in one major piece of artwork. This is an especially meaningful piece, as we commissioned our very own Editorial Director to make it! Bianca recently discovered this stunning hidden talent {you may remember the piece she did in her own living room here!} and her gorgeous abstract ink on canvas really brought the wall to life {inquire about your own piece here!}.

When it came to lighting, we didn’t have the luxury of installing a “major moment” over our new desk due to a concrete ceiling, so we figured out how to work with the tracking lighting that was already there. We used a simple custom brass pendant {made by studioPGRB!} to make a stunning, singular statement. We also added a monochromatic black wall sconce by OneFortyThree to instantly upgrade our lighting game!

Finally, we created a mini-gallery moment in our “creativity corner.” Still wanting to keep things as uncluttered as possible, we focused on four art pieces all with a similar color palette and gold frames. The two new ones are original works by fave artist Jennifer Ament and the last little detail is simply a hand-painted watercolor card that we slapped up, unframed, but it totally rounded out the moment. The fresh combo made us fall in love with our favorite art piece from the original design all over again – our Life Magazine image of Vegas showgirls playing chess backstage! J’adore.

That’s detail on just a few of our favorite mini moments around the office. We hope you can see how the simplest changes can have the biggest impact on a room. Next week we’ll break down the creativity corner, the supply closet {remember our most popular DIY to date!} and what’s on our prop shelves! Stay tuned.

__________________________________________________________________________

SHOP the Office Makeover Sources

> Strut Table, Blu Dot

> Slope Chairs, Dot & Bo

> Black & White Rug, Lulu & Georgia

> Pendant light, studioPGRB

> Wall sconce, OneFortyThree

> Throw pillows, Designer Fluff

> Dipped natural wood tray, The Vintage Vogue

original photography for apartment 34 by Aubrie Pick // moodboard image 1 via Lotta Agaton // 2 via Design Sponge // 3 via Style At Home // 4 via Trendenser // 5 via Stylizimo // 6 via Rebecca Centren

It’s Here: The Apartment 34 Office Reveal!

Decor

We interrupt our regularly scheduled Wedding Week to finally reveal our labor of love: our new and much improved, Apartment 34 team office!

We said we’d have the office makeover done in a month, but like all good design projects, it ended up taking four! Thankfully it’s here now and it’s pretty awesome {if we do say so ourselves!}. We’re SO excited to finally be able to invite you in for a tour.

The space needed to be completely refreshed in order for our growing team to get down to business. This included an all new layout complete with a jumbo work station as well as a “creativity charging corner” for thumbing through computer-free inspiration {SO necessary!}. A dramatic black accent wall, a custom brass pendant and spots on the walls for impromptu moodboards are just a few of our favorite details!!

You’ll want to stay tuned as we break down fresh ideas that you can easily replicate in your own space next week. We plan to dive into all of the ins, outs, sources and how-to’s. If there’s anything you spy that you want us to be sure and cover, just leave a comment with your request!

Until then, you can find even more pics of the office on VSCO Journal! We were thrilled to share insights from our design process and a bit more detail about the crazy world of running a blog with the VSCO team. The interview, with more of our makeover reveal and some never seen “befores,” is HERE. And a very special thanks to VSCO for the feature and all the AH-mazing products you produce that help make our photos so much prettier!!

Curious about what the Apartment 34 office looked like before? You can see last year’s studio tour HERE and my tips for making simple updates to your space on Refinery 29 HERE! I’m also be pinning to a moodboard inspired by our redesign with Blu Dot for the next two weeks HERE.

original photography for apartment 34 by Aubrie Pick

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