“It appears to be like like a Disneyland fort,” designer Irina Lazar says of the one-bedroom condo she furnished with sensible items and flights of fancy.
Irina “Riri” Lazar needed her new house to be sensible—to some extent, anyway.
After dwelling for years in New York Metropolis and Mexico Metropolis, she felt it was time to return to California to be nearer to her mother and father. Riri was initially drawn to the informal environment and oceanside location of L.A.’s Venice Seashore, however as an inside designer, she was deterred by the rental extremes of “dilapidated bungalows or ultramodern homes,” she says. That’s when she set her sights on West Hollywood, which is definitely additional east.

“I’m a unusual, dynamic, glad, sensible, and complicated particular person, so this house actually displays my aesthetic selections,” Riri says. She moved into the condo in a Chateau-style constructing in January 2023.
Photograph by Olivia Pierce
The world is a hub of creativity, the place newcomers and established artists have galleries inside strolling distance to their properties. Riri knew that dwelling on this a part of city can be good for her profession, so she took a level-headed method to what she calls “profitable the lottery” of discovering a worthwhile rental in a extremely aggressive market.

“The couch needed to have a differentiating design characteristic in order that it will not seem like one thing generic,” Riri says.
Photograph by Olivia Pierce
“I used to be dedicated to checking listings daily, thrice per day,” she says. “I did this for 3 entire months and possibly sifted by means of a whole bunch, if not 1000’s, of duds. It was tedious! However in the future this place got here up and it had solely been listed for half-hour. I used to be the primary to reply and wrote a compelling and charming sufficient letter to land me the coveted first-look spot.”

The lounge options unique hardwood flooring and moldings—plus an 18-foot-tall ceiling.
Photograph by Olivia Pierce
See the total story on Dwell.com: Rental Revamp: She Gave Her West Hollywood Chateau the Princess RemedyAssociated tales:They Turned a Nineteen Sixties Dentist’s Workplace Right into a House With a Big OculusThis Extraordinarily Slim Tokyo House Was Alleged to Be Even NarrowerA Wave of Concrete Ribbons Kinds a Courtyard at This House in India