Tour a Scandinavian-Inspired Los Angeles Bungalow Renovation

When designer duo Dino and Cynthia Corella bought this 1948 ranch in Los Angeles, it was in bad shape. It had been abandoned and vacant for well over a year — if not two — with part of the roof missing in the back of the house, and vines growing inside. Now, it’s been painstakingly remodeled into a Scandinavian-style bungalow. “It was a fun project,” Dino says. “It was a lot of work, but it came out really beautiful.”

Cynthia and Dino gutted the house, removed its siding and gave it a smooth, stucco finish. The end product is this clean-cut home that looks almost nothing like the original, with a separate guest suite in the backyard.

Dino had this door custom-built on site from rift white oak and added 4-foot-long door handles on both the inside and outside of the door. He used just a light stain so the wood’s natural color is dominant. The door’s vertical lines mesh with the clean, linear design of the interior of the house.

When you walk in through the front door, you see the family room, living room and kitchen in a large, open area delineated by a fireplace. “I did want some separation instead of having one big cavernous room,” Dino says. “It’s inviting, with the fireplace.” To the left, you can see a peek of the hallway leading to the bedrooms, where Dino created a sense of privacy by separating them from the open living space.