After more than a year of slogging through the competitive Los Angeles housing market, Jeremy Mickel and Joe Waechter had finally given in to the idea of buying a fixer-upper. As first-time homeowners, renovating gave them pause, but their realtor connected them with Annie Ritz and Daniel Rabin, the couple behind architecture firm And And And Studio, who put them at ease.

Jeremy, a typeface designer, and Joe, a playwright and screenwriter, felt an instant affinity for the restrained playfulness of the studio’s work. “We loved their style,” says Joe. “Minimalist but not cold, detailed and full of texture, and a sense of fun and color.” In dating parlance, it was a match.

In late 2018, with Ritz and Rabin helping them evaluate homes, the couple closed on a 1938 house that descends from the top of a hillside in the Silver Lake neighborhood. Joe and Jeremy were already living in the area but on an opposite hill; when they saw the listing’s address they had a hunch it would at the very least have great views—and they were right.

“They were incredible,” remembers Joe, “even if they were hidden behind small windows.” With a vote of confidence from their designers, the couple were determined to make the renovation work. And it really required a lot of work.

The home was sturdy, but its interiors were dark and divided into a maze of impractically small spaces—“You could get lost going room to room,” Joe recalls—with a grab bag of generic design details: wrought-iron railings, white square kitchen tiles, and a McMansion-style turret.

“In a certain way,” Rabin says, “the nondescriptness of the house was its best attribute.” Without a particular style to preserve, the designers had no qualms about gutting the interior.

The site’s steep slope came with rigid zoning restrictions on structural upgrades, so to find more space without increasing the home’s footprint, Ritz and Rabin enclosed the two existing balconies and demolished the chimney, which had run through all three floors, taking the interior’s square footage from 1,434 to 2,016.

On the top, main level, the interiors were reconfigured to include open living and dining areas that would make it easy to entertain, as well as a sizable kitchen where Jeremy could bake bread or Joe could cook elaborate meals. For the dining area, the designers created a custom cherrywood racetrack table that seats eight, and in the kitchen, they repurposed the turret as a breakfast nook.

“We were a good match for Annie and Daniel because we were game for unconventional ideas. We’d share materials and details we liked, and then they’d show us even more exciting options.”
—Joe Waechter, resident

The breakfast nook off of the kitchen features rounded, built-in seating. The home’s windows are from Fleetwood Windows & Doors.
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Because their clients sought an open plan that wasn’t too open, Ritz and Rabin added a powder room at the center of the main floor that partially walls off the space. (The room’s ceiling is almost entirely a skylight, one of several now installed in the home.) For people walking into the house, the addition hides a big reveal: a new balcony on the front and expansive north- and west-facing windows that capitalize on the vistas that drew the couple to the property in the first place.

“Annie and Daniel imagined these windows as viewfinders—invitations to witness the spectacular hillsides, the reservoir, and the mountains that surround our home,” says Jeremy. “We watch the sunset over the hills through the dining room window every evening.”

Downstairs are two guest rooms and the primary bedroom, with windows facing multiple directions and an en suite bath. The third and lowest level will be an accessory dwelling unit that will also house Jeremy’s design studio, MCKL.

When it came time to discuss finishes and furniture, Jeremy and Joe gathered their thoughts on a Pinterest board. Jeremy admits that some of their ideas didn’t quite fit together, but Ritz and Rabin pulled out complementary elements, among them light wood grains, bold colors, and an overall minimalist clarity.

One of the home’s defining features is a series of modernist-inspired cherrywood modular shelving systems that Rabin and Ritz designed for the main level, where Jeremy and Joe’s collections of books, vinyl, and artwork are on display.

From there, the rest of the finishes fell into place. In the kitchen, Rabin and Ritz kept on theme by using Forbo Marmoleum cabinets in a conifer green, establishing a palette that led to black soapstone countertops and a complementary peach for the walls. The exterior then went from beige to dark green with contrasting white numbers by HEWI for the address.

In reflection, Ritz and Rabin were pleased that their clients both had an eye for design, as well as open minds. “They wanted to be pushed out of their comfort zone,” recalls Ritz. “They were open to color, and that helped a lot in giving character to this space.”

The finished house, with its many greens offset by creams, is “full of hues that we never would have considered,” says Jeremy. “Annie and Daniel have an uncanny ability to understand how all these elements synthesize into a greater vision.” And, it’s worth adding, a knack for capturing a view.

Project Credits:

Architect of Record: And And And Studio / @andandandstudio

Construction: Zorzoli Construction

Structural Engineering: Craig Phillips Engineering & Design

Interior Design: And And And Studio / @andandandstudio

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