Our goals
The home was an old castle that had been built in the 1920s by a silent-film star. Remarkably, there had been only three owners in 100 years, but clearly they all had very different taste, which was now our problem to contend with. There were many small rooms, many types of flooring and a nonsensical floor plan. The house felt like a maze, with tiny rooms and multiple doorways that led to more doorways and even more tiny rooms.
Everything had to be gutted and redone. In other words, it was perfect. Our biggest challenge was to keep the charm and period feel of the house while modernising it. We opened everything up to give a loft-like look and created a seamless feel between indoors and out.
a large 100-year-old house with a byzantine floor plan into an open family home with a good flow from room to room.
To make the house feel more intimate yet retain the classic (slightly dramatic) Hollywood Hills style.
To build a private outdoor oasis in the middle of urban Los Angeles.
To add multiple spaces for entertainment, including a games room, music room, home theatre and bar.
A poorly designed floor plan There were hallways and staircases everywhere, creating a confining – and confusing – layout, so we opened up the space by knocking down several interior walls. We converted seven small bedrooms into four larger ones, moved the living areas to the main floor, and the rooms we’d use less often to the floors above and below.
Replacing multiple layers of flooring The house had many different types of flooring that had been laid over the years. We got rid of all of them and replaced the hardwood floors with reclaimed oak flooring from Germany to create a better flow.
Remodelling a shabby entry Our front door entered straight into the kitchen area. It felt anticlimactic and took away from the grandeur of the house. We added a gated entrance as a second means of egress, which feels more elegant and private.
Bad windows The windows were a mix throughout. Some were made with great old steel frames, others had subpar aluminium frames, and a few were wood. Unfortunately, the beautiful steel ones needed to be reglazed (to meet current building codes), which was as expensive as replacing them, so we sold them, which offset the cost of the expensive steel windows we used throughout the property. It was our largest investment and worth every penny.
Maintaining the integrity of a 1920s house while doing a gut renovation A key to striking this delicate balance was restoring the facade to its original aesthetic, a white-and-black colour scheme. We were also able to save the circular staircase, the rotunda ceiling above it and the original front door.
Bad roofline The house had many different rooflines and a number of turrets that were unattractive. We replaced the entire roof with a grey slate shingled roof, which gives it a uniform look.
Lack of privacy Due to the short distance between the street and door – typical of LA houses – we added Sunbrella fabric to the gates to create a more private front and planted hedges around the property when we bought it. By the time we started rebuilding, they’d grown enough to enclose the yard.
(from far left)
The minimal Boffi kitchen lets a favourite Erwin Olaf photograph shine. A wall of eclectic artworks behind the kitchen table. The screening room, added for resale value in line with the house’s Tinseltown location. A ping-pong table in the games room. Objects and books are an easy way to inject personality.