Refresh your home with upcycled materials

Upcycling materials like colorful vintage tiles and refinished surfaces can refresh a home’s character.

Preservation and restoration.

It’s a concept that old-home lovers like us can really get behind. But it also really pays off. Home Front Build, an architecture, design and build firm in Los Angeles, uses this as their mantra for reasons both holistic and realistic. “On a practical level, remodels that are congruent with the existing have more long-term value,” says Steve Pallrand, founder of Home Front Build. “A remodel that does not respect the original is more likely to be remodeled again, so it is money wasted. Simply put, a timeless remodel of a timeless house is timeless.”

Of course, there are design philosophies that argue the case as well. “On an aesthetic level, if you are drawn to a traditional home you don’t want to lose that character,” Steve adds. “The problem is that any existing house was designed as a perfect whole, but that perfect whole was designed for a different time. Maybe we have things called TVs, maybe we cook using one of those digital thingies rather than calling our mother [or] maybe we enjoy drinking wine with our friends while we cook, so the challenge is to not impose our contemporary design notion; rather it is to discover how the original designer would have designed the house … today.”

Steve and his team had to do just that for this kitchen remodel in a 1920s Spanish colonial in Los Feliz. “Kitchens from this period were utility spaces where food was prepared to serve family and guests in the adjacent formal rooms. They were deliberately designed to keep the act of food preparation out of sight of family life,” Steve says. “This particular kitchen was isolated in the least desirable part of the house, as the family was not intending on going in there. To connect the kitchen to family life today, we moved the kitchen to the rear, connecting it with arches to the dining room and entry on one side, and to the rear yard on the other, allowing friends and family to flow easily through the house.”

The team also used blue-and-white Portuguese tile and a blue French range to truly make a statement. “As humans, we are naturally drawn to more tactile materials ... with texture, visual subtlety. Industrially produced materials have no variation, so the eye lingers less on them; there’s nothing to explore,”

Steve says. “We feel more naturally at home with materials and finishes that are made by hand; they have more authenticity.”

[OPPOSITE] In this kitchen, it would have been easy to use white cabinets, but the rich wood stain is a perfect complement to the blue-and-white Portuguese tiles and blue French range.[RIGHT] The white plaster walls and range hood are the simple, beautiful backdrop for the kitchen to become a more formal and sophisticated space for the family and guests to gather.

[RIGHT] The original steel windows were salvaged from the old kitchen and relocated to the new space. Steve set them together to create a bay-window effect. The light fixtures were also fromthe original kitchen. Along with the vibrant tile, they add to the period appeal. “Color was an integral design element in homes from the first half of the 20th-century, and we are thrilled when clients arenot afraid to be bold and use color and pattern in tilework. It emphasizes authenticity and Old World craftsmanship, whichis what we strive for in all our projects.”