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PHOTOGRAPHY BY Aaron Bengochea WORDS BY Julie Vadnal STYLING BY Merisa Libbey PRODUCED BY Kate Berry

here are only three words in Eric Wareheim’s Instagram bio: Top Plant Blog. Before that, it was Top Food Blog. And when we hop on the phone to talk about his Los Angeles loft, he mentions, half jokingly, “I might change it to say ‘Top Design Blog.’”

Wareheim’s social profiles, past and present, are meant to be tongue-in-cheek, but they’re not inaccurate—he is a true multi-hyphenate. Up until now, he has mostly been known as one half of Tim and Eric, a comedy duo made famous for their lo-fi (but highbrow) sketch show on Adult Swim. But his 2021 cookbook, Foodheim, appears on cool-kid shelves everywhere (even my own), and he’s the cofounder of the ultra-cool Las Jaras Wines, a design-world party staple whose bottles are as gorgeous as they are sippable thanks to artist-label collaborations.

Take one glance at his sculptural Los Angeles loft, which he has kitted out with Seussian plants, a Max Lamb for Hem dining table, and a caterpillar-like De Sede sofa, and you have to ask: Would it really be a stretch to call him a design authority, too? Absolutely not. The double-height 1,237-square-foot space, nestled in a former trucking garage converted by architect Joseph Giovannini, is where Wareheim works, sleeps, and hosts (his primary digs are a seven-minute bike ride away), but it’s also recently where he’s become obsessed with sourcing ’70s-era Italian furniture.

“I’m going through—it’s gonna sound cheesy—an awakening,” he says. “I had some dramatic stuff happen recently, and [during that time] I couldn’t see anything.” Slowly, he got through it creatively by writing a television show, producing a new cookbook called Steakhouse: The People, the Places, the Recipes, and, of course, curating his space. He’s still getting used to this pace of life. “Now I’ll just stop on the side of the road and look at a tree—like just look at it,” he says. “I see everything differently now.”

Especially houseplants. Lately, Wareheim has been trading in plastic contemporary pieces for rusted-out podiums and craggy indoor trees with thick, patinated trunks. Ask him about his love of greenery, and he’ll talk excitedly about a surrealist ficus he bought at the Potted Earth Co. near Long Beach. And while he counts his custom suit by High Society with Rose Cut Clothing embroidery as a prized possession that symbolizes Eric 2.0, on most days you’re more likely to spot him sporting a neutral-toned bucket hat, garden smock, and rubber clogs.

It’s not that he’s lost his goofball side—it’s just that he’s become more intentional with how he fills his time and, in turn, his home. On one wall, he’s got four plates of breakfast foods that spell his name in bacon, a gift from his artist friend Chloe Wise. And, yes, he’s a huge fan of Ellen Van Dusen’s colorful bath towels. Plus as a 6-foot-7 human, he loves playing with scale: Giant wood chairs next to mini bonsai keep you guessing.

Now he’s got an aloe tree guy in Yorba Linda and a rock contact in the San Gabriel Valley, and instead of mingling at Hollywood parties, he’d rather spend the day at a marble yard. Wareheim doesn’t consider himself a design novice—his parents owned a hand-me-down Eames chair that sparked his love for mid-century design long ago—but he is an ego-less student, always asking friends in the industry for their take and then rolling up his sleeves to get to work. “I’m sure they are normally used to people who don’t have time to drive to Orange County to pick up a plant they found on Facebook Marketplace, but right now I do, so that’s been part of the adventure, too,” he says.

The result has been a soothing, unrushed second home that he describes as “a comfortable gallery of things that make me happy.” The kitchen, original to Giovannini’s design, including the stainless steel countertops, is often filled with his chef friends who are (mostly) welcome to snag one of the 2,000 wine bottles housed in the three floor-to-ceiling wine fridges lining the hallway. When everyone gathers around the dining table, which he moves into the living room for bigger events, they can gaze at his gallery wall of work mementos and the Entler chandelier that matches the space’s sexy, otherworldly vibe.

