Seeing the Potential in a San Francisco Rental

When renting in a big city, it’s almost always a given that an apartment won’t automatically meet all the criteria of one’s idea of a “perfect” home. That’s okay, you just have to decide what is most important. Is it the neighborhood, the price of rent, the size? Sometimes an opportunity comes along that requires a game-time decision, and you are challenged to see through the things you don’t like in order to make a home you love.

This is exactly what happened with Shara Lotfi and Chris Koesler. They were living happily in the quiet Inner Richmond neighborhood of San Francisco when this apartment, located in the Mission, became available. It was a much bigger space, and presented a chance to move back to a neighborhood they loved. But it wasn’t a home run. As Shara says, “I can’t believe it now, but we were actually reluctant to move at first! When we first saw the apartment it was not in the best shape. There was wall-to-wall mint green carpet and all the windows were covered with dark, heavy drapes. There was peeling wallpaper in the bedroom, and everything was just generally looking a bit old and shabby.”

The couple decided to seize the opportunity and set upon making some big changes right away. The first and perhaps most dramatic change was tearing up all the carpets that were covering the hardwood floors. “I think if we had known exactly how much work that would be, we might have talked ourselves into living with the carpet, but luckily I was pretty adamant about tackling that project,” Shara says. They did it all themselves (including removing the pesky carpet nails!), and then hired someone to polish the floors. The other major improvement — that is, in my opinion, one of best, cheapest, (and easily reversible) ways to transform a space — was to paint every wall in the house, as well as the kitchen cabinets. Following those two major overhauls, they continue to make changes here and there, including making the home baby-friendly since their daughter, Ayla, was born in 2013.

In all, they have created a place well-suited for their family of three with enough space to work from home. Shara is the designer behind Lotfi, a textile and accessory design company, and Chris is a freelance illustrator and part-time professor at California College of the Arts. Moving beyond the interior space, they are now shifting their focus to the backyard, as Ayla loves being out back. Shara says she is not much of a gardener, but she sees the potential for a beautiful garden, and as any renter knows, that is half the battle. —Shannon