When Natalie Babcock and Samuel Gibson found a listing for a sunny apartment in Beachwood Canyon five years ago, they immediately fell for the two bedroom’s charming built-in bookshelves, faux fireplace, hardwood floors and formal dining room. Practical amenities such as an in-unit laundry and a garage, which are often elusive in Los Angeles rentals, didn’t hurt.
Today, however, the couple says they are most impressed by the sense of belonging they have found in the community just outside their 1928 Spanish fourplex. Here, where tourists and brides in wedding gowns often pose for photographs in the middle of the street in an effort to capture the Hollywood sign in the background, Babcock and Gibson have become part of a larger family. “Everyone knows our dogs’ names,” says Babcock, a 35-year-old educator working in the adolescent mental health field. “There is a true community vibe in this neighborhood.”
Adds Gibson, a 38-year-old screenwriter and Spanish professor and tutor from London: “I’ve never lived in a place that felt like a neighborhood. We’re in a message group with our neighbors. Sometimes our dog walks take forever because we stop every few minutes to say hello to someone.”
The couple was living in a charming apartment in Los Feliz when Gibson had to return to England to care for his mother, who had pancreatic cancer. Compounding their distress, Babcock’s father suffered a stroke, and Babcock moved in with her parents to help her sister, Eve, care for their father.
“It was the worst year of our lives,” Babcock recalls of that period. “Sam’s mother died, and my father had a catastrophic stroke.”
Their Los Feliz apartment was filled with bad memories, and they were excited by the prospect of creating happier memories in a new apartment.
Gibson’s office is decorated with artworks by local artists including his sister and one found on the street.
After scouring countless rentals online, the couple found a listing for the Hollywood apartment on Zillow, only to encounter what they now describe as “a feeding frenzy” when they arrived at the open house. The apartment, they say, was priced too low at $2,995 compared with similar units, and they were faced with fierce competition.
So they decided to do what many people do when trying to persuade sellers to choose them to buy their house. They wrote a letter about themselves, included photos and sent it to their potential new landlord.
“Eve and I were in a panic because the apartment was so beautiful and we really wanted to live there,” says Babcock. “The three of us were an unconventional group, though, and we hoped they might choose us.”
The couple enjoys having dinner parties in their dining room, which has a mix of chairs and benches.
When they moved into the apartment in February 2020, they were thrilled, not realizing they would end up isolating there together during the COVID-19 pandemic. “The apartment was a welcome reset,” Babcock says, “It gave us plenty of time to nest and decorate.”
A year later, Eve moved out, and Gibson converted her bedroom into an art-filled office that now doubles as a guest room when family and friends visit. The key to a comfortable — and flexible — guest bed, they say, is a durable mattress topper from IKEA, which they store in the garage and carry into the apartment when they have overnight guests. “Blow-up mattresses always deflate,” Babcock says of their choice. “This is a better option.”
The couple’s taste is vibrant, and the colorful interiors reflect their sense of fun and love of design. They painted one wall in Samuel’s office a dramatic Kelly green, which makes the white-trimmed windows and his extensive art collection pop. Behind their bed in their bedroom, they painted an accent wall a charcoal hue, which gives the bedroom a peaceful feel.
Pictures of family and friends decorate the refrigerator.
Decorative tiles and sunshine illuminate the kitchen.
“Paint is your friend,” Babcock says. “Be bold in your color choices, and when it comes to DIY and landlords, ask for forgiveness, not permission.”
A glance around the apartment confirms not just their love of art but also the personal stories behind each piece: framed prints in the kitchen, black-and-white photographs in the dining room, large-scale oil paintings in the living room and hallway, and mixed-media pieces in the office, including works from local artists, EBay, Gibson’s sister and even one found on the street.
Mixed in with the artwork is an abundance of lush houseplants, including Monstera deliciosa, a rubber tree and a ponytail palm, that is thriving thanks to the surplus of bright, indirect light that filters in through the large picture windows overlooking bustling Beachwood Drive.
“Art is one thing that I am always happy to spend money on,” Gibson says.
In the bedroom, a charcoal-colored accent wall, vintage furnishings and art help to create an inviting retreat.
A painting by Alexander Mayet hangs in the hallway.
Last year, Gibson painted the kitchen walls blue and installed peel-and-stick floor tiles from WallPops over the dated yellow linoleum flooring, providing an inexpensive, albeit temporary, update. (One package of a dozen 6.2 x 6.2-inch sheets costs $17.99.)
“It wasn’t the hardest project,” Gibson says, “but you do have to measure each tile to the centimeter because the apartment has moved slightly over the years, presumably from earthquakes.”
Throughout the 1,200-square-foot apartment, the couple has decorated with vintage Midcentury furniture and thrifted furnishings and accessories sourced from Facebook Marketplace and Craigslist.
“There’s something nice about scraping together designs,” says Gibson. “It’s like a puzzle where you have to patch different styles together.”
Peaches lounges on the sofa in the living room.
In the living room, the couple has furnished the space with an L-shaped Bensen sofa, which they purchased at a warehouse sale mentioned on Craigslist, comfortable yellow swivel chairs they picked up from the back of someone’s car in downtown L.A. and a pair of leather loungers they found on Facebook Marketplace.
To accommodate their love of hosting formal dinner parties, they purchased a table that seats eight, which they found on Craigslist. “We found it in a grungy flat in Hollywood,” Gibson says.
Admitting her husband “has become the primary household chef,” Babcock takes the lead when it comes to dinner parties and “goes all out.”
“Sometimes our dog walks take forever because we stop every few minutes to say hello to someone,” says Gibson.
“I grew up around the dining-room table,” says Babcock, a Los Angeles native who was raised in West Los Angeles.
In the corner of their dining room, across from a thrifted wooden bar cart, they installed a stone cigar table inspired by their trip to Casa Luis Barragán in Mexico City. They purchased it from a designer who was living in a loft in downtown Los Angeles.
Ultimately, some of their rental’s decor, such as having washable sofa covers, is influenced by their dogs Chili, whom they rescued as a puppy in 2020, and Peaches, their “foster fail,” whom they adopted in 2023 after a neighbor pulled her from a shelter the day she was scheduled to be euthanized.
“We’ve made great friends here,” says Gibson. “From our apartment, we can walk the dogs in every direction. We can walk to the Hollywood Reservoir in the Hollywood Hills, to the caves in Bronson Canyon, to the Sunset Ranch stables at the top of Beachwood Drive, or to Griffith Park, which is a two-hour loop.”
Chili gives Babcock a kiss in the living room.
Do they ever dream of owning a home like other couples their age? “Yes, of course,” Gibson says. “But I think we would truly never leave this apartment unless we could buy a house with a yard. It’s like London, in that, having a yard is a luxury.”
Babcock agrees, admitting that small things such as an outdoor space for the dogs or a second bathroom would be nice.
But it would be a shame “to buy a house that’s not as nice as this,” Gibson says.
In the meantime, they are happy in their Hollywood Hills home, which reflects their love of art and their deep affection for their sweet-natured four-legged friends and their neighborhood.
“We joke that we will die here,” Babcock adds, laughing.
This story originally appeared on LA Times
