Tour a Bali-Style Los Angeles Villa You Can Rent

Extended Stay

A passionate traveler and founder of Remarkable Places (a travel agency that develops personalized digital itineraries for its clients) Angelique Velez (above) had a distinct international theme in mind when she purchased her home. Technically the midcentury property was in Encino, California — but she and her partner, musician and writer Alexander Nimier, decided to reimagine it as a Balinese paradise.

“The vision had always been to create a home that was heavily influenced by travels in Bali, so we imported materials, furniture and home decor from Bali to Los Angeles,” Angelique says. “When the pandemic hit and my work came to a complete stop — thankfully we had received our shipment just in time — I had a lot of time on my hands to focus on turning our fixer-upper into a dream home.”

Wider Welcome

Angelique hit the ground running. “I’ve been going to Bali since 2013, so I’m very familiar with the layout of the land and what each village and region is known for,” she explains. “Some villages are known for their art, some for their woodwork, some for stonework, etc.” She also knew just how to combine her finds to create dazzling tableaus that would be useful in her work. “My background is in the social media space, working with influencers on branded campaigns where content is a huge focus. I have a good idea of what makes for a great photo; something that people would post, and which would grab attention.”

Since November 2020, Angelique and Alex have made this stunning property available as a guest villa — and their business venture, Nimbali Design, offers bespoke versions of some of the pieces they initially created for themselves. “The response has been pretty overwhelming,” Angelique says. Act fast if you want to claim one of their rare vacancies — and read on to learn how to cultivate paradise wherever you are.

Tropical Transformation

It’s far simpler to talk about what Angelique didn’t change than it would be to enumerate every upgrade she and Alex made to their home. “Honestly, the entire house was transformed,” she says. Structural beams opened up the living space, a skylight and atrium replaced an old fireplace, the galley kitchen disappeared, a luxurious master suite added a new wing to the building, a handsome deck and bamboo fencing sprouted in the back yard … you get the idea. “There is quite literally not one single wall we did not touch. Seeing the villa now compared to when we originally bought it is really fun!”

Trial-and-Error Triumph

This feature wall is one of the villa’s most striking spaces — and if Angelique’s plans had unfolded as she expected, it wouldn’t exist at all. Its spectacular carving is “a love Lotus, which invites loving energy and calm into the home. Originally, I was going to put a circle mirror in this location but when the mirror arrived from Bali, it was completely destroyed. I decided to experiment with this piece, and it worked really well.”

Look closely and you’ll see a well-hidden closet door to the left of the love Lotus. “I struggled with the look of the piece and the door sharing the same wall,” Angelique says. “I also struggled with having too many white walls when you walked in. So, I decided I was going to try and hide the door using paneling and paint it black.” Thanks to paneling left over from another project and a bit of ingenuity, a onetime design dilemma is now a standout.

First Things First

Developing a layered, dynamic dining area like this means thinking big. “My style of home designing is getting all of the big furniture pieces first,” she says. “I fill the room with the big pieces in my mind, and then I start to fill in the blanks. Some designers may work their room around a specific piece of art that they found, or a certain color. I think of the big pieces as the art.”

Splitting the Difference

“Originally I was looking at reclaimed wood for the flooring, but it was simply out of budget,” Angelique says. Eventually, after much painstaking searching, I came across a place called American Floor Covering Center in LA. The owner, Elan Maher, really spent time with me and helped me choose a beautiful layered wood/engineered floor. It is a relatively new technology that has real wood on the top and bottom and artificial in the middle. This allows you to have the real wood experience at a reduced cost. I absolutely love them!”

Impromptu Imports

Angelique had planned to find pieces like this white couch and leather chaise in the United States, but she succumbed to the temptation of customization in Bali. “I found a shop in Sangingan that offered custom couches for a reasonable price and they had incredible fabric options to choose from, imported all the way from India.” The coffee table came home with her from Bali as well. “There was a shop which hosted a bunch of petrified wood slabs. I chose one to make a coffee table; I had them make really simple legs to let the piece shine. The problem is, it is so nice I never want to put anything on it!”

