“Gambrel roofed Barnhaus,” the listing read, “next door to the best burritos in town.”
Its photos revealed something unusual for Inglewood, which is famous for its mix of architectural styles, including Midcentury Modern homes by R.M. Schindler and Googie-style coffee shops: a brick-red barn-style house on a large corner lot, listed at $449,000.
When Meeshie Fahmy and her husband, Aaron Snyder, toured the house, they learned that the burrito claim was true. The photos, however, had clearly been touched up to make the house, located just a few miles from the Kia Forum and SoFi Stadium, look better than it actually was.
Outside, the former dirt lot is now a lush garden with towers of colorful black-eyed susans on arches, planters full of nasturtiums and vegetables, a firepit and pergola.
Inside, the house had “wall-to-wall carpets on both floors that were heavily stained and worn, dated wood paneling on the walls, holes in the walls,” Fahmy says.
Despite these flaws, the couple saw the home’s potential and decided to buy it, even though a leaning retaining wall nearly derailed their escrow. “It was a blank canvas for us to play and experiment,” she recalls a decade later.
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After they moved in, neighbors revealed the house was not original to the site. Years earlier, the original Craftsman had been torn down; the current house, a sweepstakes prize, arrived in two pieces by crane. “Our neighbors recalled it was quite a sight,” Fahmy says.
At the time, Fahmy, 44, worked as an event planner at the Getty Museum. As renovations started and she followed her passion for interior design, Snyder proudly introduced her to staff at the local Carniceria as “an interior designer.” She replied, “That’s not what I do.”
“I told her, ‘If you don’t start saying it, it’s not going to happen,’” says Snyder, 49, who pursued his own dream of becoming a professional skateboarder before moving into video editing. “Speak it to existence.”
Finishing the house took years, patience and a lot of DIY projects because of their budget. But Fahmy didn’t just dream — she made it happen. In 2018, she started working for interior designer Willa Ford, who mentored her at WFord Interiors. By 2020, Fahmy launched her own design firm, Haus of Meeshie. “It’s been a progressive layering of colors, furniture, reupholstering, adding art, wallpaper, lighting,” she says. “Low and slow; the flavor is richer.”
Meeshie Fahmy and Aaron Snyder’s family room is a colorful maximalist dream with thrifted furnishings, art and layered textures and patterns.
Ninety percent of the furnishings are thrifted. “Nothing is too precious,” Fahmy says.
Today, their home reflects Fahmy’s fearless approach — it’s a true “petri dish for experimentation.” The vibrant, layered four-bedroom house is a maximalist fever dream, packed with furniture, accessories and art sourced from Facebook Marketplace, vintage shops, flea markets (Long Beach flea is a favorite), estate sales and secondhand stores in L.A. and elsewhere.
She estimates about 90% of the furnishings and accessories in her home are thrifted, antiques or things she found on the side of the road, and nothing is too precious, reaffirming her playful approach to decor.
A Jonathan Adler dining table, found on sale, sits in front of a wall filled with art arranged salon-style. Among the pieces is Fahmy’s favorite: a wedding portrait her father, Walter Fahmy, painted of her.
The speakeasy features a vintage standing bar from Craigslist, barstools and a Geo pendant light by Los Angeles designer Jason Koharik and a mirror Fahmy found at a neighborhood estate sale.
She likes to refer to her decorating style as “creatively unhinged.”
“It all flows,” she says, curled up with her dogs on a CB2 couch she found on Craigslist. “There’s a rhythm. Every piece tells a story. Pick one — I’ll share it.” She recalls throwing herself on a vintage Baker sideboard at a Florida Goodwill without knowing how she’d get it back to Los Angeles and laughs when Snyder discovers a tiny Jack Black-as-Jesus portrait tucked into a gilded dining-room oil painting.
The sink and vanity in the guest bathroom? That used to be a dresser she found on Craigslist.
Although others have questioned their home purchase, Fahmy never doubted they could transform the space into something special.
Color ties the house together. The powder room is purple, the entry hall is red, the kitchen has blue cabinets and the hallway is painted pink.
“When I first saw the house, when they bought it, I thought she was crazy,” Meeshie’s friend and former colleague, Talene Kanian, says in an email. “Other than keeping the ‘barn’ shape, she completely transformed the interior. Now, when you step inside, you’re welcomed into a home full of color, pattern and playfulness.”
