Interior Inspiration: a hedonistic garden of Eden-like estate nestled in the Los Angeles hills
This week we’re traveling to the hills of Los Angeles to visit Flamingo Estate. Like the other properties I’ve been inspired by recently, this estate - a hillside property with a sprawling Eden-like seven-acre garden - is unsurprisingly heavily influenced by nature and the gardens that envelope it; providing the perfect inspiration for spring-into-summer interiors.
Richard Christiansen, who is founder of creative studio, Chandelier Collective, found the property by chance whilst visiting a friend across the street. He befriended the aged owner, who he spotted pottering around in his garden in a g-string and eventually persuaded him to sell it too him, on the proviso that he couldn’t see the interiors until the contract was signed. (It turns out that the house had been used to create adult entertainment for decades, with an interior space to match). Undeterred, Christiansen held up his side of the bargain and once bought, began restoring the 1930s Spanish Mission house and its gardens to their former glory.
During the pandemic his friend came to him looking for a space to sell produce from local farmers who were on the brink of going out of business. Christiansen jumped at the opportunity and the project eventually developed into a full scale farmers market. From there a brand was born. Christiansen began to develop on the ideals of the property and has since branched out into skincare and lifestyle products (and even a book) that are all inspired by (and often created from) the estate’s grounds. Today the property is committed to “radical pleasure”, creating a link with its former life, but extending rather into a deep and indulgent connection with nature.
And this thread continues within the home. Designed and decorated by Parisian-based interior design studio, Studio KO (Karl Fournier and Oliver Marty), the building was transformed into a space dedicated to the all of the senses. Besides its myriad of jungle colors, it’s filled with ornate antiques; pieces collected in Parisian markets and on trips to Morocco; a Gabriella Crespi coffee table and leather Percival Lafer Brazilian chairs dominate the living room, rich fabrics adorn its windows, floors and bedrooms - think forest green silk sheets - and furniture made from rattan and bamboo is dotted throughout the space, along with terracotta ceramics and vibrant wall murals.
The kitchen boasts a beautiful Italian terrazzo floor and the outside is clad almost entirely in Moroccan tiles. The result is an ode to nature; a hedonistic space that indulges in all aspects of the natural world to awaken the senses by blurring the lines between inside and out. And the garden itself is filled with fauna and flora brought in from Baja, Mexico.
Christiansen prioritises on making the home a space of healing and nature; he was heavily inspired by Ilse Crawford’s Home is Where the Heart is, which focuses on a design philosophy of how making small changes to our spaces, can have a huge impact. So, whilst we can’t all have sprawling estates and gardens, we can make small changes and bring nature inside to help make our spaces sanctuaries.
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Words by Clemmie White & Marissa Cox. Photos credit: Flamingo Estate and Matthieu Salvaing.
