A Loft in Los Angeles...

A friend and I traveled to southern California (So Cal, as the locals say) several weeks ago. Her son and his wife live in a wonderful loft apartment in downtown Los Angeles. The loft is full of charming touches, so well designed and furnished by this young couple...definitely with an artistic eye. Their space has actually been used as a photo shoot location for commercials! The loft has a whole wall of tall windows and high ceilings which add to it's feeling of spaciousness.

The loft is a large, open, 900 square foot studio space with two baths, yet surprisingly, no closets. The couple had to get creative with how to store their clothes and shoes. Rather than hide them in an armoire or make shift closet, they chose to hang ropes and metal rods for her clothes and use a custom designed and constructed clothes/shoes storage unit for his. The rest of their clothes are stored in baskets under their bed.

I loved all the use of white lights...from the small ones above their bed to larger ones around several of the windows. The liberal use of green plants bring so much color and life to the otherwise industrial feel of the space. 

Another design feature I loved was the wall of books they created by building book shelves to house their collection of old books. All we book lovers can only drool....

Instead of purchasing a large carpet for the living area, which would have been quite costly, they purchased several rugs at a flea market and put them together...love their ingenuity!

The kitchen and bathrooms were updated before the lofts in the building were rented out. The bathrooms both have lovely, large bathtubs...a bonus for this loft space.

Everywhere you look you see such fun and creative design touches...like the light fixture he made with the help of a friend...

The natural feature above the dining table...

Her artwork above the kitchen cabinets...

And, as if living in this lovely space is not enough, wait until you see what's on the roof...oh to be young and living in LA!

The lobby of the building was fun to see too...full of marble tile.

After our visit to this lovely loft, we walked a couple blocks and ate dinner at a charming Italian restaurant nearby, that made their own pasta.

Living in downtown LA is not for the faint of heart however...even in such charming space. You see all kinds of interesting things and people walking around in the heart of the city, you hear the sounds of the city from cars and construction and sirens, and yet there is a vibe of energy and excitement too. The architecture of some of the old buildings is impressive, like this old theatre.

What fun memories and stories this young couple will have to tell of their time living downtown in LA! I hope you enjoyed this little visit to city living...a far cry from where most of us live. I'm so glad summer is here, aren't you? Warmly, Gracia