I want to know where the municipal code enforcers are in Venice. Apparently you can do whatever you want within your property lines! For real!! They seriously must not have any associations or codes or rules or anything. Anything goes! Want a giant sculpture of a head in front of your yard? No problem! Three foot drops off your deck into a moat of rocks? Who cares? No handrailing on your staircase? Go for it! Safety is for wussies!!
Today Tammy and I participated in the Venice Garden & Home Tour, which benefits the Las Doradas Children's Center. It's an annual event where homeowners allow you to come in and see the unique (and often dangerous) ways that they have chosen to construct their living space. It's a walking tour over a few blocks, but they encourage bike riding. We took Footbikes instead and it was awesome.
I've been a long time subscriber to Architectural Digest and these are exactly the types of homes that have always intrigued my imagination. The homes accentuate the outdoors, by merging the main living spaces of the house with a tranquil outdoor area. Even though some of the floorplans were small, the way they were connected to the outdoors completely made up for it. Most of them included either a gallery for the owner's artwork or sculptures or a studio. This really is the best way to make the most out of living in California. It would be hard to turn your 180 wall/door when there is a foot of snow out there.
I decided to just upload a whole bunch of photos I took, with emphasis on my favorite ones.
Okay, this house wasn't on the tour, but we couldn't help but to stop and gawk at this massive wall of books in the dining room! The whole front wall of that room is a gigantic garage door. Talk about a breeze!
This was my favorite house. Note the doors that open 180 degrees.
Same house, inside.
Same house... the family room wall opens out directly to the pool.
Okay, now this is crazy. Same house, this is a suspended plexiglas walkway and stairs that go up to the second floor.
Same house. This is the pool, which is small, but makes great use of the side yard space.
Same house, view from the street.
This is a different house, but they also made great use of a tight space with a lap pool.
Alright, this lady's home was our favorite until the one with the plexiglas walkway. Her house was small, but it was exquisitely decorated. It also has my new favorite flooring material, Terrazzo. It's the same floor my elementary school had! It's apparently making a splash in homes now. This picture shows a pod room that is her office. It's separate from the house and is on the deck. It's on casters so she can move it around as she likes. Very cool!
Here is another example of the 180 degree doors. LOVE THEM!
Alright, this is where I'm wondering where the code enforcement is. This is a set of "stairs" (I'll use that term loosely) that leads up to a loft bedroom above the kitchen. Would you want to climb that every day?
This next house was great. It was basically a rectangular box made out of concrete block. It was just like a loft you would find in an urban area. GENIUS!! You don't need to have a fancy floor plan. Just a rectangle and some structural steel!
Ahh. Bouganvilla.
This house was TINY. Or maybe I should say TINY. It was 400 square feet. The picnic table is almost as big as the house! However, the use of the outdoor space actually made it seem livable! Off camera there is a structure in the corner of the yard that is an art studio.
Ahh, corner couch.
Once again, how do these stairs without railings get approved!!! Tammy and I actually walked up them to see what was upstairs. It wasn't too bad going up, but going down was a bit weird. I'm assuming the homeowner's insurance wasn't aware that the general public was going up and down these all day....
I liked this place due to the creative use of exercise balls.
One more of my favorite doors. Definitely want this in my home that I design someday...
