LOVE AT FIRST LIKE

A design-savvy couple finds their footing in a Hollywood hillside bungalow.

- David Nash

It was admiration at first sight when interior designer Mike Moser and architect Tyler Thomas began following each other on Instagram. The Los Angeles-based creatives found themselves routinely liking and commenting on the other's project posts, and a friendship quickly grew out of a mutual respect for their innate talents. They even began looking for something to collaborate on-that is, until the inevitable happened.

Shared passions opened a door to romance and, after a year of dating, Thomas moved in with Moser; then, not long after, in December 2022, the couple got engaged. "We decided to propose to each other," says Thomas, cofounder of the architecture and design firm Venn Studio. "We made cheeseburgers at home, read letters we each wrote, and exchanged gold bands."

While it wasn't the professional collaboration they initially envisioned, the Spanish Colonial Revival bungalow the two now share has become a reflection of their combined aesthetics. The duo transformed a two-bedroom home built in 1925 and situated on a narrow road snaking uphill through the city's Hollywood Heights neighborhood from a bachelor pad into a tranquil canyon retreat for two.