�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.