Echo Park Rental House Tour Photos

Name: Cristina Keane, fiancée Brittany, three cats (Fleabag, Sidney, Randy), and puppy (Miller)
Location: Echo Park, Los Angeles, California
Type of home: Home
Size: 1,500 square feet (including the yard)
Years lived in: Two years, renting

Tell us a little (or a lot) about your home and the people who live there: I (Christina) am a graphic designer and I live in this beautiful home with my beautiful family. This house is everything to us. It is the first home I ever built with a partner, and it’s the longest I have ever lived in the same place since I was 13 years old.

I had no idea how important it was to have a home that I love until this house, and it has given way to a passion for styling interiors. This house just has a special energy, and it’s had some very cool residents, too! Before we lived here, Justina Blakeney of the Jungalow lived here. Our styles are super different but I love looking back on pictures of what she did with the space versus what I did with it. This house can take on any style so well.

I am queer and a designer, and I think both of those things come across the instant you enter. From my massive book collection featuring many queer authors, to art from some of my queer friends, to the two queens who inhabit it, it’s easy to tell! My love of design, specifically modern art, are on display, too. As much as I love a nice, minimalist house, it’s just not me no matter how much I want it to be. But I have managed to embrace bold colors in a really cohesive way (if you ask me!).

Describe your home’s style in 5 words or less: Modern, eclectic, cozy, personal, and chic.

What is your favorite room and why? Hands down the living room. It is the room that has gotten the most TLC, it has my favorite art pieces (an authentic Miró lithograph and a giant poster from the Whitney Museum’s 50th anniversary, which were both snagged from the single best estate sale I have ever been to), and it has my library. I am an avid reader and my library truly functions as one. Whenever friends come over, they come with books in tow for me to read in exchange for a handful of loans from my collection. It has given way to so many meaningful conversations about books.

What’s the last thing you bought (or found!) for your home? I’ve been on a bit of a spending moratorium, because this house is basically a museum of my life’s savings. But! I recently purchased a new dish rack and I’m in love with the way it looks in the space. I think the thing that makes a good home great are the little details like that. I try to never sacrifice form for function.

Any advice for creating a home you love? Repeat after me: It will not be finished overnight! Practice the art of patience, because if you don’t, you’ll end up with cheap things you settled on for the sake of filling your space. You want to curate pieces you love and care about that truly reflect you. I wish I had this advice when I first started out.

This submission’s responses and photos were edited for length/size and clarity.