How much mid-century Modern can you stand? That's the question when looking at this unique home in the Hancock Park area of Los Angeles. The home belongs to Janet Charlton, a woman I idolized when I was a teenager and thought being a gossip columnist would be just about the best job in the world. Charlton was the gossip queen of Star magazine for many years. She purchased this home in 1997 for a reported $540,000. The home has been used for all sorts of photos and film shoots (including serving as Annette Benning's home in the recent movie "Running With Scissors"). It's easy to see why it would be chosen as a location, it's absolutely perfectly of the period. Which is of course the problem. As the Real Estalker Mama and his commenters have noted it's all just too much, it looks like a vintage furniture store that caters to hipster doofuses. It's all too much of a theme. The individual furniture pieces such as the Eero Saarinen Tulip chairs are all fine but put the whole shebang together and it just seems more like a two-dimensional set than the place where you kick back and cuddle up with a book and a glass of wine after a hard day. Liveable is not a word that applies here. Although I must confess a secret and shameful lust for those giant dice in the stereo room.

The five-bedroom home does have a nice open floor plan (although that tiny kitchen is suited only for those who enjoy drinking their dinner) and there is a lovely pool with a cabana. The home is listed at $2.995 million which might be a bit optimistic but this place could be a stunner in the right hands. If only Ellen DeGeneres would swoop in with her magic team of designers and rescue this place.