How to Remodel a Historic Home Without Losing its Natural Charm

Historic Los Angeles Home With Restored Facade

This historic craftsman house built in 1910 in Harvard Heights, Los Angeles, was originally set up like a duplex and then converted into a single-family home. When contractors Erick Zumwalt and Phil Ruhl bought this house — and the one next door — to redesign and flip it, they completely reimagined the home’s footprint without changing the façade, which is protected for historic reasons. “Anything we wanted to do to the house, first we had to pass it through the Los Angeles design review board,” Erick says. So, they did their best to revitalize and “keep the craftsman spirit alive,” Phil adds.

Craftsman Home Front Patio With Restored Windows

Phil and Erick have been working together over the last year and a half as a "one-stop shop" to develop and redesign properties. For this one, they tried to save as many of the home’s historic touches as they could, renewing old elements instead of replacing them where possible. “It comes down to what’s salvageable and what’s worth saving,” Erick says. These windows, for example, are over 100 years old, and were in rough shape when they bought the house, but with a fresh coat of paint on the panes and a good cleaning, the front of the home looks much more attractive.

This Historic Wooden Front Door Was Good as New After Sanding and Staining

This front door is a historic part of the home, and so is its hardware. To maintain the protected historic exterior of the home, Phil and Erick took it off its hinges, sanded it down, stained it and left the original copper hardware as it was.

Turning a Non-Functioning Fireplace Into an Architectural Feature

The chimney of the home’s original fireplace was damaged, but instead of removing it entirely, they saw an interesting design opportunity. Erick’s sister and brother-in-law came up with this design and turned it into “the centerpiece of the home,” Erick says. “In California, it doesn’t really get too cool. So, instead of spending a lot of money on something people wouldn't use, we decided to make it a really cool design feature of the home.”

Tearing Down Walls Makes This Kitchen Bigger + More Modern

The original kitchen in this house was quite small, about half the size of this new one, so Erick and Phil tore down walls to maximize space. People really love having big, open kitchens these days, Erick says, so that’s typically how they approach kitchen remodels. In the houses he and Phil redesign, they often tear down walls to maximize open space, “redoing it basically from the ground up.”

A Large Kitchen Island Makes for Easy Entertaining

Phil and Erick wanted to make sure the kitchen was a social space as well as a functional one for cooking, so they designed the floor plan to allow for a massive kitchen island with plenty of room to entertain. “A lot of people like to entertain from their kitchen now and have a place for their guests to sit while they cook,” Erick says. “Or, while they're hosting a meal or ordering food in, they kind of like to hang out on that big island.”

A Minimalist Light Fixture Doesn't Distract From This Bold Kitchen Island

This minimalistic light fixture from All Modern keeps the focus on the kitchen island. The island is crafted from riftsawn white oak and a silver travertine countertop, to match the cabinets throughout the kitchen.

Staging a Home Can Mean a Faster Sale

Phil and Erick had the home professionally staged for the real estate market by Odin + Friday, a Los Angeles staging company run by Eden Rountree. Staging a house can make it sell faster —and for a higher price — than putting an empty house on the market, because it allows people to imagine what their lives would be like there, Eden says.

Figure out the Story Your Historic Home Wants to Tell

When Eden takes on a home staging project for an older home, she looks for the story the house wants to tell. “These houses that are older, you walk inside and you’re like, OK, this house has something a little different to say,” she says. In this home, she went with a mix of modern pieces — like these new dining chairs, from West Elm — and vintage picks, like this credenza.

A Mix of New and Vintage Pieces Can Balance Out a Modern Home

The pieces Eden uses in the homes she stages are a mix of new, secondhand and lucky vintage finds, like this vintage credenza. “I love that piece,” she says. Much of the artwork she used in this house were vintage finds, too. She sourced the dining room chairs from West Elm.

Staging Can Help a Buyer Imagine Themselves in a Home

"The whole process of buying a home is pretty emotional,” Eden says. The goal is to make a potential buyer fall in love with the place as soon as they walk through the door. “This is your home,” she says, “look how pretty it can be.”

This Neutral Couch Fits in Nearly any Home

Eden sourced this white couch, and a similar one adjacent to it, from Article. She says these pieces “go everywhere,” working in many different styles of homes. “The shape and style of them is modern but not crazy, crazy edgy,” she says. “I think they’re a great investment — I have one in my house, and it holds up amazingly.”

Edgy, Modern Pieces Can Play Up the Historic Charm of an Older House

“This house is open and modern but also a little bit eclectic,” Eden says. Staging a house requires a lot of thinking on the fly, she says, particularly since the beginning of the pandemic when lead times for ordering new pieces have been unreliable. For this house, Eden went with “a mix of modern with some older character touches mixed in.” She says she particularly loved how this breakfast nook turned out.

Open Shelving in a Kitchen is Functional Yet Attractive

Open shelving is a great way to add aesthetic value to your kitchen without minimizing its functionality. Erick says they wanted to have open shelving right by the oven so people could have easy access to spices and other cooking essentials. Elsewhere in the kitchen, appliances are flush with cabinetry.

Refurbishing Historic Wainscoting Is a Painstaking but Worthwhile Process

Phil and Erick wanted to keep the look of the historic wainscoting in the house — the paneling on the back wall here. It was a process, Phil says. “We basically had to pick it out and put brand new pieces back in.” But it turned out to be a worthwhile one. “We wanted to keep the integrity of the craftsman home in there.”

