Tour a Scandinavian-Inspired Los Angeles Bungalow Renovation

Cynthia and Dino Corella renovated an abandoned Los Angeles house and turned it into a sleek European-style home with a cozy, private courtyard and separate guest studio.

July 14, 2021

By: Kassondra Cloos

Related To:

This Abandoned Los Angeles Ranch Was Gutted and Renovated

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.”

The Home was Renovated Into a Scandinavian-Style Bungalow

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.

Clean Lines on the Front Door Offer a Glimpse of the Scandinavian Style Within

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.

A White, Airy Living Room Benefits From Minimalist Design

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.

Hide Appliances and Hardware for a Sleek Kitchen Design

To keep continuity throughout the house, Dino had all the cabinetry built on site. His background is in furniture design and manufacturing — expertise that shines through the craftsmanship in the kitchen and built-ins elsewhere in the home. Here, he opted to use minimal hardware on the cabinet exteriors, using push-latch closes instead. “I wanted to emphasize the wood,” he says.  The light fixture above the island is from Circa Lighting.

If You Have to Show Your Appliances, Make Them Beautiful

The kitchen cabinets hide panel-ready appliances, giving the space a more European feel. The fridge, to the left, is a panel-ready model from Fischer & Paykel. “You don’t want to see many appliances,” Dino says. “The last two projects, I’ve concealed them as much as I could.” The Corellas chose a retro-style range from Italian appliance company Smeg, to keep with that European design.

Make Use of a Good Nook With Built-In Seating

The kitchen countertops and backsplash are made of limestone, which Dino chose in part because it can take the heat of cooking a lot better than composite counter tops, which aren’t designed to handle hot pots and pans. It needs to be sealed once a year and will gain texture and character over time. Behind the kitchen island, you can see a built-in seating area — with space for 10 — that makes perfect use of a sunny nook.

Maximize Natural Light With Large Windows and Glass Doors

The family room looks out into a sunny courtyard shared with the home’s guest apartment, and natural light floods in through the glass doors. Dino wanted to bring as much of that light into the space as possible. The space is decked out with a smart system with Polk speakers and a subwoofer that stand ready to entertain.

Custom Built-Ins Maintain Design Consistency Throughout the Home

The built-in cabinets in this bedroom share seamless design with those in the kitchen and other wardrobes in the home’s additional bedrooms. Dino says he added a quarter inch of rubber on the walls of each bedroom to dampen sound.

Glass Doors in Bedrooms Face Green Spaces to Maximize Natural Light

Throughout the home, Dino added windows and glass doors wherever possible. “The house is very bright and it just feels good,” he says. “Dark spaces aren’t positive — natural lighting just changes your mood.” The glass door in this bedroom looks out into the courtyard shared with the guest studio.

Focus on the Details With Built-Ins Like Wardrobes

Dino and Cynthia both have experience in furniture design and manufacturing, which shows in the craftsmanship and design of the home's built-in features, like these white oak wardrobes. While they work together on choosing materials, like woods and tiles, they also play to their strengths on the homes they renovate together. Dino says he usually focuses on construction —with Cynthia providing feedback of the practical uses of a space, like suggesting he make a closet bigger, or add a laundry room. Cynthia usually focuses on lighting and staging.

Whenever Possible, Add Windows in Bathrooms to Harness Natural Light

Even in the bathrooms, Dino has harnessed as much natural light as possible. Each one — except for the bathroom in the guest studio, which is separate from the main house — has its own window. The built-in shelves in this bathroom also match seamlessly with the cabinets and shelving elsewhere in the house.

If You Work From Home, Place Your Office in the Sunniest Corner

Though it’s currently set up like an office, this spare bedroom has its own ensuite bathroom. The sliding door matches the kitchen cabinets and wardrobes. The east-facing window offers great light for someone who would want to make a home office out of this room, Dino says — there’s bright light early in the morning and a nice natural glow through the end of the work day. 

Let Your Home's Design Speak for Itself Without Cluttering It With Decor and Furniture

Throughout the home, the design of each space speaks for itself, requiring minimal furnishings and decor to look homey. This is intentional, Dino says, as he and Cynthia went through a stage of life a few years ago where they realized they had way too much stuff and spent some time purging to become more minimalist. “Everything that we do from this point on, with these projects, we want the home to be the visual [focus],” he says, “with the cabinetry and the architecture and the windows and the natural light and lighting [fixtures].”

Airy, Vaulted Ceilings in the Principal Bedroom Make a Clean, Natural-Feeling Space

“We like a more clean, natural environment,” Dino says, which is an attitude they brought to this crisp principal bedroom. Vaulted ceilings allow natural light to flood the airy, open design. The principal bedroom has its own fireplace, offering a cozy seating area to snuggle up to. The chandelier is from McGee & Company.

Sliding Doors for Bathrooms and Closets Add a More Modern Design Element to the Principal Bedroom

The principal bedroom has quite a few windows in addition to a large glass door that looks out onto the courtyard shared with the guest studio. “I didn’t want to do barn doors, I wanted to do nice sliding doors since it’s a bit of a more modern design,” Dino says. The walk-in closet, which you can just see into between the bathroom and bedroom doors, is designed so that there’s one side each for two people sharing the closet. That leaves plenty of space for both to organize their own things separately from one another.