“I see everything

On nights when he plans to crash at his live-work space, he can retreat upstairs to the Togo sofa, where more of his plant friends reside among even more vintage finds. “I want to get pieces that will last a whole life or many generations,” he says. Something that will be staying with him forever is the pair of vintage speakers he recently discovered were made the year he was born. It’s a reminder that, sure, you could fill your home with big-box furniture in a day—but isn’t the journey of hand-selecting meaningful additions more rewarding? Or as Wareheim puts it, two years in: “This finally feels like me and my space.”

WARDROBE BY Val Klarich GROOMING BY Barb Thompson

awakening.”

—it’s gonna sound cheesy—

“I’m going through

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differently now.”

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3/3

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Left: Plant (on table), The Potted Earth Co.; Coffee Table, Mambo Jambo; Orange Vase, Rich Aybar; Vintage Arthur Umanoff Side Table, Hannes Wettstein Floor Lamp, and Coral Sculpture by Caro, Merchant Modern. Right: Floor Lamp, Entler.

Left: Lamp, Entler; Ceramic Sculptures by Salamat Ceramics (left) and Caro (right), Merchant Modern; Painting by Blanca Miró. Right: Wareheim looks at his hi-fi system as a symbol of the transformation he’s been going through. “I started as a vinyl nerd. I pressed my own records when I was 17,” he shares. “And then I got trapped in compressed-audio hell. But now I respect the full sound of a record again and listen to them in one sitting. It’s a return to the good.” Vintage Table by Karl Springer; Turntable, Roksan; Caro Lamps, Merchant Modern.

Wine, Las Jaras. On Wareheim: Studio Nicholson.

Bowl, Haand; Dutch Oven, Made In.

Salt and Pepper Grinders, Hem; Mug, Peter Shire; Fruit Bowl by Jonathan Cross, Lawson-Fenning.

Towel, Dusen Dusen; Vase, MFC Studio.

Vintage Guido Faleschini Chairs, Mobili Vintage; Table, Max Lamb for Hem; Light, Noguchi; Collection Particulière Bowl and Canoa Lab Vase, Lawson-Fenning; Taper Candles, +Coop.

“I treat them like pieces of art,” Wareheim says of his plants, many of them decades old. Garden Smock and Clogs, Gardenheir.

Vintage Floor Lamp, Same Old; Painting by John Cerasulo.

On Wareheim: High Society Suit with Embroidery by Rose Cut Clothing.

Rod, Friends With You; Food Art by Chloe Wise. Wareheim’s 1991 Jaguar is an extension of his personal style, but also his ethos. “It’s not a zippy sports car; it’s actually like a powerful cruising vehicle,” he says. “And that’s my life now. I’m not about getting from zero to 60 in one second. It’s about once I get up to speed, I’m there and I feel grounded.” On Wareheim: High Society Suit with Embroidery by Rose Cut Clothing.

Mirror, Ah Um Design Studio.

Candelabra, Borek Sipek; Lamp (left), Kartell; Lamp (right), Rupert Nikoll; Vintage IKEA Stool, Somerset House.

Coral Vase by Caro, Merchant Modern

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3-Globe Floor Lamp, Entler

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De Sede Non Stop Snake-Shaped Sofa, 1stDibs

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Round Enameled Cast-Iron Dutch Oven, Made In

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Oak Hand Towel, Dusen Dusen

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Hem Molino Grinder, Finnish Design Shop

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Borek Sipek Candlestick Bouquet Holder, 1stDibs

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Jura Mirror, Ah Um Design Studio

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KD27 Colombo Kartell Table Lamp, 1stDibs

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From his sculptural loft in Los Angeles, writer, comedian, and winemaker Eric Wareheim shows off his impressive plant art, his vintage collection, and, in turn, his softer side.

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