Xorin the magnificent: Los Angeles designer Xorin Balbes creates extraordinary homes and "shares the wealth" by hosting parties for gay causes.

Throughout our conversation, Xorin Balbes wonders how his life can possibly be squeezed into one short article--and rightfully so. The condensed version is this: A gay man in his mid 20s, highly successful as a manufacturer of window treatments, discovers in 1984 that he is HIV-positive. He decides to reevaluate his life, commits to not working until he finds a direction he feels passionate about, and spends nine years traveling the world. Returning to the United States infused with a new spirituality, he buys a house and renovates it, and in the process he discovers that he's found the passion he was missing.

"I'm amazing at [renovating houses], and I don't say that from a place of ego--I love it, and I have the best time doing it," says the effusive 46-year-old with an easy and appealing laugh. Balbes has now worked his magic on more than two dozen houses and apartments, mostly in Los Angeles, such as the home of silent movie goddess Norma Talmadge.

He's all the way out: "Everyone knows I'm gay," he exclaims. His residence reflects his openness. We're sitting in his spectacular home in the Los Feliz neighborhood of Los Angeles--a house designed by Lloyd Wright (son of Frank Lloyd Wright) and renovated and redesigned by Balbes two years ago; it just served ms a set for Martin Scorsese's forthcoming film about Howard Hughes. Built in 1926, the house is Mayan- and Aztec-influenced, with living room and bedroom facing each other across a courtyard open to the sky. Massive totemic columns brood at each doorway--but Balbes has balanced the architectural drama with such comfy high-end contemporary elements as trader-counter refrigerators and a steam shower. "The house is a marriage of the ancient and the new," he says. A friend describes it more sharply as "the ultimate party house."

After designing so many houses, why did Balbes chose this one for his own? "I was on my way to finish the deal on a house for myself, and I saw a for-sale sign here, and I walked up the steps. I knew immediately--a voice said to me, 'As you had your temples in the past, so shall you have your temples in this lifetime.' And I saw myself in Egyptian robes, and I knew this was my" temple." He laughs, looking at me. "You're thinking, This guy's nuts."

Whether one accepts this kind of spirituality or not (he changed his name to Xorin as a result of a vision--his previous name was Randy), one can't help but warm up to Balbes himself and acknowledge that his house has a welcoming, open feeling to it.

He has taken his success and used it to give something back--he opens his house to host fund-raisers for organizations like Project Angel Food and the Human Rights Campaign Foundation. Balbes has also founded Global Vision for Peace, responsible for the doves on the lapels of 2003 Academy Awards attendees. This year its Friends of the U.N. division will focus on promoting the peacekeeping mandate of the United Nations with the help of celebrities, artists, and writers.

And Balbes has just signed a deal for a book he says will show people how to "transform your home into a temple" and how to create a "living entity that numbers and supports you."

Certainly he has made good use of his own advice. "I have a wonderful life," he says, "a wonderful partner that I just celebrated a one-year anniversary with, a profession that I love, and the ability to help people." He pauses. "I don't want it to sound like my life is totally perfect. But"--he flashes a grin--"I do feel very lucky."