Opt for Mirrors and Furnishings That Hide Storage Areas

The principal bathroom has a gray travertine countertop and marble flooring. The rift white oak drawers are consistent with the doors and finishes elsewhere in the home. The mirrors are both streamlined medicine cabinet models sourced from Kohler, appearing flush with the wall even though they offer ample storage. The sconces are from West Elm.

Continuity With Bathroom Floor and Wall Tiles Can Be a Nice Visual Element

Dino continued the floor-to-ceiling marble from the shower to the tub in the principal bathroom to keep from disrupting the design. “I like for it to continue and be all one solid color, instead of having that break,” Dino says. “Your eye just continues looking and doesn’t stop until it gets to the vanity.”

Create Cozy Outdoor Spaces by Creating a Courtyard

The way the house is shaped around the yard, plus the additional guest suite, which is a separate structure, makes a cozy courtyard-like feel in this outdoor space ideal for entertaining. “It’s a real natural and comfortable space,” Dino says. “It’s very inviting, very bright and very private.”

Two Separate Bedroom Wings Offers Extra Privacy for Principal Bedroom Suite

The home has four bedrooms and three bathrooms, total — two ensuite baths, including in the principal bedroom, and a separate bathroom shared by two bedrooms in their own wing of the house. That setup is ideal for a growing family that wants everyone to be able to enjoy their own privacy. The bedrooms are separated into two separate wings. The principal bedroom is to the left here, then the sliding glass doors in the middle lead to the family room, and the glass doors all the way to the right lead into one of the bedrooms in the other wing. 

Outdoor Spaces Offer a Way to Experiement With Design Elements Without Risking Continuity

Dino and Cynthia wanted to change up the design elements in the courtyard while keeping consistency and maintaining the same European vibes of the main house. “We wanted to mix up the elements instead of just having concrete steps,” he says. Concrete stepping stones create a path through the grass between the house and the yard’s gate, while the oversized wooden steps leading down from each glass exit are made from a Brazilian hardwood called ipe.

This Cozy Standalone Guest Suite Helps Create More Privacy in the Courtyard

This separate structure is a standalone guest suite, designed like a small studio apartment with basic kitchen appliances and plenty of light flooding in through the glass doors. It also serves as one side of the courtyard, offering extra privacy by protecting the courtyard from the street. Dino says these steps, made from Brazilian ipe, can be reoiled to maintain a darker color, or you can let it naturally go gray. “It’s a very strong material that will hold up for many years,” he says.

Small Things Like Adding a Fountain, and Planting Moss and Sage Make This Outdoor Space Sizzle

Dino and Cynthia planted sage in the courtyard to make it smell fresh and emanate the positive energy they hope to have curated throughout the home. Just in front of the guest studio, you can see a small limestone fountain Dino and Cynthia made from a trough sourced from India. Over time, it will grow moss and age gracefully, he says. And it’s the little things like this that can really make a house into a home — character, good vibes and attention to detail. “If you’re gonna live somewhere, make it as beautiful as possible,” he says.

Skipping Baseboards Provides Sleek, Clean Lines Throughout the Home and Guest Studio

The guest studio is one large, open space with plenty of natural light from sliding glass doors and windows in the kitchen. It has its own bathroom and, like the main house, there are no baseboards anywhere in the structure. “It captures that real nice, clean, flowing design without having that step of a baseboard,” he says. “That’s a real big design feature because it’s a little more expensive to do, but it does give you a nice execution on the design because it’s very clean — it just drops right down to the floor.”

Add Character to Small Kitchen Spaces With Retro-Style Appliances

The guest studio has a small but functional kitchen, with open shelving and cabinets that match the main house and retro-style appliances that offer a classic look. The '50s-style fridge is from a Canadian company called Classic, and the double-burner electric cooktop, from Smeg, has a pop-up downdraft next to it to keep from disrupting the design of the space with an overhead vent. “I didn’t want to detract from the simplicity of the design,” Dino says.

Stick With Whites and Neutrals If You Want to Redesign With a Minimalist Aesthetic

If you’re looking to refresh your own space on a budget, Dino says to aim simple. “Keep the color obviously in the whites and neutrals,” color family he says. “That keeps it calm.” He suggests buying furniture that serves a functional purpose — like an ottoman with hidden storage — and adding just a simple piece of art where needed. “There are so many sources now for furnishings online, that if you are somewhat creative, you can execute this at a smaller scale and at less cost,” he says.

Stay Consistent With the Design of Guest Areas, Even If They're Separate From the Main Home

The guest studio bathroom has a simple yet sleek design, mimicking the Scandinavian vibes of the main house even though it's in its own separate structure. It features a white oak vanity and glass-enclosed rain room shower. 

Create an Uncluttered Seating Area in Your Backyard

A concrete pad set into the grass makes a perfect place to set up a cozy seating area in the courtyard without cluttering the space with furniture. This patio set was sourced from Restoration Hardware.

A Fenced-In Driveway Can Offer a Buffer From Street Noise

The concrete slab and pebble gravel provides distance between the courtyard and the street, offering extra privacy for the space with a second fence enclosing the outer edge of the property.

Maximize Privacy by Creating a Buffer Between Your Home and the Street

A fence tight around the front edges of the house encloses a small lawn separate from the courtyard between the main house and guest studio. The driveway can be closed off with a sliding gate. 

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Photo By: Courtesy of Dino and Cynthia Corella

Photo By: Sam Wadieh