The architecture gives Sherman Oaks Valley Vista Boulevard its personality. We love the arched windows, sweeping staircase, detailed banister, fireplaces, and formal proportions. There is a nostalgia to the house without any sense that you are living in a museum. The renovation respects the more traditional architecture while making everything feel current, comfortable, and unmistakably California. More importantly, this big house actually gives a big family things to do. Send the kids outside to the sports court or pool. Someone else can disappear into the theater. Downstairs, the recreation room has a pool table and minibar and opens through French doors to the backyard, giving teenagers—or competitive adults—their own territory. We also like how the house separates activity across its three levels. A movie can be playing in one part of the house while a pool game happens somewhere else and swimmers are still outside. Six bedrooms with private bathrooms give two families or three generations similar independence. Emerson doesn't simply have a lot of space. It gives all that space a purpose.