When Zilah Drahn stumbled upon her Spanish Colonial apartment, it felt like a sign. To start, the building was just around the corner from her East Hollywood showroom and plant design studio, Plants and Spaces. And the stars kept aligning.
Not only was the entire complex surrounded by gardens that have been growing since the 1930s, but during the tour, the garden’s caretaker of nearly 40 years pulled Drahn aside to share a secret: a just-vacated, unlisted unit had opened up. “That was when I realized I would have outdoor space, which I never had before,” she recalls. The cosmos had spoken—and Drahn was sold.
Directing + Editing by Brian Overend; Cinematography by Justin Donais
It didn’t take long for Drahn to make the apartment her own. In just a couple of months, she layered in finds from Facebook Marketplace, a constellation of L.A. vintage stores, her travels, and even a past Plants and Spaces client or two. Now, cow-print chaises, chrome dining chairs, Murano glassware, a heady mix of animal motifs, and three free-roaming bunnies bring a playful energy to the rental.
It’s no surprise that the apartment quickly became a go-to gathering spot. “Everybody wants to be in a space that feels lived in and homey. If they spill something, it’s not a big deal because everything’s vintage,” Drahn says. “I like being that. I like having that space.”
Below, she shares how she filled the space with personality—and plenty of plants.
I tried to imagine where I would be hosting the most, which for me, would be the living room, and tried to make that the coziest. I knew this is where I would have the most people. The fireplace and the tiles are just so special. This place has been around for almost 100 years so I know that people have had amazing times here, and I feel a responsibility to keep it up. I have a lot of vintage Chinese pieces. Even this table! My friend Justin, who runs a vintage studio, found it, and it’s so beautiful. The octagon shape and the frame looks like dark bamboo. Then that little jade piece with the Palo Santo is from China. The matchbook dish is sourced from a family friend. She’s in her 70s now, and she purchased it in China when she was a flight attendant and she gifted it to me. It has little dragons on it.
My friends call my house “Zilah’s Zoo,” because I have so many different animal motifs. Obviously the bunnies are running around, but there’s also the zebra-print rug and cow-print chaise. And then when I got the striped curtains in the living room, one of my besties came over and was like, “Now it’s like the circus!” I love it.
Chrome is very ‘80s, and I have always been obsessed with the ‘80s. I love true vintage—older vintage—but then these ‘80s pieces, like the dining table, the glass with the chrome makes the space look so much bigger because of the reflective qualities. You’re almost gaining a new perspective when you look at chrome, because it reflects other pieces in the space.
I did not love the yellow and purple tile bathroom. It reminded me of the Lakers! I almost didn’t move into this apartment, because the other one had a bathroom that was teal, and I liked that better, but it was a smaller apartment, so I just went with it.
When I couldn’t find any cute shower curtains I went downtown and pulled beautiful light purple fabric and took it to Jill’s Paint Shop in Atwater. We color matched the paint to the shower curtain fabric, and it just looked so chic and perfect.
The kitchen is true vintage. It’s so beautiful. But when I moved in it was white and it didn’t feel super warm. So now I have pictures on the ground and paintings on the walls. I think it really is about making every space feel cozy.
You can have different colors in a space and make it work. I do love that butter yellow; it and the black together reminds me of bees. Backdrop just happened to have the exact same color yellow, so I didn’t have to color match.
I am so fascinated by other people’s stories, and knowing that there is a story behind how many people have lived in this space, what they’ve done here, and, wondering, how many dinners did they have by candlelight? Because those candelabras on the wall were there when I moved in.
The cabinet I got while antiquing but the planter on it is actually one of the planters that I designed. It goes perfectly with that 1970s bubble lamp—it was inspiration for the planter, which was a collaboration with Muhly, too.
The headboard I’m obsessed with. It’s from 1973 and it actually has a matching dresser. It was one of those vintage pieces that you know you’ll never find or see again, and that you know you’ll have forever. I told myself: “You can use it in a guest bedroom in the future, just get it because you won’t see it again.” It’s really heavy but I love the brass tone with the burl, and then I found these side tables on a sourcing trip to Palm Springs. Mohair Throw, Coop; Small Selene Planter, Muhly x Plants & Spaces. This planter is a handmade ceramic piece from the ‘70s, and the color matches the room perfectly. The tree that was inside of this planter was so much bigger and it had a second stem and Ghosty, my rabbit, jumped in the planter and ate almost the entire thing! I woke up to the tree falling over. That’s where my use of pedestals came in, because I had to elevate pieces off of the floor and I had to find a creative way to do that.