Restoring This Historic Home's Original Windows Adds Character

Here, you can see a better view of the historic windows Phil and Erick restored during the redesign process. These original craftsman windows lend architectural integrity to the home and maintain its original historic character, yet blend seamlessly with modern decor and minimalist light fixtures. While Phil and Erick weren’t able to salvage the original floors in this home, they went with a thick, light blonde hardwood to give the home a warm, Scandinavian feel.

Cohesive Cabinets Tie Together the Home's Aesthetic

Rich paneling on the riftsawn white oak cabinetry and island adds an architectural touch to the kitchen and provides contrast with the light oak floors. Travertine countertops in both the kitchen and this hall space tie the rooms together.

Custom Marble Sink Makes the Powder Room Stand Out

Throughout the home, Erick and Phil installed custom-made sinks carved out of a single piece of stone. In the powder room, this floating blue marble sink is truly unique. Ultimately, it wasn’t dramatically more expensive than installing a prefabricated piece, Erick says. “It’s something that we've struggled with on some other projects,” he says. “By the time you end up buying a different sink and you install it, it's almost the same price as just carving them out of stone.” And of course, the impact of a custom sink can be much more dramatic than fitting one that’s mass-produced.

A Well-Placed Mirror Can Create a Unique Space in a Home

Eden sourced this green couch from Article in 2018. “It’s such a fun color,” she says, “that sofa has gone in so many different houses and works in so many different styles of places.” Here, it’s positioned on a spacious landing that offers a cozy nook far from more public gathering spaces in the home. To the left, you can see a giant mirror installed above the stairs that reflects the windows and captures nice afternoon light. “It creates a cool moment there,” Phil says. “We envision that's the spot where either the wife or the couple, before going out, takes their going out photo.”

Spacious Second-Floor Landing Is a Great Seating Area or Office

Eden says it usually takes about three days to stage a house, starting with getting furniture in on the first day and nailing down the layout and large items like rugs and accent pieces including coffee tables. Then, on the second and third, she works on “dialing in the layers that I think seal the deal — the artwork, the decor, the plants.” Tiny touches like the set of dominoes laid out on the coffee table here make the home appear lived-in, cozy and ready for a new family.

Vaulting the Ceiling in the Principal Suite Gives the Room an Open, Spacious Feel

Natural light floods in through the windows and skylights in the principal bedroom, which Erick and Phil remastered to be more spacious and bright. Originally, the room had a drop ceiling, but they took it out, raised it and created a bonus loft space that would be perfect for a cozy hang-out space.

A Library-Style Ladder Extends to an Open, Bonus Loft Space Above the Principal Bathroom

When they built the new bathroom in the principal suite, Erick and Phil added a bonus loft space above it, with plenty of skylights for natural light to stream in. The space is ideal for a small office, a morning yoga routine or a cozy spot to read with a cup of coffee.

Custom-Carved Sinks in the Principal Bathroom Make the Space Unique

Like the powder room sink downstairs, Phil and Erick had the double-vanity bathroom in the principal suite custom-made out of marble. “It obviously feels way richer to have them completely made out of all one material,” he says. “It was one of those aspects of the home where we decided we were really going to increase the design and the feel of the home and not put in some cheap sinks, but actually just carve them out of the original stone.”

Shared Design Elements Like this Stucco Shower Give the Main and Guest Building a Cohesive Design

Erick and Phil outfitted this shared bathroom with a custom-carved marble sink. The stucco finish for the shower matches the shower in the standalone guest unit behind the house, tying the two spaces together.

Final Touches are Like the 'Pixie Dust' of the Process

Adding decor like throw pillows and putting artwork up on the walls can add an extra dimension to home staging beyond just big pieces of furniture that help a potential buyer conceptualize a space. The final touches Eden puts on a home are like “adding the pixie dust,” she says.

A Reimagined Floor Plan Maximizes Open Space

When Erick and Phil bought the house, it was set up like a duplex, even though it was occupied by a single family. It was a much less open space, with three bedrooms downstairs and four upstairs, plus a second kitchen. When they redid the floor plan and took down walls, they converted the home to a three-bedroom, 3.5-bathroom layout, with all the bedrooms upstairs. This is one of the secondary bedrooms. The light fixture comes from All Modern — like many of the others in the home.

Building Two Closets in Secondary Bedroom Creates a Bright, Cozy Nook

In this upstairs bedroom, Phil and Erick put in two symmetrical closets on either side of a large window, which creates a lounge space with some distance from the bed. During the staging process, Eden set it up like a little artist's studio.

A Window Seat Adds Built-In Seating to This Secondary Bedroom

Even though this is one of the secondary bedrooms, it doesn’t skimp on dedicated spaces for sleeping, relaxing and hanging out. A built-in window seat makes the most of the room’s natural light. A woven rug adds texture to the blonde hardwood floors. “Ultimately, by the time I’m done staging a place and I’m walking by each room, making sure everything is perfect, I want to make sure it’s making me excited and making me fall in love with every room,” Eden says.

Building an Expansive Deck Creates an Indoor/Outdoor Feel

Because the home is raised a few feet off the ground, the original design had steps leading down from the back of the house into the yard. To create some indoor/outdoor space, Erick and Phil built a deck along the back of the house level with the interior of the home so that when the doors are open, the homeowners can bring the outside in.

A Separate Guest House is an Ideal Place for Hosting Visitors

Behind the main home, a secondary guest unit is a fully-sufficient place for the new homeowners to host visitors. Erick and Phil kept the concrete floors and added in floating shelves and natural wood countertops. “We really tried to keep it similar but also make it different, aesthetically, from the home.”

A Scandi-Style Facelift Brings This Craftsman Into the Modern Era

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