Designer Angelique Velez's Spiritual LA Home Looks Like a Vacation Destination

Designer Digs is a series featuring the living spaces of our favorite interior designers and home decor influencers, where they give us the full lowdown on how they live. It’s all the things we love about browsing virtual real estate listings, with the added benefit of hearing exactly what it is that makes these dream homes so special. 

Owner

Angelique Velez, Founder and Lead Designer of Nimbali Design.

Angelique has a passion for travel, splitting her time between LA, Bali, and Dominican Republic. She shares the space with her partner, Alex Nimier, Co-founder and Biz Dev at Nimbali.

Nimbali was born out of a love for global travel, with a focus on “integrating [Angelique’s] love of travel with her passion for creating beautiful spaces.”

Location

Encino, Los Angeles, CA

“We wanted a location that allowed us more space for the budget but was still accessible to everything,” explained Angelique. “It’s great because you can hop on the 101 and be anywhere within twenty-five minutes, and then come home to a really quiet, safe neighborhood.”

Size

The home is 2,600 square feet, including the 400-square-feet garage conversion into a studio apartment. 

Originally built in the 1950s, the home “had awful Greek-style columns outside that we switched out to modern wood columns. We painted the exterior white and those two things changed the entire aesthetic immediately. [It] sent us on our journey to overhauling the entire exterior.”

Style

The home is gorgeously eclectic and inspired by Angelique’s travels, making it difficult to stick into one design box. “It is hard to put a name to it,” said Angelique. “I guess it’s a mix of Boho, Scandinavian, and biophilic."

I think my aesthetic has developed from everything I have seen and experienced in my life. I also think my aesthetic changes as I go; the more I travel, the more I want to incorporate different elements into the design.”

One Must-Keep Feature

“The first time we ever walked into the house, we attached to the window facing the pool,” said Angelique. “Everything else in the house needed to be completely renovated, but that wall with the floor-to-ceiling window was perfection to us--and we never touched it. We effectively built the whole house around it.”

Primary Bedroom With a View

The primary bedroom faces a Buddha water fountain and giant birds of paradise. When the windows are fully opened, “you feel this sense of being in nature,” said Angelique. 

The Healing Properties of the Primary Bathroom

“Our [primary] bathroom still gets me every time I walk in,” said Angelique. “There is an energy in that bathroom that makes people feel good. Maybe due to the giant Citrine Crystal we have sitting right in the center!” 

The space is so beautiful that Angelique finds herself using it for inspiration. “I’ve actually sat in that bathroom a few times to write because I do feel inspired in there. I guess that’s how you know you have done a great job with a bathroom—when you’re doing non-bathroom things in it.”

Minimalist Kitchen Remodel 

“We didn’t have a large budget for the kitchen remodel, so I chose to go a very minimal route for the design,” said Angelique. “I absolutely love how simple it is. My favorite parts of the kitchen are the smaller details, like the metal and wood shelves from West Elm. I just love how they look on the backsplash. Once they were added, the entire kitchen came together, and it just flowed perfectly with the rest of the house.”

A Surprisingly Perfect Dining Nook

“Our little dining nook will always be one of my favorite areas of the house,” said Angelique. “It was the hardest area for me to visualize… I had designed the rest of the spaces completely, except for that area. When quarantine happened, I had a lot of time on my hands that I spent staring at that area until I saw the vision.”

Zen Outside to Match the Inside

The outdoor space “really transports you to another place,” said Angelique. "We really focused on trying to create an ‘escape.’ The decking is reclaimed Ulin wood, and the fences are bamboo, both of which we imported from Bali."

"We designed the Saraswati Daybed to sit right at the end of the pool with a colorful and tropical art backdrop that becomes the focal point of the backyard. Next to the pool, we have a private garden filled with the most tropical plants that can maintain life in the valley (think 110 degree summer days) with a handmade Buddha water fountain. Our handmade lighting, the wooden chimes, the Balinese gong, and the sound of flowing water from the fountain really creates a calming and relaxing environment. It never gets old!”

Most recently, the pair made one impactful change to the outside area. “We converted the pool to a saltwater system,” said Angelique. “So much better for the skin!” 

A Budget Workaround For Wood Floors 

The home features wooden floors throughout, but “with a really great new design system,” explained Angelique.

While they’re European oak, only “the top and bottom layers are real wood, and the panel in between is engineered. This gives the real feel of wood but saves on price. Such a great find; we would never go back!”

Personal Touches Born From a Dream

Everything in the home was handpicked, but there’s one item that Angelique feels the most attached to—their Black River stools. “We designed these and with the help of our woodworker friends in Bali, Bobby Marsden and Christina Twomey, they came to life. I used to have dreams about that design before making them. When they finally came together, it was everything I wanted.”

As an extremely visual person, Angelique says that her favorite moment is when a room finally, fully falls together. “I think that’s the best part of designing. I can create something so clearly in my head and then when I see it in real life, it’s this tingly feeling I get. I can’t get enough of it.”

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