Nestled in the hills behind the Beverly Hills Hotel, resides one of my favorite families who live inside one of my favorite houses in LA. Owners Michele and Joel, along with their eleven year old daughter Petie, have spent years amassing an incredible collection of antiques which give their tudor house arresting personality and coziness. It all starts in the hallway, a foyer jam packed with meaningful pieces: two inlaid chairs, which were purchased from the American Ambassador to the Vatican; a model of Napoleon’s Obelisk, which was acquired from the Egyptians and stands in the Place de Concorde in Paris; and a painting of clouds by family friend April Gornik, a renowned contemporary landscape painter. And in the mirror’s reflection you can see a nude by James Whale, which was featured in Bill Condon’s film, God’s and Monsters. Hollywood history is everywhere in this house.

Peite cuddles with her pup, Isabella, in the living room next to her portrait painted by another family friend and acclaimed artist, Eric Fischl. Fischl painted it when Petie was three and as he often does - aged her. It’s a bit of uncanny how he captured her.

Another part of the living room is flocked in vintage Zuber wallpaper, which Michele found on ebay. The drop dead gorgeous hand painted gold lace motif is such a bold move and it works gorgeously.

The intimate dining room is lit by a pink and gold Venetian glass chandelier from Murano. The piece de resistance here has to be the photomural screened on canvas by Klaus Laubmayer, an artist working in Berlin. He shot this piece in a salt mine in Lanzarote. It is so vibrate - another very bold move that works incredibly well.

Perhaps my favorite room in the house, the downstairs powder. A tiny room, but such a little jewelbox. The mirror is Moroccan, inlaid and embellished and the sconces are French crystal girandoles. The sink is a stone bowl placed atop an old Indian cabinet with a whole drilled in it.

Later today, I’ll post about Michele private couture resale salon, housed on the second floor of her lovely home.

Last night, Alex took me on a scooter ride to our favorite ice cream shop, Scoops, run by ice cream visionary Tai Kim. It was a really warm night and we rode through Hollywood into downtown LA. As we drove through Hollywood, we passed The Hollywood Palladium, a historic music venue. It just so happened to be the grand re-opening after a multi-million dollar renovation and Jay Z was performing. It was quite a scene.

We drove through Angelino Heights, a Historic Preservation zone, with a concentration of gorgeous Victorian style homes. They look like dolls houses. This one looked haunted.

We drove into downtown and admired the gorgeous Walt Disney Concert Hall, designed by Frank Gehry. I love this building.

And finally, after a two hour scooter tour of the city, we arrived at Scoops. Tai has unusual and very interesting flavors, which he changes daily. Tonight he was offering chocolate Butterfinger, lemon jasmine, almond thai ice tea and maple oreo, just to name a few. A delicious end to a wonderful night.

I paid a visit to the studio of Melissa Manfull, an LA-based artist working out of her charming home in Silver Lake. I was first introduced to her work by Elise Barclay, a talented curator who included Melissa in a group show she organized at my gallery, called Interconsiderations. I was instantly taken with Melissa’s intricate, obsessive works on paper and scheduled a solo show, which will open in February ‘09. I love the direction she has taken the work recently. This large piece was recently included in an exhibition at the Armory Center for the Arts in Pasadena. I think it’s stunning.

A collection of rocks and geodes as source material. They obviously inspire what she’s been working on these days.

Melissa uses rapidograph pens and mixes all her own colors, so the palette is always stunning and an important element of the work. Here are some examples of her newest pieces. Check in with the gallery in February for details on her upcoming exhibition.

Sherry and Miguel recently opened the west side’s answer to their successful Marvimon, conveniently located across the street from the Taylor De Cordoba. They renovated an old smog check auto center into what is now a gorgeous and completely green 6,000 square foot event space, called SmogShoppe. On a recent visit, Sherry showed me some of her favorite things starting with the living wall.

A vertical garden lines both the exterior and part of the interior of the space and it’s effect is really dramatic. It was inspired by French designer, Patrick Blanc, whose living walls are water based. To adapt this idea for LA’s dry climate, Sherry and Miguel modified the design and used pouches (made from recycled wool suits) filled with soil. Come to think of it the first time I saw a living wall was dining with Sherry and Miguel at Bastide, a fancy and delicious LA restaurant.

The main interior space is perfectly suited for sit down dinners at the long, wooden tables handcrafted by local artist, Tony Brown. Some of the tabletops are end grain and others have a chevron pattern - they are all really beautiful. And Sherry has been collecting vintage bentwood chairs, so they can offer seating for 120 when the space gets rented. It’s a chic alternative to generic party rentals.

