Palisades house aims to make modern feel warm

Designer Jill Wolff narrates a pictorial tour of Vision House Los Angeles, a luxury demonstration home in Pacific Palisades, in this latest installment of Pro Portfolio. The occasional feature looks at a recently built, remodeled or redecorated home with commentary from the designer.

Project: Green demonstration home dubbed Vision House Los Angeles.

Interior designer: Jill Wolff, Jill Wolff Interior Design, Calabasas. Architects: KAA Design, Culver City, and P2 Design, Newport Beach. Builder: Structure Home in collaboration with Green Builder Media.

Designer's description: Normally, I work collaboratively with clients, but because this is a spec house, I had to imagine a family with a son about to leave for college and a younger daughter. I want people who view this house to come away with a feeling of surprise about its comfort, coziness and warmth. I want them to see that sustainable design really can be comfortable, and that if they’re clever, they can use their creativity to make their own home more sustainable.

Before and after: L.A. Spanish bungalow renovation

Designer Alexandra Becket talks through her update to a rundown Spanish bungalow in the Beverly Grove neighborhood of Los Angeles in the latest installment of Pro Portfolio, our feature that looks at recently built, remodeled or redecorated spaces with commentary from the designers. 

Designer: Alexandra Becket of ModOp Design.

Designer's statement: My husband, Greg Steinberg, and I renovate distressed bungalows in Los Angeles. Our latest project is a 1,480-square-foot Spanish-style home that had lots of original charm but was in dire need of restoration and modernization. We fell in love with the Douglas fir living room beams, beautiful mansard-shaped fireplace, arched picture window and breakfast room with corner built-ins.  

We modernized the house while preserving its details and style. The first owner lived there for more than 40 years and left the house to his caretaker, who lived there for an additional 40-plus years; original elements were preserved, but the house needed repairs.

Some of the original furniture was still in the house. I reupholstered a wingback chair with my own textile design, restored the wood furniture and used a mix of new and vintage, including vintage kilim rugs. Warm colors also helped to create a mod-California-Spanish feel.  

To see more, keep reading ...

Santiago Ortiz house open during AIA tour Sunday

Architect Santiago Ortiz takes us through the sustainable Venice home he designed for his family in the latest installment of Pro Portfolio, our feature that looks at recently built, remodeled or redecorated spaces with commentary from the designers. The house will be featured Sunday on an American Institute of Architects home tour. Details of the tour are at the bottom of the post.

Designer and builder: Santiago Ortiz, Ortiz Mexia Projects. Structural engineer: C.W. Howe Partners, (310) 838-0383.

Designer's description: This house is built on an 11,000-square-foot lot east of Lincoln Avenue and south of Santa Monica Airport. From foundation to roof, all materials were chosen for their stability, durability and sustainability.

The house is built around a great room for cooking, dining and communing. The emphasis is on entertaining family and friends. The south-facing wall of sliding doors provides natural lighting, excellent views of the lush backyard and seamless indoor-outdoor living.

The focus of the upstairs is a large master suite with a balcony running the entire width of the house. There is also a west-facing roof deck with a vegetable garden, which serves as an outdoor play area off the children's quarters.

Pro Portfolio: New look for Los Feliz Midcentury home

Interior designer Julie Maigret's recent update of the Los Feliz home she shares with her husband, Rob, is the latest installment of Pro Portfolio. Our Monday feature looks at recently built, remodeled or redecorated spaces with commentary from the designers.

Project: A 1961 two-story home with four bedrooms and 3.5 bathrooms in 3,100 square feet.

Location: Atop the hills of Los Feliz.

Designer: Julie Maigret Design, Los Angeles.

Designer’s description: This project was a collaboration with my husband. Since the house was built in 1961, we wanted to stay true to its Midcentury Modern roots but also make sure it reflected our own casual aesthetic.

The biggest challenge was figuring out how to make a space with white walls and white floors comfortable instead of cold, an environment where visitors would feel welcomed.

That was accomplished by bringing in warm and bright colors and textures, vibrant artwork by local artists and comfortable seating. We also surrounded the home with lush, distinctive outdoor spaces.

To see more of the house, keep reading ...

 

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.

