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When lifestyle entrepreneur Joy Cho and her husband, Bob, kicked off their Los Angeles house hunt, the start of their search was far from smooth. Faced with a competitive environment and limited inventory, the couple quickly grew discouraged. "When we started looking for a home to buy in 2014, we were not able to find much in our budget in the neighborhood we wanted," recalls Joy.

Proceeding with trepidation, they almost halted their search entirely—until a conversation with friends steered them in a previously unconsidered direction. Those friends, McShane and Cleo Murnane—principal architect and interior designer from Los Angeles firm Project M Plus—planted the seed of new construction in their minds.

After a strategic pivot, the couple purchased adjacent lots in the hills, and the Murnanes got to work designing a property that could be a forever home for the family, with a dedicated studio for Joy. "I always wanted a home office that wasn’t actually inside my house," she says. "The two lots allowed us to also build a studio for me to work that would double as a guesthouse for friends and family."

While the soaring, pitched-roof studio nods to Scandinavian influences, the main home’s architectural inspiration is rooted in Los Angeles modernism. The facade of the family home consists of crisp white stucco paired with rich, earthy redwood from Humboldt Sawmill. "We wanted to add warmth through redwood, and we were excited to work with the beautiful material," says Joy. Beyond the wood’s beauty, durability was a key factor in architect McShane Murnane’s selection of redwood from Humboldt Sawmill. "Redwood is a relatively durable wood species, with less splitting and decay," Murnane notes. "We tend to use it for its long-term lifespan and ability to weather nicely with age."

After persevering through the trials and tribulations of building on a steep hillside, the couple are happy to now call the property home—putting their family’s stamp on it in the process. "We had the kids draw on the wooden beams by our kitchen before walls were put in," says Joy. "It’s fun to know that there’s a part of our family in the heart of the home always and forever."

See the full home tour at dwell.com/humboldt.

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