Home tour: This Plaza Midwood apartment is packed with personality

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Eboney Foster has rented her 950-square-foot Plaza Midwood apartment for the last nine years. And it’s every bit as warm and stylish as she is.

“Home doesn’t always mean house, home doesn’t always mean homeownership,” Foster said. “This is an example that you can live fabulously anywhere.”

Who: Foster works full-time at Wells Fargo and is a part-time stylist at J.Crew — her favorite place to shop.

• Her wardrobe is 98% J.Crew, and she co-runs the Instagram account Black In J.Crew.

Foster, a Charlotte native, remembers when Belk Theater in Uptown was a department store. She’d take trips to the Belk basement with her mother, who was a self-taught seamstress, to buy cuts of fabric.

• She’s loved fashion, and specifically fabric and texture, ever since.

The space: Foster’s spent the last two years working with Ariene Bethea at Dressing Rooms Interiors Studio to make her once-beige abode a reflection of her personal style.

• The apartment includes a kitchen, dining space, living room, two bedrooms and two bathrooms.
• She converted one of the bedrooms into a dreamy closet with a home office nook.

Design philosophy: For Foster, home is a sanctuary that wraps you in warm hug when you walk through the door. It’s also a never-ending labor of love between her and her friends.

With its eclectic furnishings, textures and sentimental decor, the space is a reflection of Foster’s sense of self and the most meaningful relationships in her life.

• It’s decorated with precious family heirlooms, pieces handcrafted by friends, gifts from loved ones and custom furniture in wild patterns.

Foster’s love of style, and the story of her life, is woven into every detail of the home.

• The gallery wall surrounding the TV has a custom framed silk scarf gifted by a friend, family photos and a cover of Ebony magazine from the month and year she was born.
• The dining room table was hand-built with friends.

• Her bookshelf is dotted with gifts from friends, interior design books and pieces from her prized sneaker collection.
• The bar cart is stocked with rum from her travels, and the map above it is pinned with mementos from trips.

The hero piece of her home, though, is the oversized custom tiger print couch. Foster’s actually had the sofa for years, but its original gray color didn’t spark enough joy.

• She loved the shape and size — 118 inches long by 59 inches deep — so decided to reupholster it with 40 gorgeous yards of tiger print fabric.
• She sprung for piping and fabric on each side of the cushions so they can be flipped, giving the sofa a longer life.

She didn’t get here on her own, and it didn’t happen overnight either. Working with a designer helped Foster break an endless cycle of buying items that she’d quickly return — which was well worth the splurge.

• Almost everything in her home is custom, vintage or gifted, and Bethea was able to help her figure out how to get the most out of her home decor budget.

Here’s a look around Foster’s swoon-worthy space: