Before and after: Santa Monica ranch house remodel

Lewin Wertheimer shares how he gave the Santa Monica ranch house pictured here greater curb appeal in the latest installment of Pro Portfolio, our feature that looks at recently built, remodeled or redecorated spaces with commentary from the designers.

Architect: Lewin Wertheimer. Landscape: Kenyon Landscapes, (818) 830-1943. Contractor: Ron Rosenblatt of Building Blox Development.

Architect's description: The primary goal was to make the home feel fresh and inviting with lots of curbside appeal. I wanted the overall aesthetic to be a clean, beach-like, ranch-style home.

Originally the house was a stucco structure with bold exterior colors. The house lacked visual appeal and charm. Although the exterior possessed some interesting volumes and the interior had a nice, natural flow, we needed to come up with a vocabulary of materials and design elements that allowed the structure to blend from exterior to interior cohesively.

To achieve this, we designed new windows and doors throughout and replaced the stucco with wide-plank painted redwood siding. The roof is the original wood shake. The large, three-car garage jutting out toward the street was particularly challenging. We added deep overhangs to the garage and second floor with outrigger brackets in order to give the facade some shadow and contrast. We also scaled down the garage doors and gave them some design features to resemble a carriage house. The circular window above the garage is echoed in the window on the second floor, giving the two masses a common element that links them together.

-- Compiled by Lisa Boone

Pro Portfolio appears every Monday. Submit projects to home@latimes.com.

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