A '50s Era Los Angeles Home Makeover Brings the Drama

While many older Los Angeles County homes have succumbed to the wrecking ball, making way for modern replacements on their high-demand lots, interior designer Jessica Risko Smith's clients had other plans for their 1950s home tucked in Hidden Hills. "The neighborhood, adjacent to Calabasas, offers gate-guarded communities and is appealing to celebrities in the LA area," says Jessica. "The settings feel pastoral and have few sidewalks or streetlights, but offer deep setbacks, white three-rail fences, corrals, barns and natural, rustic equestrian trails."

The first order of business was updating the home's exterior, which is now wrapped in farmhouse-style board and batten paired with a brick veneer. "I worked with the architect and homeowner to select and approve the window color, wall and trim paint and roof color," says Jessica. "We worked together to establish the specification and extent of placement for the new brick stonework on the facade and landscape walls. Our team located and specified all exterior lighting." The pool in the backyard was given a deep blue-gray surface coating, which gives the water a more natural look.

"This client wanted an inviting but fuss-free entry and doesn’t really like hallway runners," notes Jessica. "So, we created an inset for the stone floor to provide a very durable material with an elegant transition to the wood floors in the spaces beyond. The ceiling tray mimics this to provide some visual height to an otherwise lower ceiling."

Thanks to the removal of a wall, stepping into the home's entry immediately reveals the home's formal living room. This space was previously sunken but now sits on the same level as the surrounding spaces. Like many of the home's rooms, it features a wide set of glass doors leading to the backyard, highlighting the centrality of indoor-outdoor living in California.

The furnishings are filled with subtle textures, soft patterns and delicate hues that set the overall tone for the home's new look. "The clients were drawn to a modern farmhouse aesthetic but weren’t really sure how to achieve that," explains Jessica. "They gave us a few visuals, told us they really like grays, then we got to work. We created a layered combination of furnishings, varying the shapes and materials, and added an ever-so-subtle undercurrent of hues to add variety without departing from the color scheme."

Jessica carried the modern California farmhouse aesthetic into the family room but contrasts the formal living room's look with decidedly cozy furnishings like a deep sofa with a chaise and an oversized armchair. The intentional layout leaves plenty of room for the family of five to traverse between the kitchen and the backyard. "Because this is a family home, and they have a dog, we selected durable materials, provided ample storage and created well-thought-out circulation and flexible zones throughout the house," she notes.

To bridge the stark visual gap created between the shiny white ceilings and the dark white oak floors, Jessica opted to cover the alcove and wall surrounding the TV with Portola's Prospekt Roman Clay, an eco-friendly plaster finish that effectively hides the TV when it's not in use.

The home office has a look distinguished from the rest of the home. "The clients kept very little of their existing furniture, but this table and their leather Chesterfield sofa were perfect for the home office," notes Jessica. "While warm, glowy wood tones weren’t their preference, we felt they really added a nice feel for this space and created some really great zones in an otherwise large and awkwardly shaped room."

The home's showstopper is the kitchen, due in part to Jessica's selection of luxe materials like zellige wall tiles, a variety of glazed terra cotta tiles handmade in Morocco and Calacatta Vagli marble, a premium brecciated marble. Calacatta Vagli's brecciated quality leads to subtle angular fragments ranging from yellow gold to bronze embedded in a soft white base with notable gray veining.

The lower cabinets on the perimeter are topped with black Vermont soapstone and finished in Sherwin Williams Dorian Gray, a subtle gray with warm brown undertones. Their short stature allows for massive windows displaying the picturesque landscape.

While double-island kitchens have become increasingly popular, this design choice was about more than hopping on a trend. "The dual islands provided the benefit of ample workspace but added critical circulation from the dining room that would have felt blocked and awkward with a single island," explains Jessica. To appeal to the clients' industrial design leanings, Jessica chose stainless steel appliances and fixtures, including an extra-large Sub-Zero refrigerator.

Each island houses its own purpose-oriented sink, with the left serving as a clean-up sink with a flexible spout and integrated water-filtration system, and the right serving as a prep sink with a pull-down sprayer for washing fruit and veggies.

There is plenty of space at the two islands for the family of five to enjoy breakfast, lunch and snacks throughout the day. But a formal dining room sits just to the left of the kitchen with enough space to seat six comfortably.

Just on the other side of the kitchen range wall and connected to the pantry is a combination laundry room and mudroom, which, given the family's active lifestyle, was a must-have. "Depending on the season and where you live, essentials for a mudroom include coat hooks, storage space and surfaces to capture, hang and corral the stuff you carry as you enter your residence. If you live in California and have school-aged kids, this means sandy flip-flops, soccer gear and backpacks," Jessica says. The space features another soft gray on the built-ins, Farrow and Ball Pavilion Grey No. 242, Modern Emulsion, and a Nova blue limestone tile floor.

Like many midcentury homes, the main living area suffered from darkness, heavily relying on artificial, supplemental lighting even in the daytime. To transform the dark, dated space into a light, airy one, the vaulted ceiling and original exposed beams were painted bright white. Skylights were then added to the ceiling connecting the kitchen and family room.

To enhance the home's architectural cohesion, the main bedroom was fitted with beams that match those present in the family room and kitchen.

Jessica and her clients decided to arrange a quaint sitting area at the foot of the bed in the main bedroom, which she says was inspired by "the idea that we might lure the owners' three kids in for chats or create a space to have coffee with the patio doors open during the most temperate times of year."

Rather than having doors directly from the bedroom, the main bathroom and closet are attached to the bedroom via a small vestibule fitted with barn doors that can slide over the cased opening for additional privacy.

Installing two individual mirrors and a slender cabinet between them rather than one large mirror gives each side of the main bathroom's double vanity a sense of privacy while maximizing the amount of storage space.

Like many of the rooms, the home's main bathroom features large picture windows just above the tub. To take advantage of the sunny California sky and treetop views, Jessica opted for top down bottom up shades. These allow the homeowners to open the shades from the top, flooding the space with light without sacrificing their privacy.

Jessica's judicious use of stone and tile surfaces continues in the home's remaining bathrooms, where complementary materials are carefully curated to create a visual that seamlessly blends without feeling too matchy-matchy or one-note.

Successfully curating several stone and tile finishes that work well side-by-side is about more than simply picking a few different options that you like. Jessica says the decision comes down to proportion and scale, which requires a realistic visual. "We do drawings and quick renderings to study the overall effect," she explains.