Sherry is a vintage junkie (we see eye to eye on this) and she purchased most of the furniture and accessories for the space at flea markets, thrift stores or on Ebay and Craigslist. She’s found some great vintage trash cans on ebay and delighted in showing them to me.

These vintage baskets also top her list right now. Clever way to store unsightly clutter.

This life-size Egyptian is one in a set of two, found at the Long Beach flea market. Sherry was mysteriously drawn to them and then recalled seeing a version of them in a Tony Duquette book that she had recently read. A decorating seed was planted and now the rest is history. Using the bowl on her head as a planter makes an already dramatic piece all the better.

One of my favorite parts of the whole space is the ladies powder room. It’s bubblegum pink, with ikat wallpaper, a vintage chair and lots of good flowers designed by Holly Vesecky, who I will be blogging about later in the week.

I met Sherry Walsh and Miguel Nelson several years ago through my friend and gallery artist, Frohawk Two Feathers. He had a painting on display at a place called Marvimon, just east of Chinatown near downtown LA. We walked into this huge gorgeous space, with exposed brick and beams, unique furnishing and a jungle in the backyard and were completely speechless. Years and countless parties and dinners later, Marvimon feels like a second home and Sherry and Miguel are close friends. Built by an Italian race car driver in 1924, the original space was one of the first car showrooms in LA. After a serious gut, revamp and redesign, the space now functions as a 7,000 square foot indoor/outdoor event space, in addition to their primary residence. I met up with Sherry who let me snap some shots of what I think is the ultimate live/work space.

In addition to events, movies have been shot here, including some of the adult entertainment variety. The set decorator of one such X-rated flick installed the “Delicious” sign above the fridge. Sherry and Miguel loved it and never took it down. It’s pretty perfect.

The only real personal space in the public areas of the house - a table which houses special books and treasures, including a wooden model of the Eiffel Tower, a gift from Miguel in honor of an upcoming trip to Paris.

The bedroom and master bath make up the personal wing and really reflect their madcap design sense. Both rooms are full of thrift store finds and evidence of Sherry’s big cat collection.

Sherry and Miguel recently opened a new space in Culver City, strictly for events, called SmogShoppe. Tune in later today for a tour.

One of my favorite places to dig around for hidden treasures is Retro Gallery on La Brea Avenue. Annie and I spent a solid hour browsing through their incredible selection of venetian glass decanters and German lava ceramics. They also sell beautiful vintage lamps ready to be rewired by the electrician, conveniently located next door to Retro. This place is a museum.

Hello readers! I am delighted to be guest blogging here at Design*Sponge this week and am grateful to Grace for this opportunity. Let me introduce myself. My name is Heather Taylor and I run a contemporary art gallery in Los Angeles, called Taylor De Cordoba, which I own with my boyfriend, Alex. I’m a third generation Angeleno and a big fan of this sprawling city, which I blog about regularly on my blog, L.A in Bloom. This week, I’m going to share some of my favorite stores, restaurants, houses and people.

To kick it all off, let’s start with yesterday, my cherished day off. One of my closest friends, Annie, and I took some time to catch up over brunch and do a little shopping (or rather window shopping). We met for Spanish Frittatas and coffee at a beautiful french cafe in West Hollywood, The Little Next Door. We marveled at the perfectly stunning cobalt blue walls.

After brunch, we stopped by Roseark, a drop dead gorgeous 5,000 square foot shop, also in West Hollywood. It’s primarily a jewelry store but owner Kathy Azarmi Rose’s vision is far reaching and the space is a multi-room house showcasing unique jewels, wonderful handbags, jewel encrusted Tiffany lamps and dresses by one of my favorite LA-based designers Jesse Kamm. I tried on a geode encrusted, crocheted leather bracelet by Janice Rae and admired a diamond whale necklace designed by owner Kathy Rose.

Lastly, I dropped Annie off at her gorgeous furniture store, Empiric, which she runs with her husband Michael. I bid Annie farewell, but not before perusing their new incredible merchandise. During our meandering, Annie and I hit up one more shop, Retro Gallery, which I will blog about later on today.

Wow, this week has flown by! Thanks so much for having me Grace! Also, thanks everyone for all your wonderful comments.

I leave you with the prolific Swedish ceramist Stig Lindberg, one of my favorite designers. Enjoy!