and dealt with the house on its

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PERSONAL GALLERY: Dave and Linda Tourie in the living room, which, like the rest of the house, is filled with Chouthard artists' work and pieces by the Tourje s and friends.

should be affordable, Swenson says. "She believed that art would make you a better person. If you studied you might not become the greatest painter in the world, but you'd be a better gas station attendant because of it, Tourje, Swenson adds, "brought Chouinard house back to blossom as a saIon. "It is not cold and austere . a h isto r ica l house , but someone, home where art and artist, gather. les such an invitthg place. The French doors of fixing the living room open out into front yard and the world, beckoning people to come in, That, however, was not how Tourje found it The Glasse!, Park native was Ming in Eagle Rock when he fint drove by the South Pasadena house. "It was a completely impenetrable thicket overgrovm with trees and shrubs and vines; Tourje says. "1 actually said, Vod help whoever bu, this thing, He passed the house again a few mon. later as the owner, a real estate broker, was leaving.

Tourje got a better look, notic"'fhe house is an eclectic thg a tree that was one of the mix of early 20th century styles, biggest &weft pears he had an orga. work th progre ,s (ler sianant-e;so must'',that CVO. as Nelbert Chouibeen e nard needed it to: preservaHe nmiced a small concrete tionist Duncan says. "And it is pond and fountain studded stamped with her own creativvith Batcheld er tik, Inside ity, the house, he found Douglas fir In m uth the sam e way, flooring, old doorknobs, cop- Tourie had to approach the resper hardware .d other period toration of the house vith all details. the imagination he could mils" A t th at po i, he s ay ,. ter. The previous owner had house really started to commupassed on dozens of low-ball nicate to me, bids on the house vhen Tourje It spoke ill an architectural proposed leasing and A dLl . ...t e N wrf zri khot w: polyglot. The home, originally on 20 acres of citrus groves, is defined by a colonnaded side porch facthg the street. A terrace runs the length of the sec*r h 711 e O f Tvsultre'use t e 1 :ouse. The BatCheTdr= fountain on the back patio has the decoration of the Arts and Crafts movement popular in turn-of-the-century Pasadena. A 1919 addition to the house is. Spanish-thfiuenced, with a sssbsgsissssssksdisgfrsss a second-story sleeping porch to the garden below.
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were made vrith humble materials and without regard for architectural convention, "The house really has a sense of her blithe spirit. It's like an old thoe, wom th .d comfortable, The Mtchen, which had been modemizecl by the previous owner, needed to be gutted. Tourie, who has made stairdess-steel and concrete furniture since the 1980s, poured concrete countertops and used structural rebar to support a cantilevered breakfast bar, under which sit 1950s-style metal and rattan stooh from Pier 1. He also made a Mning table topped with concrete that, imprinted with eucalyptus from the backyard. "Everything I took out of the house or found on the property I tried to use again: Tourje says. He stripped doors. replated hardware and disassembled the arched glass facade of a china hutch and installed it as a Mtchen window overlooking the badcyard. Original pantry cabinets that had long been consigned to the garage were dusted off, sanded dovm and epurposed. The uppers now sit as a console in the front entry the lower cabinets, complete with a mahogany top, found new . as a vanity in the master bathroom.

up the house thr 18 month, with rent going towards Ms future purthase of the property As the proprietor of a firm Ms specializes in foundation Tourje could is much of his and hillside rep., however, own contracting work, which

graphs or resources to provide directions. "The good news was that the house hadn't been touched7 Tourje says, laughing. "That was also the bad news,' To get the original color for the crierior, he had to scrape

kept initial upgradts to around off 10 coats of paint on the sid5100,0M. Mg and computer-match the One thing he didn't attempt right shade of vintage taupe. was a structural overhaul The Inside, on the assumption that 2800-square-foot house has five the house might host art shows, beMooms and 2 ,5 ba.. phn- Tow*. installed dozens of rety of space for his Mds Camelia cessed lights in the freshly finnow 21: Kyle, now 17, and Ala- ithed ceilings, destroyed the na. now 15. "We just xttled in entire paint job,