WHITE WALLS HAD TO GO
If you’ve ever driven past a Santa Monica house with a giant, 6-foot sculpture of a chartreuse dog on the corner and wondered who lived there, meet Robert Alschuler and Meryl Wecksler, a retired couple with a healthy sense of humor and a passion for canines and color. ¶ “I had always wanted a cool outdoor sculpture for the frontyard,” said Wecksler, “and when we saw this green dog outside the Coda Gallery in Palm Desert, we knew immediately this was the one.” ¶ The cute, cartoonish steel sculpture in the playful tradition of Jeff Koons was purchased from artists Karen and Tony Barone for Wecksler and Alschuler’s 20th wedding anniversary. ¶ “It was a present to ourselves,” said Wecksler, “and we had it installed in January 2016… The front of our house is pretty traditional so we thought that the sculpture subtly introduces what’s inside.” ¶ Or not so subtly, as the case may be.
In living color
“The big thing with both of us is that we love color,” Wecksler said. “That is No. 1.”
Wecksler said when they moved in to the 1940s ranch house almost 21 years ago it was mostly white and beige with hints of green. Trophy fish were mounted on the wall.
They hired a designer to help decorate the home to their taste and incorporate a large collection of contemporary art gifted to them by Alschuler’s mother. “We started by using the colors from the art as our palette,” Wecksler said.
Passion and purpose
Over the years, they have added to their collection as dedicated patrons of emerging local talent.
“We’re very involved with APLA,” Wecksler said, referring to AIDS Project Los Angeles. “They have a fundraiser every year at Bonhams and we go and buy a piece to support them.”
Their newest acquisition, a bright blue bust of a pill-topped head, is from a gallery they discovered on a recent trip to San Miguel de Allende in Mexico. “It’s by Francisco Esnayra, a young, Mexican artist who is very into the idea that pills control our lives,” Wecksler said.
The hallway between his-andhers bedrooms boasts a Lichtenstein plate framed in shadowbox and a large portrait of the couple painted by the late artist Sylvia Shap, whom the couple met through Bosom Buddies, the Los Angeles-based breast cancer support group Wecksler founded.
“Some of her portraits are in museums,” Wecksler said.
Enter laughing
But the couple is anything but art-world snobs.
“I love the idea of high-low decorating,” said Wecksler, who is not afraid to mix flea market finds and items from IKEA, CB2, Target and Bed, Bath & Beyond with gallery pieces and artwork purchased from a now-defunct program promoting emerging artists at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.
In the kitchen, playful prints by JJ Johansen sit on the counter. “We always go to the Beverly Hills art show,” said Wecksler, “and that’s where we got these. They weren’t expensive.”
Which is key, because for Wecksler and Alschuler pricier doesn’t necessarily mean better.
A painting of New York that hangs on the wall in Alschuler’s bedroom glows in the dark, there’s an anatomically correct light fixture in the guest room, shelves are laden with framed photos of family and friends, and a brigade of rubber duckies perches in the bathroom.
“There’s a poster I got at CB2 that says: ‘You have to know how important I am.’ It makes you laugh, and those are the things we like,” Wecksler said.
Puppy love
What they love, however, are their dogs. Rescues Murphy, Jasper and Bailey rule this roost and design decisions are made with them in mind.
“Bailey was a pillow chewer,” said Wecksler, citing a switch from designer pillows from Jonathan Adler to budget-friendlier styles from Tuesday Morning.
The dogs also voted with their teeth to remove an entryway area rug shaped like a question mark and were tough on the wood f loors. “That’s why we got tile in the entry,” Wecksler said.
“Everything is done for comfort and to protect against the dogs,” she said.
The pampered pooches have their own room complete with separate eating areas and lots of toys.
“It’s a very dog-friendly house,” said Wecksler, although tall, sculptural plant stands from CB2 have been repurposed as barricades and block entry to the kitchen. (“They’re not allowed in there.”)
“I’ve Googled a million different dog gates,” Wecksler said. “Somebody has to come up with a really colorful, cool dog gate.”
Home, sweet home
“Every time I walk into this house, it’s happy,” Wecksler said. “If someone comes in and says this house is so you — it’s so crazy and out there and eclectic — I say thank you. It’s fun and we will grow old in this house and be happy.”
home@latimes.com