The Edit by Sam O'Connor

My sister Claire and I joined forces about four years ago after living completely different lives. I was a TV news anchor and Claire worked for an NGO focused on pediatric AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa, so naturally, the obvious next step was to start a real estate and development company together.

It definitely wasn't the plan, but it's been one of those happy accidents that somehow makes perfect sense. We're sisters, best friends and now business partners, which means we know each other's strengths very well and can usually finish each other's sentences, for better or worse.

O'Connor Estates is based in Los Angeles and focused primarily on the Westside. Our approach to real estate is very design-forward and highly curated. We're drawn to homes with personality, architectural integrity and a point of view, and we love being involved in the entire process, whether that's helping shape a renovation, obsessing over the styling and photography, or figuring out how to tell the story of a house in a way that actually makes people feel something.

The first time we toured the property, we knew it needed saving. Most of the house was down to the studs, but you could still feel how special the property was. The front yard in particular was so established, magical and quintessentially Brentwood that you couldn't help but see the potential.

Tudors can be oddly divisive in Los Angeles, which we've never totally understood, but we think Jordan Bakva did an incredible job of respecting what made the house special while making it feel fresh and relevant for the Brentwood market today. It still has personality. It just doesn't feel precious or overly traditional.

It's funky, but straightforward. There are unexpected moments throughout the house, but nothing feels like it's trying too hard.

When we first got the property, we jokingly called it "The Wedding House" because we couldn't stop imagining an incredible backyard wedding happening there. The formal dining room opens onto the patio, which spills into this sprawling lawn, and the whole property has this natural progression from one gathering space to another.

It really is an entertainer's dream, and you can tell that entertaining was considered in almost every part of the layout. It's a big house, but it doesn't feel like a collection of rooms you don't know what to do with. Every space has a purpose.

Layout is everything. I know that's probably the least glamorous answer, but you can't disguise a bad layout with beautiful finishes. A house has to function first. The rooms need to make sense, the transitions need to feel natural and you need to understand how someone is actually going to live there.

From there, it's all about the curation of "things." Beautiful staging is one layer, but sometimes a house needs another layer to actually feel warm and lived in. Books, art, vintage pieces, plants, objects with a little weirdness to them. Those are the things that give a beautiful house a soul.

I mean... they're chic as hell. And based in California? What's better?

Like a warm hug.

That's always the goal. We want the homes we work on to be beautiful, of course, but more than that, we want them to feel inviting. You should want to sit down, kick your shoes off, pour yourself something and stay awhile. To me, that's when you know a house is working.