Mia Moretti

Of course, both spinning records and hosting gatherings require a lot of mental maneuvering and focus. “During the whole dinner party, you’re not that present,” says Moretti. “As a host, you’re thinking: Okay, who’s coming when, and what do I have to prepare? And where are the plates, and do we have enough wine? In the end, though, it’s a time of peace.” When picturing the ideal gathering, she says she envisions a denouement that makes the entire event worth it: “I have this image in my head of a scene from a restaurant at the end of the night, when it’s just all the empty bottles of wine and the plates. Like, the restaurant’s closed, but people are still there, and that’s the most beautiful, the most fun, all of that. When preparing for a party, I’m always waiting for that moment.”

Since Moretti was rarely at home before the pandemic, the past 18 months have given her a chance to figure out her hosting style. “As a DJ, I’m such an observer, you know,” she explains. “You’re in the booth, and you see the whole arc of the night. You’re there before it starts, and you really view the full thing. It feels like now I have that same experience as a host, which I love.”

As her comfort zone began to take shape, Moretti found that her friends and loved ones might also enjoy taking advantage of it. Thanks to her back patio, which she says was a “total place of solace during the pandemic,” she was able to accommodate a variety of guests as COVID-19 restrictions began to loosen. “It was so nice to have that space,” she notes. “I looked at the terrace as a second living room, and I designed it that way.” Her friend, curator and artist Alexander May, helped her with the lush outdoor area, creating a custom table with legs that mimic the house’s pillars. “He had a fresh vision and ideas. We worked in a really organic way,” she says.

She treated every room in the house as an opportunity to create a distinct vibe, but there are design elements that tie the larger space together. Of the two-tone walls that show up in several rooms, she says, “That was inspired by trips to Milan. Apartment and office buildings there always have that feature, and I love it.” Rich terracotta tones and creamy hues are another visual throughline. “I just wanted it to feel supercozy, like a safe space,” she adds.

While embracing the simplicity of the house, the multi-hyphenate creative was adamant about working with many of the pieces she’d brought along from her last apartment in New York. “Furniture is so replaceable now that it’s cheaper to buy new stuff than to hire movers, and I hate that,” she says. Items that no longer felt like a good fit were repurposed to avoid creating waste. “There’s a dresser that’s mid-century Danish, and it wasn’t the style that I was going for,” explains Moretti. “I painted it green to match the wall, so it kind of blends in to make it disappear.” Vintage cast-iron knobs from a recent visit to Mexico helped the piece feel brand-new. Beyond old standbys and repurposed pieces, Moretti tends to wait for future favorites to cross her path in their own time. “There are very few things that I’ve sought out,” she says about the way she finds new decor. “For me, the beauty in life is how things come together. If I have to look that hard for it, that’s not fun for me.” Many of her most prized possessions were discovered during her extensive international travels.

Once Moretti found herself with the necessary time and stillness required to envision her ideal living space, she began by considering the home’s history. Built in 1958, the two-bedroom has a “treehouse” feel. “Most of the neighborhood was developed in the ’20s, and from then on any little piece of hill they could find, they stuck a house in,” she says. Early attempts to unearth some long-hidden design feature proved unsuccessful. “I was like, Oh, maybe under this carpet there are cool floors—no, there’s nothing, there’s no hidden gem underneath anything,” she says, laughing.

With the onset of a global pandemic that swiftly halted flights and hit pause on nightlife altogether, Moretti found that she finally had time to create a sanctuary for herself. “I’ve had the past year and a half to just sink in and really ground myself,” she says, “which is the whole reason I wanted to buy a house. I was moving so much that it was hard to even understand who I was from the day before or the year before.”

