Liz's Apartment on Cup of Jo

My apartment was recently featured on Cup of Jo, and since Lizzy designed the interior, we thought it would be fun to include a little recap of the feature here on Lewis at Home with some more insight into the design process. 

Living Room: We had the concrete coffee table custom made after two store-bought versions cracked and broke upon delivery! The tv above the fireplace was a big do we or don't we conversation. We love winding down the day with a good show, so we went for it, but I could see a time where we replace it with art and move the tv elsewhere. 

When we moved into our apartment, I had just lost my dad to cancer and was newly pregnant with Louise. I was feeling lots of emotions on top of hormonal shifts, and what I wanted in our new home more than anything was a sense of calm and ease. The space was modern and white - a blank canvas and beautiful as is, but we knew it needed some warming up if it was to feel like home. At the time, Lizzy was at RISD getting her Masters in Interior Architecture and lucky for us, she likes to keep her plate full and agreed to design our interior while at school.

Dining Area + Kids Work Table: We took two kids chairs out of the shot here to simplify the image. I love having this kids table for our kids and their friends to draw or share a meal. We considered smaller ones and I'm so glad we went with one that fits four. 

I kept coming back to the idea of a cabin in the sky. I love the simplicity and warmth you can find in Scandinavian interiors and wanted our new home to feel a bit like that - a mix of modern, a bit rustic and comfortable for a growing family. We made the big decisions first: stain the natural oak floors dark, install whitewashed wood paneling to many of the wall surfaces including some sections of the ceiling (which you can see above), install reclaimed wood paneling to a couple of the bedroom walls and Lizzy custom designed the living room fireplace + shelving wall. And then because of lead times, we ordered all wallpaper as well as the tile for the kitchen backsplash. 

Hallway: Our furniture maker friend Mat made us this sliding door to separate the bedrooms from the living space. 

Nursery: I drew these radishes, above, 2.5 years ago when we started talking about the idea for Lewis!

Lizzy and I first realized a hole in the baby bedding market in 2010 when we asked Lizzy to help design our nursery for our first child. We ended up using plain crib sheets because we couldn't find any patterned bedding that suited us. Most were too cutesy and almost all were hard-lined graphics. I personally like to see the hand in pattern work - whether it's in the original artwork or the production process or both. To me, it's much more interesting to see wonky lines than straight ones, and this is just not something you see much of in the baby bedding market. 

Dresser / Changing Table: Three souvenirs from Mexico City, here: stuffed bird, basket and the otomi textile. All beautiful handmade treasures. 

Nursery: Lizzy and I are big believers in the nursery fitting seamlessly within the rest of the home, and this black & cream rug choice by Lizzy is a great example of that. Black for a baby's room? Yes!

I've been reading Cup of Jo since its early days, so it was a real treat to have our home featured. You can read the entire home tour on Cup of Jo here.

Many thanks to Joanna Goddard for the feature, Lizzy Ott for styling the shoot and Alpha Smoot for the beautiful photos.

All photos are courtesy of Alpha Smoot for Cup of Jo.