Tour a Luxe Los Angeles Flip Done on a Budget

When designer Rob Diaz bought this Sherman Oaks, Los Angeles, home last September, he planned to build in the backyard to rent out space as an investment property. But the COVID-19 virus has gotten in the way of a lot of home planning in the past two years, and he ultimately decided to renovate the main house and put it on the market. We asked Rob for his advice on renovating and redesigning now, amid restrictions and a booming market, on a relatively limited budget compared to the multi-million dollar luxury renovations he usually works on.

If you’re interested in flipping a house yourself, you should be well aware of the cost of the project before you get into it. Rob says it used to be much more affordable to buy a home and do substantial renovations including completely changing the floor plan, but it’s harder to do that today. “You reap the rewards when you sell them, but you also need to pay a lot on the front end,” he says, adding that “your best return on investment is to buy the smallest, worst house in the best neighborhood and demo it and build a tasteful, larger home.”

Rob's team completely redid the kitchen, including new cabinets and countertops. Going with plain black hardware, from CB2, and black plumbing fixtures, from Signature Hardware, helped keep prices down. You can find black plumbing like this almost anywhere, at any budget, he says.

Rob ended up putting this house on the market instead of keeping it as an investment property because he was unable to get necessary permits due to COVID-19 virus-related city closures. If you’re trying to build or embark on renovation plans that require permits, Rob suggests doing some homework ahead of time to see what is and isn’t possible right now because of closures and staff shortages due to the coronavirus. “We literally could not get the permit for the back house because there’s a clearance that we need from the sanitation department, and they basically aren’t working,” he says. “I really think it depends on where you are in the country,” he adds. “If you go down to Texas, they’re handing out permits like nightclub fliers.”

Because Rob was initially planning to keep the property and rent it out, he kept the design as neutral as possible and didn't splurge on hardware or lighting fixtures the way he normally does with luxury properties. This light fixture is from Schoolhouse Electric. “I’m really happy with the way it turned out,” he says. And ultimately, “it was nice to put something relatively tasteful on the market at a price point that most people could afford.”

Rob usually works on expensive designs with price tags starting at $3.7 million. But for this renovation, he kept it much more attainable, using leftover materials from other projects and more affordable fixtures and hardware. This fireplace surround, for example, makes good use of high-end Clé Tile that Rob had left over from a previous design.

The house originally had two bedrooms and one full bath. Rob's team gutted the place and changed the floor plan to open up one of the bedrooms, and to squeeze in an extra bedroom and full bathroom using space from the home's den.

When Rob first bought this house, it didn't have a proper principal bedroom, he says. As part of the renovation, he reworked the floor plan to open up one of the bedrooms to make it into a nicer suite. Doing so required gutting the house and removing all the drywall.

Lighting fixtures are an easy place to splurge when you're doing a renovation, as big fixtures can have architectural elements and easily become the focal point of a room. Rob kept the lighting fixtures in the bedrooms simple, but suggests figuring out what's most important to you and structuring your budget to splurge on those elements. "If lighting's important to you, splurge on your lighting... and keep everything else neutral," he says. "If everything is neutral and your kitchen tap is front and center, you may want to give Waterworks a call," he adds. "You've got to figure out who's the lead man and who's the bass player."

Rob kept this bathroom neutral with a light-colored shower crafted from upscale Clé Tile materials left over from another project, and black plumbing fixtures from Signature Hardware. But neutral doesn't have to mean boring — the bold green vanity cabinet nods to the bold green fireplace surround in the living room.

The principal bathroom closely matches the aesthetic of the kitchen, with white cabinets, flat black hardware from CB2 and plumbing from Signature Hardware. To make this bathroom, Rob built into the den and opened up the principal bedroom.

Rob wanted to keep the home as neutral as possible, so the color palette throughout the home leans heavily on white and black. The shower is fitted with black terra-cotta tile and black plumbing from Signature Hardware.

During the renovation, Rob replaced some of the windows in the home. This can help significantly with curb appeal, he says. In a pinch, you can try power-washing windows and screens to spruce them up on a tighter budget. Like the rest of the home, this neutral bedroom has hardwood oak floors and a simple light fixture that matches the black hardware and plumbing in the kitchen and baths.

To keep the cost down on this renovation, Rob's team used a Benjamin Moore paint match for a Farrow & Ball color called Wevet. They kept the vaulted ceiling in the living area and built into the space to expand the principal bedroom and add a third bedroom to the house.

Having a neat place to tuck away laundry appliances and store necessities is essential in any modern home — especially in our cleanliness-obsessed current age — so Rob created this washer/dryer directly opposite a linen closet with plenty of space to store cleaning essentials.

To improve the home's curb appeal, Rob redid the roof and stucco exterior, painted it, and replaced some windows and the front door. But about 25 percent of the money Rob’s team spent on redesigning this house went into landscaping, which he says is an essential part of the overall job. Rob planted hedges and olive trees and installed tasteful light fixtures in the backyard. The driveway is protected by an automatic gate.

If you’re currently trying to sell your home, there are some relatively small things you can do to massively improve curb appeal without splurging on a major renovation. Rob says you should invest in making sure you have a nice garage door, for example, if it faces the street, and upgrade your front door. "Front doors are important," he says. Can't replace them? A fresh coat of paint can still go a long way, and so too can a good, thorough cleaning.

“You definitely need to do as much landscaping as possible, in a tasteful way,” says Rob, especially if you’re working in a climate where people spend a lot of time outdoors, like southern California. Good landscaping might not be what seals the deal with a potential buyer, but if a house looks bad when you walk up to it, that's a fast turnoff and can easily be a deal-breaker, he says.

Planting hedges creates a sense of privacy in the backyard, which is essential in neighborhoods like Sherman Oaks, Rob says, where houses are close together and there’s little natural separation between homes. It was expensive: about $15,000. But worth it. “Privacy is a must when you’re trying to sell houses out here,” Rob says. “We always hedge our properties. You don’t want to see the neighbors.”