Rental Revamp: There’s Always Room for More Disco Balls in Their Sparkling San Francisco Flat

The first thing you notice upon entering the San Francisco living room of photographer Anna-Alexia Basile and architect Matt Ininns are the myriad light reflections bouncing around the walls, thanks to the massive disco ball mounted to the ceiling. "This is the first thing we did," Matt says, adding that the object had to be lifted into the apartment through the window due to its unusual size.

The now-married couple moved into the old Victorian in Alamo Square, just steps from the city’s iconic Painted Ladies, in 2020, after dating for two years. Anna-Alexia had lived in this part of the city for seven years, and the two love the neighborhood’s sense of community and multigenerational vibe.

Moving in just as Covid-19 was putting the city on a hiatus had its advantages—Anna-Alexia’s photography projects were paused, and Matt was working from home, so the couple put Anna-Alexia’s dreamlike aesthetic and Matt’s hands-on experience to work, turning an already spacious apartment into a haven of natural light and storage—two luxuries when it comes to San Francisco dwelling.

Since the move, the pair have added a total of 9 disco balls, 36 mirrors, and 63 plants to the rental, plus a few more ambitious renovation projects, to make the space feel "special and more like us," according to Anna-Alexia.

The high-ceilinged, sun-drenched living room, which Matt playfully calls Mirror Manor, was what sealed the deal when the couple were looking for a new place. "This room is the jack-of-all-trades," Anna-Alexia says. It’s where the couple hang out, watch movies on a drop-down projector, host parties and dinners, and play with their two cats, Zulu and Machiavelli. It’s also the site of Matt’s home office ("we put it away if we’re entertaining," Anna-Alexia clarifies) and the canvas for the couple’s elaborate seasonal decor extravaganzas around Halloween and Christmas.