Saturday, July 20, 2013

Jeff Lewis Flips Out in Los Feliz...Again

SELLER: Jeff Lewis
LOCATION: Los Angeles, CA
PRICE: $3,195,000
SIZE: 3,730 square feet, 3 bedrooms, 3.5 bathrooms

YOUR MAMAS NOTES: It should come as no surprise to the children—at least not to any of them who give a hoot about the frivolities of celebrity real estate—that famously fickle house flipping designer/decorator and veteran Bravolebrity Jeff Lewis has put his own, freshly rehabbed residence in the artsy and affluent Los Feliz area of Los Angeles on the market with an asking price of $3,195,000. What is a bit of a surprise, at least to this jaded property gossip, is that the perennially itchy footed Mister Lewis owned the house two whole years before he shoved it back on the market for almost twice what he paid.

Armchair psychiatrists who have seen any or all of the six seasons of his reality program Flipping Out* can plainly see that Mister Lewis has a tetch of the OCD. This might—or it might not—explain how it came to be that this is actually the second time Mister Lewis has owned this particular house. The peripatetic property flipper turned decorator purchased the hillside house the first time in March 2004 for $1,265,000. He spent an unknown but, no doubt, substantial amount on a full-scale renovation and sold it just over two years later, in June 2006, for $2,795,000 to a couple of fellas who by the fall of 2010 had lost the house down the ugly abyss of foreclosure.

Without—so it appeared on Flipping Out, anyways—giving his live-in man-friend, Gauge Edwards, a hunty-how-do-you-do Mister Lewis seized the opportunity to acquire the property for a second time in July 2011 when he snatched it out of foreclosure for $1,625,000. Much ado is made on the sixth season of Flipping Out about how much money Mister Lewis blew through on the remodel. It was supposed to be a spit and polish job but once the ball started rolling, he his mister went hog wild and the planned light renovation became an extensive and expensive overhaul that included the painstaking and pricey installation in the circular formal dining room of a downright decadent, hand-cut black and white marble floor laid in a geometrically glam, match booked herringbone pattern.

The two-story 1937 Tudor was originally designed and built in 1937 by esteemed architect Wallace Neff on a .36 acre hillside graced with what listing information describes as "commanding breathtaking city views." In its current configuration, according to online marketing materials, the house has three bedrooms, 3.5 bathrooms, and three fireplaces in 3,731 square feet.

The house co-mingles original architectural features, such as diamond paned and leaded glass windows, with much more modern-minded features and conveniences, such as the open concept kitchen and family room that Mister Lewis created in the course of his first renovation in the mid-2000s. The well-equipped galley style kitchen connects to the family room over a large center work island and the most recent redo by Misters Lewis and Edwards added a separate and fully outfitted, booze hound friendly four-stool wet bar.

A quick comparison of current and previous listing photos suggest Misters Lewis and Edwards are also responsible for, among many other things, the high gloss ebony finish on the hardwood floors in all three of the bedrooms—a murderous finish for anyone, like Misters Lewis and Edwards, with pets—as well as the solid wood panelling hedonistically applied to the walls of a long corridor and a narrow staircase.

The master suite occupies its own wing on the upper level with a sitting area, fireplace and a spacious spa-style bathroom with free standing soaking tub and steam shower for two plus and an "Immense" walk-in closet "reminiscent of the finest retail stores."The exposed brick wall behind the bed seems out of context and is a decorative convention Your Mama thinks is really better left to industrial-edged loft apartments.

In addition to the trellised, red brick lounging terrace set atop the street-level two car garage, several more (herringbone pattern) red brick dining and lounging terraces surround the house and step up the planted slope at the rear of the property. There's a small swimming pool and inset spa, a lounge area with fire pit, a sunbathing shelf, a small patch of grass for the pooches, and what listing information calls a "state-of-the-art outdoor kitchen."

*In addition to his starring duties on Flipping Out, Mister Lewis produces and co-stars with his long-time assistant (and verbal sparring partner) Jeni Pulos Nassos on the eponymous Interior Therapy with Jeff Lewis and he's the sassiest of the permanent panelists on Property Envy, Bravo's newest addition to their growing line up of real estate related reality programs.


listing photos: Partners Trust

23 comments:

Anonymous said...

Love those marble floors but is that really considered a herringbone pattern?
The brick definitely is, but the marble too? The patterns are nothing alike.

Anonymous said...

Oh no!! Tell me their not moving back to the awful townhouse again? Where will Zoila live?? What about having babies with Guage (that's a bet I would like to make in vegas as to their longevity)

Anonymous said...

Huh, well, 7:46, you're here giving a fuck about this blog so isn't that ironic or something?

Condos In Thailand said...

Love those marble floors but is that really considered a herringbone pattern

Anonymous said...

Wow, I'm really surprised. He and Gage made a big deal about how this is their ":dream house" to raise a family in. I always thought it was a bit morose-looking, like a haunted house.

WrteStufLA said...

I'm not wild about the house, but some brilliant financial moves -- or just plain luck. Friends of mine who live in the Berkeley Hills went through something similar. In 2006, with the real estate market roaring, they listed their dream home for an outrageous price, and were amazed -- and a little dismayed -- when it turned into a quick bidding war. Now out of a home because they weren't comfortable buying in that market, they rented. Four short years later, they were able to buy their former home out of foreclosure for only about 60% of what they'd sold it for. So they're happily back in their dream home, only with a couple-extra hundred thou in the bank.

