Name: Derek
Location:Los Feliz, CA
Years lived in: 6 years
We hope you like colour, kitsch and Midcentury design, because we have all three in abundant amount with our house tour coming by way of Los Feliz. Overlooking the beautiful St. George Reservoir, Derek's modest 2-bedroom apartment, with it's wood shingle clad exterior, hides a wealth of unexpected colour and collectibles within. Just his living room was almost enough to keep us busy with questions and photo subjects during our visit. And when we weren't admiring his vintage collection of soda pop cans, atomic ranch furnishings or humorous artwork, we were just having fun watching his two friendly felines put on an amusing show for us befitting the playful backdrop...
Derek's style: Atomic Danish Kitsch
Inspiration for my home: Matt Helm (fictional U.S. government counteragent) on a budget.
Favorite Element: The living room, where I can sit and enjoy the artwork I've found, framed and displayed.
Biggest Challenge In Designing My Home: Trying to hide the fact the carpet looks like it threw up on the walls!
Biggest Embarrassment: The carpeting.
Proudest DIY: All the reframing I DID MYSELF on my art wall.
Biggest Indulgence: The long rectangular red-orange swirl painting which I almost had to sell myself to buy it. I've had it a while, but it was worth more in the 90's.
Best Advice Given or Received: Take it way too far then pull back one notch!
Dream Source: 1965 Blue Chip Stamp Store
Resources:
Appliances: A mix of vintage and modern, with a fondness for anything avocado green.
Furniture: Mix of danish and atomic from various sources.
Accessories: Mix of high and low end, whatever catches my eye.
Lighting: Love those pole lamps!
Paint: Mocha
Flooring: ugly beige carpet
Rugs and Carpets: One throw rug from Clover in the bedroom
Tiles and Stone: Original pink tile in the bathroom
Window Treatments: original to the apartment.
Bed: retro platform from Futurama
Artwork: ALL VINTAGE, mix of oil, seragraphs and metal sculptures.
Other: 60's bar is actually my design, it looks old, but it is all new. The bar is the only thing in the living room not vintage (besides my cats).
The Ultimate Used Furniture Cleaning Kit
Ana Creates a Community at Home
Good Food to Share 
The Big Book of Small, Cool Spaces 
Apartment Therapy Presents 
The Eight-Step Home Cure 
Z2 iPod Dock and Wi...
Soda Recipe: Homemade Ginger Ale
Recipe: Spring Fruit and Nut Tabouli
Very well done and fun.
What a cool crib!
There are some real treasures there!
If an apartment could have human characteristics, I think this one is my soul mate.
There should be a special award for "Best Title for a House Tour!" Thanks for the smiles & great dose of color :-)
What a great place!
I think the spirit of my Aunt Francis has come back to earth as Derek. Her place in the 60's looked just like this, down to the cats!
KarenH I agree - the title alone had me all intrigued. Derek, you turned your place out - thanks for the tour.
wow.
Now, that's what you call commitment to an aesthetic.
I love what you've done with your place. Thanks for letting us in!
Nice! Its reassuring to see such results in a real apartment. I have that wall-to-wall carpet.. and that bathroom.. and that wall color.
There is hope!
I was getting tired of seeing all those lofts/condos with pretty cement floors, brick walls, crazy floorplans. Those don’t look like rentals to me. (I do love looking at pictures of them though)
AWESOME furniture collection.
Now that's committment. I almost expect Jeannie to rise out of one of those bottles.
I just re-viewed the slide show. That's quite an impressive collection period furniture and decor! Kudos.
I've never seen a more beautiful place on here...
You have a great eye for period art.
Is that an original Eugène Galien-Laloue or a print?
Love your bedroom! Love your cool clock that you hang at the corner :)
Thanks for all the nice comments. The painting is an oil painting but no signature is you mean the blueish french street scene. 5 or 10 years ago I would have never had a french street scene but recently find some of these beautiful. Plus I need the diversity on the art wall. Too much of one thing would bore even me!
Ahhh, yes. The Blue Chip Catalog.
