Tour a Bohemian California Ranch That Uses an Eclectic Mix of Vintage and Modern Fixtures

This Ranch Had Barely Changed Since 1945

This four-bedroom ranch in Pasadena, California, looked quite different when Los Angeles interior designer Kirsten Blazek first purchased it. It was built in 1945 and stayed in the same family until she bought it in 2019, barely changing over the decades. Kirsten designed the house for her own family and lived there until selling it recently. She didn’t change many structural elements of the house, but essentially gutted it, including sanding down the front of the home to reveal its redwood siding. "It was a very, very traditional California ranch house," she says. No one else saw through its outdated style to the potential it had, she added, in spite of its amazing location — half a block from an arroyo (dry creek) overlooking the Rose Bowl. It was an incredible transformation that happened pretty fast — about four-and-a-half months in total. We asked Kirsten to walk us through her electric design that pairs bold prints with solids, and mixes vintage furniture with ultra-modern lighting.

Designer Kirsten Blazek Fell in Love With the Southwest

Kirsten, who is originally from Scotland, fell in love with Southwestern styles and artwork after moving to the U.S. You'll see quite a few of those influences and accents in her work — like the black-and white kitchen tiles from Clé that were the starting point for her home's design.

Sanding the Paint From the Front of the House Revealed a Beautiful Redwood Exterior

When Kirsten originally bought this house, it was painted a cream color. She had it all meticulously sanded off, and it was worth it. “Underneath was this beautiful, original redwood in perfect condition,” she says, which is exactly what you see here around the front door.

Kirsten Recommends Hunting for Original, Natural Beauty in Your Home

Kirsten says she’s always shocked at what she uncovers by accident in people’s older homes. “It’s just crazy what was cool,” she says of outdated trends that mask homes’ natural features, like carpets covering beautiful hardwood floors. “I love working in older homes,” she says, adding that she’s driven by their unique character. “I try to keep as many of the original features that are good as I can.” Here, you can see through the house to the original windows overlooking the backyard — another feature from the original design Kirsten kept.

A Love-Hate Relationship With Open-Plan Designs

Kirsten says she has a love-hate relationship with open concepts. Having grown up in Scotland, where winters are wet and cold, she's used to houses where every room has a door to keep in the heat. But even still, she loves this space, where the kitchen, dining and family areas flow into one another. "I think really open plan rooms are hard to decorate," she says. Her solution here? Designating specific spaces — like the separate seating area for the fireplace, out of view here but just in front of the armchair to the bottom left — helped create lots of cozy spaces in this room.

Raising the Ceiling Changed the Whole Vibe of This Living Room

Kirsten raised the ceiling in the family room, which “made all the difference," she says. Now, instead of harboring an attic space, this room has lofted ceilings that make for an airier feel. The large windows to the right were part of the home's original design. Kirsten painted all the windows in a shade of black that's consistent throughout the house.

Creating a Space to Love With Rich Textiles

The family room is Kirsten's favorite part of the house. She sourced the rug here from Mehraban, a Beverly Hills rug company with both vintage and modern designs Kirsten just loves. They supplied all the rugs Kirsten used throughout the home. "They have just a huge vast collection of very beautiful rugs of all types, and we use them a lot for our clients," Kirsten says.

A Large, Comfy Sofa Is Functional, Durable and Stylish

Kirsten and her former partner had three kids combined, so she chose this sofa, from Article, so they could all get cozy without fear of destroying the furniture. This living space is a large, open-concept area, with the fireplace seating, kitchen and dining table opposite that back wall. Kirsten chose shiplap for the wall to give it more definition than drywall. The coffee table was found by her vintage picker in Orange County. "I just love the shape of that table," she says. Throughout the home, furniture and decor comes from a wide range of designers and companies Kirsten personally adores and uses in her client work, as well.

Knocking Down a Wall Dramatically Opened Up This Space

Previously, there were cabinet walls on either side of this fireplace. To make a more open and inviting space, Kirsten blew out part of the wall and opted to make a seating area specifically for the fireplace. "Once we opened all that up, we were able to fit a pretty decent-sized dining table," she says. The fireside chairs are from Crate & Barrel and the painting is from California artist Gabriel Rivera. Up close, it's much more abstract — there are tons of words making up this work.

A Separate Fireside Seating Area Cozies Up the Massive Family Room

This area is opposite the large sofa in the family room. To make the most of the space, Kirsten opted to create a specific seating area just for the fireplace. She added a new oak mantle onto the fireplace but structurally didn't change it. The wooden accents to the right cover a sort of indoor barbecue — something Kirsten says she's never seen in a home before.

