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Celebrity Interior designer LM Pagano Topanga Home

2 minute read

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Celebrity Interior Designer LM Pagano Lists Her Topanga Canyon Home

ByWendy Bowman
May 15, 2020

A magical interplay of architecture and nature, this celebrity interior designer Topanga Canyon home asks $4.5 million.

4 minute read

Manhattan Beach Sand Section Home That’s Bold By Nature

ByConstance Dunn
May 15, 2020

One lives stylishly in concert with the environment at this architectural Sand Section home.

3 minute read

Mediterranean Home On a Quiet Road In Pacific Palisades’

ByAbigail Stone
May 14, 2020

A sprawling Mediterranean on a quiet, short road in Pacific Palisades’ South Riviera neighborhood is a rare find.

Uncontrived, lush with exotica and featuring ponds and porticos, stonework and sculpture, “garden” actually seems too provincial a term for the hybrids of function and fantasy that Grace creates. Hers is a fine eye and a remarkable hand. “As a licensed landscape contractor, I build what I design,” she says. “That’s when my work took a big leap forward. There is no separation between design, installation, and maintenance, it’s all one and happens on a continuum. Unless it’s integrated, it doesn’t work—period.” This is how she thinks too, both pragmatically and painterly. Much like an artist, she uses “broad and fine brushstrokes” to transform a two-dimensional canvas into a three-dimensional work of art. And in a systematic fashion; first is attending to infrastructure beneath the ground, then to its surface with the layering of elements. Rocks, for instance, are not so much placed as they are selected and then worked such that their shadows will cause additional depth or bring color forward. From there the garden grows. One also sees this artistry in Grace’s exquisite new tome Private Gardens of Santa Barbara: The Art of Outdoor Living (Gibbs Smith), a rapturous showcase of her elegant outdoor Edens, from rustic to coastal to modern. Each of the book’s made-to-age milieus represents a temple of residential garden know-how and is illustrative of nonderivative design that reflects the character of the native landscape. “The Art of Outdoor Living” idea certainly accounts for the substantial exterior living rooms and heated floors of our era. “About 10 percent of outdoor living comes down to ‘my fort is cooler than your fort,’” Grace refreshingly confesses. But at the root, “it is a way to describe a lifestyle connected to nature.” For Grace, who went from toiling in the family garden to forsaking a career in medicine after a 13-week stint as a park ranger proved she’d long lost her heart to the natural world, this is the point. “Step outside and you hear birdsong, you smell water evaporating. It’s a rich and simple experience, but relaxed and comfortable. We take a deep breath and feel better. It’s so automatic we don’t even think of it, but it is a very profound thing. It’s experiential, there is intentionality to it.” Landscape as soul, nature as a relief—what a thing of beauty. gracedesignassociates.com Photos: Grace Design Associates And Holly Lepere Johnson (Home).

3 minute read

A Lush New Tome: Margie Grace Cultivates Exquisite Gardens

ByJenn Thornton
May 14, 2020

Landscape designer and author of a lush new tome, Margie Grace cultivates exquisite gardens with singular flora and flourish.

1 minute read

South Bay Digs • May 15, 2020

ByDIGS
May 14, 2020

Read the latest issue of South Bay DIGS Magazine for May 15, 2020, can be picked up around town, or read online free

Palos verdes hikes and trailheads_all 32

5 minute read

15 Easy Palos Verdes Hikes: Map with All 32 Trails

ByDIGS
May 15, 2020

Here are 15 great Palos Verdes hikes, full of wild flowers, crashing waves, chirping birds and ocean views. What’s your fave?

2 minute read

Michael Feinstein & Terrence Flannery List 1926 Gatsby-Style Mansion

ByDIGS
May 8, 2020

Grammy-nominated singer Michael Feinstein and his producer husband, Terrence Flannery, have listed their 1926 Tudor Revival-style mansion in…

2 minute read

Laurie Wiluan Imports Original Design for Personal Space MB

ByJoclene Davey
May 8, 2020

Everybody needs a little Personal Space—and it’s near Manhattan Beach Pier. In the heart of downtown on Manhattan…

9 minute read

Marketecture: How to Build Market Share With Captivating Content

ByWarren Dow
May 7, 2020

Marketecture is what you happens when marketing and architecture collide to create a remarkable consumer experience, one that builds market share.

1 minute read

South Bay Digs • May 1, 2020

ByDIGS
April 30, 2020

Read the latest issue of South Bay DIGS Magazine for May 1, 2020, can be picked up around town, or read online free

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Home of the Week: Malaga Cove Home on Rare Corner Lot with Forever Views