• 12 Wines Every Man Must Own
• Where to Live Now
• Build Your Dream Life
• Warm Her Up
• Why Men Build Mansions
• The New Takeout
• Dominic Purcell’s Great Escape
• Drink Like a Man
• This Simple Palace
• Rebuild Your Life, From the Ground Up

• Today's Daily Dose
  Subtly arouse her passion, pack on new muscle, and conquer workaholism
• 10 Steps for Better Sex
  Fun new ways to play
• The Lust List
  This all-in-one gadget makes emergency kits cool

Rebuild Your Life, From the Ground Up

BUILDING A NEW HOUSE SHOULDN’T JUST CHANGE YOUR ZIP CODE. IT SHOULD TRANSFORM YOUR LIFE

BY MATT ALLYN; PHOTOS BY MICHAEL DARTER

NOBODY GOES INTO BIG-MONEY LITIGATION SEEKING personal satisfaction. But 8 years ago, Richard Roll, a Los Angeles attorney, realized he’d strip-mined his soul to dangerous depths. “I was completely burned out,” he says. “Some big-firm attorneys suffer quietly, only to wake up 10 years later wondering where their lives went. I was terrified of that.” His solution? To walk away—without looking back, or ahead. “I had no job lined up, only a month’s worth of money, and no plan, other than the strong conviction to reinvent my life,” he recalls.

The new Richard Roll is his own boss, as an entertainment lawyer for indie films. Recently, he shed the last vestige of his corporate-law days: his cookie-cutter home. The new place is a hub for his passions—his family, the outdoors, his active lifestyle, movies. “If I’d never turned things around, I’d be living in some run-of-the-mill place and working 120 hours a week at a job I couldn’t stand,” he says. Roll’s Santa Monica home has quite literally changed his life. Follow his tips and yours can do the same.

BUILD YOUR PASSIONS INTO THE PROJECT Roll started competitive swimming at age 5 and went on to race for Stanford University’s legendary program. “For me, swimming is like walking,” he says. So naturally, he wanted to integrate a pool into the design of the new house, but the geological constraints of the property didn’t leave much room for one. Solution: a one-lane lap pool. While other pools reflect the owner’s net worth, Roll’s simple lane reflects one of his passions. Let your home reflect who you are in the same way: If you love golf, instead of investing in tacky golf-related decor, install a backyard putting green or build your children a combination sandbox/bunker.

BRING THE OUTDOORS INSIDE  With 7 months of construction left, Roll and his family moved onto the lot—without so much as a roof on the house. “We had two large Sioux tepees and a 22-foot Airstream trailer and lived in them all winter,” Roll says. “And even now, the whole concept behind the house is to blur the boundaries between the inside and outside. All exterior walls facing the pool are glass sliders, creating an open and unified space that draws the mountains in.” Enhancing your own outdoor space can help bring the same boundary-free feeling into your home.

Page:  1  2

Comments