A sense of fun permeates the rooms of Cecilia and Abraham Beltran’s colorful one-bedroom apartment.
The adventurous couple enjoys crisscrossing Los Angeles to explore its treasures, from peaceful gardens and art museums, to delicious dim sum palaces. On Sundays, they like to take surface streets “to experience things we’ve never seen before,” Abraham says.
“We both have a deep passion for midcentury design and color,” Cecilia shares, reminiscing about the time the couple toured a house in the Hollywood Hills and took their own picture in homage to Julius Shulman’s iconic photo of two women reclining in the living room of Case Study House #22. Someday, she said, they hope to re-create a scene from the 1998 Coen brothers film “The Big Lebowski,” in which Jackie Treehorn (Ben Gazzara) makes a White Russian for the Dude (Jeff Bridges) because it was filmed at another one of L.A.’s legendary midcentury homes — John Lautner’s Sheats — Goldstein residence.
The Beltran’s apartment encapsulates their design sensibility and “above all, the people we love.” There’s bold, midcentury modern-inspired furniture the couple found on Craigslist, tongue-in-cheek smiling pillows and the “Hole to Another Universe” wall decal by Blik, which can be removed when they move. Peppered throughout the space are mementos from their travels.
Their nicknames for each other — Pikachu and Hamster — are displayed on a plaque in the living room alongside Pez dispensers in vibrant hues, the custom wooden cake topper in their likeness and an entire gallery wall of family photos. In the bedroom, wooden Kokeshi dolls take up two shelves near photos of the couples’ first date.
Their most prized possession? A line drawing created in one take by their 10-year-old nephew. “He’s a genius,” Abraham says proudly. “I teared up when I saw it,” adds Cecilia.
Set in a 1941-built complex of four units, their apartment was initially designed for Boeing employees in managerial positions. That explains the 800-square-foot rental’s full-size kitchen and dining room, which suit Cecilia and Abraham’s love for hosting family gatherings, holidays and the birthday celebrations they refer to as “Adventure Days,” where the birthday person picks an adventure for the family to go on from “sundown to sunset.”
“It feels like a house,” Cecilia says, noting the built-in ironing board in the kitchen, one of many period details she enjoys. They also feel fortunate to live somewhere that has enough room for a washer and dryer and pantry, which can be elusive for apartment dwellers.
They’ve resided in this place since 2010. It has become a central hub for their family, including their five nieces and nephews, who are regular visitors.
Family is at the core of their lives, and as such, the apartment is arranged around making family members feel welcome. “I want the kids to feel like they can relax,” says Cecilia, a library technician.
As Cecilia’s youngest brother, Peter Jurado, notes, “Cecilia and Abraham are the glue of the family. They are some of the most caring, compassionate, warm and funny folk I know. Humor is ever-present when they’re around, and they keep the mood light and happy. When I’m at their house, the photo collection of family and friends on the wall always reminds me of what is important in life.”
Thanks to the surplus of natural light, the apartment has the feel of a treehouse, emphasized by the bounty of lush houseplants Cecilia collected.
“The plants make me feel cozy,” she says. “I talk to them during my watering mornings when I play a special tropical playlist on our Sonos. They’re like my kids — the only living things I have to be responsible for.”
Occasionally, when it gets hot in the summer and they wish they had air conditioning, Abraham imagines moving to a brand-new place.
But one of the benefits of living in their $1,800-a-month apartment for so long — they joke that they don’t know anyone who has lived in an apartment as long as they have — is their ability to save money.
In the face of high mortgage rates across the country, Cecilia, who also does tax preparation, says, “One of the most common questions I get from my tax clients is, ‘Should I buy a house?’ I tell them to crunch the numbers and ask themselves if they can really afford everything that comes with a house. If Abraham and I owned a house, we’d be living paycheck to paycheck.” Instead, the couple recently returned from a trip to Hawaii and are sending Cecilia’s mother to Japan. “It’s nice to be able to help our families if we need to,” Cecilia says.
The couple also enjoys the benefits of living close to their neighbors. “I keep an eye out for everyone,” says Abraham, a sales recruiter who works from their living room, which overlooks the street.
For a long time, the couple followed a strict “one in, one out” rule. “It was hard to bring my tchotchkes into the apartment at first,” Cecilia says, “especially for Abraham, who comes from a hoarder upbringing. His half of the closet is color-coded; mine is just thrown in there.” The key to living in a small space, she says, is communication.
Ultimately, Cecilia says, she wants the apartment “to feel like us. I think we pulled it off.”
Abraham agrees. “Having this space makes me feel overjoyed. Our apartment is a beautiful way to recharge our batteries every night.”
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