Home tour: how an artist turned her La Jolla, California family home into an expansive gallery

The two-storey living room commands the ground floor with impressive authority. Bright, airy and deliberately minimal, it functions as the home’s most formal space whilst maintaining the warmth that grounds the space. A Natuzzi sofa, chairs and coffee table provide generous seating, joined by a Robert Whitton chair in the foreground whose angled position introduces subtle dynamism to the arrangement.

But the room’s true protagonists are its artworks. Above the mantel, Brunner’s own Change of View—a substantial 72 by 60 inch canvas—sets the tonal and chromatic agenda for the entire interior. To its right, a sculpture by Wayne Salge provides a three-dimensional counterpoint. 

Along the right wall, Amy VanWinkle’s works from Kennedy Contemporary in Newport Beach introduce further layers of colour and movement, whilst a second Salge sculpture on the glass table nearby creates unexpected dialogue across the room. “Some of the first paintings we purchased for the house are displayed in the living and dining rooms,” Brunner noted. “They set the tone for the rest of the interior design.” 

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The dining room continues this art-forward curation with equal ambition. Brunner’s Score dominates the back wall, whilst Paul Pagk’s oil painting Moon Dance occupies the right wall with considerable presence. Between them, an Arhaus dining table and chairs create the functional heart of the space, whilst Frank Morbillo’s sculpture Oxbow Wings occupies the table surface as a centrepiece of rare sculptural beauty. What is most striking about the space is how the art becomes a companion, whether the family is enjoying an intimate meal or hosting a gathering of family and friends. 

Adjacent to the dining room, a bar area receives an entire series of Brunner’s own paintings in a sequence that transforms an otherwise purely functional space into an engaging installation. The chromatic progression across these works creates rhythm and movement, animating the wall with energy appropriate to the social nature of the area.

Aligning itself with the rest of the floor’s design story is the kitchen, which is a masterclass in sophisticated restraint. Counter stools by Design Within Reach and appliances by Sub-Zero and Wolf provide the functional infrastructure, whilst the kitchen nook, which Brunner acknowledges receives heavy daily use, blends practicality and elegance. Brunner’s Two Forces hang over the space, allowing her creative expression to permeate the kitchen as well.

Meanwhile, the family room occupies a different register entirely. This informal space allows daily life to unfold with what Brunner cheerfully admits involves “a bit of chaos.” Here, a deep leather sectional sofa and chunky marble plinth coffee table from Arhaus anchor the room, complemented by Natuzzi ottomans and a glass and marble side table. Generous closed storage and open shelves for functional vases, bowls and books provide organisation without sterility. 

The room’s design challenge, an angled corner fireplace that introduced the home’s only diagonal area, was resolved through furniture placement rather than expensive structural renovation. Three of Brunner’s works animate the walls: Points of View 2, Race Track II and Revealed Significance create a triptych of sorts, their varied subjects and treatments contrasting with the neutral palette. 

On the same floor is a guest room, which features a Room & Board bed and nightstand that ushers any guests to a restful sleep in tandem with the crashing waves. Artwork here feels particularly personal, as Brunner’s Road Trip No. 3 hangs alongside a 1964 watercolour by Jean Brunner, Lori’s mother and Surfboards 2, an oil pastel whose organic forms echo the Pacific just beyond the windows.  

Moving onto the more private spaces of the second floor, the home’s character shifts subtly. The primary bedroom adopts tones and textures calibrated for deep rest, with Room & Board bed and nightstands paired with an antique bench from Girard Avenue Marketplace in La Jolla to add unexpected vintage charm to the space. 

Similar to the other rooms of the home, Brunner’s work finds a home on the primary bedroom’s walls. Surfboards 3 and Surfboards 1, oil pastels in orange and red, green and blue respectively, occupy one wall with energetic presence, whilst the opposite wall displays a gallery arrangement of six acrylic works on board. Far from mere decorative elements, these paintings have become biographical fragments that peppered Brunner’s life with their colours and sensations, creating a sanctuary to unwind in after a long day of creating. 

Meanwhile, the secondary bedroom introduces colour with greater confidence than the more restrained spaces below. A salmon palette warms the walls, with Room & Board beds providing practical functionality and an Erin chandelier from Visual Comfort supplying theatricality overhead. Brunner’s Comfort Zone and Change of View flank the space, their presence ensuring the room feels consistent with the home's broader artistic identity without sacrificing the youthful energy that characterises the room.

The chartreuse twin guest room takes a similarly bold approach, its wall colour a deliberate chromatic exploration that confidently extends the home’s artistic logic. Room & Board beds, Visual Comfort lamps and another Erin chandelier provide comfortable infrastructure, whilst Brunner’s Points of View 2 and Points of View 3 bring her characteristic visual intelligence to the walls. “We introduced more patterns in the furnishings while keeping the beach and Southern California aesthetic in this space,” shared Brunner. 

Perhaps the crowning jewel of the home is the art studio, which overlooks the pool and patio. “I love to create paintings and then bring them into other rooms of the house to see how they perform in situ,” Brunner explained. “This house, in a way, functions like my experimental gallery. We live with the paintings for a while before they find their permanent homes.” The studio-to-living-space pipeline means the California home is in perpetual evolution, constantly refreshed as Brunner takes inspiration from the ever-changing landscape. 

Moving outdoors, the private pool and patio form another exploration of the California home’s considered aesthetic. With chairs, a side table and pillows sourced from Design Within Reach, the pieces maintain longevity while adapting to the family’s celebrations and gatherings through the years.   

Altogether, Brunner’s California home creates a symphony of contrasts, pairing transparent and delicate pieces with rough and durable materials. The home’s ability to oscillate between such approaches reflects its overarching use as both an evolving studio and an entertaining space. 

“We think of our home as an elevated beach house that gives the feeling of living in an art gallery but is designed for the demands of family,” Brunner shared. That description, characteristically precise, captures everything: the ambition, the practicality, the joy and the rare achievement of a home that succeeds on both artistic and domestic terms without compromising the best of both worlds.

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