- Date published: 28.08.26
- Category: Home Tours
- Author: Ying-Di Yin
Sara Toufali’s West LA Duplex Has All the Charm of a Fairytale Cottage
Flourishing plants and rental-friendly touches bring this enchanting haven to life.
Editor's Note
Becoming a mother means making many changes to one’s world, with shifting interiors to become baby-friendly chief amongst them.
Of course, that doesn’t mean we must completely forgo personal style for practicality – as shown in the West LA home Sara Toufali shares with her husband Eddie and daughter Elsie – where vintage pieces blend with natural elements (fitting for a trio of earth signs).
We hope you love it as much as we do,
Genevieve Rosen-Biller, Co-Founder, Bed Threads.
L os Angeles-based Sara Toufali’s favourite item in her home is a vintage Kimball piano, found by her husband on the side of a street. “He knew I missed playing the piano. I grew up playing for years, but it always felt impossible to have one in LA.”
Her husband carted it all the way home on two skateboards, down the streets of West Hollywood, before surprising Sara by asking her to come meet him out the front. It’s a romantic gesture reminiscent of John Cusack in Say Anything, swapping a held-up boombox with a rescued upright.
Sara's home is full of objects and memories like this. She describes her style as cosy: earthy, warm, mid-century and lived-in, almost cottage-like, with a laid-back LA sensibility she loves.
"The piano itself, vintage paintings, and several pieces of vintage furniture and the décor.” Perhaps this style is innate in her, “I’m an earth sign, as is my husband and daughter – we’re the trifecta of earth signs – Capricorn, Virgo and Taurus,” she adds.
Despite growing up in upstate New York, Sara fell in love with LA at a young age. “I visited my brother a lot here, and I knew when I turned 18, I was going to college in California.” She met her now-husband at university and has been in LA ever since. Her brother, fittingly, now lives just down the street.
Sara started sharing content and documenting home renovations on her blog, Black and Blooms, in 2016. A keen photographer with a love of plants and nature, she found an audience faster than she expected. "It was the early days of Instagram, and my following jumped from hundreds to thousands overnight."
Buoyed by the response, she spent the next few years working towards making it a full-time pursuit, going all-in as a lifestyle content creator in 2019. "As a new mum - my daughter is 11 months old – nowadays I've been sharing my motherhood journey too."
Underpinning all of it is the same instinct. "I'm very into creating cosy, warm and inviting spaces in everything I do. I hope people come away feeling inspired to create their own snug space, or host a little intimate dinner party. It doesn’t have to be huge."
Hosting, in particular, is where Sara's attention to detail really shows. “I’ll actually sit in all the seats at the table or in the living room to make sure guests will be comfortable, adding pillows or blankets where needed. I try to think ahead: the drinks, any dietary restrictions, etc. I just want everyone to feel like they're at home and being taken care of,” she says.
Sara and her husband rent a duplex in West Hollywood. “We’re only connected to our wonderful neighbour by one small wall, so it really does feel like its own standalone little cottage.” Perched on a hill, its sunken patio makes the small house look much larger than it is.
Her favourite room, without hesitation, is her daughter’s nursery. “I just think it’s so sweet. I had so much fun putting it together.” The strawberry wallpaper is the standout, although she nearly talked herself out of it, nervous about the cost and effort of wallpapering if she didn’t like it.
Renting, of course, means getting creative. Her go-to hack is peel-and-stick: turquoise tile stickers in the bathroom and an upcoming plan to contact paper the counters.
Sara grew up around plant-loving women, with both her mother and grandmother keeping beautiful gardens. It wasn't until her first apartment that plants became a huge part of her own aesthetic. “They're beautiful to look at, good for you, and help improve the air.”
Motherhood has complicated the romance slightly. “I'm always having to apologise to my plants, because I'm trying to navigate my first year of motherhood, which means my plants sometimes get left on the back burner,” she laments. Her best tip? “Don't forget to dust your leaves.”
A lot has changed since Sara started her blog, particularly as motherhood has made her more practical with interiors. "I was very boho when I first started in 2016 – that was the vibe. So many pillows and fringe, fringe, fringe! I look back at some of it now and think, I would never do that again,” she chuckles. Even so, she's not one for hard rules. "I'd never say never to any trend or style, because they are constantly changing, and so am I."
One thing that’s stayed the same is her love of colour. “I'm never completely neutral; colour comes through in rugs and pillows and of course, my favourite: colourful bedding.” And if there's one lesson interior design has taught her, it's this: “You don't have to follow any design rules. I'm a big proponent of doing what works for you – if you love it and it makes you happy, then it's perfect.”
As she moves through a year of firsts as a new mother, Sara's already deep in the next one: her daughter's first birthday. "I'm going a little crazy with all the details," she laughs. "I really want to make it special." It's a fitting note to leave her on – another cosy occasion, arranged down to the last detail, in true Capricorn style.
Shop Sara's Home
Credits
Photography by Jillian Palucis
Styling by Danielle Armstrong
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