�Flipping Out:� Jeff Lewis Puts Valley Oak House on Market

by HOOKEDONHOUSES on AUGUST 31, 2010

Are you watching Bravo�s popular reality series Flipping Out? The show is now in its 4th season, and I�ve been watching since the beginning. For me it brings backnightmares memories of working as an assistant to a brilliant but demanding designer myself. Jeff Lewis has definitely mellowed out on the show over the years, though. (Makes me wonder if my designer has, too? For the sake of whoever is working for her now, let�s hope!)

Jeff lives and works from a beautiful house he renovated in Los Angeles called �Valley Oak.� He�s been trying to sell it off and on since the reno was finished, and it�s back on the market for $2.495 million. Let�s take a look!

House Beautiful�s Kitchen of the Year was designed by Lewis. You can see the photos of ithere.

Jeff�s Office:

Jeff says he hasn�t seen former BFF and business partner Ryan Brown since the Fall of �09 when they had a very ugly and public falling out on the show. I took a poll at the time to see who you were siding with in the feud, and you can see the (surprising to me) resultshere.

Oh, and you can see photos of Ryan Brown�s house, too�I posted them here.

�Flipping Out:� Ryan Brown at Home in L.A.

by HOOKEDONHOUSES on SEPTEMBER 29, 2009

It�s no secret that I love reality shows. My favorites are the ones that feature talented people doing what they�re best at, and Flipping Out fits the bill. It�s fun to see designers likeJeff Lewis and Ryan Brown at work. It�s the third season of the show, and their original business of flipping houses together is no longer as lucrative, so they�re doing more design work for clients instead.

The L.A. Times recently featured Ryan�s home in California. We�ve gotten glimpses of it on the show, and it always left me wanting to see more.

Here are Ryan and his partner Dale Monchamp (who was an interior designer himself before becoming a chef) in their kitchen with their adorable daughter Chloe.

If you�ve seen the show, then you know how Jeff Lewis likes to teach Chloe to say funny things. If Jeff asks what she wants to drink, he taught her to say, �Chardonnay!� �Where do you want to work when you grow up, Chloe?�  �Hooters!� He thinks this is hilarious. (Ryan, not so much.)

For the large center island (it seats 10!) they used river-washed black granite.

The living room:

The dining room:

The master bedroom:

The master bath:

One more shot of the kitchen, just because I love it so much. This is what my kitchen wants to be when it grows up (and starts earning its own paycheck):

Jeff and Ryan haven�t been getting along very well this season (<�understatement), and it looks like they might be going their separate ways.  If they do, I hope Bravo will give Ryan his own show (Andy Cohen, are you listening?!).

Ryan has a blog, Brown Design, where you can learn more about his current projects. Check out the L.A. Times article for all the beautiful photos and more information about his home. Or go to the official Flipping Out page on BravoTV.com to learn more about the show.

UPDATE: Did you see the cast reunion show? We�re discussing the Jeff Lewis-Ryan Brown throw-down here. Oh, and I posted photos of some rooms that Ryan designed for his clientshere if you missed it!

House Beautiful�s Kitchen of the Year by Jeff Lewis

by HOOKEDONHOUSES on OCTOBER 14, 2010

Jeff Lewis from the Bravo TV series �Flipping Out� was chosen to design House Beautiful�s Kitchen of the Year 2010, and if you�ve been watching his show, then you followed along as he worked on it from start to finish. I was sweating right along with him when he had that impromptu meeting in front of about 50 executives and had to explain his vision for it.

The season finale was Tuesday night and they had the Big Kitchen Reveal at Rockefeller Center in Manhattan.

Jeff calls the style of the kitchen California Modern. �It has a tremendous amount of glass and natural light. We put in as many doors and windows as possible.� He was a little worried about how it would be received because it�s much more contemporary than usual for an HB Kitchen of the Year.

The kitchen has open shelving, a CaesarStone island, and a table made from wood that, Jeff says, was �salvaged from the old Vanderbilt polo barn.�

It was definitely in the Jeff-Lewis-Style we�ve all come to know and expect from him. Sometimes I wish there were a few more surprises, though.

The kitchen was open to the public in July. Did any of you get to see it in person?

I�m a fan, but I was a little bored by this season of �Flipping Out.� I did enjoy seeing how all of his design projects turned out in the season finale, though. I love a goodbefore and after. If you like his Valley Oak house, you can see photos of it here.

The �kitchen nook� has plenty of storage in the wall divider for all of the bottled water you could ever possibly need. That seemed a little silly to me, but it maybe it�s part of �California Modern� thing�in case of earthquake, you�re prepared. Maybe you can keep your canned foods and First-Aid Kit somewhere on the wall, too.

What do you think of the Kitchen of the Year? Were you more excited about it than I was?

You can see all of the photos and read more about it at House Beautiful, or take this video tour of it with Jeff and his team:

Jeff�s Valley Oak House is on the Market Just Sold: Photos & Info.

�Flipping Out:� Jeff Lewis�s New House on Gramercy in L.A.

by HOOKEDONHOUSES on SEPTEMBER 13, 2011

Did you catch the season finale of Bravo�s popular reality series �Flipping Out�? It was a good one. Jeff Lewis found out that his old house on Gramercy Place�which he sold in 2006�was back on the market. He had never forgotten the house that �felt like my soul mate,� so he bought it back.

I can see why he was reluctant to sell it in the first place. It�s a beautiful Wallace Neff-designed house on a hill overlooking downtown LA and the ocean. I tracked down some photos. Want to see?

Looking up at the Gramercy property from the street below:

He sold this house before he began shooting �Flipping Out,� so it isn�t one of the properties we�ve seen during the 5 seasons it�s been on.

When he heard that the house had been foreclosed on and was sitting empty, he wanted to see it again.

If that�s the front entry, it seems a little awkward with the steps right there. Love this dining room with the curved walls:

Jeff, his long-suffering assistant Jenni Pulos, and his real estate agent (who also happens to be his sister-in-law) try out the big windowseat in the living room while touring the house:

Jeff realized he still loved the house and that �It needs me,� so made an offer.

This living room looks huge. And it probably is. The house is about 3,700 square feet.

Based on the previews I�ve seen for tonight�s reunion show, it looks like it was taped in Gramercy:

It�ll be interesting to see how Jeff decorated it. It�s a much more traditional house than you usually associate with him.

The kitchen, which Jeff remodeled himself 6 years ago:

The kitchen set-up looks a little strange from this angle. That column is in a bad spot if you want a table or bar stools or something on the other side of the island.
What did you think of this season of the show? Seemed like he was either firing someone or threatening to fire someone in every episode, even though he had more design work than he could handle by himself.

Thank goodness he didn�t fire Zoila, at least. Love her. I need a Zoila in my life.

Upon seeing this blue room, Jeff remarked that they would need to do some repainting, �Obviously.�

The house has 3 bedrooms and 3 baths.

And there�s a pool in back:

Jeff sold the house on Gramercy for about $2.7 million back in 2006. He says it was an offer he couldn�t refuse. He reportedly bought it back for about $1.6�a pretty sweet deal for him, even though it had been neglected and needed some work. Now I�m holding out hope for a Season 6 of �Flipping Out� so we can see this house come back to life!