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The Boiler Rooms

In the quintessentially Southern California home of John and Kari Boiler, streamlined sophistication and unchained creative expression live in perfect harmony.

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In the Wild West, normal rules and conventions simply don’t apply … especially when it comes to designing a home. Both inside and out, the 3,200-square-foot Manhattan Beach enclave of John and Kari Boiler epitomizes the distinctly Southern California penchant for imbuing one’s living space with free and easy self-expression. The fact that John, CEO of design and advertising company 72andsunny, and Kari, president of Bugaboo America, both hail from Oregon makes their story even more emphatically SoCal. Like so many transplants, they stumbled upon the beach community they now call home and never looked back.

Their home’s genesis goes something like this: Not too long ago, while John was taking a sabbatical from work in Amsterdam and his and Kari’s first child was still in a stroller, they decided to visit California. Over the course of two days, while looking at houses up and down the coast, they discovered a curious, post-modern home that seemed to have been designed, as John puts it, “on a trailer budget.” Nonetheless, their discerning eyes saw something in the building’s underlying steel structure, and upon returning to Holland they purchased it over the internet.

Of course, that’s when the real work began. They knew what they wanted: an open, free-flowing floor plan and lots of glass. They also knew that their home would have to merge their distinct aesthetics—John’s is refined while Kari’s centers on an attraction to color and a certain organic randomness. Both of them possess a love for rustic elements, which boded well for their mandate that nothing be so precious that their kids couldn’t run around it or their dogs couldn’t jump on the sofa.

James Meyer from Lean Arch proved to be the perfect collaborator, and the Boilers discovered his talents in much the same way they discovered their home: by happenstance. As fate would have it, Meyer lives four doors down from the Boilers, and as both architect and builder is a master at manifesting every client’s vision with a true understanding of practical “nuts and bolts” details. According to John and Kari, “James is a great leading partner, because he has a creative mind and can execute.” Friend and tastemaker Rachel Gilmore signed on to contribute her razor-sharp design sense, and thus the project set sail.

Meyer extended the deck by four feet. The light, airy feel of this area is highlighted by verdant landscaping and expansive ocean views to the west. A 20-foot-long, six-foot-high, naturally-irrigating wool wall covered with felt pockets literally explodes with plants, while an expansive Missoni rug imbues the space with a boldly bohemian flavor.

An exterior view from the backyard reveals all three levels of indoor/outdoor space, ideally suited for this active South Bay family’s lifestyle.