Pinterest's primary function in my life is to make me realize that I am wildly inadequate in virtually every area of my existence. Mostly in my ability to artfully light and photograph my dinner, but I have also learned that many, many things about me are lacking, from my nail polish application skills to my window treatments to the fact that I persist in buying Ben & Jerry's rather than churning my own mixed-berry frozen yogurt in a crate that I hand-crafted from toothpicks, pom poms and dreams.

But another thing that Pinterest has taught me is actually quite a lot about home decor. I've always been a big believer in letting your freak flag fly when it comes to your home, filling it up with things that aren't just "pretty," but remind you of the places and people and things you love the most - that have actual stories - but still: sometimes it helps to take a step back, examine what's around you, and look for the simple little fixes that can make an enormous difference.

Let's discuss.

Everyone has those friends who make you want to just follow them around all day to see how, exactly, it is that they do life so damn well. For me, that's Stephen and Dave. You've been hearing about them for years now, ever since I started blogging - they're Kendrick's best friends from college, so we've known them forever, but we also lived in the same building for a few years and had some epic rooftop adventures. And then they moved to the West Coast and we thought, cool, let's do that too. (Kidding, but only sort of.)

Every time I go to their apartment - an industrial-style loft in San Francisco - I need to photograph it; it's just that well-done. The most interesting thing about it, though, is that every time I visit, I notice that it looks even better than the last time, but not because they've added stuff...it's usually, rather, that they've taken stuff away. Pared it all down.

Oh.