Venea Meyer’s
mother has always reminded her that good things come to those who
wait. And in a world that often celebrates convenience, the
photographer thought she knew the meaning of the age-old adage
better than anyone. That is, until she and her husband, Derek, set
their sights on a plot of land back home in Arizona, where her
patience was put to the test.
With her mother’s wisdom guiding her, Venea embraced a slow approach
at every step of the design process, thoughtfully curating each
detail with the belief that her home would become so much more than
a house—it would be a true work of art, as beautiful as it is
functional.
As new chapters of life unfold, priorities shift and evolve with the
seasons. When the Meyer family learned they were expecting their
second child in 2019, Venea felt a new shift—an urge to be closer to
friends and family and a yearning for more space.
“Looking back, we were so blissfully ignorant... Which I almost
think you have to be to take the leap with something that big.
Even though it was a stressful project, today we can both say it
was the best decision we ever made.”
Her lovely little neighborhood in Manhattan Beach had become
comfortable and familiar, but for the mom and artist, the lack of
space had become increasingly taxing. That’s when Venea and Derek decided
to return to their roots in sunny Arizona.
After years of renting fixer-uppers in California and months of
searching for the perfect house in Phoenix, the couple had the crazy
idea to build their dream home from the ground up.
The couple had begun dreaming up ideas for their home long before
they broke ground. From decorating doll houses as a little girl to
playing with space and scale in their 1,000-square-foot Manhattan
Beach bungalow, Venea has always had a passion for design.
She knew she wanted to incorporate earthy elements that would mimic
mother nature and bring the outside in—and that she did. With
sweeping views of South Mountain through every window, the home’s
connection to the surrounding landscape is felt from the moment you
step inside.
“We kept everything really neutral, and that was intentional because
you can update things like paint color as your style changes—but
it’s time consuming and costly to change the bones of your home.”
“As a photographer and artist myself, it felt so important to
support other artists and to make our house feel like an original
work of art itself.”
Her timeless aesthetic also stems deeply from her travels to
far-flung corners of the world, and she wanted to infuse the home
with those enduring elements that had inspired the couple to build
in the first place.
Almost every specification in the home was created by an artist.
Tile handmade in Morocco, terracotta sourced from artisans in
Mexico, light fixtures from all over the world, like the African,
handwoven pendants that hang above her kitchen island.
For the Interior Design aficionado, building a home wasn’t just
about aesthetics—it was about creating a space where she and her
family could truly be themselves. Venea often reflects on how her
roles as mother and artist guided the design process. “I wanted to
be able to work when I feel really creative, and shoot when the
light is magical and dancing across my house.
I wanted my kids to be able to have friends over and scooter and
rollerblade through the living room,” she explains. “There is a fine
line between beauty and functionality, and when designing a home,
you really have to balance both.”
“We sat with this room the longest, and we just wanted it to be fun
and funky and a place where the kids and the adults can play
together.”
Perhaps one of the greatest displays of this balance is the family
game room, anchored by a vintage pool table she never thought she’d
own, a to-die-for wallpaper by
Sarah Sherman Samuel,
and well-styled
Brass Modern Metal Frames
by Artifact Uprising.
When we asked Venea to tell us more about her inspiration behind the
design of the family game room, she laughed. “Funny story. Earlier
this year around Father’s Day, I asked my husband what he wanted,
and he’s like ‘I want a pool table.’ And my design heart was like,
oh my gosh, what am I going to do with a pool table?!”
Despite all odds, Venea set out on a mission to make her
husband’s pool-table dreams come true, and after searching high and
low, there it was. A beacon on Facebook Marketplace. A cool, vintage
pool table that only needed a little TLC and a place to call home.
After she surprised Derek with the refinished pool table,
everything else fell into place. Since the rest of the home is
soft and neutral, Venea decided to design the game room with a
bolder, more playful feel to match the purpose of the space. She
chose a sunset-hued geometric wallpaper and our
Modern Metal Frames
to complement the room’s centerpiece.
Venea and her husband planned for the best possible wall
arrangement by piecing paper together to mimic different frame
sizes. They created two layouts—a gallery wall of smaller prints
and a diptych of two large-scale frames. “This trick worked
wonders for our decision paralysis,” Venea shares. “After sitting
with each layout for a few days, we just LOVED how the large
‘frames’ looked in the space.”
Though Venea has collected hundreds of scenic photographs over the
years, she filled the frames with two giant pictures of her kids in
their element: Her son, Mason, zooming around on his toy motorcycle
and her daughter, Abby, sporting her favorite heart-shaped
sunglasses. “It needs to be about the kids right now,” she says. The
candid snapshots capture the true essence of this room and preserve
the fun and fleeting ages of her two precious children.
As she and her children change throughout the years, Venea plans to
update these frames alongside each new season of life. But for now,
she resists all urges to shift and simply clings to the beauty
around her—her beloved landscape, her sweet family of four, and her
idyllic forever home.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Follow Venea for more insights into how to make everyday living an
art:
@venealoren
Build and Architectural Design Team:
Beckett Construction,
Joel Contreras Design,
Amy Williams Design and
Brock O'neill, of the
Design Office
Family photographer for large prints:
Vienna Glenn Photography
Story written by: Chandler Stroman