A Vintage Dining Set Plays Up This Home's Original Features

The dining table and chairs are sourced from Pacific Green, a company Kirsten really loves. She found out after buying them that the chairs, which are modeled after railroad ties, are from the '70s, back when Pacific Green was called Post & Rail.

The Kitchen Tile That Started It All

The Southwestern-printed tile in the kitchen, from Clé's New West collection, was the first thing Kirsten bought for the home. "Even though this is a really busy tile, I like the fact that it's black and white," she says. "You can use it to provide a neutrality even if the thing itself is busy. You're seeing the kitchen from basically everywhere in that room, and I just wanted something that was a little more interesting to look at and wasn't plain."

The Eye-Catching Tile Is Visible Throughout the Family Room

The light pendant over the Pacific Green dining table is from California Workshop, which Kirsten says does "really beautiful, organic-based layering." Past the dining table, you can see the Clé kitchen tile that started it all, which is visible from around the family room.

Open Shelving Lets You Decorate Without Getting Cluttered

Kirsten went with open shelving in the kitchen partially to avoid having uninterrupted walls of cabinets — a trend that's growing, she says. "I think the look of having heavy uppers all around the kitchen is not what people want anymore," she says. "I think it also gives an opportunity to decorate in a kitchen, which is kind of hard to do sometimes... otherwise you can only decorate the countertops, and that just gets messy." These kitchen cabinets are from Semihandmade, which makes custom fronts for Ikea cabinetry, and are outfitted with brass hardware from the company's Sarah Sherman Samuel line.

Bold Wallpaper Prints Can Liven Up Tiny Spaces Like This Hall Bathroom

This hallway bathroom originally had no shower, so Kirsten added one. This bold, dynamic print is from House of Hackney, a British wallpaper company. “I like to add wallpaper in small bathrooms that’s pretty graphic,” she says. “Because it’s a small space, you can kind of get away with doing something a little more bold.”

The Matching Black Salt Windows and Wallpaper Was a Happy Accident

This bedroom was Kirsten’s daughter’s room when they lived in the house, and it's covered in wallpaper from British company Milton & King. Kirsten says its earthy tones just happened to work perfectly with almost all the colors throughout the rest of the house. Kirsten says she wasn't thinking about the color she chose for the home's windows when she picked this wallpaper, but they play together perfectly.

Bold Cactus Print Wallpaper Makes a Dynamic Child's Bedroom

Kirsten’s daughter was 10 when Kirsten first designed this room for her, but its bold style works for any age. The bed is from Pacific Green, an Australian furniture company Kirsten loves. It’s slatted and shaped almost like a sleigh, with a bench that attaches at the end.

Dramatic Patterns Don't Have to Match to Pair Well Together

Even though you won’t find this bold cactus print elsewhere in the home, it works and doesn’t feel jarring as you move through the house — Kirsten takes care to make sure the color ways in her designs pair well with one another even if their elements are entirely different. “I don’t need everything to match,” she says, “but I like everyone to understand when they go from room to room that there’s some consistency in color.”

Peachy Walls Emanate Coziness From This Room's Gorgeous Natural Light

The principal bedroom is a peachy oasis that plays up the warm sunlight that pours into the room. The bedside lamps are from Anthropologie, and the overhead pendant comes from CB2. To the left of the window — painted the same color as all the others in the home, for consistency— hangs a fiber and ceramic work of art from Cindy Zell.

Kirsten Avoided Visual Interruptions by Painting the Walls and Ceiling the Same Color

Kirsten painted the principal bedroom in Faded Terracotta, a shade from Farrow & Ball’s new California Collection with designer Kelly Wearstler. She decided to use it for both the walls and ceiling so there wouldn’t be any transitions in color between them, just a solid, warm, peachy vibe. “It just made it feel very warm and cozy, and I like the light,” she says.

The Massive Principal Bedroom Closet Used To Be Hallway Storage

Kirsten blew into two hallway closets to expand the small closet in the principal bedroom and create a large, 17-foot-long storage space. Like the open shelving in the kitchen, these shelves were custom-made with white oak. She bought the painting from a close friend, designer Tamara Kaye-Honey. 

