SoCal writer’s retreat: studio apt. on restful 1/4 acre property with views

Description

You will be renting the spacious ground-floor main BR of a 5BR, owner-occupied home in a quiet suburb bordering wild space. A private entrance at the back of the house is accessible through a gated side yard. The room itself is over 400 sq ft, with vaulted ceilings and southwest-facing windows and French doors with expansive views of the surrounding hills, amazing sunsets, and the Santa Monica mountains in the far distance. Furnishings include a comfortable king bed, Danish teak dressers, a writing desk, a few chairs, and a kitchenette tucked into one corner (fridge, microwave, toaster oven, and electric kettle). The en suite BA has a double vanity, large tub, and a separate white tile shower. Extra amenities include a smart tv with paid subscriptions to Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon prime, an overhead fan with remote, blackout curtains, and a variety of pillows, blankets, and comforters to choose from. The French doors open out onto a back patio with multiple seating areas, and a beautiful drought-tolerant upper yard with roses, garden beds, and a small pond. Paths lead down either side of the back hill among more garden beds and many fruit trees, including peach, pear, lemon, persimmon, fig, apples, oranges, guavas, and a gnarly old grape vine that looks spent during the winter months but magically leafs out each summer to provide shade for a large picnic table. This rental is ideal if you’re looking for a peaceful quiet retreat space where you can focus on writing and research, and/or if you’ve been longing to get away from your usual haunts to slow down, relax, recenter yourself, and rejuvenate. Come to sunny SoCal and unwind in the company of nature’s beauty and bounty! The real gift of this location is that you can stay put and feel transported far from the madding crowd, yet nearly endless resources and opportunities are also within easy reach. Downtown LA and everything it has to offer is an hour’s drive away (depending on the traffic and the time of day). In just 30 minutes you can find yourself in the center of Hollywood, or overlooking it all from the Getty Museum on its hilltop perch. A 45-minute drive will bring you to Pasadena or Ventura, to Malibu and its 17-mile stretch of beaches, or to Santa Monica and the Getty Villa. Santa Barbara is a 75-minute coastal drive to the north, and the vast resources of the Huntington Library, with its archives, galleries, and historic botanical gardens, are just over an hour’s drive straight east. Your housemates include the homeowner, an LGBTQ humanities professor at a small private school nearby, and an adult renter who occupies the “upstairs flat” and shares use of the kitchen, dining area, and laundry. We’re friendly, low-key, and pretty quiet; we sometimes share meals, but not always, and we’re open to whatever degree you want to engage with us and be part of our household. You’ll have access to the kitchen, living room, and laundry also, but you’re welcome to keep to yourself as much as you’d like. Outdoors, you’ll want to navigate with a bit of care among the tools, bricks/boards, pots, hoses, and green waste piles that accompany yard and garden projects in various states; if you enjoy gardening, just check in about what needs done and you’re welcome to pitch in! If this sounds to you like a promising environment in which to spend part of all of your sabbatical, either getting focused & getting your work done or getting your energy & groove back, please reach out and ask questions. I envision this as an ideal situation for one person, but I’m willing to consider renting to a couple for a modest additional cost per week. (I’m not willing to negotiate at this time to take on additional pets, or to include children into the mix.) (A few more photos are imminent…)

Private Space Offered