Going Green

Angelique loves plants, and she knew they would be an integral part of achieving a Balinese feel in the villa. That said, her personal jungle grew more quickly than expected. “I bought just a few at first, and then some more, and before I knew it, I had over 30 living plants in the house! During the design process, I became really attached to them all; I would sing to them and I gave them all names. In retrospect, that may have been a bad idea because when it came time to rent the villa, I was really sad to leave them.” (No flora was harmed in the transition: a plant sitter from Tarzana’s Tropical West Designs now comes by once a week.)

Serene Scene

Composed of three massive pieces of solid teak, this minimalistic accent table was inspired by Balinese homes crafted from just a few pieces of solid wood. The oceanic abstract art above it, in turn, was purchased for the house before the house itself had been purchased. “An incredible artist and friend, Christina Twomey, is the brilliant brain behind this piece,” Angelique says. “When she posted a photo of it on her Instagram, we drove over to see it in person. It is such a layered, complex piece but it is so calming and mesmerizing to look at it. When the sun hits it, the colors completely change. As with most art, it can only truly be appreciated in person.”

Hollywood Connection

The organic, sculptural pendant in the living room is the work of Thomas Schoos, a designer and architect whose West Hollywood showroom beckoned Angelique and Alex. “We happened upon his store one evening, went in and bought the lamp within two minutes of being inside,” she recalls. Will and Jada Pinkett Smith were Schoos’ first-ever residential clients — and as it happens, Jada shot part of the launch commercial for her Hey Humans personal care brand at Angelique and Alex’s place. Small world, eh?

Pretty in Pink

Angelique gave the smaller bathroom visual texture and a sense of opulence with Drop It Modern’s geometric, metallic Camino Real paper in rose gold on mauve. A lacquered white floating vanity corrals necessities without claiming floor space, and sleek black sink accessories add to the space’s '80s-inspired Memphis design vibe.

Powder Room Pinup

For the bathroom’s opposite wall, Angelique reached for the same Camino Real pattern in matte black and white. A simple shade and a window box of faux trailing plants from Los Angeles nursery Rolling Greens add privacy without compromising the space’s aesthetic. A collage featuring '50s pinup star Bettie Page is just plain cool.

Divine Inspiration

A visit to a Balinese temple moved Angelique to design what she calls “the White Room,” a space intended to promote tranquility. The towering installation behind the bed, in turn, was a fortuitous domestic find. “That was actually a piece I have had for years that I found at Cost Plus World Market,” she says. “Everyone is always asking about it as a headboard, but it is really just a room divider that I laid flat and attached to the wall. When designing an entire property, sometimes you have to get resourceful to make things happen.”

Float On

The ethereal mounted dresser Angelique designed for installation in the White Room provides substantial storage without compromising the space’s feeling of airiness and lightness. Hand-carved face panels give the piece subtle texture, and rose quartz accents evoke Bali’s spiritual world.

Grand Finale

When the White Room was nearing completion, Angelique needed a little something extra on the wall. “It was too much white, not enough texture, and not much to look at. Since I love waking up in the morning in a bed that looks at a really cool wall, I had to get creative with the doors. I searched the Internet for a clean white wallpaper with a bit of pink on it and came across this cherry blossom printed wallpaper. Once they were installed, everything immediately felt better.”

Solid Source

Like the “selfie mirror” between the two blossom-papered doors and the large urn beside it, the medallion behind the bedside table in the White Room is a HomeGoods find. “I cannot say enough good things about HomeGoods,” she says. “Whoever is their buyer, I salute you! There are some amazing finds in there if you are willing to spend some time searching.”

Intelligent Illumination

“Lighting is everything, and I will never stop emphasizing the importance of it,” Angelique says. My partner, Alex, is actually in charge of all the lighting once I have finished designing. He figures out how to highlight what I have created in the best way. We are huge fans of Philips Hue lighting — the luxury, the use, the functionality, the look of them.”

“We have different lighting settings for each time of the day which change automatically to best suit the mood,” she explains. “We have made it easy to use by providing physical wall switches, but the lights will dim gradually when the sun sets, transitioning from daytime into a more relaxed evening vibe. Since each room was designed with different tones, lighting changes each room dramatically.”

