Kim Raver and Manu Boyer Re-List Modern Bungalow in Venice (EXCLUSIVE)

Actress Kim Raver and filmmaker Manu Boyer re-listed a sophisticated contemporary bungalow in the still somewhat gritty and funky but none-the-less sought after heart of Venice, Calif., with a new and lower price of $3.399 million. Married since 2000, the couple have owned the modestly sized but, for most people, still prohibitively pricey property since 2006 when it was acquired for $1.735 million.

By Mark David  LOS ANGELES (Variety)

Originally designed by Venice architect Lise Claiborne Matthews with later renovations by the Venice-based architecture firm Gabor + Allen , the low-profile two-story contemporary is secured behind a rusted steel gate and all but invisible behind a tall wall and a higher hedge on one of Venice’s pedestrian-only “ walk-streets ” just outside the urbane Abbott Kinney shopping and dining district with three and potentially four bedrooms and three bathrooms in 2,018-square-feet.

Airy, open-plan interior spaces feature molding-free expanses of gallery white walls perfect for displaying artwork and an interesting, industrial-meets-country cottage mix of polished concrete floors and both ashy brown stained and white-painted hardwood floorboards. A puny entry vestibule spills directly into an unexpectedly over-sized, high-ceiled and skylight topped dining room that opens at one end to the front garden and at its other to a smartly arranged center island kitchen fitted with jet black counter tops on snow-white Shaker-style cabinetry.

It’s two steps down from the kitchen to the living room that’s anchored by a minimalistic raised hearth fireplace and spills out to the backyard though a wide bank of glass panels that disappear into the walls when fully open.

Easily converted to a fourth bedroom with an en suite bathroom, the main floor family room/media lounge has a slightly vaulted ceiling and black-out shades over a room-wide bank of windows and two guest bedrooms on the second floor share a hall bathroom done up in all white except for punchy orange and red pixilated tile work that surrounds the tub and shower. Also upstairs, and, like the other two bedrooms, with white-painted hardwood floors, the master bedroom offers a small private deck, a good-sized walk-in closet, and a concrete, wood and tile accented bathroom.

A single-car garage with a glass-panel roll up door opens to a gated parking pad accessible from an alleyway that runs behind the property and has been converted to an office/studio space while the sun-dappled backyard, not much larger than a decent sized courtyard and privatized by towering stands of bamboo, includes a built-in fire pit surrounded by a deep, cushioned banquette under an alluringly riotous spray of fuchsia-hued Bougainvillea.

Online resources indicate the couple unsuccessfully attempted to sell the house in 2008, at the difficult height of the most recent housing crash, first at $3.8 million and then at $3.5 million. And, after it popped up as a rental in 2017 at $11,500 per month, the couple set the house out for sale earlier this year with a too aggressive asking price of $3.699 million that dropped to a still too high $3.499 before it was taken off the market.

The New York City born and bred Raver is best known for the 2001 blockbuster film “Night at the Museum” and her stints on “Third Watch,” “24,” and “ Grey’s Anatomy ” while Boyer wrote and directed the little seen Wilmer Valderrama-starring 2015 feature “To Whom It May Concern.” Together they executive produced and directed the upcoming Lifetime channel TV movie “ Tempting Fate ,” starring Alyssa Milano, the first of three movies based on the novels of bestselling author Jane Green .

Listing photos: Coldwell Banker