My Houzz: Minimal Meets Boho Style in 570 Square Feet
Check out this couple’s small-space design ideas using office supplies, paint and vintage finds in their L.A. apartment
“Our living room has existed in every furniture configuration possible — save for the furniture being on the ceiling,” Marni says. “Laine always jokes that every time he takes Fitz out for a walk or goes to get the mail that he comes home to a completely new house. Frankly, it’s kind of true.”
VW van poster, hula girl poster and Air Afrique poster: Lantern Press
VW van poster, hula girl poster and Air Afrique poster: Lantern Press
“It’s been great having outdoor space. Whether it’s the backyard or our front stoop, we love sitting out with a glass of wine around sunset and just watching the neighborhood go by,” says Marni, pictured with Laine and their corgi, Fitz.
The couple share a car and love that they are within walking distance to a metro stop.
The couple share a car and love that they are within walking distance to a metro stop.
Marni describes the couple’s style as a blend of Laine’s preferences for minimalism and white furniture with her love for eclectic, boho and industrial pieces. “We’ve paired a leather chesterfield sofa, which brings that kind of old-world, industrial vibe I love, with a crisp white coffee table, which has that look Laine loves,” she says. Marni painted the lower half of the living room wall in a deep navy (Singing the Blues by Dunn-Edwards Paints).
The painting is a Craigslist find.
How to Get a Half-Painted Wall Right | Browse cream-colored throws
The painting is a Craigslist find.
How to Get a Half-Painted Wall Right | Browse cream-colored throws
“I love the exposed beam in the kitchen and that the finishes in the home are so classic,” Marni says. “Give me a good subway tile kitchen or penny tile bathroom any day.”
When the couple first moved in, they had an office nook and then a small dining table in the kitchen corner. They moved the table outside and now use the space for additional kitchen storage.
Displayed in a custom round walnut frame is a ketubah (Hebrew for a Jewish marriage contract). The couple ordered their custom ketubah and frame from Etsy. “The frame has that minimalist, midcentury feel to it,” Marni says.
When the couple first moved in, they had an office nook and then a small dining table in the kitchen corner. They moved the table outside and now use the space for additional kitchen storage.
Displayed in a custom round walnut frame is a ketubah (Hebrew for a Jewish marriage contract). The couple ordered their custom ketubah and frame from Etsy. “The frame has that minimalist, midcentury feel to it,” Marni says.
The vintage media console is from local shop Hutch.
Laine is originally from Cape Town, South Africa. These three African dolls were souvenir gifts from a friend who visited there a few years ago.
Hanging in the kitchen are some of Marni’s original photos. In the top left is a small print of a green door in the Bo-Kaap neighborhood of Cape Town taken on the couple’s recent trip to South Africa. To the right is a photo of Dodger Stadium taken in the afternoon. “I love baseball, and Laine and I used to walk to games from our previous apartment,” Marni says.
The photo of the striking cobalt blue door was taken during a trip to Rouen, France; the photo of the yellow midcentury door was taken in Palm Springs, California. The bottom right print is of, in Marni’s words, “colorful beach huts which line the sand at Muizenberg Beach in Cape Town — once a favorite hangout of Laine’s then-teenaged parents.”
The couple added open shelves to increase the storage in their kitchen.
The photo of the striking cobalt blue door was taken during a trip to Rouen, France; the photo of the yellow midcentury door was taken in Palm Springs, California. The bottom right print is of, in Marni’s words, “colorful beach huts which line the sand at Muizenberg Beach in Cape Town — once a favorite hangout of Laine’s then-teenaged parents.”
The couple added open shelves to increase the storage in their kitchen.
Since the couple’s apartment is small, it made fitting their clothes, towels and sheets into the little closets a challenge. “The space under the window in the bedroom, between the closets, has had numerous iterations. It’s been a window seat, an office nook, and currently it is more storage space after careful measurements and an exhaustive search for pieces with that spot’s unique dimensions,” Marni says.
Laine carved the wooden sticks that lean in the corner of the room.
Laine carved the wooden sticks that lean in the corner of the room.
Opposite the bed is a display of vintage tennis rackets. One set belonged to Laine’s parents, and the other to Marni’s parents.
On their recent trip to South Africa, the couple brought back a traditional Kuba cloth made of woven palm leaf fibers. “I had been looking for a ‘headboard’ which was light and wouldn’t come crashing down on our heads in the event of an earthquake,” Marni says. Since the textile is rather fragile, they decided to skip the frame and hang it with binder clips instead.
The couple display their small collection of hats using clothespins. Marni describes it as “a kind of fun and functional piece of art. Laine had the idea to hang them with the clothespins. It’s something friends always comment on,” she adds.
The couple display their small collection of hats using clothespins. Marni describes it as “a kind of fun and functional piece of art. Laine had the idea to hang them with the clothespins. It’s something friends always comment on,” she adds.
“Our backyard space is one of our favorite features. We love having a space that works for both us and our Fitz — the boy loves suntanning,” Marni says. Because of space constraints, the couple moved their dining table outside to create an alfresco dining room. “I love that all the chairs we have for it are a hodgepodge of hand-me-downs or Goodwill finds.”
“It’s so nice to host dinner parties outside at the table whenever the weather’s nice,” Marni says. “And when it gets chillier — just a little — to sit around the fire with friends and enjoy a hot toddy.”
Find fire pits in the Houzz Shop
My Houzz is a series in which we visit and photograph creative, personality-filled homes and the people who inhabit them. Share your home with us and see more projects.
More home tours: Apartments | Small Homes | Colorful Homes | Contemporary Homes | Eclectic Homes | Farmhouses | Midcentury Homes | Modern Homes | Ranch Homes | Traditional Homes | Transitional Homes | All
Find fire pits in the Houzz Shop
My Houzz is a series in which we visit and photograph creative, personality-filled homes and the people who inhabit them. Share your home with us and see more projects.
More home tours: Apartments | Small Homes | Colorful Homes | Contemporary Homes | Eclectic Homes | Farmhouses | Midcentury Homes | Modern Homes | Ranch Homes | Traditional Homes | Transitional Homes | All
Who lives here: Marni Epstein-Mervis and Laine Mervis and their corgi, Fitz
Location: Highland Park neighborhood of Los Angeles
Size: 570 square feet (53 square meters); one bedroom, one bathroom
Year built: 1949
Marni Epstein-Mervis and Laine Mervis have used the constraints of living in a 570-square-foot rental as an opportunity to continually reinvent their decor and storage solutions. “The square footage can be a challenge, but it’s also made us really creative about how we live and what we put in our home,” says Marni, a Houzz contributor and owner of Struktr Studios.
“Because it’s so small and I get inspired to frequently rework my surroundings, our home has seen a lot of iterations. Even more so when I use our house as my photo studio and move things in and out for a shoot,” she adds.
Marni made the storage bench under the window using two crates to serve as its legs. “I custom-cut a piece of lumber and applied a faux marble vinyl to it,” she says.