A Life in Color – Highland Park

Perched high above a quiet Highland Park street, this 1924 bungalow has been shaped over time by the eye and hand of an artist. A climb through cactus and flowering bougainvillea leads to the covered front porch, where a truly world-class view unfolds across Garvanza and the hills beyond, expansive and intimate in equal measure. Inside, the 2 bedroom, 2 bath residence unfolds over 1,224sf. Original built-ins, hardwood floors and simple period details form the backdrop to rooms layered with art, collected objects, textiles and color. Sunlight moves through broad windows, while moments of saturated pigment appear throughout, most memorably in the artist’s studio on the home’s second level, where a red mixed by the owner herself envelops the room. The living and dining rooms retain much of the bungalow’s original character, including beautifully preserved cabinetry, while the kitchen introduces a more playful language of tile, pattern and painted surfaces. The primary bedroom, located on the first floor, is quiet and composed, with a generous window framing the greenery outside. Its ensuite bath, complete with a tub, has its own large window positioned to take in the view, bringing the landscape into even the most private spaces of the house. Thoughtful improvements, including energy-efficient heating and cooling, new windows, permitted subterranean drainage, and an in-unit washer and dryer, have been made with a light hand, allowing the house to evolve without losing its essential spirit. Descend the interior staircase to a studio with its own private entrance tucked along the side of the house. Long and deeply personal, the space is filled with paintings, paper, books and the traces of a life spent making things. Its scale and separation give it a natural flexibility, whether kept as a studio or reimagined as an additional bedroom, guest room or private retreat. Outside, the garden was once a blank canvas and has been treated as an art medium in its own right, composed plant by plant by the owner and tended with the same instinctive eye found throughout the house. Pride of Madeira, Matilija poppy, lavender, jasmine and several varieties of sage mingle with peach, citrus and fig trees, creating layers of color, fragrance and texture. Winding paths and quiet places to pause draw you deeper into the landscape, and at the top of the property the view reveals itself again in all its glory, vast and intimate at once. The house bears the unmistakable imprint of the person who has lived and worked here, but it does not feel fixed in place. Rather, it feels ready for another life, another collection, another point of view. A home shaped slowly and thoughtfully over time, with color, creativity and a sense of self woven through every room and every corner of the garden.