Skip to playerSkip to main contentSkip to footer
  • 6/3/2025
A woman has transformed her city loft apartment into a dreamy rainbow paradise leaving social media users obsessed over objects carefully chosen to reflect light and shower the room in color. Alex Danko, 33, loves colors, whimsy and psychedelia of the 60’s and 70’s – all of which have elements in her stunning Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, studio apartment. Whether it be pillows, flower lamps, cakes, chandeliers, floor cushions, coasters, disco balls, suncatchers, candles or other bedazzling items, all have been tweaked or made by Alex herself. And then there are the larger items – a swan coffee table; a large, curved sofa – which Alex has sourced, piece by piece, over two years since moving into the giant loft. The 33-year-old previously lived in Houston, Texas, where she ran her jewelry and accessories business, Blush Daisy, out of her one-bedroom apartment for around five years. As every corner of the apartment started to become overrun with elements tied to work, Alex started to feel burnt out and looked into the possibility of moving back to Philly. After around three months, Alex found a large one-bedroom or studio listing, which had big windows but with one picture she said looked like it was taken on an early 2000s flip phone. Having been mesmerized by the large windows, Alex – who dreamed about owning a loft apartment since watching the movie ‘Big’ as a child – committed to the 1,700ft space and headed back east.
Transcript
00:00She transformed her apartment into a vibrant technicolor paradise, and the internet is obsessed.
00:08Designer Alex turned this Philadelphia loft into a stunning explosion of color and light.
00:15I love just being surrounded by color in general. I put this cellophane on my windows and it made
00:21it look like fake stained glass and it makes everything so colorful and lovely. I try to
00:25customize everything I can in my life. I made these pillows. I made these lamps. I made these
00:30disco mushrooms. I love reflective stuff and I get such good sunlight. Alex previously lived in Texas
00:36running her jewelry and accessories business, Blush Daisy, from a cramped one-bedroom apartment.
00:43Our apartment got like insanely crowded all at once. Like we try to sleep at night and there's
00:49just like an avalanche of earrings. She dreamed of a big open space, even looking at old
00:55churches and warehouses. But then she found a listing for a large loft with huge windows.
01:02I was obsessed with Big and they have that scene of him and his date jumping up and down on the
01:06trampoline. I did the video call. They showed a view out of the window and there was a skyline view and
01:12I was like, okay, let's just sign the lease. I think we're good. Alex grew up in the 90s and early
01:162000s and says her childhood was blessed with peak girlhood aesthetics. Lisa Frank, inflatable furniture,
01:24bead curtains, spice world, and butterfly clips. I feel like what I'm doing now is more of like an
01:31elevated version of that. There's still a lot of rainbows and butterflies, but it's not like
01:37inherently childish. It's kind of like the grown-up version. I guess it's kind of like 13 going on 30
01:43for some people. Alex had a blank canvas and so the transformation began. Living in the space has
01:51really exaggerated everything I was already doing. But I feel like when I moved into this space, it was
01:55really like the natural sunlight that I really was like, I need to start focusing on like crystal
02:00elements and like holographic, like anything reflective because of the sun just like magnifies
02:05it and everything was like a rainbow. It's amazing. Sourcing and creating these unique items takes time
02:11and dedication. Pretty much every detail, every minor detail, I can sew so I can make my own,
02:16you know, curtains and pillows and blankets. I am obsessed with my coffee table. I got it off
02:22Facebook marketplace. My friend found it for like $90 and went and picked it up for me. And then I
02:27covered it in like a pearlescent paint. So it would have that opalescent finish and kind of like reflect
02:32the rainbows. I also made these candlesticks that are now covered in wax. Just really simple polymer clay
02:38to put these spiral candles in. I put up these two cloudy tapestries. I'm kind of trying to make it look like,
02:45you know, there's no walls. I just live in the sky. I made about 40 sun captures to hang up right
02:51here. I'm trying to create a nice little reflective corner with all the rainbow prisms. Gotta have the
02:57blow up furniture. Very 90s, very Y2K. Her unique style has captured the attention of many online,
03:04with people describing it as dreamcore, kidcore and Lisa Frankcore. I think everything started out
03:11like somewhat normally. And then when I realized how good it felt to just like follow my own instincts,
03:17now I trust myself a lot more to make like crazier decisions. My advice would be to not follow trends
03:23and to pay attention to yourself and the things you like and learn how to like verbalize what they are.

Recommended