It’s Hip to Be Square

An A. Quincy Jones condo renovation plays up all its best angles.

Not everyone has the stomach to buy a home that’s in foreclosure. After all, the process can be lengthy and complicated; and while you might be getting a bargain, there’s likely some serious work that needs to be done.

However, if that home was designed by storied architect A. Quincy Jones and sits in one of the most sought- after neighborhoods in Palm Springs, a buyer can be forgiven for throwing caution to the wind.

Realtor Frank Bruno took the plunge in 2015, purchasing a home in Palm Springs’ Indian Canyons neighborhood in a development known as Country Club Estates.

“It had the ideal west- facing views I had been searching for, but it was in extremely poor condition,” he recalls. “Literally every system in the house had to be redone. It was neglected and screaming out, ' Help me!’"

The first and largest tasks in Frank’s renovation were upgrades to the plumbing, electrical, heating and cooling systems. At the same time, and with the interior stripped nearly bare, Frank started to envision how the home would finally come together.

“One of the design features I knew I wanted out of the gate was for each room to have its own identity. In real estate, I see home after home that use the same tile and countertops in the kitchen and each of the bathrooms.” Frank shares. “To me, that’s boring and uninspiring. It's more of a design challenge to be able to utilize different materials and aesthetics while, at the same time, cohesively bringing all of it together in a complementary manner.”

A NATURAL DESIGN FOCUS

Frank’s house forms a large U- shape anchored by a small central courtyard. Floor- to- ceiling windows span each side and inundate the home with light. Cinderblock walls form the outdoor atrium structure and extend into the house on two sides— into the bedroom and the living room, where it also forms a chunky fireplace, an element Frank fell in love with.

“The whole design came together around the cinderblock. I love it so much. I’ve never been able to hang any art over the fireplace, because I feel the cinderblock is, itself, a work of art.”

The cinderblocks also gave Frank his cues for other design elements in the home: The floors are 24x24- inch porcelain tiles, and cubist elements pop up all over the house.

The cinderblocks also gave Frank his cues for other design elements in the home: The floors are 24x24- inch porcelain tiles, and cubist elements pop up all over the house.

A stunning, floating wood- faced dresser that anchors one side of the principal bedroom is actually a doublesinked vanity, which architect Jones set outside the bathroom and open to the bedroom.

“I saw something in that; that it could really be a beautiful design element, and I wanted the sink cabinet to feel like furniture— as if it were part of the bedroom,” Frank recalls.

A center door inside the cabinet pulls out and hides a towel rack, and sleek waterfall taps keep the look streamlined and clutter free.

Frank asked a carpenter to create what he calls a “brutalist” design ( a style in art and especially architecture that uses exaggeration and distortion to create its effect) for the door fronts, so that its multitude of squares once again give a nod to the cinderblock.

Color is also at play everywhere in the home.

“By using white and gray as the base, I knew I could use color as an accent and change that down the road, therefore changing the look of the space. So, between the color and the wood accents, I feel that was the best way to bring warmth to the space and make sure it doesn’t come across as sterile.”

SENSITIVE UPDATES

When it came to the kitchen, Frank knew he might need to diverge from A. Quincy Jones’s original plans to open the area up and make the house more livable for himself and his mini husky, Kaya.

“It was completely closed off, and there was a soffit that came down and housed all the ductwork. It’s the only structural change I made to the house, but I felt that because A. Quincy Jones had that open- concept idea for the bathroom sinks, today, he probably would have have opened up the kitchen to accommodate our modern living.”

THE SOFTER SIDE

Despite all the corners in the home, Frank has also found ways to soften the hard edges in the space.

Circular elements abound; they can be seen in the decorative metal decoration on the guest bathroom cabinets and as a bubbly art element at the entry— a feature that Frank designed.

“It’s kind of my take on a wall divider that you’d see in mid- century construction. It’s constructed of circular metal pieces and colored glass. At night, there’s light behind it. It just projects these colored circles on the wall, and it becomes a different kind of art.”

Frank hopes Country Club Estates is also coming full circle. Following the renovation, his home was featured during Palm Springs’ Modernism Week 2018 ( and will be again in 2022), and the complex is now one of the most sought- after areas in south Palm Springs.

“I think A. Quincy Jones would be proud.”

Frank’s design goal was to find a common thread between the mid- century

and modern eras and meld them together.

“I feel like a steward of this property and that I need to do it justice.”