Pro Portfolio: Modative 2X small-lot homes

The Los Angeles architecture firm Modative's latest project consists of two homes, each built with just two exterior materials, two interior materials, two principal colors and only two window and door sizes. The 2X project, built under the city's small lot subdivision ordinance, is the latest installment of Pro Portfolio, our Monday feature that looks at recently built, remodeled or redecorated spaces with commentary from the designers.

Project: Two 1,000-square-foot homes.

Architect: Modative (Krystal Návar, Christian Návar, Derek Leavitt and Michael Scott). Contractor: Modative Build. Landscape design: Miriam Rainville, (310) 378-2650.

Architects' description: The 2X concept came out of finding a simple, creative, cost-effective
way to re-imagine a pre-housing-bust development. The homes are the reincarnation of the Fay Avenue Art District Dwellings, a seven-home small-lot project designed before the real estate market crashed. Our client asked us to propose a design that would generate rental income. The two homes pictured here make up Phase 1 of what's intended to be a four-phase project.

The modern design was influenced by its location near the Culver City Arts District, but it's also the result of trying to provide a cost-conscious solution for our client. We limited certain building components to only two variations as a way to minimize costs. Further emphasizing the 2X concept, each home has two bedrooms and 2.5 bathrooms on two floors. These homes are being rented as apartments until all four phases are complete and the properties are ultimately subdivided into seven lots.

As a design-build firm, we acted as the general contractor. This helped to keep construction costs down, drastically reducing the expenses that come with the change orders that are typically part of an architect-contractor relationship.

These two homes were completed in December and are occupied. To see more, keep reading ...

Before and After: Small 1940s condo remodel

A small, cramped apartment from the 1940s is now light and airy, courtesy of architect Deborah Teltscher, who took down a wall between the kitchen and dining room to create a sense of spaciousness. The project is the latest installment of Pro Portfolio, our Monday feature that looks at recently built, remodeled or redecorated spaces with commentary from the designers. 

Project: To update a 650-square-foot apartment turned into a condominium. 

Location: Santa Monica.

Architect: Deborah Teltscher. Contractors: Rob and Jan Vandermeer, Vandermeer General Contractors, (818) 708-2181.

Designer's statement: My client, a close friend, bought a condominium in Santa Monica that is part of a complex of small garden apartments built in the 1940s and recently turned into condominiums. The condos have large windows opening onto pleasant courtyards in the front and back, but my friend’s unit had barely been touched since the 1940s. The kitchen, photographed above before the remodel, was tiny and had a small stove squeezed into in an alcove, old-style 18-inch-deep counters and few cabinets. There was virtually no storage, and the lighting was poor. The biggest issue for the owner, a serious and gregarious cook, was the small opening between the kitchen and the dining room and the lack of connection between the kitchen and the living room. The bathroom was cramped as well.

 We removed the wall between the kitchen and dining room and raised the cabinets to create an opening between the kitchen and the living room, so my friend can talk to guests while cooking. The cabinets go all the way to the ceiling to create as much storage as possible. Energy-efficient LED lighting under the cabinets makes the kitchen glow at night. We added a tall pullout rack to the left of the refrigerator (see photo at top) to house a huge collection of spices. We replaced the kitchen's linoleum floor with oak to match the living room. Additional storage in the living room includes a new built-in desk, bookshelves and TV cabinet.

To see more of the remodel, including the transformation of the bathroom, keep reading ...

Before and after: Industrial loft made warm and bright

Jewelry designer Lisa Marie Todd and interior designer Jessica McClendon of Glamour Nest recently transformed an industrial loft in West L.A. into a warm design studio for Todd. The project is the latest installment of Pro Portfolio, our Monday feature that looks at recently built, remodeled or  redecorated spaces with commentary from the designers.

Project: 1,745-square-foot loft built in 2011 

Designers: Lisa Marie Todd and Jessica McClendon, Glamour Nest

Todd's statement: I love modern design mixed with vintage inspirations. My goal was to create a space that would inspire creativity, reflect my lifestyle and showcase my work. As a jewelry designer, I'm constantly inspired by color, texture and the ability to transform metals. Transforming this loft space into a modern jewel box was like creating a new piece of jewelry. 

When you start with a cold, concrete rectangle filled with odd spaces, you need to add elements of color and texture to soften and warm the space.  No interior construction was necessary. The simple fix: Incorporating texture through fabrics, paint and great light fixtures.

