Erin Foster and Simon Tikhman Open Their Playful 1920s LA Home

By Daniel Okafor

Erin Foster and Simon Tikhman spent four years renovating a 1920s Los Angeles home — and the season-three premiere of their Netflix alter egos now mirrors their own move-in. The couple behind the hit rom-com Nobody Wants This, which loosely fictionalizes their romance, have settled into the house with their two-year-old daughter Noa while the show returns with Kristen Bell and Adam Brody's characters finally cohabitating.

Foster, series creator, converted to Judaism before their 2019 wedding, like Bell's podcaster Joanne. Tikhman, unlike Brody's "hot rabbi" Noah, is a music executive — cofounder and CEO of The Core Entertainment, a company spanning artist management, publishing, a record label and brand partnerships.

What does the house look like?

Tikhman describes the mix of undefinable colors and bold patterns with an "European flavor" of an old-world estate. Foster's research into the home's roots turned up Spanish, Mediterranean revival and English influences, and the couple embraced all three.

"I don't tend to like following a set of rules," Foster says, "whether it be in fashion or in television writing or in design."

The multihyphenate — cohost of The World's First Podcast and cofounder of the fashion line Favorite Daughter — admits her social circle made hiring a designer awkward. She runs with "really fashion-forward women who have been featured in AD and have elevated taste in art and in design, and it's very intimidating," she says. Instead of the prescribed names, she cold-messaged Joyce Pickens Dinwiddy of LA's JDP Interiors on Instagram. Pickens Dinwiddy later designed Favorite Daughter's Beverly Hills boutique.

"They're a cool couple and they don't want this stuffy, old-school, fully British-feeling home," Pickens Dinwiddy says. The brief: "cozy, young, and playful but sophisticated at the same time."

Which old-world details made the cut?

Plenty, and the room names alone are a hoot. Pickens Dinwiddy, married to a Brit, softened the not-quite-olive-green kitchen cabinetry with floral chintz by Rose Tarlow Melrose House and added a skirt beneath the scullery sink — a hybrid mud room and potting room traditionally used to water garden herb pots.

The glass-ceilinged breakfast nook was lowered into the home by crane, an "architectural feat" that Foster says "probably added a year to the project." It's now the solarium, with sun hitting slate blue walls and sculpted medallion details. "It's a really special place for us to have early dinner with our daughter," Foster says.

Tikhman notes the regal vocabulary is new to them both: "words that Erin and I never used before building this house." His wife's quip: "We actually only speak with English accents when we're at home."

The classicism nearly tipped too far. Foster credits Tikhman for speaking up when her old-world sensibilities got too old — or, as he jokes, "You wanted parking for our horse and carriage." She recalls his intervention: "Listen, I love you. I trust you... Are we going to be in a castle that doesn't feel like our personalities?" Out went a pull-chain toilet; in came modern Swedish and Italian fixtures.

How smart is the smart home?

Very, and invisibly so. Behind peony-printed Papier wallpaper and vintage 1stDibs sconces, "the brains of the house are so advanced," Tikhman says. The stealth features include no-show speakers baked into the walls, a dining room mirror that slides open to reveal a TV watchable from the kitchen while Foster cooks her go-to tofu with broccoli ("Soy is no longer being vilified," she notes), and an AI assistant named Nicola that controls temperature, lights and music.

What about season three?

The couple collaborated on the new season alongside the renovation. Foster wrote, executive-produced and cameoed as an unhinged podcast fan. Tikhman executive-produced the soundtrack for the second time, curating unreleased tracks from Miley Cyrus and Ellie Goulding for the show's big-love moments.

Managing actual artists, it turns out, was the easier gig. "I want to make sure that my wife and her team are happy, and managing Erin is way more difficult," he says. "She's my artist."

The house, like the show, is built for company. "We do not want an untouchable home," Foster says. "I don't want to be a coaster house. I'm okay with a ring on the table." She belongs to a 12-member "Shabbat Moms" group chat and claims they host the most: 30 people, kids everywhere, "the best kind of chaos ever." For a recent San Francisco 49ers game, Tikhman soft-launched his man cave — a freestanding structure with Forenza Cinnamon velvet sofas by Roma, aiming for "Ralph Lauren vibes." Foster says living with Tikhman "unlocked my inner trad-wife hostess." Their next season, on screen and off, looks fully moved in.