Art Flows from Every Nook of This Creative Couple’s 50-Year-Old Ojai Home

This 1200-square-foot house in Ojai was located on half an acre of land with two three-car garages and some other sheds, too. It was not only enough room for the couple’s creative endeavors, but it also had loads of character.

When they purchased it, Joel describes the space as “dark, dusty piles of garbage; windows that didn’t open; and many layers of drapes that kept the rooms in perpetual darkness.” But it also had interior walls made of “pecky cedar, which is so fun! It’s like a cowboy cartoon or something from a chalet. We can put a screw or a nail in anywhere to hang art or whatever, and there is nothing to patch afterward because the holes just blend in,” Joel describes.

“Both of the previous owners were car collectors and packed the garages and yard with old cars,” explains Jennifer, who works with Joel and others at Smile Mountain and is also co-president for the Ojai Valley Museum. “We don’t have any cars in the garages — we have turned them into studio and workshop spaces. One day we will update the kitchen and bathrooms, but for now we are just enjoying our 50-year-old house as it is.”

 “All of our furniture is thrifted or made by family members. The artwork is by our relatives and friends, collected when traveling or things that we have made (with a few thrifted pieces thrown in for balance),” Jennifer continues. “Our home is not fancy, but I think we have made it fun and functional for us.”

• Coat and Hat Hooks — Joel Made Out of Sticks from Our Yard
• Sharpie/Pen/Pencil Holder — Joel Made

• Butcher Block Couch — William Fox

• Artwork Above the Table — Thrift Store in Palm Springs   

• Beautiful Local Organic Vegetables — Farmer Steve Sprinkel

• Canopy-Style Mahogany Bed — Handmade by Jennifer’s Dad (Rich) in 1977

• Green Dogwood Quilt — Hand-Quilted by Jennifer’s Grandmother Lorene Guengerich McCully in Illinois in the Late 1930s

• Sink — IKEA (Discontinued)

• Custom Desk — Design by Joel

• Cubic Portal Sconce — Ben Grace
• Tote Bag — Napkin Apocalypse

• Large Moon — Prop from Band of Horses’ Video on Yo Gabba Gabba
• Pickle Puppet — Used in Pickle and Peanut on Disney XD

Thanks, Joel and Jennifer!

This tour’s responses and photos were edited for length/size and clarity.

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