Josh Flagg's Best Advice For Home Renovations

Josh Flagg is one of the top experts in the real estate game so when it came to purchasing his own place in L.A., the Million Dollar Listing Los Angeles star used his know how to buy—and subsequently sell—his Sunset Strip bungalow.

"We bought the house, a 1935 Spanish-style bungalow, because we had sold our last place and had a very quick escrow with no time to go house hunting," he recalls in Angeleno Magazine.

So together with his partner, interior designer Colton Thorn, the MDLLA star renovated "every surface of the house, inside and out." "Everything worked perfectly. There was a Pedro Friedeberg hand chair next to a Tony Duquette biomorphic mirror—by the way, I'm a big fan of Tony Duquette. I've bought some great stuff from them," he said of the art and furnishings he scouted for his former pad. "O'Neill's giant photograph of Bridget Bardot and Aaron's 'Poolside Gossip' are two of my favorite pieces."

Reflecting on the project, he said, "Look, this house was really never meant to be anything more than a temporary shelter – I knew I was going to buy something bigger and more in line with what we need, but it was there, and it worked for the moment."

Having now renovated his own place, he's breaking down some of things others should keep in mind when looking to update their home. "Only buy a property with good natural light," he says. "If it doesn't have that, you can't easily fix it, so don't buy it."

The outside is also very important. "I recommend creating an outdoor entertaining area with a pool, a fire pit, and a barbeque area. Everyone wants these things," he shares. "Make sure the house is in a safe neighborhood, but beyond that, put in cameras and Crestron systems – all the security bells and whistles that people want today."

But it's also important to think about what you're putting into the home. "If you have extra money to spend, I recommend using top-of-the-line appliances," he says. "In my kitchen, I used a La Cornue oven. Use the best faucets and fixtures available for bathrooms and, if possible, book-match the marble—it looks a lot better."