This Live/Work Compound Is Carved Into a Los Angeles Hillside

When Joy Cho and her husband Bob began house hunting in Los Angeles in 2014, the start of their search was far from smooth. Faced with a competitive environment and limited inventory, the lifestyle entrepreneur and Oh Joy! founder 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. "Many would go over asking and then still need a lot of work and investment in renovations."

The couple was ready to pause their house hunt entirely when a formative conversation with close friends—who just happened to be an architect and interior designer—steered them in a previously unconsidered direction. McShane and Cleo Murnane, principal architect and creative director of Studio Murnane (formerly Project M Plus), who were just wrapping up their own home, floated the idea of new construction to them—changing the trajectory of their house hunting journey completely.

Fully pivoting from a house search to a land search, Joy and family identified their top priorities: a flat yard, indoor/outdoor flow, and a "forever home" that their family could grow into. Finding a special piece of land that could meet all of this criteria—contiguous vacant parcels in the hills—the couple purchased the property and eagerly moved forward. "Our down payment savings went into buying the land, and then we began our six-year journey," says Joy.

The site’s steep slope and unique constraints had deterred buyers over the years, challenging architect McShane Murnane to take a fresh approach. "There were actually three lots to begin with," he shares. Over the years, developers had tried to design homes for each individual parcel—only to run into issues with zoning and costing. "Using a zoning code hack, we devised a strategy for site access and encouraged Joy to buy all three lots and tie two together, creating one large lot and one small lot," he explains.

Taking advantage of the adjoining parcels, and incorporating a shared driveway to access both, the site plan was designed to include a main residence for Joy and her family, along with a second structure that would be Joy’s dedicated studio. "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 also double as a guest house for friends and family when visiting."

Tasked with designing two separate—but cohesive—structures, the Studio Murnane team embraced divergent aesthetics. "It was clear to us that the homes should have separate designs to avoid looking like a development," McShane Murnane says. "We decided to markedly change the forms to allow each home to have its own character."

Joy’s studio, dark and vertical, exudes clear Scandinavian influence, while the main home, light and horizontal, nods to more local design roots. "We pulled from the architectural history of Los Angeles," says Murnane. "A starting point for us was Rudolph Schindler and his site-influenced architectural massing on hillsides. We are lucky to have decades' worth of inspiring architecture all around us."

When it came to the interior design approach, the two structures also received personalized treatment. The main home follows a more neutral palette, while the studio embraces vivid colors and bold patterns. "Each space has a slightly different feel and volume of color," says Studio Murnane creative director Cleo Murnane. "The main house is calmer and more serene while the studio is more playful, energetic, and fun."

Working with a fellow designer on her forever home, Cleo followed Joy’s clear vision throughout the process. "For Joy, pink is a neutral color," says Cleo. "We followed her lead with playful textures and colorful wallpapers." Custom terrazzo with highlights of pink and yellow were selected for high-traffic areas like kitchens and stairs, and brass finishes were incorporated throughout for richness and warmth. "I had a ton of choices to make, and Joy was involved in every single one of them," says Cleo.

The main home’s striking facade 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. Redwood was also used for the roof decks, remaining comfortable to the touch in the relentless Los Angeles sun. For McShane Murnane, durability was paramount in the selection of redwood from Humboldt Sawmill. "Redwood is a relatively durable wood species with less splitting and decay," he shares. "We tend to use it for its long-term life span and ability to weather nicely with age."

Today, the creative compound is home to the couple, their two daughters, three-year-old dog, and 22-year-old cat. Although building on a hill was far more complicated than they anticipated, they 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."

Learn more about using redwood in your next home project at getredwood.com.