10 Stunning “Before & After” Midcentury Renovations in Los Angeles
In and around Los Angeles, there’s no shortage of great homes from the golden age of home design. But some had gone unloved, others were given tasteless updates over the years, and many were in need of some TLC. Below are a few examples of some timeless homes that have more recently been given the star treatment.
Big Color and Pattern Give a Drab L.A. Midcentury a Major Glow Up
Before: A more recent remodel of the kitchen left behind cabinet fronts covered in large-scale photographs.
When the new owners purchased this 1963 home, which was originally designed and built by architect Robert Lee, there was a lot of institutional gray permeating the interiors. So they contacted interior designer Francis Merrill of Reath Design, a firm well versed in combining colors, patterns, and textiles.
After: Now, the kitchen has walnut cabinetry with inset doors painted a creamy white. The counter is marble, and the backsplash is the Classic Field tile in chartreuse from Heath Ceramics. The floors are new linoleum.
"One of the things we did that really added a lot of warmth and depth to the house was painting all of what was already painted," says Merrill. "We picked this rich, deep green that brings out the tone in the wood a lot more. That was a pretty simple change, working with what was already there."
A Couple’s Careful Restoration of an L.A. Midcentury Earns It Landmark Status
Before: The main bedroom didn’t need much; its redwood siding was already in good shape. But the carpet had to go.
It was a lucky tip for Christopher Caparro and his wife, Susanna Musotto, that led the couple to find and purchase this 1964 Laurel Canyon home, Called the Hogan Residence, a design by acclaimed architect Doug Rucker, the home had been kept relatively intact, so the Christopher and Susanna opted for a cosmetic refresh.
After: The bedroom now doubles as a home office. A Lyle Owerko photograph of the same boom box Christopher owned as a breakdancing New Jersey teen hangs above the desk.
"We were basically giving the whole thing a facelift: the kitchen, the bathrooms, the flooring," says Christopher, who along with Susanna, acted as their own general contractor throughout the remodel. The home has since earned recognition as a historical city landmark.
Mandy Moore Rescues a Classic Pasadena Midcentury From a Jarring ’90s Remodel
Before: A statement fireplace with a copper hood separates the living room from the dining room.
When actress Mandy Moore and her husband, Taylor Goldsmith, a musician in the band Dawes, bought this Harold B. Zook–designed house in early 2017, they embarked on a 21st-century remodel that preserved the home’s midcentury origins. To do so, the couple brought in a dream team consisting of interior architect Emily Farnham, interior designer Sarah Sherman Samuel, contractor Bronstruction, and Terremoto Landscape.
After: The design team restored the brickwork and the copper fireplace hood to their former glory.
Gone went the accoutrements leftover from a ’90s intervention. Beige carpeting was swapped out for terrazzo floors, and key features, like original brickwork and a glorious copper fireplace hood, were given new life. Says Farnham: "The design challenge was consistently, ‘How can we do this with fewer moves, fewer materials?’"
A Creative Couple Update Their Midcentury L.A. Home With Custom Furniture
Before: A small dining nook in the old kitchen looks drab and outdated.
This 1951 midcentury home in Eagle Rock wasn’t much to look at before Matt and Jen Monroe got their hands on it. Over many years, the duo made adjustments that amounted to a top-to-bottom overhaul. They added square footage, better connected the house with the backyard, and gave each room a zhuzhing one by one.
After: The once-tired breakfast nook now shines thanks to a custom design by Monroe Workshop.
"No room was untouched by the time we were finished," says Matt, who is a woodworker, designer, and the founder of L.A.–based furniture studio Monroe Workshop. From the dining room table, to the kitchen cabinets, to the chairs surrounding the firepit, Matt outfitted the home with his own creations, creating a personalized, hand-crafted scheme that the couple can now relish. "We took our time with the renovation, and lived through it for many years," says Jen. "That was a challenge for sure. But it worked out well in the end."
After: The custom kitchen by Monroe Workshop features a blend of beautiful finishes.
Before: The interiors were dark and dingy.
Amber Lestrange Mosier and Cary Mosier bought a "mishmash" of a 1958 midcentury—it had been remodeled and added onto several times over the years—but the couple were happy to give the house their own look. Working with Klein Agency, they rejiggered the floor plan to create sight lines to the backyard and foster better indoor/outdoor flow. Then, they created an artsy interior scheme with a pared-back palette and sculptural accents, like the show-stopping hearth.
After: In the dining room, the owners started with a sculptural Palais Royal Table, a Swedish design they obtained via StudioTwentySeven. Above it is a Strikha Pendant by Faina, and the leather chairs are by their design team, Klein Agency. "All our pieces are produced locally here in workshops within a radius of 10 miles," says Maša.
