Lucky 13 - A roundup of small San Francisco apartments

From Refinery29

Lucky 13 is a great place to grab a drink in San Francisco. Sometimes mistakenly called the "Cat Club" by my misinformed friends because of the giant black cat on the front, it's got a divey, punky vibe similar to that of another favorite, Zeitgeist.

I'm not superstitious; if anything, I kind of like the number 13 because people try to avoid it. In these two articles from Refinery29 (4 apartments shown) and The Bold Italic (9 apartments shown), 13 gorgeous and tiny San Francisco apartments get their chance to shine. Click through to see 'em all – clearly, 13 is a sign of good luck and good style in SF!

From Refinery29

From The Bold Italic

From The Bold Italic

A gal and her gallery

Welp, I've got me a new tiny-ass apartment.

After the past two years of living in a great place near Lake Merritt in Oakland, California, I decided to find some new digs with my bestie and moved to nearby Alameda. The neighborhood is super-cute, there's a farmer's market right outside my door twice a week, it's within walking distance of my favorite tiki bar (you've gotta try the Chambord-lada at Forbidden Island!), but best of all...

... new decorating opportunities!

I've learned new DIY skills in the time since my last blog update, and I'm already putting them to use.

This is what I'm working with right now.

Basically, it's a cross between an episode of Hoarders and the warehouse at the end of Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark.

It'll get there eventually. But one of my first projects was to hang my art collection (which was larger than I realized) in my bedroom. I decided to try a technique I saw on Pinterest to create a gallery wall.

First, I took large sheets of paper (thankfully I had plenty from the move!) and cut them to the size of the frames. I labeled them with a pencil and taped them to the wall.

It was haphazard at first, but I shifted them around until I was happy with the layout. And yes, I did whip out my tape measure and level to make sure everything was perfect. Then I drove nails, tore away the paper, and hung the frames. The trick to getting the nails in the right spot was to measure on the actual frame how far down from the edge I had to go. Then, to find the center, I folded the paper in half. Then I just followed the crease down to the correct measurement, made my pencil mark, and placed the nail.

And this is the result!

Why yes, I do enjoy the music of Nine Inch Nails, why do you ask?

There are still a few gaps where I'll add in non-framed pieces, like some antique flow-blue plates and skeleton keys I collect. But I'm very pleased with the results, and with how easy it was to get the layout just right... without making a bunch of nail-holes in the wall!