FUN HOUSE

To add edge to her newly built forever family home in LA, Parachute founder Ariel Kaye calls on designer Sally Breer

-  LINDSAY TALBOT

In the secluded enclave of Mar Vista, the fast-cooling late-afternoon air is filled with the heady scent of lemon verbena and eucalyptus, as scatterings of periwinkle petals from overgrown hedges of jacaranda and frothy canary-colored clusters of fallen mimosa blanket the sidewalks of narrow streets dotted with Craftsman cottages, modern bungalows, and Spanish Colonials. Offering vistas overlooking the ocean, the Los Angeles neighborhood enthralled Ariel Kaye, the founder of the popular home furnishings brand Parachute, who had spent the past seven years renting in nearby Venice. It felt like an idyllic setting in which to raise her two young children. Though she expected her house hunt to be endless, she ended up seeing just one property (and three days later, in February 2021, her offer was accepted).

Sited close to her parents and the beach, the newly built house checked many boxes, but the open-plan interiors felt sterile and cold. Still, Kaye possesses imagination and vision-not surprisingly, given that she's built her home decor empire with its distinct design-driven aesthetic from the ground up. Tackling the project herself felt too daunting, especially with her then two-year-old daughter, Lou, and newborn son, Van. "I needed to leave my safe beige world behind and get funky by bringing on an expert who'd push me out of my comfort zone," she says. So she reached out to Sally Breer, whom she first met in 2014, when Breer was designing the Hotel Covell on the edge of Los Feliz and called to ask if the just launched Parachute could supply its bedding. "I knew Sally's eye for vintage and custom pieces, as well as her off-kilter approach, would inject that edge and patina I so desperately craved."