Mum's in the kitchen, Dad's on the stairs, brother Rob is wandering around the front room, the cat's looking nervous, the cleaners are cleaning and from the bedroom girlfriend Lisa Snowden's calling down the stairs for her "baby" to administer some love. Welcome to a typical morning in the home life of CSi bad boy Warrick Brown, aka Gary Dourdan.

Just a short frisbee throw from the sun-beat sands of Venice Beach, California, the award-winning star of the world's number one TV show has realised his dream to consolidate the assorted elements of his life.

"I've always been looking for a place where I could put everything together," he explains. "A recording studio, a place to live and a place to do my film projects; a work/live property where I wouldnt have two rents or have to leave my house to go and record some music or cut some film stuff. This is ideal."

Unlike a slew of LA-based models/actors/musicians/whatevers, 36-year-old Gary has been and still is all of the above, and he owns an ultra-contemporary home in a neighbourhood where $2million is a starting price to prove it.

"When I first saw the house I walked in and said 'I've got to have it, get me into this place, I dont care what it takes'. I had to talk a lot of shit; I'd just got my job a year before that and my credit was never fantastic."

A year later he's still working on turning the 4300 sq ft concrete, glass, iron and wood space - described by local architects David Hertz and Michael Rendler as "a box that's been cut open to provide light" - into the ultimate work and living environment. With that all-important 'woman's touch' supplied by Ms Snowden, his girlfriend of 11 months.

"Whenever she comes back from London she always adds a little touch; little dainty female vibrations. Like flowery fucking cushions and things like that; ha! Why do women like cushions so much? She's a real photography buff so she likes to take pictures too and put them around in frames. Pictures of herself so when she's out of town people know!"

Not that he's complaining. Well, just a bit.

"I do like it, but you rebel against it after a while. I think it's a male trait. You're loving it then all of a sudden you go, 'my God, my home is being taken over by this female'. I have two sisters and they get in my house and start throwing things around, and next thing I know it looks all dainty and shit. But I'm a community family oriented guy, not much of bachelor bachelor..."

Unlike the unusual accessory that originally came with the house: a tenant.

"This guy - a personal trainer - just came with the house as he'd signed a lease with the old owner. But I paid a lot of money so I wasn't happy, and it took a little while to get him out. He was here for the first couple of months and I tell you; he was getting laid a lot."

The tenant's former love den is now a fully-equipped hi-tech recording studio, the garage is an office and soon-to-be video production area, and Gary's working hard on "mixing mediums".

"I want to do it all," he says. "I release records, I want to direct music videos that aren't all about booty, plus I'm working on a film project about the life of Phil Lynott from Thin Lizzy, which is based on his mum Philamena's book."

Plus of course there's the small detail of the day job.

"I never thought I'd be a working actor; it's really hard to believe."





AROUND THE HOUSE...


Krups Orchestro Coffee Maker

It's fully automatic and I like that I don't have to do a lot of work. I just tip some water and beans in and press a couple of buttons and I don't get ground coffee all over the place. And it consistently makes a good cup of coffee.


Green table

I bought it for $400 and it's Indian. Usually those things go for $2599; I thought it was such a great deal. It's stuck around for quite a long time; since before my daughter was born, which is over five years now. She learned to walk on that table. It's our communal table; we sit low and eat. We also do our art on it ; my mum paints on it and its all around a good table.


Sink/bowl

I'm using it as a bowl but it's actually a sink. I haven't found a place for it yet. It's from a local artist - he puts the glass in a kiln, melts it down and makes beautiful colours.


34th NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series

I really didn't think I had a chance in hell and I flubbed my speech. It was massive for me as I never thought I'd win an award. That was massive; to have a job AND an award.


Painting of brother Daryl

This is my older brother Daryl who passed away some years ago. It's a painting of him by my cousin Monte. He's a great painter that used to paint for a lot of the Arabian princes. He's like the spirit that keeps the house together.


Kawai recording piano

You can put a cassette in it and it will play the piano for you. I don't have a teacher any more so this is now how I learn. I used to hate taking piano lessons when I was a kid. My folks made me go and my teacher was really mean. When my daughter comes over we let that play and dance around the house.


Xootr Scooter

It's the Venetian form of transportation. Venice is the only village in Southern California where you can actually walk to each other's houses. Or scooter there. You just pack that sucker up and go. Though I'm sure I look stupid on it as I'm 6' 2", but it gets me to the corner store for milk and coffee.


Godin Guitar

It's got nylon strings and it goes to that Roland TR33 guitar synth. When I bought it I was sitting in the shop and who walks through the door but Godin himself, so I got him to sign it. It's my favourite guitar.


Jenco Vibes

I bought it for nothing from a used music store, and I've been teaching myself to play the motherfucker. I've always been a big fan of Roy Ayres and always listen to his tunes and match what he does.


Bob Marley pic

This was shot for his first appearance in Rolling Stone by a photographer and video producer called Arthur Gorson. Arthur's a friend of mine and just this last Christmas Lisa and I went to Jamaica with him and after three days there we were sitting down having soup with Bob Marley's mother. Martin signed the picture for me. I haven't had it framed yet; I think it'll end up in the bedroom.


Vase

The vase is made by my buddy Attaway, and I keep my dreadlocks that I cut off in there. It was something of a cleansing ritual I felt I needed to go through. Attaway made the piece and it's kind of an urn for my dreads.


Vertu mobile phone

The phone was a gift from the show's parent company. It's a $13,000 phone; it's got gems in and shit. It has a concierge button: you hit it and they can give you anything you want in the world that is legal. Usually the concierge has an English accent and you just tell them what you need. I've been trying to get illegal stuff out of them since I got it, but no luck.