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Hope Greenleaf lives with her roommate Emily Griffith in a two-bedroom, two-and-a-half-bath apartment along the Southwest Waterfront. Greenleaf runs the music education company Tunes 4 Tots, and Griffith is an executive assistant.
The 30-year-old duo loves their apartment because of its proximity to everything from the Wharf to the National Mall to Navy Yard. And, after three years of calling it home, they’ve made it into a space that’s uniquely theirs.
Who lives there: Hope Greenleaf and Emily Griffith, both 30
Approximate square-footage: 2,000 square-feet
Number of beds: Two
Number of baths: Two-and-a-half
Favorite piece of furniture: The green velvet bench in the foyer, says Greenleaf. “It’s so pretty, and we’re able to use it every day to drop bags or sit and put our shoes on before heading out the door.”
Favorite home interior store: For Your Eyes Only, an antique store near Union Market. “[It’s] super fun to browse through and occasionally pick up a conversation piece,” says Greenleaf, like the hand-painted tagine they found that sits on their bar.
Favorite DIY: The lucite Ikea dining chairs originally came with bronze bases, but after a Pinterest DIY search, the roommates decided to spray paint them gold. “Now everyone comments on how good they look in the space,” says Greenleaf.
Splurge: “Emily studied art history and has invested in some beautiful pieces such as the Philippe Noyer lithograph that hangs about the TV in the living room,” says Greenleaf. “We have another one from the series that’s the same size—we’re just trying to figure out how to hang it in our stairwell.”
Steal: The mirror, which is from an arts-and-crafts supply store and is “the perfect size, shape, color, and price,” says Greenleaf.
Design advice: Don’t feel bad about letting go of things that don’t fit your style, says Greenleaf. “For so long, we were both utilizing items that were functional and had been given to us out of necessity, but it was a hodgepodge look,” she says. “We had a vision for how we wanted the space to look. [We] took a cue from Marie Kondo on purging those items that just didn’t fit in and ‘spark joy.'”
Mimi Montgomery joined Washingtonian in 2018. She’s written for The Washington Post, Garden & Gun, Outside Magazine, Washington City Paper, DCist, and PoPVille. Originally from North Carolina, she now lives in Del Ray.
