Amazing 10* home and 10* host.
This is a wonderful home that feels like your home, especially if you can stay in it longer than a few days or a week. We stayed 31 days but felt like we had been there for weeks already on day 2. It made for an amazingly convenient launching point for adventures in the local neighborhood yet the immediate area has a subdued and serene suburban vibe despite being minutes walking to a very busy stretch of Melrose.
The home is well laid out with some great modern conveniences like the ipad for managing lights, stereo, and pool. Great spaces for relaxing and getting quiet/focus time. Great dedicated working spaces as well if needed. Kitchen islands make prepping, cooking, and clean up easy, esp. since there are outlets on them. The outdoor kitchen takes this to another level - we used the pizza oven and Santa Maria grill twice to great effect.
That this home felt so cozy despite how large and airy it is, that it felt like our home for our time there, has to be credited to its host, Emily, who took every effort to make our stay comfortable - discreet when we didn't need anything, responsive when we did, and proactive when potential problems arose before we even knew they could be problems. I can only assume that she's trying to provide an experience as if she were the guest and what she would want in such an experience.
Emily - Bravo on exceeding our expectations - as far as I know, you are not a professional host nor have you been at this for a long time, but you certainly have delivered a better experience than most hosts have in our Airbnb experiences.
For future guests - please treat this home with respect, my family and I want to come back in the future, we beg of you!