A visit to 'Mad Men' TV star's tiny, clever Hollywood house
Pete Campbell's getting rid of his swanky little one-room bachelor pad.
"Mad Men" star Vincent Kartheiser, who plays unctuous ad executive Pete Campbell, has lived for the past decade in a surprisingly small Hollywood house -- a 1912 bungalow that clocks in at scarcely 600 square feet. He began renovating it in 2010 with designer Funn Roberts, drawing the attention of the prestigious Dwell magazine, which featured the home in its "Small Spaces, Big Ideas" issue last year. (Click here or on an image to go to a slideshow with lots of design ideas gleaned from the house.)
I have a special interest in his house (as I've mentioned briefly here before, my family of four lives in a 600-square-foot house), so, eager to see what kind of ideas I might mine from Kartheiser, I paid a visit during the open house this weekend.
I found it full of space- and cost-effective details that are useful even if your home isn't tiny, and achievable even if you're not living a Tinseltown lifestyle. (Kartheiser isn't either. He claimed during renovations in 2010 that he was using the neighbors' facilities because he had no toilet. And he prefers to ride the bus or walk, practically unheard of in Los Angeles, though he did recently relent and buy a Volkswagen Golf because "I was just spending a lot of time waiting for buses.)
During my visit, I also spoke to a representative for Rodeo Realty -- whose agents Tregg Rustad and Peter Maurice have the $808,000 listing -- asking whether Kartheiser is moving because the home proved too small. My question was shrugged off, as if proof to the contrary was self-evident all around us, and I do have to admit that the space felt more than adequate for a single man, or even a couple. It doesn't exactly stint on luxuries. There are not one but two fireplaces, a Japanese soaking tub, the fantastic counterweighted retractable bed made famous by Dwell ... and the one-car garage has been converted to an out-and-out spa. One lesson I've learned: The discipline imposed by a genuinely small place doesn't rule out extravagance, it just forces you to decide what's really important.
Though the agents wouldn't speculate on why Kartheiser was moving, it might be relevant that the 35-year-old has been engaged to actress Alexis Bledel, 32, for more than a year now. She brought a "much homier" touch to the house, according to Dwell's article, but I can attest to the fact that it still has very much a single man's feel. If they ever want to start a family, the place isn't ideal in its current configuration, nor did the neighborhood seem particularly child-friendly.
Also from Yahoo Homes:
• The secrets to a Goldilocks house that's not too big, not too small, but just right for you
• Design tips from a tiny Swedish apartment
• One woman's radically simplified 'built it myself' life
