Rental Revamp: Two Shark Tank Champs Find Paradise in a Former Venice Beach Campground

"You don’t know when you move into a rental how long you’ll live there, but we’ve been here for four years—and we’re still finding ways to make it more cozy and organized,"  Rachel Connors says of the Venice Beach bungalow she’s lovingly fixed up with her husband and creative partner, Joe Demin. Together, they founded Yellow Leaf Hammocks in 2011, a Shark Tank–anointed company that sells woven hammocks made by the Mlabri tribe in Thailand. 

When Rachel first cast eyes on what she calls the "lovely, high-ceilinged empty box," she loved the spacious outdoor area, the wall-to-wall sliding door that facilitates an easy indoor/outdoor connection, and the rich history of the place.

It was once the clubhouse of a summer camp compound that’s supposedly the stuff of legend among in-the-know locals. Still, upon signing the lease in 2020, the couple knew they would need to build up the yard with greenery and invest in making their kitchen more hospitable.

"When we moved in, there was just dead vegetation and dirt everywhere," Joe says, so the couple brought in bundles of plants like bougainvillea and fire sticks that have since grown several feet tall. Now, he describes the outdoor space as "really lush, like you’re stepping into paradise."