Twelve months ago, my husband and I set an intention to find a new home for our family where we could continue to create magic and grow together. And since then, that intention has definitely manifested!
The lease on our other home in the Valley (where we had lived for 2 years) was ending in August, so when my DREAM of a kindergarten/elementary school had a spot open up in July, I said YES immediately. I didn’t even really digest the whole idea or think about HOW we would make that happen. I just knew that we would, especially since we had applied for a spot through a lottery system way back in March!
At that time, we were living almost an hour and a half each direction from the school. I'm usually in the city every single day for events/meetings/work/auditions (sometimes multiple times a day), and my husband, Adi, has his private practice, Alternatives, in the city. He also works at UCLA in the psych department leading lectures 2x a week so we were both commuting all the time. It's incredibly draining.
We loved our home because it was so far from the reality of city life—a quiet little oasis where we were always in the backyard gardening, doing yoga, or swimming with the kids. I had a regular meditation and yoga ritual in that backyard. The kids learned to swim in that magical pool. We hosted multiple birthday parties for the babes there, held summer gatherings, and hosted moon circles. It was potent with our magic, but that magic was sure to follow us anywhere we were to go.
Once we realized our life in the valley was coming to a close, we quickly made the decision to manifest a dream home in the city. I wrote out EXACTLY what I wanted. A bright beautiful white kitchen, spacious energy, an outdoor area for the kids to feel comfortable playing in. Neighbors. Good families.
Then we found it. We fell head over heels in love with this modern home, where everything’s brand new and full of good juju since the owners are Israeli (like my hubby). The landlord’s name was also Adi, and her birthday was the exact same day and year as my hubby’s! Now if that's not a sign, I’m not sure what is!
My absolute favorite part about our new home is the LIGHT. Every single room has beautiful, bright light which brings joy and good vibrations to anyone that enters. My master bathroom is stunning, with 2 skylights to bring in even more gorgeous overhead light. Every time I walk into my bathroom in the morning, I'm reminded how lucky I am. The kitchen is a dream room and I’ve been really enjoying taking photos for the blog and all my Facebook Live broadcasts for Tastemade. It's a pleasure when it's so bright and stunning! Makes my job very easy :)
We have yet to have a housewarming, but we hope to in the beginning of the new year. The crazy part is we've been NONSTOP busier than ever this fall and winter. A couple days after moving into the house, we had the MindBodyGreen Revitalize event (which Adi spoke at—here's his beautiful talk). We then returned, and a few weeks later, I had to be in Santa Barbara for an influencer event with the amazing skincare line Ole Hendrickson. 2 days later, Adi and I flew to Cayman Brac to create content and magic with the team for our couples retreat in March (Please come! We are so excited!)
All this travel and intensity didn't leave much time for nesting. Anytime we were home, I just wanted to organize and settle in.
Since then, I've had so much fun picking out our furniture because it allowed me to go outside my normal bohemian style and select more modern pieces. It was fun to stretch my comfort zone and get really creative. Adi found this table from Rove and we FELL IN LOVE! It's a beautiful clean family table with a nice wood insert to extend the length. I also really wanted to get a unique feel for the chairs so they didn't feel so cookie cutter.
Since I was already paying for shipping to have Rove Concepts send us our table and chairs, I figured I may as well look at their other fun furniture. I had searched for days for the perfect counter stools, and it was surprisingly really challenging to find cute ones! Once I saw these stools from Rove, I knew they were the ones. Not only was the price super affordable (way less than the others I was finding, and I preferred these!), I love the blue color—it makes me happy!
I've had my eye on the rugs from Frances Loom for some time now. Everything she finds in her travels lights me up and instantly transports me. We went with this smaller size to go under our more modern chair so it would complement both the boho and modern styles. I love the sheepskin throw on top of this modern chair—again connecting both my vibe and the new vibe of the house.
I love using essential oil diffusers and pretty candles in every room of the house. We are always lighting palo santo each morning to bring in new energy and start fresh each day. I have crystals in every corner of every room, on tables, on stands.
We tried to integrate what we already had in as much as possible and didn't rush to buy new things. The secret to this home was not having the moving company put everything into the bedrooms/living rooms. Instead, we asked them to put our stuff in the garage so we could take our time sifting through it all.
On the weekends while the kids played and we didn't have to rush out the door for work or travel, Adi and I would go through box by box keeping things super organized. We purged SO much the weeks leading up to the move, had 3 yard sales, put things on Craigslist, took things to Goodwill and consignment shops. There was no rush. It was more important to me to do it right and not be wasteful instead of throwing things away (which is sometimes much easier). I took photos, posted on social media, and sold so many things to beautiful new owners. Everything from baby clothes to my workout outfits found new homes. It felt good to do it right.
We didn't buy anything new for the bedrooms or playroom or guest room. We got creative and shifted some of the rugs from one room to another to switch up the vibes. We are attempting not to allow clutter to be created and not have too much in the common areas that create stress. The less clutter in one’s home, the less clutter in one’s head.
Our new trick to staying organized in the house is a "store" system in our garage. We purchased a bunch of plastic containers in various sizes and labeled each one with a label maker. This is where we store everything from bathroom supplies to extra vitamins to extra cans of coconut milk.
This has offered us so much breathing room so that we don't have extra stock of food/medicine/TP in the main house and you can actually see what's in the pantry or cabinet. The minute we run out of paper towels, we get it from the garage. The minute we run out of crackers, there are more in the garage to replenish. Then when we notice that we are out of something or using the last thing in the garage, we add it to the shopping list.
We just started decorating the walls as well. In each home we've created together, Adi has put up a really cool, unique wall. At our home in Beverly Hills where Leo was born, we had an entire wall in the living room made of red, black, and white stripes. In our last home in the Valley, we had a wall in the kitchen of gold and bronze dots in various sizes. We just put up some adorable photos so that when you walk upstairs to the common area, you see our family images.
We are doing a wall behind the dining room table full of art that makes us happy and more family photos and art that the kids make. Possibly some plants, too!
We love our new home. We love creating a new space together and making it feel good to both of us. We have very different styles so the minute we find a piece of furniture (like this Flag Halyard Chair) or art we both agree on, we jump on it. It's so joyful to co-habitate and work hard to create a home that feels warm, organized, and nurturing.
I would love to see your beautiful home! Share your nest with us on Instagram with #myphilosophie!