Handsome Homage

The vibrant, verdant “Bohemia” bedroom pays tribute to Balinese artisans’ craftsmanship and the spectacular hues of the countryside. “I searched for such a long time for the perfect color for this room,” Angelique says. “I chose Essex Green HC-188 by Benjamin Moore. I wanted a green so dark that you could sometimes mistake it for black. I felt that the color of our hand carved Perajin Bed would really pop against a super dark color.”

Island Influence

The bed was inspired by a piece of Timorese artwork Angelique saw in a shop in Tegalalang in Bali. “The piece was very colorful with reds and blues and greens,” she says. “I thought it would be cool to recreate something similar, but as a headboard and with a lot fewer colors. We went with a dark wood for the base, to contrast the design. Gold was a bold choice for a headboard, especially when creating such a busy design, but I went for it. I had envisioned the entire room in my head and became excited by rich tones I could incorporate into the design that would play well with the boldness of the gold.”

Going for Gold

Bohemia’s gold closet doors are one of the few features Angelique didn’t alter in the villa — though she had initially planned to swap them out for modern black frames. “This wall kept bothering me in ways that I knew just a black frame could not fix,” she recalls. Then, “I found this wallpaper on [designer Justina Blakeney’s] Jungalow Instagram page and it was an immediate impulse buy.” The bold, gleaming pattern complemented the closet doors so well that they earned a place in Angelique’s final design after all.

Traditional Textures

A pair of handmade handled baskets provide a pop of contrast against the gold geometry of the wallpaper behind them. Ebony-stained floating shelves, in turn, support simple arrangements of curios. There’s American art in this room as well: the canvas reflected here in the closet door is another piece by Angelique’s friend Christina Twomey.

Cultivating the Look

Echoing Angelique’s aesthetic in the main suite entails both a knack for selecting imported pieces and some savvy stateside shopping. “Most of our throws and pillows are from a store called Cloth in Ubud, Bali,” she says. That perfect pair of pillows, on the other hand, are Cost Plus World Market finds — and they’re made of sturdy indoor/outdoor fabric, so they can join the party on the deck.

Piece by Piece

You might say the Banyak Bed Angelique created for the master suite doubles as found art. “While on site at a wood factory in Bali, I saw pieces of teak wood laid out on the ground next to each other and the design came to me immediately,” she says. “I actually had the piece made in Java, Indonesia, and shipped to Bali. This is one of my favorite pieces we designed there, made of 88 pieces of teak wood.”

Sweet Spot

Angelique is especially fond of the master bedroom’s sitting area. Its vivid coral chair is custom work by Los Angeles designer Landon Cole; “he has made quite a few pieces for me and this chair is one of my favorites,” she says. The arcing lamp stand was connected to another piece that’s now in the living room, and it took her months to find the perfect metal pendant to complete it. “The terra-cotta piece on the side of that little corner is from Urban Outfitters and really adds character to the room.”

Design Debut

This handsome set of closet doors in the master suite was “a DIY quarantine project,” as Angelique puts it — and it’s proof that where there’s a will, there’s a way. “Home Depot was still open at the time, so we got our wood from there to make the frames for the closet doors. When it came time to choose the fabric, all stores were still closed. I spent hours on the Joann website zooming in on the details of each fabric until I found one that I felt good about. I ordered via curbside pickup and was pleasantly surprised. I had never made closet doors before so this whole process was quite nerve-wracking, but I could not be happier with how they turned out.”

How to Bring It Home

Sending home goods overseas might seem like a daunting proposition, but like your stuff, advance planning goes a long way. “It is not difficult to ship furniture and home decor, but it does require a lot of research, as there are a lot of steps during the process,” Angelique says. “However, there are plenty of people around the world importing things, so if you spend a little time in each destination looking into it, it can be done! Typically, you pay per square meter or by container if you have a lot of stuff. The latter is definitely the most cost-effective option.”

Leap of Faith

Designing a dramatic bath suite as a nod to the black sand beach beneath Bali’s Mount Agung volcano was a bold move — and it was a bit of a nail-biter, Angelique admits. “I remember walking in before they had completely finished painting it when it was still half white. The two colors together looked absolutely awful and my heart dropped because I thought I made a massive mistake. Thankfully they finished painting relatively soon after and I cannot explain how happy (and relieved) I was.”