Anonymous said...

Well, I love this blog. Especially on "Beverly Park Days".

This house may be eye catching but much too high maintenance for me. The gardens, the finishes...... Gives me the vapors just thinking about all the weed whacking and Old English oiling.... Better suited for Paul Lynde, a G&T and several man-servants.

Anonymous said...

"You suck so much"??? What is this Waynes World. I doubt Mama even had a flutter over that. As far as Mr. Lewis, a wise woman told me that a leopard doesn't change its spots. Gage is either going to accept his limited role in Jeffs life or move on.

Anonymous said...

ew ew gross. i don't see this style remaining for much longer, it's very gay, and i'm gay and couldn't do it. i guess he got sick of dark grey and lavender so just eliminated all colors.. no.

Anonymous said...

I so fondly recall the days when Mama would tuck the children to bed, give a big kiss good night and send us to Mr. Sandman with some delicious decorating Don'ts and Do's.
If ever there was a house or homeowner to unleash the hounds on, it's this one. As senselessly fulfilling as it might be to know that there is no way in Heck, Mr. Edward's given birth name is Gauge, what about the miniature brass sconces in the living room, the mobile home style coffered ceiling and stackable, auditorium chairs in the dining room, that disturbing, very disturbing piece of 'art' in the master bedroom, the dinner plate sized door pulls on the bathroom vanity, the blindingly, shiny kitchen ceiling...
Mama, but why? Teach us to fly.

luke220 said...

I think I remember him saying that they put $1M into the upgrades, so he won't make much on this even if it sells for asking price. Is it being sold furnished? Maybe they got tired of the stairs?

Anonymous said...

Mama! This sneaky ass spambot stole my comment!

Anonymous said...

2:12...1M in Jeff Lewis speak = 500K if that much. After all, the IRS is watching us all, so who can blame him?

Sandpiper said...

Saw Jeff Lewis in the title and got silly with anticipation. It has its moments, but maybe the style of this home should have stayed in keeping with ... the style of this home.

Anonymous said...

Luv me some geometric patterns, but Not These. Some of the rooms look as though they'd be like living in a demented Escher print. Would be very interesting to see what the original 1937 interiors were like!

Anonymous said...

Jeff Lewis ain't nothin but a staging lady with a camera crew.
Every other house in the country called, they want their countertops back.
And Taylor Armstrong sent a text asking for her top lip back again.

Anonymous said...

I love when these crooks talk about how they put one million or millions into upgrades and idiots believe them. I built 6,000 plus square feet, all brick, all marble floors with some cherry, 4 fireplaces, 2 kitchens, wainscoting, triple dentil crown molding, finished basement with sauna and steam shower and the list goes on and on for $1.2 million.

How on God's earth do these crooks come up with one million dollar price tags for maybe a couple hundred thousand dollars worth of work, if that? I could put in the most amazing Smallbone kitchen with top of the line appliances and maybe spend $100,000, put a slate roof on and spend maybe another $100,000 and build a goddamn amazing master bathroom for about $50,000, put limestone all over the house for maybe $300,000 and still be under $600,000.

My neighbor has a custom marble floor in his house that is more complex than Jeff Lewis's and I think he spent about $50,000 for his.

Anonymous said...

You're embarrassing yourself.
All marble floors and cherry wood?
What is this, 1991?

Anonymous said...

2:46, Don't be mad, I am sure you have the finest wood paneling available in your trailer.

lil' gay boy said...

Sadly, like Jocelyn Wildenstein, this house has had much too much work and all its original Wallace Neff charm is long gone.

Perhaps the Coco Chanel School of "...before you leave the house, look in the mirror and take one thing off." before leaving the house should have been applied here -- by a factor of ten.

Disaster.

Anonymous said...

There comes a point where even Wallace Neff can be choked and blinded by excess smoke and mirrors, and, baby, this house is there and beyond. I wish Mr Lewis the best and a sale price over adking, but I am skeptical that dated, hi-gloss black-and-white razzmatazz is going to bring Ina buyer at anything close to $3.195, especially since most area realtors will tell you that Gramercy is not a street on which buyers are easily persuaded to drop big money. My favorite image is the lonely bathtub sitting all by itself in a niche among aggressive black and white zig zag marble surrounded by cheap, harsh, ultrawhite tile. So cheerful! Like a cadaver bay at a hi-style morgue. Just don't go in there with a hangover.

Babe Parish said...

"You take the good, you take the bad you take them both and there you have...the Facts of Life! the Facts of Life!" Not normally my cup of tea, but I can see all of my stuff strewn about the house, like my magenta suede flats tossed near the tub that looks like it could be the porcelain stand in for the twins at the end of the hall in The Shining.. my bag of candy from Sweet sitting on the edge of the bed with the brick wall. My lesbian friends from Angeleno Heights could come over and film their next webisode by "my" pool and then we could eat some guacamole and chips from Chipotle, and smoke a fatty...This is latch key kid heaven!

Love,
Babe

Anonymous said...

And he gets paid big bucks for this? If you want to see a real design go to http://youtu.be/J3fyr-sM7tM
That's a house worth noting...
StThis thing looks like the typical average over size track home, you find EVERYWHERE...