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ALEXIS GARRETT: The idea of growing two young boys in
this house felt really awesome.
It just felt like there's so much space for them to play in.
There's a big tree for them to explore in.
I always joke that our house is very analog.
I guess I really thought that this house would help raise
boys who were really intentional and thought things through
and appreciated really simple things.
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I would say Leucadia is known for being
a pretty sleepy beach town.
The ocean is definitely year round as a place to go.
We weren't actively looking for a house at all,
but I was looking at the pictures,
and I was just like overwhelmed with how amazing the house was.
Come on, Bert.
ALEXIS GARRETT: To find a historical house
or an old home in this area is pretty unique.
There's not very many left.
I think the charm and mystery of this house
is that it has lived many different lives,
and I think that's part of the magic of this house.
The house is very beachy casual.
It is definitely eclectic.
It's very white, kind of like just a white canvas.
So we're not on the sand, but it's
very much a coastal home, especially
when you look out the windows.
You're reminded of the ocean.
You can see a little peak of the ocean through our trees.
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This is definitely the epicenter of where
we spend a lot of time, especially on the weekends,
and just has the most awesome light all throughout the day.
There's these really cool super-high transom
windows that cast shadows around the house all day long.
The only thing we didn't paint in here were the beams.
Everything was as dark if not darker than the beams
throughout the house.
The home was built in 1924.
It has lived many different lives,
and I only know about the last seven.
I don't know about the last 93.
So that's why I'm so drawn to things that are old.
I just think that they have a bit
of a story that is kind of mysterious,
because I don't fully know it.
Like right above the entryway to the kitchen
there is an area in the house that are all
these really cool artifacts.
One of the owners of the home was a woman named Pauline
Oliveros, and she was a really avant garde musician and artist
and way ahead of her time, but we presume
that she put this in which was this collection
of artifacts from friends and guests and her and others.
And when we first moved here, we thought we would take it
down, because it's very dusty.
It still is.
It's still very dusty.
It's pretty dirty.
We thought we'd take it down and just frame everything,
but then as we looked at it, it just-- it's super delicate,
and we thought that the best way to honor
it was to leave it and then actually contribute to it.
This is the woman who used to live here,
and that's her on a bench that's actually still in the yard.
So this is in the backyard of her planner.
ALEXIS GARRETT: I love that she's barefoot.
ROSS GARRETT: Yeah, barefoot playing her accordion.
That's super fun to see the relic of that bench
that's still in our garden now.
ROSS GARRETT: Yeah, when you almost
get to fill in the blanks with the house about who was here
and what they were doing, and you know,
it's a little bit of fantasy, but it's
super fun to think about.
ALEXIS GARRETT: This kitchen, it's not a big space.
It's a tiny kitchen, and so I wanted
to get creative on how to have storage
but then to also have it feel more open.
All of these we use every day.
Like I said, they're all--
it's really our pantry items, because we don't have a pantry.
We store food in these four, but other
than that, up here and down here and then
our little baby Smeg refrigerator
is really where everything is.
I take a ton of inspiration from where we live.
I absolutely love you know when you look at a seashell,
at first glance, it might not have very much color,
but when you really look at it, there's so much going on.
All the things that we find on the beach
are a huge part of our home.
Cons and Henry, I saw you guys get some good ones today.
Henry.
Hey.
I you even see-- you got a little barrel.
Who?
Henry did in front of daddy.
So did I.
Oh, yeah.
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I burned that, and then I got barreled.
[inaudible] you and then did a turn.
If you burn daddy--
it's funny because I actually don't surf,
but surfing is a huge part of our life.
My husband, Ross, has been surfing since he was 12
and worked in the surf industry up until a year ago,
and our boys are insanely passionate about it.
They are building surfboards, or they're watching surfing.
They're talking about surfing.
They're very immersed, and I love it.
This is my son Conrad's room.
This is very Conrad.
Part of a cottage is to make it feel really comfortable,
and it's really easy to have spaces over designed,
and I wanted them to feel really comfortable in their space.
Whatever they want on the walls, posters or surfboards
or whatever, I just want them to feel like it's
a special spot for them.
He made this little surf rack, and he's so proud of it,
and I think it's awesome, and these
are his boards and actually a couple of these boards--
this one he shaped himself.
So this is Henry's room, and I think
one of the sweetest things about Henry's room
is you can definitely feel his love of surfing,
and so one of his things that he's been really into
is old VHS tapes.
So he got this little VHS TV player
that he's been watching his old movies on, which is pretty fun.
If I had to say what the story of this house is
and really what the heart and intention behind this house is,
I would say it's to slow down, that it's
to do really simple things.
Ross and my intention to try to keep the house as analog as
possible is to create space for connection, because that's
really where the magic happens.
It happens when the dishes are done,
and when you create space to be sitting on the couch,
and your kids start talking to you.
There are just these little treasures of moments
that we've spent together on the beach.
I think it's helped us to be really connected as a family,
and I think that's really special too,
and I feel really grateful that we're together.
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