The New Massive Principal Bathroom Used To Be Three Separate Areas

The principal bathroom was originally a powder room, shower room and toilet room in three separate places, so Kirsten opened up the whole space and made it into one big room. She relocated the window to make the space feel larger, then built this massive shower. The vintage macrame planters above the bath are full of jasmine, “which not only looked beautiful but smelled incredible,” Kirsten says.

The Bathroom Uses a Mix of Custom and Semi-Handmade Elements

Kirsten had a custom vanity made for this bathroom, and installed Semihandmade cabinet fronts with hardware from Schoolhouse Electric. The black faucets are from Kohler’s Purist line, and match perfectly with the sconces she sourced from Etsy.

Affordable Pieces Coexist With High-End Design

Just as she mixes lots of vintage and new pieces in her design, Kirsten says she also likes to use a range of lower-cost and more upscale pieces. The light fixture over the bed is an affordable piece from World Market.

Open Shelving Displays Eclectic Artwork in This Guest Bedroom

All the custom millwork in the house has the same finish, so these white oak shelves are just like those in the kitchen. The artwork hanging over the bed is a vintage score Kirsten bought from a friend who found it at a local thrift store and originally planned to keep it herself. When Kirsten saw it, she knew she just had to have it, so she persuaded her friend to let her buy it from her.  

This Guest Bedroom Used to Be a Dining Room

This guest bedroom used to be the home’s formal dining room. Because Kirsten opted to make the living area into an open concept that accommodates a large family dining table, she decided to turn this room into a fourth bedroom. The funky bedside lamps are from Crate & Barrel, and the bedding is from Parachute Home. Kirsten sourced the wallpaper — another black-and-white print — from Lulu and Georgia’s Sarah Sherman Samuel collection.

An Eclectic Seating Area Makes This Formal Living Room Look Lived-In and Cozy

This is the home’s formal living room. It was a bit of a challenge to design because it’s a long room with all the windows at one end and the fireplace is off-center, Kirsten says, but an eclectic seating area balances it out. The original fireplace had a '70s pink marble front, which Kirsten replaced with high-gloss black tile. 

Dark Paintings and Stormy Gray Wallpaper Make This a Moody and Cool Space

The bold wallpaper in this room is called Nuvolette, from Cole & Son’s Fornasetti Senzo Tempa line, which really makes the paintings in the room pop in a moody sort of way. “I added the wallpaper to give it more texture and make it a little more interesting,” Kirsten says. It provides a nice contrast with the fireplace surround, which she painted a shade of green so deep it’s almost black.

A Family Heirloom Painting Sparked This Room's Design

The painting above the fireplace is a family heirloom Kirsten’s former partner had inherited from his mother. Throughout the design process, they knew it would be hung here, so it was the starting block for this room’s design. “It’s such a beautiful piece to work around,” she says.

An Unfinished Basement Became a Classy Recording Studio

This used to be an unfinished basement, but Kirsten saw potential as a recording studio for her former partner, who wanted a space he could work from home more easily. He's a director and plays in a band, so the cedar-paneled walls and shelves display his guitars and cameras.

Kirsten Worked Around Structural Posts to Add Several Inviting Spaces to the Backyard

Just like she did in the family room to add a warmer, cozier feeling to a large open space, Kirsten created multiple different seating areas in her backyard and back patio. The porch has structural posts that couldn’t be moved, so Kirsten worked around them. “I created a dining room area to one side and then off the living room, I created a seating area,” she says.

These Hanging Basket Chairs Look Lovely From the Inside of the House, Too

These seats were a must-have for Kirsten, who knew early on she wanted to have hanging chairs. “If you’re inside looking out, you want to feel like it’s cohesive with the inside of the house,” she says. “I wanted to look out that window from the family room and see something pretty.”

Kirsten Mixes Vintage and Modern Lighting for a Unique Design

Kirsten likes to play around with lighting, so as she did inside the home, she used both vintage and new fixtures on the patio. The pendant above the table here is from CB2. “I like to add in more modern lighting fixtures to mix it up a bit,” she says. “Lighting is a place you can kind of take chances with a little more because it’s changeable, so I like to mix up my lighting when I’m designing.”

Outdoor Textiles Make This Dining Space Feel Super-Inviting

The back porch is a concrete slab that Kirsten turned into two separate, cozy seating and dining areas. Textiles around this dining area, like the Mehraban rug under the table, help to make the area feel like an extension of the inside of the home instead of just run-of-the-mill patio furniture. Kirsten added plants around the patio and had the yard landscaped to perfection.

You Won't Believe the Transformation of This Boho-Chic California Ranch

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