California Cool Beach House

Keys, please! I swooned when I spotted this California beach house in the pages of a recent Sunset Magazine. It's colorful and bohemian and just plain fun to look at.

Susan and Russ Ortiz, the couple behind Shine Home, a luxe home goods store in Los Angeles, designed the space themselves. Susan, whose designs have been featured in an array of national mags, from O, The Oprah Magazine to House Beautiful, calls herself the vision of the duo. And you can see her playful touch in several rooms in her beachy home.

What I love most is that this is a family home. With four young children, Susan and Russ didn't give up on design just because they were decorating with kids. The house is exquisite without being museum-perfect.

"The house looks modern, but it's definitely not formal," Susan told Sunset Magazine. "We want the kids to feel comfortable in every room, so they want to be where we are. We think this is the goal of a family home."

To keep the house feeling uniform, the couple painted most rooms white. You can see the way that they brought in pops of color to liven up the monochromatic palette. I think this is a fabulous idea and particularly drool-worthy in how simple the concept is. Go neutral on the walls. Go colorful in the accents.

"I don't stick to hard-and-fast rules about what colors can be combined," she says in the story. "And I often let a piece of artwork dictate a palette."

Interested in those gorgeous paintings framed in the living room and over the mantle? They can be yours. Susan says that they're actually close-up photographs of fabrics and tiles that have been enlarged. Hmm. Maybe this will inspire me to do the same thing in my home. The results are lovely.

I've also been thinking about making my bedroom feel beachy this summer. The wallpaper in Russ and Susan's master bedroom is so pretty. It reminds me of a beach cottage that I rented in Hawaii.

Oh yes, and then there's the kitchen. Aren't those rustic beams divine? Dinner party, anyone?

For more about this oh-so-perfect space, take Sunset's photo tour.