In Refinery29’s Sweet Digs, we take a look inside the sometimes small, sometimes spacious homes of millennial women and their families. This week, we tour DIY influencer Nike Onile’s 800sqft apartment in Etobicoke.
When Nike Onile, designer and owner of ODE design studio, is dreaming up how her client’s homes will look, she asks them to dig deep and get “at the heart of what they’re actually creating.” But when it came to doing that for herself, in her own home, having to be super vulnerable and honest with herself wasn’t easy. She also only had 800sqft to work with, and needed to figure out how to make the space feel open. Despite those challenges, her apartment is a peaceful, spa-like respite, filled with nature imagery — including a mural of a willow tree above her bed. “It makes me feel grounded,” she says. She also relies on functional, sustainable products from IKEA that allow her to be intentional with her decor, and better support our earth.
AdvertisementADVERTISEMENT
Some of her favorite buys have been the IKEA BERGENES phone holder — made of renewable bamboo material (which she uses to FaceTime her mom while cooking) and her IKEA TRADFRI light dimmer kit, which introduces another layer of Zen to her place.
Since her apartment gets full sunlight all day long, a big consideration was how to avoid it getting hot all day long. The solution: IKEA FYRTUR blinds made from recycled polyester, which she easily controls from an app on her phone.
“When you allow yourself the space to connect with items, they last longer… so you’re not throwing things away or replacing things as often. In a more organic way we’re living sustainably.”
See more of Onile’s design philosophy in the full episode above.
Ikea Logo © Inter IKEA Systems B.V., 2021.
AdvertisementADVERTISEMENT