Visions of modern living

SHOW houses can be experimental affairs, places where interior designers test ideas with wild abandon. The just-opened Metropolitan Home showcase, however, reflects its tony locale in the “bird streets” of the Hollywood Hills: modern, classic and tastefully restrained, with not one eye-roller in sight. With a clean canvas of wall-to-wall white terrazzo tile floors, scattered skylights and floor-to-ceiling pivoting windows, designer Xorin Balbes (who owns the house) and nine other tastemakers were invited to interpret their vision of a contemporary, livable Modernist dwelling, Metropolitan Home Editor Donna Warner says. L.A. Open House: Modern by Design will be open Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays through April 21 (closed Easter). 9248 Swallow Drive, Los Angeles. Admission is $25; proceeds benefit Project Angel Food and the UCLA AIDS Institute. Information: (323) 845-1800; www.projectangelfood.org.

-- Lisa Boone