The Dark Side

This showstopping shower in the master bath (with a container palm providing additional atmosphere on the other side of the frosted window) is tiled with a natural waterproof rock. “Our bathroom is the most magical part of the entire house, in my opinion,” Angelique says.

Unhidden Gem

Believe it or not, this magnificent citrine crystal was a local flea market find. “We felt like the world’s biggest flea market winners once we found it,” Angelique says. She was undecided on where to display it until the master suite’s bathroom mirrors were mistakenly installed a bit too far apart. “When I saw the space in between, I had flashes of the crystal sitting there. I really do not think it could have been any more perfect.”

Strike a Pose

When it comes to designing spaces guests want to commemorate, “I like to make sure each wall is photogenic,” Angelique says. “I take pictures of the walls and I design based off of the photo. They have to include pieces that are different and unique, and they have to have multiple textures for dimension (fabrics, woods, plants, layering, playing with heights).”

Those same rules apply when it comes to adding yourself to vacation photos. Angelique’s advice? “Take pictures of the location first without you in it. Does it look good? Find the spot in the photo where you can stand that doesn’t take away from the photo but adds to it. In all the photo spots I have created around the house, I have tried to make it obvious where the person should stand or sit.”

Making a Splash

Guests are already returning for second stays at Angelique and Alex's place, and they've had celebrity visitors as well (yep, that's Lance Gross and his wife, Rebecca, posing in the previous slide). Their floor-to-ceiling, fence-to-fence attention to immersive detail has paid off: reviewers note that it's really, really hard to convince yourself to leave once you've arrived.

A Star Is Born

Speaking of stars, the Saraswati daybed Angelique designed for the yard is unquestionably the space's boldface name. "I knew I wanted a daybed at the end of the pool, so I had one made to spec in Mas, Bali," she says. Upon arrival, it didn't stand out against the bamboo fence ... so she gave it an image makeover. "I added a roof, a ceiling light, and a colorful (and removable) artwork backing. With an amazing woodworker friend of mine, we were able to bring the vision to life. This piece has become an absolute hit and we have received custom orders from quite a few influential people in the Los Angeles area."

Treasure Hunt

Angelique and Alex supplemented the pieces they found in Bali with additions that made their own way to Los Angeles. “We were in Topanga one day visiting friends and stopped into a magical store called Jalan Jalan to browse. They import some really beautiful pieces from Bali,” she says. “We found the trio of statues there and within 10 minutes we had bought all of them. At the time, I did not even know where they would go yet!”

Worthwhile Splurge

When is a single accessory worth a significant investment? In Angelique’s case, the backyard’s handmade Balinese parasol “is absolutely one of my favorite pieces,” she says. “It’s from East London Parasol. I found it online and became obsessed. They are pricier than I expected, but there really was not any competition or anything else that came close to it. After a few months of debating, I just went for it. And when it arrived, the colors were so brilliant and it was so beautifully made that I do not regret it one bit. Money well spent.”

The wicker chairs and garden stool she paired with it, in turn, are budget-friendly HomeGoods finds. “Before the vision for the back yard came together, I found that set and bought them right away without knowing exactly where they would go. That is actually why the umbrella became so important. Since the wicker chairs and the bamboo fencing are similar in color, they needed something to bring them all together and give contrast.”

Elemental Accent

Don’t be afraid to reconsider a design decision. “I knew I wanted a water feature in the backyard because I love the sound of running water,” Angelique says. “I had purchased a different Buddha water fountain originally but while shopping out in Malibu one day, we came across the fountain you see here. It was just one of those things that I just knew I had to have once I saw it."

Paradise Found

Unsurprisingly, the backyard is a favorite hangout spot for Angelique and Alex. “The bamboo fencing and Ulin wood (a reclaimed southeast Asian hardwood that’s extremely dense and well suited to outdoor structures) flooring are both imported from Bali,” she says. “Most of the outdoor furniture and lamps come from Bali as well. I added a fountain for the sound of flowing water, a bunch of tropical plants, bright colors wherever they fit, and even a few wooden wind chimes and a gong to add to the ambiance. It is really special stepping outside in the backyard now. I always feel as if I have escaped California.”

This Exotic Los Angeles Villa Feels Like a Tropical Escape

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