Tour an Art-Lover's Colorful California Home

Dana Schweiger, a furniture dealer who lives part-time in Germany, wanted to fill her rooms with electric colors, vintage furniture and, most important, quirky art. “To me, a blank wall is like having an empty soul,” she says. She found the perfect person to help her in designer Christine Horbach, a fellow art lover she met through the local German expat community. “We both have a rebellious nature, and you see that in the design,” says Christine. The women scoured flea markets and sites like Chairish for furniture and decor, then spent hours creating gallery walls for nearly every room. “Art gives me comfort,” says Dana, whose four kids (Valentin, 28; Luna, 26; Lilli, 25; and Emma Tiger, 21) visit her often. “I could be in this house all by myself, and I’d never feel alone.”

Her home has a lot in common with other breezy beach houses in Malibu, California: white walls, vaulted ceilings, reclaimed wood floors. But that’s where the similarities end.

Christine showed Dana this vibrant silk Minasian rug along with two gray options. When Dana picked the colorful one, Christine said, “OK, girl, we’re going to freak out in this house!” And that’s just what Dana wanted.

To highlight the built-in nook, Christine painted it black and hung a diptych, then piled colorful pillows on the bench. The eye art above the nook is by Jonathan Adler.

Dana’s four kids are constantly coming and going, and she needed a landing spot. A CB2 console and two stools (the gold one is a CB2 side table; the purple is vintage Knoll) were the perfect solution. The large canvas is from Chairish.

Dana bought everything for the house in one year, but she and Christine strove for a collected-over-time look. Here they chose midcentury pieces like a Saarinen dining table and groovy ’70s accents like the purple wall art. The portrait is based on a photo of Dana’s daughter Lilli; Dana met the artist at a flea market.

Dana leaned into an Old Hollywood look with ballet pink walls, velvet upholstery and a painted floor that resembles marble. Custom drapes echo the channeling on the bed — it’s like one giant, luxurious headboard!

A group of prints from Desenio sets a cheeky tone for this room. The pink chair is a flea market find that Dana reupholstered to match.