We began with an obvious fix: Paint the walls my favorite blue. The use of tone-on-tone color defined by various textures and finishes was key to transforming the space. It was important to create clearly defined areas for workspace and  showroom.  We incorporated a fabric curtain to act as a divider and to soften the room. We used vintage lamps and furniture that I already owned and great vintage lighting from Orange, one of my favorite stores in Los Angeles.  More vintage touches and colorful artwork added to the transformation.

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Before and after: Family-friendly L.A. loft remodel

Chinmaya Apurva Collaborative recently completed its first interior loft renovation, a 1,574-square-foot space rethought as a series of areas for parents and child to rest, work and play. The project, completed in December, is the latest installment of Pro Portfolio, our Monday feature that looks at recently built, remodeled or  redecorated spaces with commentary from the designers.

Location: Downtown Los Angeles.

Designer: Chinmaya Apurva Collaborative, which also goes by Cha:Col. General contractor: Alex Taslimi, Taz Construction. 

Designer's description: The clients -- husband, wife and 3-year-old daughter -- bought this historic loft in the South Park neighborhood of downtown last summer. The couple needed a flexible space for living as well as occasional home-based work. The building is seven floors high, the top three of which were added by the developer.  This unit is on the fourth floor, giving us the opportunity to design within the historic structure.

When the couple purchased the loft, it had spartan, unmaintained finishes including synthetic wood flooring; reinforced concrete (or RC) columns with granular, degenerating stucco; RC beams; retrofitted aluminum-framed windows; and exposed HVAC and electrical work along ceilings, concealed within partition walls.

The clients needed a flexible live-work plan as well as a separate space for their daughter. The budget was extremely limited, so at the outset we decided to limit the scope of the project to  interior mill work and finishes.

We worked extensively with 3D models and drawings to establish key sight lines. These were required so we could define separate zones without losing visual continuity between any of them. First, we defined all areas that were beyond the limited budget. We then cut an  existing utility room in half and redesigned it as an open, flexible workspace with integrated shelving. Storage was relocated to a new partition wall. We then built open shelves to separate spaces yet leave porous boundaries.

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Pro Portfolio: Quiksilver's lofty new Venice store

Verdego Design recently completed a new Venice showcase for Quiksilver, transforming the former home of Samy’s Camera, a brick shell with exposed beams and an attached prefab steel building. The project, completed in December, has some ideas that are easy to imagine translated to the home, so we've selected it as the latest installment of Pro Portfolio, our Monday feature that looks at recently built, remodeled or  redecorated spaces with commentary from the designers.

 Project: Quiksilver’s flagship store

Location: L.A. neighborhood of Venice

Designers: Tatiana Barhar and Sarai Grenell, Verdego Design, Los Angeles. Collaborators include Steve Jones; artists and muralists Craig Stecyk, Kevin Ancell, Anthony Friedkin, Blakeney Sanford, Peter Schroff; graphic designer Tom Adler; landscape architect Mark Tessier; and architect Caryn Bailey.

Designers' description: We began by looking at the lifestyle and culture of Venice and its long history of surf and art as well as the Quiksilver brand and how it is embedded into the community. We tried to build  connections between art, fashion and architecture.

We used an urban palette for the storefront that should age well. Dark zinc soffits and wall panels contrast and highlight the original brick of the building, and perforated metal panels allow the building to glow like a lantern in the night. Several of the original windows were kept in place or replicated. The prefab accessory building was restored and updated by cladding it with dark zinc, emphasizing the urban palette.

A 15-foot LCD display of vintage surf footage was specially designed for the space. Vintage and new surf art as well as displays celebrating Quiksilver’s team riders are displayed throughout the store. Some areas have reclaimed wood that feels touched by the elements. The palette is natural yet light, with flea market paintings and art installations painted directly onto the featured materials.

Working with Josh Rosen of Mark Tessier Landscape Architecture, we decided to bring nature into the space by designing and building a 14-foot vertical garden of air plants, above, lighted by one of the skylights in the store. This interior garden is an abstraction of the exterior landscape; a series of floor-to-ceiling steel frames provide the armature for hundreds of tillandsia.

Outside, the screens, fences and walls are designed as armature for vines and plants to grow as green walls. The elongated side yard is a skate friendly environment with linear bands of concrete. A mural by Ancell, above, is a defining element with its powerful imagery on the brick wall.

To see more of the interior design as well as the landscape, keep reading ...