Nina Dobrev’s home is a shining example of how Instagram can help you decorate your house. While she was living in Atlanta working on Vampire Diaries, she was also house hunting in L.A., but she never found a home she was really in love with. So when this 1929 Spanish-style bungalow showed up on the market, she made an offer within minutes. Once she had the house of her dreams, Nina told My Domaine that social media played a pivotal role in her design process. She credits “Instagram stalking” with finding her interior designer and favorite pieces of wall art. Scroll down to see the gorgeous home and get a few ideas for how to create the look on your own.
Nina told My Domaine that “light and bright” was her favorite aesthetic. Maintaining the original character and history of the space was important, so the traditional bungalow was updated with a California-cool makeover. Lots of natural light was complemented by soft linens and a few rustic touches. Oh, and did we mention the plethora of gold accessories?
Nina definitely nailed a perfect coffee table vignette. Make your table Instagram-ready with a wood tray with quartz handles from One Kings Lane ($259), a gold skull from Etsy ($40) and a mini geo terrarium from Urban Outfitters ($18). Toss a couple of these DIY black-and-white-patterned pillows from Make and Tell onto your couch and you’re set.
Instead of stocking up on designer pieces, Nina chose to balance her aesthetic with carefully curated accessories she collected while traveling. The dining room is part rustic, part modern and all the dishes are black, white and glam all over.
Dress up your dining room with an edgy black dinnerware set from Bed Bath & Beyond ($70) and a modern Varick chandelier from Restoration Hardware ($995). True to Nina’s style, the look wouldn’t be complete without some gold and a pop of color. Whip up a batch of these DIY dip-dyed placemats from Design Love Fest and grab a set of gold glasses from Lulu & Georgia ($56) for your next dinner party.
Nina’s kitchen rocks baby blue all over, herringbone white floors and copper hardware. There are also some killer black accents like a geometric tile backsplash behind the stove and an awesome chalkboard wall along the end of the kitchen for recipe notes or practicing typography.
Deck your kitchen out with some shiny new accessories. Shiny = copper everything, like this copper Kitchenaid mixer from Williams Sonoma (on sale $600) and a set of copper wood spoons from Modcloth ($35). If you’re a spice master, it’s time to invest in a marble mortar and pestle from Crate and Barrel ($30) and add some edginess to your cutting board collection with this triangle plank from Consort ($140)
Nina added a breakfast nook for extra seating options and to open up the kitchen a little more. She entertains quite a bit and wanted the space to feel open and comfortable. Modern decor isn’t her style, so she made sure to buy furniture that was actually comfortable to sit on. Sipping coffee on that pillow-loaded window seat is looking pretty comfortable, don’t you think?
Set up a couple copper metal chairs from Urban Outfitters ($229) around the breakfast table and add a few DIY pink pattern throw pillows by Sugar & Cloth. Fill up a white ceramic fruit bowl from Crate and Barrel ($8) with your favorite fruit. While the original vase Nina has in her breakfast nook costs $700 (eek!), we’ll take this DIY sculptural vase by Hunted Interiors any day. The designer used round balls, but you could totally use wood cubes and paint them gold to copy Nina’s vase exactly.
Nina said at first she was nervous about using dark shades because she was afraid it was going to look too gothic. Guess those years on Vampire Diaries made her leery of the dark side? In the end, she said one of her favorite parts of the house were the black accents and the way it made the house feel a little edgier. In the bedroom a dark headboard is balanced out by white bedding, a clear lamp post and a reflective gold night stand.
Bring the bling into the bedroom with a DIY gilded nightstand by Crab + Fish and mount a cardboard deer head from Brit + Co ($30) above the bed. Toss a gray sweater knit fringe throw from Overstock ($63) on the end of the bed for an extra cozy factor. You could pick up this quadrant pillow from Consort Design ($250) but we have a sneaky suspicion it would be easy to DIY a similar pillowcase.
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( h/t My Domaine; featured photo via Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty)
