Triangle Pose

Built by an artist and decorated by a designer with a painterly penchant for color, this Santa Monica house refuses to stay within the lines.

Erin Feher

Photo credit: Beth Coller

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All the Right Angles

Designed by Alexandra Loew/ From the Desk of Lola

Emily Alexander grew up surrounded by beautiful things. Her uncle, Peter Alexander, is a celebrated painter, and for nearly 50 years her parents have collected, exhibited and sold art through their SoHo space, Brook Alexander Gallery. Emily, like many willful children, turned right where her family turned left and studied law instead of lyrical abstraction, but she couldn’t shake her appreciation for fine forms and pleasing colors. So when she moved from East Coast to West and purchased a simple 900-square-foot bungalow in Santa Monica, she recruited her cousin (Peter’s daughter), painter-turned-architect Hope Alexander, to reimagine the space.
Photo credit: Beth Coller

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Museum Worthy

Designed by Alexandra Loew/ From the Desk of Lola

In Hope’s hands, the house began to sprout new points and peaks and unexpected angles. Today, there are few square rooms, and many of the solid walls stop just short of the ceiling, with triangles of glass filling the void. The strong shapes of the house require furnishings that are similarly bold but don’t detract from the architecture. Emily called on interior designer Alexandra Loew of From the Desk of Lola to complete the picture. “The house had such a cool early Frank Gehry vibe. I wanted all those triangles in the ceiling to percolate down to the ground plane,” says Loew.
Photo credit: Beth Coller

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Work and Play

Designed by Alexandra Loew/ From the Desk of Lola

“I’m not an eclectic person, so I’m very focused with my use of color,” Loew says. In the office, she incorporated the shapes of the home subtly with geometric pieces such as Patricia Urquiola’s Antibodi chair, which sprouts angular petals, and custom sofa cushions made up of two different fabrics stitched together on a diagonal. The adjacent kitchen was left clean and simple with pops of color.
Photo credit: Beth Coller

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Pretty and Precise

Designed by Alexandra Loew/ From the Desk of Lola

In the master bedroom, Loew upped the feminine factor with a classic floral pattern for the drapes and side tables. A pair of Tokujin Yoshioka’s Panna chairs gives the room its required dose of geometry.