How a Hollywood Manager Turned a Spec Home to Special

Though she’d dreamed of owning a Spanish Revival home, there was something about the boxy, modern house that Anonymous Content manager Meredith Rothman couldn’t shake. Maybe it was the floor-to-ceiling windows. Or the abundance of natural light. Or the fact that it was tucked neatly into a canyon in Beverly Hills, conjuring up memories of her childhood home in Bel Air. Rothman asked interior designer Lauren Waters for her thoughts. “I assured her it was a wonderful blank canvas for intriguing furniture and great art,” says Waters.

That advice sealed the deal for Rothman, who tasked Waters with transforming the 2,500-square-foot spec house into a home that would serve as space to unwind, enable her to host the occasional soiree and showcase her burgeoning art collection, which includes works by Analia Saban and John Baldessari, as well as a charcoal drawing by her grandmother Luddie Waters, who was Kim Novak’s voice coach in Vertigo. “I believe it’s important to collect artists I connect with,” says Rothman.

The talent manager — who appeared on THR’s Next Gen 2019 list — has a roster that reads like a who’s who of young Hollywood and includes actors KiKi Layne, Nicholas Galitzine, Danny Ramirez, Havana Rose Liu, and Dario Yazbeck Bernal, and singer-actress Sky Ferreira, as well as director Sophie Hyde, writer Bilal Baig, and showrunner Lisa Ambjorn. Her philosophy in business? “I understand the vulnerability that creatives face and I want to support that,” she says. “It’s a very raw, sensitive existence.”

Inside Rothman’s home, the serene top-floor primary bedroom is dominated by a custom wall-to-wall upholstered headboard and windows that frame the lush hillside and the property’s 200-year-old oak tree. “You almost feel like you’re in a tree house,” says Waters. A bench by Lulu and Georgia, covered in a rust velvet, provides the room’s sole splash of color. “I had wanted more oranges and reds, and Lauren insisted we stick with neutrals,” Rothman recalls. “She must be right because I definitely sleep better.” A second bedroom on that floor has been turned into a gym.

On the main level, a clunky fireplace wall — which Waters recalls as “one of those electric fireplaces that has like crystals in it and you can change the colors and you feel like you’re in Las Vegas” — was turned into an open bookcase that divides the dining space from the living room. “It’s perfect for displaying dishes and books that I love,” plus other objects, says Rothman, pointing out a sculpture by Lauren Tsai and ceramics by Cody Hoyt. In the kitchen, updated finishes — including brass hardware from Rejuvenation and cabinets washed in Farrow & Ball’s Railings hue, a soft black with blue undertones — encourage Rothman’s culinary experiments.

The living room’s sofa, a custom piece inspired by Adrian Pearsall’s cloud design, is upholstered in a cream bouclé and dotted with ball pillows fabricated from vintage silks. It’s joined by furnishings including a vintage standing lamp from France and a Charlotte Perriand stool. Baldessari’s screenprint Two Sunsets (One With Square Blue Moon) hangs above a vintage woodworking table, discovered at Amsterdam Modern, that serves as a credenza. Sliding doors open the living room to an outdoor area highlighted by a vintage André Dubreuil wrought iron Spine chair.

Surprisingly, Rothman vetoed a TV in the living room. “Since I’m always plugged in, I wanted to create a space that felt more meditative, where I can have conversations and spend time connecting,” she says. Instead, the TV was relegated to the home’s ADU, where a sprawling custom sectional, covered in an Erica Shamrock rust velvet, is the setting for the series- and movie-watching marathons that Rothman and her husband, Jamie Iovine, co-founder of online shopping platform NTWRK, enjoy.

“It’s funny,” says Rothman. “I never thought I’d be living in a modern home, but right now I can’t imagine any place more perfect.” 

This story first appeared in the Oct. 11 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe.