When a Landscape Designer Found This Cork-Clad Home for Sale in L.A., It Was Kismet

Los Angeles has just seen more than a week of torrential weather, and Molly Sedlacek is explaining how the designer of her Highland Park home had been in touch to see how things were holding up. It’s late February, and the mountains are capped with snow, but otherwise the city has returned to itself: bright and sunny. We’re sitting around the kitchen island as Molly’s two-year-old golden doodle, Bear, bounces around our feet. The trifold door leading out to the patio is hung with sheers that float in the breeze. Smoke from an incense stick curls out a window that frames the branches of a cork tree.

"I was like, Yeah, everything’s good," Molly says she told the designer. No leaks, no damage to report. But there were some updates. Walking around the house, she points out a patch of stucco on the garage turned work space, where water ran down the redwood fencing, leaving behind a streak of ruddy tannins. "Some people would totally freak out," says Molly. "But I like that sort of thing."