Me: I’ve already mentioned some of the fantastic DIY projects you’ve done, mind telling us which one was your favorite and why?

Particularly I liked making the Curtains and Valances. I consider myself to be very “handy” but anything with fabric I don’t have a clue where to begin.

When my girlfriend Amber-Morning (Ammo) suggested we make our own curtains I didn’t think it could be done with any real results. I wanted big thick valances with button tufts on them to match my mid-century furniture. We took a piece of paper and painted our wall colors on to it and took it to the downtown Los Angeles Fashion District.

This place is a pretty seedy area of downtown but it is known to have the best deals on
fabric anywhere. This was really an adventure to hunt through piles of bolts of fabric and then to wheel and deal with the shop owners. Eventually we found a fabric that matched the color we were looking for perfectly.

We also picked up some cotton batting and a couple of button making kits. Who knew there was such a thing as a button making kit!? We got all the wood from the hardware store and put it all together. Ammo did all of the sewing and my job was to put the wood together for the
valances.

Of course after she saw how I was cutting the wood (not straight enough I guess) she had to take over the hand saw and show me how to cut the wood properly. Then she later revealed to me that she had won a wood cutting contest when she was younger. She is a Southern girl, and you can never make assumptions about what skills a Southern girl has. Of course later that day she was showing me how to use a curved needle to sew on the buttons. I learned a lot from that DIY project and it was a great adventure.

Me: How about telling us a little bit about your home (and yourself if you’re not too shy) and your sources of inspiration when it comes to decorating.

The apartment is located between Sunset Blvd and Hollywood Blvd in Hollywood CA. Finding an apartment in this area is very difficult because there is so much demand and very little supply. I actually had to offer to pay more than the advertised rent to secure the apartment. Many people are surprised to see my apartment because from the outside it looks very run down and I even have bars on my windows. Which is one reason I keep the curtains shut when I photograph it. Not to mention the view is of a concrete wall. It really isn’t glamorous at all.

The inside started as just a plain white box and my goal was to make people feel that when they walked into the unit they were transported away, like possibly upward into the Hollywood Hills somewhere. I wanted people to be astonished by what could possibly be behind the door of a standard issue grungy Hollywood apartment.

As for myself, I moved to Hollywood to pursue working in the movie industry and I began making my living as an Electrician which could be more accurately called a Set Lighting Technician. I really enjoyed the work (I am now a business consultant) and found a particular beauty in lighting that before I would have never even noticed or thought twice about.

Since I had no formal movie education, I gained experience in the field and that is what inspired me to take that knowledge and apply it to interiors. I wanted my apartment to be a lighting masterpiece more than anything else. I think I use 22 light bulbs in total to light my 390sq ft apartment, all of them on dimmers.

My main goal was to incorporate what is called “mixed color temperatures” into one space. Basically it’s the mixing of warm colored lights with cool color lights. To do that I
used reveal bulbs in the bathroom and kitchen and lower watt warm bulbs in the living room to give an inviting sense of comfort and to separate the areas. Even though my apartment’s style is minimalistic people continually tell me how warm and inviting the space is. The trick is all
in the lighting.

p.s. I wrote a lengthy article about lighting your own interiors. You can
read it here: http://modernself.com/design/how-to-light-your-bachelor-pad/