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The offbeat occupant: Tali Edut, Astrology Author & Columnist
Other occupants: Cory Verellen (husband), Wendell (dachshund) & Bud (Russian Blue cat)
Approximate square footage: 1000 sq. feet (93 sq. meters)
How many bedrooms? 1
Lives in: Pioneer Square Neighborhood of Seattle
When did you move into this home? We met at Burning Man in 2008 and moved in together in January 2009, when Tali moved from NYC to be with Cory.
Ellen and Jake’s spacious, colorful apartment FULL of art
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Let’s start with the neighborhood. What’s it like where you live? Pioneer Square is the oldest neighborhood in Seattle and the place where all the historic brick buildings can be found. It’s a little dicey around here by Seattle standards, so the rent for a 1,000 sq. feet apartment with 20 ft ceilings is quite affordable. The neighborhood is home to artists, New Yorkers with latent loft fantasies, some genuinely crazy peeps, numerous galleries, and some cool 
bespoke companies like Utilikilts and the delicious Grand Central Bakery.
What makes your home offbeat? We both do what we love for a living: Cory refurbishes vintage Polaroid cameras through his business landcameras.com and Tali has an astrology biz called Astrostyle. We’ve incorporated elements of our passions into our decor. Huge blown up Polaroids hang on our exposed brick wall. We have funky altars in every room with sacred pieces that we’ve collected through our travels and Burning Man adventures.
Also, Tali is a DIY chick, so she’s made a lot of the pieces by hand, including the shower curtain (made from a vintage tablecloth and other retro materials).
What’s the most challenging about this space? How do you deal with the challenge? The loft is essentially three giant rooms that we had to figure out how to divide up. We used a combination of IKEA wardrobes and old vintage window frames as dividers. We covered the crappy IKEA “wood” by stacking salvage doors against them, or painting with chalkboard paint.
What’s your favorite feature of your home? The arched brick entryway to the living room which makes it look like a sanctuary… especially when the chandelier lights up the space.
What’s the most important lesson you’ve learned from this home? High ceilings, while gorgeous, can reduce the coziness of a space. It’s not always best to hang everything high up. We dropped the artwork down to between halfway to 3/4 of the way up the wall to compensate. Now, it still feels spacious, but our eyes aren’t always being drawn up.
What’s your grandest plan for the space? We’d like to work on the lighting a bit in the bedroom. It still feels a little too spacious/not cozy enough in there. I think we’ll draw inspiration from the Burning Man tents on the playa and create something cool with tiny LED lights and drape-y fabrics so it feels more like you’re sleeping in a bubble.
What advice do you have for other offbeat homies? When it comes to big pieces like a sofa or bed, buy new and get something practical. You can dress it up with colorful accents and then you’re not stuck with the lime green couch that looked great in your last apartment but fugly in your cohabitation station.
Let yourself lust over the expensive objects you see in antique or high-end retail stores, then, head to the Goodwill for a treasure hunt. If you can find it and fix it up a bit while making a donation to a good cause and reducing consumer waste, you’ll score extra points in Eco-heaven. Plus, no one else will have one just like yours.
Paint looks much lighter on a swatch then it does on your walls. You generally need two shades lighter than you think!
Any stuff or services you want to recommend?
Show me the decor porn!
Tablecloth as shower curtain = genius!
I salivate for absolutely every architectural feature of this place!!
The way you’ve played them up is brilliant.
I just love that bathroom. So nice!
This is all gorgeous– and I loved the glimpse of Wendell!
I actually subscribe to the AstroTwins- ha! And my five year old step brother mispronounces my name as… Tali.
“Paint looks much lighter on a swatch then it does on your walls. You generally need two shades lighter than you think!”
I disagree…
I have had a lot of success going darker, rather than lighter on the paint swatch in order to avoid it coming out almost white or pastel.
Interesting. I wonder if it has anything to do with the amount of light in your space. I have had a lot of low light apartments (a trend that must one day be broken) and that’s where the paint always looked darker on the walls. Do you have a sunny space?
Thanks for all the love, Offbeat Homies! It’s amazing how easy that shower curtain was to make. The standard size vintage table cloth actually fits a shower stall perfectly.
“create something cool with tiny LED lights and drape-y fabrics so it feels more like you’re sleeping in a bubble.”
That sounds a lot like what my mum is doing with her bedroom. It’s very much Moroccan inspired and basically consists of a bunch of tiny LEDs in a painted plywood board in the center of the cealing to look like stars and then fabric all around it.
wow. that is a beautiful home. and so much space!! love the archway and brickwalls 😀
Omg, that couch is perfection (as is the rest of your loft)! Where did you get it?
Dania Furniture, believe it or not
I love the Not So Big House series on home and interior design by architect Sarah Susanka. She really emphasized how important the “third dimension” – the ceiling height – has on the feel of a room and how cozy or grand or loud or calm it feels. Anything to visually lower the ceiling height would make the bedroom feel more cozy, painting the ceiling a dark color, adding cloth draped from the ceiling, etc.
Quit increasing my competition on ShopGoodwill! 😉 I can imagine how that space is really beautiful and impressive but a challenge to make “cozy”. Seems like you’re doing a great job, it feels cozy in the pictures!
I LOVE your space… all of those frames and exposed brick. Le *sigh*. I especially like how you’ve created the illusion of windows where there aren’t any. It really opens the space up!
I’m totally jealous of your success with Goodwill. The trouble with L.A. is that EVERYBODY knows the value of thrifting and vintage and either holds on to or sells their good stuff. Or what does make its way to the thrift stores gets snatched up quickly and is carted off to expensive vintage shops. You have to be super vigilant to find something great. Oh, and all the Goodwills, Salvation Armies, Out of the Closets… they know when to mark things up. It’s been frustrating for me!!
I know…I used to live in NYC and the thrift shops were always picked over by vintage vultures and sometimes way overpriced too. Time for a road trip, perhaps?
LOVE your space! Which building, if you don’t mind me asking, in Pioneer Square? We’re on the hunt for good lofts that aren’t overwhelmingly expensive. If you are allowed to share, could ya? 😀
Thanks!!
Tricia
What a fun and funky space!! I really love the use of old windows and doors as a way to break up the space.
Extra bonus: I knew Cory as a kid and it was a super fun surprise to see him mentioned here. So glad to be able to say hi!
Amy (Barich) Rose
Oh I just had a total fan girl moment, that’s my purple couch!!! I don’t know of anyone other than us who has one but everyone (well mostly females) we know loves it with a passion. I had salivated over it for 2 years before I bought it waiting for a sale
How do you hang art on brick walls?? I have plaster over brick, and am very sad that I can’t put anything up.