Located on a triangular wedge of land, the homes here have shared walls and line a common pool area. Designed by A. Quincy Jones in the mid- 1960s, it’s the only residential property Jones handled in Palm Springs … aside from the famed Annenberg estate at Sunnylands. Frank began a two- year renovation and restoration and elected to take on much of the project management and design work himself, even overseeing the construction. A COMMUNITY VISION As his own home began to come together, he realized the collection of condos in his complex needed more than a coat of paint: They needed a vision for the next century. Consequently, Frank ran for, and won, a seat on the condominium’s board— with an eye toward guiding its future from drab to dramatic.

ABOVE, LEFT: FRANK OPENED UP THE KITCHEN TO THE MAIN LIVING AREA, REMOVING TWO WALLS AND PULLING OUT A LOW- HUNG CEILING AND AGING DUCTWORK. EVEN SO, HE KEPT AN EXISTING SKYLIGHT THAT WAS PART OF A. QUINCY JONES’S ORIGINAL DESIGN.

FOR MORE ON ARCHITECT A. QUINCY JONES, VISIT ATOMIC- RANCH. COM. ABOVE: THE KITCHEN IS WHERE FRANK MADE THE BIGGEST CHANGES. HOWEVER, HE LET OTHER A. QUINCY JONES DESIGNS GUIDE HIS UPDATES AS HE REMOVED WALLS AND OPENED UP THE SPACE. “A. QUINCY JONES HAD THAT OPEN- CONCEPT IDEA FOR THE BATHROOM SINKS. TODAY, HE PROBABLY WOULD HAVE OPENED UP THE KITCHEN TO ACCOMMODATE OUR MODERN LIVING,” FRANK SAYS.

BELOW: FRANK CHOSE A HEXAGONAL TILE FOR THE KITCHEN BACKSPLASH AND LEFT INSTRUCTIONS FOR IT TO BE CUT IN HALF AT THE BOTTOM WHERE IT MET THE COUNTERTOP, CREATING A CLEAN LINE. WHEN THOSE INSTRUCTIONS WEREN’T FOLLOWED AND A RIPPLED BOTTOM EDGE WAS LEFT INSTEAD, HE GOT CREATIVE, TRIMMING THE EDGE WITH A 1- INCH STRIP OF METAL. “IT’S NOW ONE OF MY FAVORITE FEATURES.”

ABOVE, LEFT: CIRCULAR ELEMENTS CREATE A DIFFERENT LOOK FOR THE SECOND BATHROOM. ROUND PENNY TILE SETS OFF GLOBE PENDANT LIGHTS THAT SPARKLE “LIKE STARLIGHT,” ACCORDING TO FRANK. THE DECORATIVE METAL ELEMENT ON THE CABINETS COMPRISES SLICES OF METAL TUBING GLUED INTO GROOVES CREATED USING A HOLE SAW.

ABOVE, RIGHT: IN A NOD TO MID- CENTURY “RUMPUS ROOMS,” AND TO CREATE A CONNECTION TO THE GEOMETRIC WOOD VANITY THAT’S PLACED OUTSIDE THE BATHROOM, FRANK CHOSE PORCELAIN TILE IN A WOOD PRINT. THE RIVER STONES USED IN THE BASE OF THE SHOWER ARE “LIKE A FOOT MASSAGE EVERY MORNING,” HE SAYS.

OPPOSITE, BOTTOM: IN THE PRINCIPAL BEDROOM, FRANK DELIBERATELY KEPT THE DESIGN SIMPLE, ALLOWING HIS BELOVED CINDERBLOCKS TO AGAIN TAKE CENTER STAGE.

FRANK LIVED IN THE HOME FOR A WHILE BEFORE DECIDING WHAT TO DO IN THE COURTYARD. CREATING WHAT HE CALLS A “MODERN ZEN GARDEN,” HE SAYS, “IT’S DESIGNED TO BE A VISUAL SPACE, NOT A USABLE SPACE.”

THE HOME IS DRENCHED IN NATURAL LIGHT DURING THE DAY, BUT FRANK WANTED TO ENSURE THE AESTHETIC WAS EQUALLY PLEASING AT NIGHT. HE USED PHILIPS HUE SMART- COLORED LIGHTING— BOTH INDOORS AND OUTSIDE THE HOUSE— THAT CAN BE ADJUSTED TO ENHANCE GREENERY, CAST A COLORFUL GLOW ONTO WALLS OR ECHO A FIRESIDE GLOW. PAINTING ALL THE WALLS IN DUNN EDWARDS’ "COOL DECEMBER" GAVE THE LIGHT A NEUTRAL CANVAS TO PLAY ON.