Bringing Japan to California
Fixer home’s remodelling inspired by couple’s former life in Tokyo
Barton Corley and Mai Hirai were used to small spaces after they lived in Tokyo.
So when it came time to remodel their 1,100-square-foot, three-bedroom, one-bath home in Mar Vista, Calif., their focus was on how they wanted to live.
“When I first met them, they described to me how they lived in Japan, and it wasn’t specific,” says architect Talbot McLanahan, who spearheaded the modest remodelling project. “They didn’t tell me ‘We want our house to look like this.’ It was more about how they wanted to live each day.”
The couple purchased the house, advertised as a fixer, in 2009. They remodelled the kitchen and tore down the wall between the kitchen and living room.
Years later, the interiors of the home still felt dark and confined. Corley, Hirai and their daughters Leah, 4, and Enna, 8, felt disconnected from the outdoors and the neighbourhood they loved.
The couple knew what they wanted in their renovation: a formal dining room, a sunken gengkan room in the entry where shoes are removed, and an outdoor bathtub. “We take bathing seriously in Japan,” Hirai says.
They also wanted to take advantage of indoor-outdoor living. “Our kids are constantly running in and out of the house,” Corley adds.
To open up the interiors, McLanahan removed the walls at the two corners of the house and extended the corners to create a dynamic roofline. She added 500 square feet, including a master bedroom extension in back, a new master bathroom and outdoor soaking tub. At the front of the house, a new dining room now serves as a multipurpose room that can transition from dining to homework to play time.
It’s hard to hide on a corner lot, so McLanahan chose to embrace the location.
“Everything has to be beautiful from all sides on a corner lot,” she explains.
“I wanted to call attention to the addition by tilting the roof up and providing a clerestory that allows light in during the day.”
In the new master bathroom, McLanahan continued the board-and-batten exterior siding indoors to ease the transition from outdoors to inside.
Inside, industrial windows are installed high to provide privacy and give the house a warm glow when illuminated at night.
Western red cedar beams, widely used in Japan, are installed over the breakfast nook to highlight the home’s front window. The beams extend outside and provide shade.
The new master bathroom is a testament to Japanese minimalism with a limited palette of wood, hand-poured concrete saddlebag sinks, white tile and plaster. Like a traditional Japanese bath, the outdoor tub is a straight shot from the indoor shower.
But ultimately, the architect looked to nature, not tradition, as her guide.
“You can make such a difference just by adding coastal breezes and light,” McLanahan says.
“The first thing she did when she came to the house was sit quietly and observe the light and breeze,” Corley says about the architect. “That simple move has enhanced the way we live.”