"We really wanted to make this house, as soon as you walk in, like it’s therapy for the eye. It’s serene and tranquil and Zen-like," says Amber. "So, we started to understand that the more neutral the palette, the more you can have fun accenting it with interesting pieces, and then that becomes part of the language of the house."
Two Brothers List Their Swanky Midcentury Bachelor Pad for $1.6M
Before: The previous living area mixed various materials along the floors and walls.
Upon purchasing this 1950s home in Woodland Hills, California, which is 25 miles west of downtown Los Angeles, the plan was to do some quick cosmetic upgrades. But along the way, owners Jordan Kuipers and his brother found a host of new problems to address, including burst pipes, a crumbling foundation, and a broken HVAC system. This led to a whole-house remodel that lasted more than two years. The brothers fixed the structural pain points, updated finishes and adjusted the floor plan before selling the home for $1,600,000.
After: At the rear of the home, a new 22-foot Fleetwood sliding glass door opens to connect to the covered patio and backyard pool.
Before: "It felt like an 80's dance hall with a coffered ceiling," says Wei of the former living room.
"I have a natural inclination toward tired old things that need a new lease on life," says designer Tony Wei, who revived this 1951 ranch in Monterey Hills. The ranch had a mix of finishes reflecting the eras of different owners—from an 80s mirrored bar in the living room to sunshine yellow kitchen cabinets—so Wei set out to make the interior more cohesive. "We just ended up trying to insert a level of design continuity throughout, whether repeating a specific tile in the various bathrooms or repeating a specific color," he says.
After: Wei covered the bar in plywood cut in diagonal strips, alternating four different stains to create color variation. The coffered ceiling is a covered in a beige-gold wallpaper from the Albany Misuto Wallpaper Collection.
Before: In the living room, the Raskinds got to work removing the flooring, the popcorn ceiling, and the faux wood surrounding the staircase. "We added a tongue-and-groove wood ceiling throughout the home and fabricated additional wooden beams to break it up. We maintained the original beams where we could," she says.
Rebecca and Jared Raskind keep busy—she works in PR and he’s a photographer—and they renovate and flip houses in their spare time. When they got their hands on this 1960s midcentury in the celebrity enclave of Outpost Estates, the home was rife with popcorn ceilings, beige carpeting, and faux-wood. They overhauled the structure, doing away with the offending finishes to let the great old bones breathe.
After: Throughout the home, the floors were replaced with light hardwood to make the space feel more modern and open. Baer brought in a MBH Sectional in White Linen and a Hotel Collection metal-and-stone coffee table alongside the Sams International Atlas Woolen Rug. In this space, the Raskinds added a touch of Hollywood glamour with the red velvet midcentury chairs. They finished off the look by painting the original fireplace with Cover of Night by Dunn Edwards, adding hexagonal tiles at the base.
Before: The living room was large, but went largely unused. The family asked Cheng to "design this room so that we actually use it," recalls the designer.
Although the bones of this 1965 Griffith Park home were inherently cool—it has a semi-circular shape and 180-degree views—the interior floor plan felt disjointed, and there was a serious lack of storage for the owners, who are a family of four. Working with just 1,600 square feet, designer Mandy Cheng tore down walls to connect the living spaces, added a bedroom, and fit custom cabinetry to the angled walls in every room.
After: Cheng kept the dining room chandelier and the original fireplace, and gutted most everything else, but carefully maintained the home’s quiet character. "It’s an unassuming structure with jaw-dropping, 180-degree views once you walk in the door," says the designer.
After: New furnishings in the living room make it feel cozy. Brass Shaded Sconces from Onefortythree flank a painting by Nina Lance from Saatchi Art. The Rove Concepts Noah Sectional sits atop a Kailee Handwoven Wool Rug from Pottery Barn.
Before: The couple removed an existing kitchenette so they could put a new, larger kitchen against the concrete wall.
When Jess and Jonathan Taylor, the design duo behind the firm Taylor + Taylor, bought an untouched 1952 house in east L.A. and started remodeling, they became enamored with a board-formed concrete wall in the basement. The couple had plans to install a petite guest kitchen there, and decided the concrete would make the perfect backsplash. "It was really the starting point of the whole design," says Jess. Statement tile from Fireclay, and custom cabinetry crafted from marine-grade plywood complete the space.
After: "We started to piece together this idea of a floor that’s all just geometry and chaos, but that still honors the monochromatic elements of the space and highlights the bluish-gray-green tones of the original cement walls," says Jonathan.
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