When Mia Moretti gets in touch about connecting over Zoom for an interview—the subject at hand is her earthy, sun-drenched escape tucked away in the Hollywood Hills—she asks if it can be scheduled after she gets back from a quick trip to Italy. Days later, when she logs on for the chat, it turns out she’s in New York for a bit, diving into the thick of Fashion Week to spin a few sets before returning to the West Coast. For Moretti, a DJ, songwriter, and poet, this peripatetic stint is something of a return to form. Though she initially bought her Los Angeles home in late 2019, she says it took a while to get around to actually settling in, thanks to her hectic agenda: “I was in my Mia life, which was just gone all the time, traveling.”

PHOTOGRAPHY AND VIDEO BY Yoshihiro Makino

STYLING BY Merisa Libbey

PRODUCED BY Kate Berry

WORDS BY Roxanne Fequiere

Credits

Custom Dining Table; Hoffmann Armchairs by Josef Hoffmann, Design Within Reach; Vintage Floor Lamp; Painting by Renate Dollinger; Hand Carved Candles, Homexico; Wood Candleholders, +COOP; Forest and Found Bowl and Vase, Nickey Kehoe. On Moretti: Vintage Slip; Belt, Dior; Necklace, Cartier. Hair by Rick Henry; Makeup by Valerie Vonprisk.

Credits

Egg Bottom Sconce, Fabby Lighting; Checkered Rug, June + Blue; La Casa Nesting Basket by Mia Moretti, Kassatex; Custom Bench Cover, Alexander May; Untitled (iii) Painting by Jason Reyen.

Credits

Headboard by Mia Moretti; Custom Curtain; Vintage Stool; Celeste Chunky Wool Throw, The Citizenry; Linen-Bamboo Bedding, Kassatex; Carafe from market in Michoacan, Mexico.

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Drum Jute Flush Mount Light, CB2.

I wanted to buy a house.”

myself. Which is the whole reason

just sink in and really ground

“I’ve had the past year and a half to

When Mia Moretti gets in touch

Credits

On Nguyen: Dress: Helmut Lang.

Credits

Terra Firma Painting by Nadia Gohar; Vintage Bathtub.

Credits

Custom Built-in Sofa, Alexander May; Parthiv Chunky Rug, The Citizenry; Bowl by Sophia Studio and Vintage African Textile Pillows, Nickey Kehoe; Lounge Chair by Milo Baughman with Custom Cover; Textile, Tiwa Select; Vase by Magnolia Ceramics, Lawson Fenning; La Casa Nesting Basket by Mia Moretti, Kasatex; Taper Holders and Jug from market in Michoacan, Mexico; Garden Of Paradise Paint, Valspar.

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Untitled Painting by Jorge Pardo; Stools by Vince Skelly, Tiwa Select; Perfect Penny Paint, Behr.

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You're Going to Need a Better Rival Painting by Chloe Wise; Wicker Bottle from market in Baja California.

I designed it that way.”

second living room, and

“I looked at the terrace as a

Credits

Palissade Chaise Lounge Chairs with Cushions, Hay.

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Vintage Chairs; Dining Table, Alexander May.

the most beautiful, the most fun.”

but people are still there—that’s always

plates—like, the restaurant’s closed,

just empty bottles of wine and the

“At the end of the night, when it’s

Credits

On Nguyen: Dress: Helmut Lang.

Credits

Lemon Verbena Cake, Patisserie of the Pacific.

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Ham Stand, La Espanola Meats; Handmade Serving Platter from Jalisco, Mexico; Fruit from the Downtown Santa Monica Farmers’ Market.

songwriter, and poet Mia Moretti finally finds her chill.

In her first home, a sun-filled Hollywood Hills hideaway, DJ,

songwriter, and poet Mia Moretti finally finds her chill.

C'mon in

Credits

Video Editing by Ralph Blair

Credits

Egg Bottom Sconce, Fabby Lighting; Checkered Rug, June + Blue; La Casa Nesting Basket by Mia Moretti, Kassatex; Custom Bench Cover, Alexander May; Untitled (iii) Painting by Jason Reyen.

Moretti mingles in the backyard with her SoCal crew: Alexander May, Sue Chan, and Geneviève Medow-Jenkins.