Snyder adds: “Meeshie is able to visualize things 10 steps ahead of everyone else, even things that seem like a complete mess.“
Working together, the couple removed the shag carpeting and wood paneling from the first floor and the stairway, installing drywall in their place.
Next, they painted the walls — no beige here. The deep green living room sets a bold scene: a clock worthy of Dalí, leopard prints, pink Persian rugs, a snake ottoman and a thrifted tufted chair with Art Deco vibes from CB2.
“I did not venture into interior design formally,” Fahmy says. “I feel very lucky to have found this passion.”
The color story flows through the house: The powder room is purple, the entry hall red and the dining room walls pink, with one wall in a bold 1970s-style mushroom-pattern wallpaper from Londubh Studio. The speakeasy features a vintage standing bar from Craigslist that Snyder squeezed into his car, barstools and a Geo pendant light by Los Angeles designer Jason Koharik and a mirror Fahmy found at a nearby estate sale.
In the kitchen, they removed the 1970s-era wooden cabinets and Formica countertops, replacing them with more pink walls, Moroccan-style tile flooring and blue cupboard fronts from Semihandmade, which creates cabinet doors for IKEA cabinets.
Fahmy painted a Keith Haring-style black-and-white mural at the top of the stairs and continued onto the second-floor walls using a paintbrush taped to a broomstick. She finished by painting the handrail bright blue and wrapping each stair with a Persian-style runner.
Outside, the couple leveled the once-dirt backyard, added pea gravel, built a pergola with a handyman and installed a firepit where they enjoy entertaining their friends.
The main bedroom features burgundy walls, while the bathroom next to it has Persian rug-patterned wallpaper from House of Hackney.
Now the once-empty backyard is a lush garden: towers of colorful black-eyed susans on arches, planters of nasturtiums and homegrown vegetables. A trickling fountain greets visitors as they walk through the French doors. Snyder, an avid cook, can easily step out to cut fresh herbs mid-simmer, making the outdoors a true extension of the home.
The couple’s home is full of memories, and as you walk through, you can sense how much their stories matter to them. In the downstairs hallway, Snyder smiles as he points out photos of his family in Wisconsin. Similarly, Fahmy proudly shows a photo of her great-great-grandmother Theresa “Tessie” Cooke Haskins, a noted harpist whose daughter Maud Haskins was the first harpist to perform with the orchestra at the Hollywood Bowl.
Art is everywhere, from the Polaroids pinned to the walls in the powder room to the ceramics and masks hanging throughout the house. Yet Fahmy’s favorite possession is deeply personal: a portrait of her on her wedding day, painted by her father, Walter Fahmy, who studied art in Egypt before coming to America.
Upstairs, Fahmy created a black-and-white mural inspired by Keith Haring at the top of the stairs, then kept going along the second-floor walls using a paintbrush taped to a broomstick. She finished by painting the handrail a bright blue and wrapping each stair with a Persian-style runner.
French doors connect the house to the garden, so the backyard feels like a natural part of the home.
For Fahmy, these details matter. “I feel like our home is a love letter to my upbringing,” she says, referring to her parents, who were both pharmacists. “It’s an ode to them and the sacrifices they made for me.”
Visitors feel the same way. “Their house is a true labor of love, apparent the second you enter,” Kanian adds. “It radiates warmth and love.”
Snyder feels it too. “I feel an immense amount of pride when I walk into our house,” he says.
Like a barn raising that brings people together, their house has become a welcome part of the neighborhood with its blue siding, bright yellow front door and a playful mural by Venice artist and skateboarder Sebo Walker. “We’ve had neighbors knock on our door and tell us, ‘We love what you’re doing,’” says Snyder.
“I love color,” Fahmy says. “I love to experiment.”
With the main house finished for now, Fahmy hopes to turn the garage into an accessory dwelling unit, or ADU, in the style of Mexican architect Luis Barragán: bold with color and texture. “I’m envisioning a mini boutique hotel,” she says. “Simple to execute, yet unique in L.A. I’d love a pink building.”
Like the possibility of a pink building — or not — Fahmy’s freewheeling style proves it’s OK to experiment and make mistakes. (She wants to demo the kitchen next for a fresh look.)