And we had that pole lamp in our living room when I was a wee tot. And the turquoise chair at your desk...except ours was orange. Good times!
And the soda cans, lol.... "LOOK Franciiine, TAB for our DIETS!!!!!"
Great place! Hardwood floors would be a nice upgrade.
Wow - thanks for sharing.
I am always curious with these kind of "commitment" homes what the person's wardrobe is like.
This little tour has made my day! It's great-very well done.
Are those lamps hanging over the bar Catherine Holm? It looks like a similar design ...
I love Derek's home. Thanks for sharing and providing plenty of fuel for the mind : )
Meh...hated this look the first time around
This is soooooo very not my taste, and I soooooo very love it! Avocado's raised to a whole new level here, too. And that sun/planet/whatever burst thing over the bed is sublime and looks like a many$thousand 1stdibs item for sure.
Derek, if you could have any flooring in the world you'd like, what would you pick to replace your beige carpeting?
absolutely amazing space, thanks so much for sharing!
couldn't you find a vintage computer? ha!
TheoJ: just to clarify, that's the name Derek provided himself for the house tour, no insult implied, and I think made all in good fun.
Love it! Beautiful home and collection, pure inspiration and fun, thanks for sharing!
FYI--I spied some of Derek's paintings for sale on Craigslist today:
http://losangeles.craigslist.org/lac/fur/613191899.html
http://losangeles.craigslist.org/lac/fur/613194117.html
http://losangeles.craigslist.org/lac/fur/613200821.html
I hope he's got some other cool works to replace these paintings!
Yes I have some great pieces to replace them. I am always changing, evolving. The one negative comment cracks me up. It is always someone older who doesn't like this the first time around and even less the second. This is the way I feel about the 80's which will come back one day. I try to use more tact now then when younger about my opinions. As I get older I appreciate different styles. I come home to this apt and I have myself to make happy. I know this look is not for everyone. I was a kid in the 60's and I absorbed everything from cars to decor even displays at the supermarket. The 60's was a unique era. I alsohave a twisted sense of humor and I came up with the title. It was also poking fun at the endless Gidget movies. If made today I'm sure they'd have a "Gidget gets addicted to Meth" movie. Anyway, thanks for all the nice comments. One bad out of 28 good is not a bad score. Derek
I think this is an awesome apartment. And I love the way he kept the same aesthetic in the bedroom, but in a more subdued way. I love, love, love those colored glass decanters. I think I might need to start hunting some down.
I love what you have done! What a great color scheme! Makes me wish I lived there! I am in the process of re-doing my place with a 60s 70s theme and you have really inspired me! Excellent Job!
Nice and interesting collection of stuff.
Some of those pieces I would covet.
However there's so much of it kind of haphazardly all over the place that it looks kind of like a vintage boutique.
Not a home.
I would suggest 're-merchandising'.
Plan a day to take it all down and think and plan some flattering vignettes.
You may not want to put all of it out either.
Rotate pieces 'in' periodically over the year.
Pay attention to how you mix 'shapes', textures, and how high you hang things too.
Great collection.
Just needs to be showcased to it's best.
...check out "Gregory's Palm Springs in the suburbs" tour.
Similar vintage, nicely showcased.
Cheers.
SERIOUSLY cool! Love the art, love the furniture, love the colorscheme (really hard to pull off - but you did), LOVE the cats!!!
I LOVE your stuff!!!
The pop cans are the best.
Cheers
It's really not JUST that it looks like a real person lives here.
And it's also not JUST that stuff is a fun, kitchy collection.
The fact that it is all so beautifully pulled together and arranged so well. You can see diamond shapes, for instance, repeated here and there, so that when he designed his bar, he intentionally emphasized things that were going on in the other things.
There are literally millions of other things from those eras that he could have collected, but not only did he get things that obviously spoke to him somehow, but that work well together.
Congratulations on such a great pulled-together look! I love this!
what a beautiful place and great paintings!
I just discovered this HT via another HT of the same apartment. I'm so glad that we have record of how the apartment once looked because there are so many things to appreciate in this 50's iteration. I am truly inspired. Derek, thanks for sharing.