Hey MTV, Welcome to My Crib

Here's a closer look at my apartment!

One of the main reasons I wanted to spend a bit more on my apartment was so that I could have space to entertain.  San Francisco is notoriously expensive and I wanted the ability to have social gatherings in my home, as opposed to always meeting friends out in the city for drinks or food.  My dining table I bought secondhand via Craigslist.  In SF, so many people are moving in and out all the time and you can find incredible pieces for a fraction of the cost of a new item.  I love this table because it has hidden leaves that allow it to open up and I think I could probably fit 6-8 people around it when fully open!

Table: IKEA table bought for $80 from Craigslist with two of the leather-like chairs included…it pays to shop second-hand!
Salad Set: I've been subscribed to CauseBox for a couple years now and awhile back I received these Badala hand-painted wooden salad utensils.  They're beautiful and I brought them with me for my move.  The bowl I found at a cool thrift store in SF…it's a bit beat up but still really beautiful.
Napkins: When I was in India in January, I was on a hunt for fabric napkins for my apartment.  I visited Abhihaara Social Enterprise in Hyderabad and shared this with their team…and within a few minutes they whipped some up for me!  It was so amazing to meet the actual seamstresses who sewed them and see them be made :)
Napkin Rings: I figured a way to make sure people know you're a real adult is to have napkin rings…and I really wanted cool ones with a story.  These belonged my grandparents! They were made in Kenya and my grandparents assume they got them on one of their trips years ago…but they never went to Kenya…so how they acquired them is a bit up in the air!  Aren't they cool?
Table Runner: This table runner I received through my CauseBox subscription.  It was a collaboration piece done by Tribe Alive and Sarah Sherman Samuel.  It's so simple and beautiful, I really love it and LOVE having somewhere to finally put it!

The first photo in this post is my table closed up and it has on it a tablecloth my grandparents purchased while in Guatemala many moons ago.  They had friends in Guatemala and used to travel there pretty frequently and have quite the collection of tablecloths and cloth napkins that they never use at their own home but were excited to send with me to San Francisco.

The common area in my apartment is one large room, so once you get passed our kitchen and eating area, you're in our living room space with our couch and TV.  We bought our couch, coffee table, TV, and TV stand all secondhand off of Facebook Marketplace.  It saved us a ton of money and also reduced the amount of waste in the world!

I bought the painting hung up in the corner from a man I pass on my way to work.  Many days he sets up next to a fence under an overpass and hangs up canvases or open cardboard boxes and paints.  I always enjoyed seeing his work and a few weeks back I decided to ask him how much he charges and about how he started as an artist.  His name is Jazz and he originally started doing street art in LA in the late 80s but found that working with color got to be expensive.  He decided to switch up his medium so he could work with the colors he wanted.  I love how bright his work is and how it brings some lovely colors to my stark white apartment walls.

Out of pure coincidence, these throw pillows I bought from Abhihaara Social Enterprise in India compliment Jazz's artwork perfectly and help tie all the colors in the room together.

Moving onto my bedroom…

Bed: It's a Casper mattress on a bed frame from Overstock.com…unfortunately not a ton of social responsibility with those purchases.  I originally wanted a Leesa mattress but the cost versus the comfort didn't add up (I don't particularly love the feel of the Casper mattress either, but it was cheeper from Costco).  I really liked the Avocado mattress but the expense of it I couldn't swing at the moment because I'm not sure how frequently I'll be moving or where to.  The Avocado mattress seemed the ideal investment piece for me though and I definitely have my eye on one once I settle down somewhere for real.
Linens: I bought my comforter cover and pillow cases from West Elm.  They're made from 100% organic cotton and are Fair Trade.  Larger companies that have some flexibility with cashflow can often offer responsible products at a more affordable price.  As consumers, if we support those brands and buy those products, we can shift the company to create more and more of those products in a sustainable fashion.  On West Elm's website you can filter products to show you their more socially responsibly made ones.  My sheet set is from Under the Canopy.

The mirror and bookshelf were bought off of Facebook Marketplace, as was my secretary desk and dresser (not pictured).

Eventually, I want to do a big gallery wall above my bed.  So far…that seems like a lot of work I'm not exactly down for at the moment.  My most favorite room accessory is my most recently acquired one…or should I say thirty…these huge tassels!  In India, they're used to decorate trucks and you see them handing from their mirrors and front grills.  I LOVE them.  I wanted to get some so badly when I was in India in January but missed my chance and tried again when I was there in June, but to no avail.  My friend Kishor came to visit the Bay Area a few weeks ago and I begged him to bring me a tassel back and he surprised me with thirty in six different colors!  I now have waaaaaay more than I ever needed but love them so much I will make it work.

My bookshelf is probably my favorite feature of my bedroom.  On the top shelf, I have some little art projects I did that remind me of the two other places I call home…New Jersey and Ithaca, NY.  I'm glad I opted into the DIY route on these because they mean so much more having made them myself.  Below those, I have my "ode to NYC/Birds" shelf ;).  I always like to have a naturalist guides on hand to help me identify what I see in my surroundings.  I find it makes me more connected to the land I'm on.  Below that, I have a couple shelves with social impact books.