“You’re not tattooing your face. You’re painting your walls,” she says as a way to encourage others to experiment. “Your home should be a reflection of who you are. I hope our home inspires others to live how they want to live.”
The hit Channel 5 series sees two families from opposite ends of the wealth divide swap homes, budgets, and lives for a week.
They both experience a dramatic shift in perspective as they step into each other’s worlds but one family appeared to break a rule as they left the property halfway through the swap.
During Sunday’s (April 19) episode, millionaire hotel owners Gez and Rosy Chetal swapped their luxury life with the Bloor family.
In Norfolk, John and wife Ann, live with their three children in a three-bedroom rented terrace house. After basic household bills they have just £79 a week to spend on everything else from food and travel to fun.
Mum Ann works as a cook in a mental health care home, meanwhile husband John works long hours as a bus driver, but they both have a passion for cooking.
Despite both grafting hard, the couple struggle to make ends meet and have previously gone bankrupt for £36k, but they dream of running a music café of their own one day.
Experiencing how the wealthiest 1% live, they exchanged homes for a week with hotel owners Gez and Rosy Chetal, who lived in their luxurious £1.7m 11-bedroom bespoke hotel with their 19-year-old daughter Saanchi.
Given his demanding lifestyle as an entrepreneur, the couple wanted to use the swap as a way for them to spend some quality time together and have a break from their business.
They swapped their hotel— complete with a wine cellar, a large dining room and private chef for a week-long stay in the Bloor family’s house.
While Gez and Rosy were forced to manage on a weekly budget of £79, John, wife Ann and their children got a taste of luxury living with £1,800 to spend.
However, not long into the swap it was clear that the Bloor family struggled to adjust to their new environment living in a hotel as Ann admitted: “My kids are not comfortable.”
After a restless night, Ann was visibly moved as she told husband John: “The children are really uncomfortable. They can’t be in their pyjamas because it’s a hotel, they can’t just go and get a drink, they can’t just go and get a sandwich.” John jumped in and added: “It’s not a home is it?”
Turning to John, Ann explained: “It’s nothing about the hotel. If it was just me and you.. I’d absolutely love it but actually to me we can’t really stay in the hotel.”
The couple then made a big decision and decided to abandon the hotel and use the remaining budget to book a luxury Airbnb, that cost a whopping £1,200.
When the two families finally reunited at the end of their swap, Ann went on to say: “We loved the hotel, unfortunately the children didn’t. They felt very separated from us.” Gez added: “It’s just a big house really, with 11 rooms.”
Rich House, Poor House airs Sunday night from 9pm on Channel 5
Dylan Sprouse sprang to action early Friday morning when he encountered a trespasser at his Hollywood Hills home.
Sources familiar with the incident told The Times that “The Suite Life of Zack & Cody” star tackled a man on the lawn near his home after his wife, Victoria’s Secret model Barbara Palvin, spotted “the creepy guy.” Palvin made an emergency call to police around 12:30 a.m. and reported a possible burglary.
TMZ, citing unnamed sources, reported that Sprouse had a gun and held the trespasser down until police arrived.
Police told The Times that the suspect was taken in on outstanding warrants and that no injuries were reported. Additionally, the suspect did not make it inside the couple’s 1920s Spanish-style home, only onto the property.
TMZ obtained footage of the arrest, which showed a suspect, whose face was blurred out, being handcuffed outside a police vehicle. A skateboard was leaned against the fence of the Disney alum’s property, and a “Private Property, No Trespassing” sign was posted on the gate.
Representatives for Sprouse and Palvin have not responded to The Times’ request for comment.
The couple met at a party in 2017 and by the fall of 2018, Palvin was gushing to Vogue that she was “very much in love.”
“I feel like I found the perfect guy,” she said of Sprouse. “He’s very kind and gentle.”
The couple tied the knot in the summer of 2023. In 2024, Palvin walked in the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show and during a backstage interview said that Sprouse always has something up his sleeve to surprise her.
Outside the show, Sprouse revealed on the pink carpet that he had signs made with the faces of the couple’s fur babies, a French bulldog named Piggy Cow and a cat named Klaus Von Sprouse, to hold up while Palvin strutted the catwalk.
