The offbeat occupant: Beretta Fleur! Designer, writer, artist, domestic perfectionist, pinup model, frequent Offbeat Home contributor.
Other occupants: Husband, Dogs #1 and #2, and Moses Cat
Approximate square footage: 1000-2000 sq. feet
How many bedrooms? 2
Megan & Aaron’s tropical Los Angeles setup — nestled behind a porn shop
You will LOVE Offbeat Bride Managing Editor-Megan and Aaron's apartment. One part Hawaii, one part LA, and one part artist bungalow -- but the best... Read more
Lives in: Los Angeles, California
Let’s start with the neighborhood. What’s it like where you live? It’s a nice blend of ethnicities, lifestyles, and classes, which is typical of LA’s urban sprawl. Most of the houses on our street are the same style, and there are many mature trees. It’s very leafy and green and for being in a major city it has a very suburban feel.
What makes your home offbeat? Husband’s style is The IT Crowd meets Han Solo and my style is pinup meets Anthropologie.
What’s the most challenging about this space? How do you deal with the challenge? Not enough storage. We have a few closets, but the “Weird Sex Room” (so named because of the swanky in-room Rock Wall Tub) is the primary holding space for all of our sporting and camping equipment, suitcases that need to be unpacked when we travel, etc.
We have shelving, so it’s “dealt with” in this way… but it’s just a shame that we have to have open shelves in such an awesome space.
We wish there were about four more closets. We’ve even down-sized on our stuff over the past year, but both the previous tenant and the landlady concur that there’s just not a lot of room.
What’s your favorite feature of your home? Definitely the den and the yard. It’s where the magic happens.
We can host people on cold days by the fire sipping whiskey, or in the summer with the hot tub and BBQ. Every day feels like vacation in our home.
We just love the bookshelves and glass cases back there. The exposed beams and wood paneling are amazing. The bar itself is perfect for informal dinners while we talk about our day.
The yard is so full of “spaces”… we can host dinners on the covered patio, lounge in the hot tub, or take our wine and a blanket to the back yard, which is strung with lights. On weekends, we garden, clean out the water feature, and prune the fruit trees. It’s our little slice of heaven on Earth and a great way to relax from what for both of us is usually a pretty hectic work week.
What’s the most important lesson you’ve learned from this home? 
That there are seasons of feasting and seasons of famine, but Home is truly where you are loved, no matter what it looks like, aesthetically speaking.
Our first year and a half together were spent living in a horrible neighborhood in a tiny apartment, saving money for our life together. We couldn’t host people that whole time! We really needed this place. We had a wedding reception Save The Date, with no venue. But we just wanted to be together, so for a long time, we made it work.
We went on exhaustive searches with several rental agents and nothing was working out. Then, five months before we were scheduled to have our reception, this dropped into our lap.
We were very fortunate to have this place to call home for now, and every day we feel gratitude over our lovely, perfect Little Big House.
What advice do you have for other offbeat homies? Make the most of your home, keep it safe, and treat it well. It’s your calm place, a reflection of you, and where you can truly be yourself — so revel in that.
Any stuff or services you want to recommend? As someone who LOVES to cook, I have an apron fetish … I just love all the ones Dot’s Diner has on Etsy.
Show me the decor porn!
Totally understand the small space thing! Fun house for sure! Love the dining room table – ok I have been looking for one forever so they jump out at me. Where did you get your table and chairs.
Ikea! They don’t sell the chairs anymore though. The nice thing about it is it folds way down. The one in our back yard is also Ikea and it folds waaay way down, and was reasonable in price too. Perfect for smaller spaces.
I love your house. It looks homey, like my house when I was growing up. I also love that you have a hot tub inside (I’d say that’s pretty offbeat!). Another thing, that light fixture on the wall that looks like a spiral is fabulous-I need more information on it! Also, I need that sign for when we have parties. I tend to get pretty drunky at our parties, and that sign could be the perfect thing. 🙂
Also Ikea. If there’s a demand for the signage I’ll make a pdf of a few party signs and put them on my blog!
I add my voice to the request for pdf signage! I have three indoor cats and am always terrified they’re going to sneak outside through one of our two sliding glass doors when people are over. I love that the sign conveys this super-important pet safety need without being a boring drag – it adds to the fun party atmosphere without being a buzzkill!
I would also love if you did a PDF! 🙂 Also, very cool house!
OMG YES. I still cringe when I think about a friend’s party 3 years ago where someone (drunk) left her door open and her 9 year old cat got out and was never found. Plus, those signs are adorable.
OMG! I love your house!!!! The bar, the big brick fireplace, I DIE! The jealousy, it burnsis.
You don’t have to be jellos, Megan, since you’re invited over soon. Be forewarned! 😉
Party with the party master!? I’m thur.
omg! My Parents have that exact same owl clock! It was the first thing they bought together as a couple and its probably close to 30 years old now. seeing yours made me all warm and fuzzy 🙂
I feel like I’ve read this before. I definitely remember that rock wall tub and it’s description. Am I crazy?
Hi Kirsten, no you’re not crazy! I’m a frequent contributor and my rock wall and tub was mentioned in Expanding: Going from Apt. To Home awhile back. I took another photo of it for the tour!
Phew! I was starting to think my mind was melting! I love it, by the way, the rock wall tub!
I love the sign for the pet room!
Ok y’all here you go, I made two PDFs of all my party signs, 6 different designs total.
Download them here!
Happy Birthday!
xo Beretta
Thanks for sharing your home with us! I love the contrasting styles of the first pics of the modern dining room and then the wood filled bar area/living room later in the slide show. It’s great to see a house doesn’t have to have one ‘theme’ for decorating. I also love the owls that you appear to have around your house.
There should probably be a prize for whoever spots the most owls in the flikr album. I’ve been told NO MORE OWLS unless we want to wind up on My Crazy Obsession…
I enjoy seeing people’s icons. Owls. Skulls. Stars. Cats. Pineapples. Leaves. Love it.