LITTLE ROCK — Interior designer Ryan Brown has made a career buying ugly-duckling properties, turning them into beauties and selling them at a profit. It's a process that he and his business partner, Jeff Lewis, reveal on the Bravo reality series Flipping Out, which is in its third season.
Two years ago, Brown, known as the voice of reason on the show, realized that with the real-estate market shaky and his personal life in transition, it was time to focus less on remodeling for profit and more on getting his house in order.
As fans of Flipping Out know, Brown and his domestic partner, chef Dale Monchamp, became fathers to a daughter born through surrogacy. After living in a succession of flip houses, the couple wanted to put down roots.
TIME TO SETTLE DOWN
"We've moved seven times in one year," Brown, 35, says. "When Chloe came along, we had to get off that roller coaster. She's 3 and has already lived in two other houses."
They found a house in a Los Angeles neighborhood, and they turned the 1942 stucco original into a fourbedroom, 4 1 /2-bath residence decorated in a relaxed mix of Hollywood Regency, British Colonial, Asian-accented modernism and nautical charm.
It was Lewis who found the property, "a double lot with a lot of flat land for a lawn, which is very rare for the hills," he says. "I knew he was looking to nest, and this would be a good house for his family, but it needed to be updated, and Ryan has certainly exercised a lot of creativity."
After plunking down $2 million for the property, Brown embarked on extensive renovations to the 3,600-square-foot house. If you are renovating a house for resale, Brown says, profit is paramount: "You think: If I spend this dollar, will I get three out?"
But, he says, "When you find the house that is your sanctuary and make it specific to your needs, it's hardto put a price tag on it."
THE REMODELING PROCESS
He replaced doors and windows and added hardwood floors. A gourmet kitchen was built, with Hollywood Regency custom cabinetry, and bathrooms got the glamorous spa treatment withCalacatta gold marble.
"It's not an authentic period house," Brown says. "It's an L.A. special, a little bit of everything architecturally."
The two-story rectangular house has a protruding entry and vaguely English bay windows set into half-towers in the front and back. Brown added awnings and railings to give the exterior more dimension. The yard was landscaped to provide an organic vegetable garden, a mosaic tile pool and a lawn for Chloe and the family's chocolate Labrador, Jordan.
"Ryan's a techie guy, one of those little nerds who has sophisticated security systems and remote controls so you can turn the stereo on from the second floor," Lewis says. "He's got that house wired within an inch of its life."
BALANCED LAYOUT
The home has a balanced layout with formal and family areas, says Monchamp, formerly an interior designer. Downstairs, the living and dining rooms sit on one side of the house, and the kitchen and TV area on the other. Upstairs, bedrooms for Chloe and guests are at the front, and the master suite is in back.
The total tab came to about $700,000. Brown says he completed the renovations as inexpensively as possible given the materials he wanted to use; anyone without his industry sources, he says, would have spent $1 million or more.
"We're forgoing vacations," Brown says, enjoying lunch under an arbor by the pool. "We can stay right here."
Indeed, the house has no restrictions on Chloe. On a recent summer day, neighbor Eddie McHale, 4, joined Chloe in the living room, scampering under a threetiered chandelier that adultshave to duck to avoid.
"It's the one exception to form following function in the whole house," Brown says, as the kids make a game out of deconstructing the B&B Italia sofa.
"They'll take every cushion and pillow off and throw them on the floor, then they'll jump on them," Brown says, nonchalantly. Adds Monchamp:"We couldn't do anything too precious. We are not 'No, don't touch that' people."
Eddie's mother, Sara McHale, says the house represents Brown's ability to make modern style feel accessible. "The house tells a complete story," she says. "I want to linger as I wander down the hallways looking at their family photos, old and new."
AN INGENIOUS DISPLAY
Even the way those portraits are displayed demonstrates design savvy: The various shapes and styles of picture frames have been unified, all painted white; those groupings are framed again by molding that creates the appearance of wall panels.
Design comes naturally to Brown, who runs Brown Design with brother Joshua. Their father built spec houses near the beach in Oxnard, Calif. Ryan, Joshua and a third brother often joined their father at job sites. "It was a constant education," Brown says. "My dad taught me a lot about proportions."
Brown's mother frequented estate sales for antiques to furnish the family home, and she still shops in the vintage stores on Main Street in Ventura, Calif., where she spotted the airplane propeller that hangs in her son's bedroom.
It is just one of many unusual items Brown likes to hang as art.
In the family room, oars are mounted above a sofa, and in the guest room, a giant tortoise shell hangs above a fourposter bed. Wooden paddles used in bakeries - souvenirs from a trip to Europe - are on a wall in the living room.
"The world is an art gallery," Brown says. "You can learn something new at every turn."
HomeStyle, Pages 41 on 09/26/2009