Here’s How to Deck Out Your Home Like a Breezy Palm Springs Midcentury
Evoke the timeless aesthetic that the likes of Donald Wexler, William Krisel, and Charles DuBois solidified in this desert landscape with midcentury modern furnishings that privilege clean lines and bold colors.
Living Room
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"The home has an unusual resonance when you see it," says Kaufmann house owner Brent Harris. "It has a volumetric, spatial beauty that changes throughout the day, particularly at twilight. There are a lot of great Neutra houses, but this has different feel entirely. It's very photogenic."
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The sitting room features a central fireplace framed by marble and warm wood, a wall of glass, and the original terrazzo floors.
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The interiors fully embrace the midcentury aesthetic, with high-beamed ceilings, slate floors, custom wood flooring, and a split rock fireplace.
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Dining Room
Many of the home’s original finishes could not be salvaged, including the walnut plywood in the dining area and kitchen. The siding was replaced with a fresh veneer of the same wood. Recessed baseboards give the kitchen island, topped with a Whitehall Cambria countertop, the appearance that it is levitating. The gilded hanging lamp by Peill & Putlzer was purchased secondhand in France.
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Oversized, full-height glass sliding doors provide easy access to the patio and a strong indoor-outdoor connection. The original terrazzo floors flow directly into the outdoors.
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Kitchen
The kitchen has been updated with a vintage vibe and seamlessly integrates into the home's clean midcentury style.
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The kitchen updates remain true to the home’s midcentury character. Terrazzo tiles are used throughout the home.
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Bedroom
The interior of the Menrad residence, with a raised ceiling and glass walls. "The house felt like the ultimate expression of what postwar residential architecture in California was all about," resident Chris Menrad writes in the book.
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William Krisel designed the Ocotillo Lodge, a hotel that features a number of his signature design moves: post-and-beam construction, walls of glass, and seamless indoor/outdoor connections. Pictured here is one of the hotel’s bungalows.
Outdoor
The rear patio was refreshed with new concrete pavers. A strip of grass accents the perimeter of the pool and hot tub. The boulders by the hedge are all that remain of a previous owner’s rock grotto.
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A look at the pool area of Steel House #2. Each major room features floor-to-ceiling glass panels and sliding doors that are all eight feet high.
Homeowner Jay Longtin served as the general contractor and performed the majority of the remodel work, aside from the outdoor floors, concrete, and pool, which were done by Architectural Blue.
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The vantage point of the famed "poolside gossip" photo that made Richard Neutra's Kaufmann House so well-known.
Exterior
Seen today, it’s hard to imagine that Jessy Moss and Steve Jocz’s glistening white home in Indian Wells, California, was marketed as a teardown only two years ago. Sparing it the wrecking ball, Jessy, an interior designer who used to be a singer/songwriter, and Steve, a realtor who was once a member of the band Sum 41, embarked on a restoration. During the project, they uncovered evidence that the home might be an unrecognized work by iconic architect William F. Cody. The circular pavers in the driveway, replicas of originals, are strikingly similar to those Cody used for another midcentury motor court.
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This updated 1957 home in the Twin Palms Estate features the subdivision’s signature palm trees front and center.
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Related Reading:
Here Are 20 of the Best Midcentury Renovations in Palm Springs
This Palm Springs Prefab Is a "Living Lab" for its Designer Residents
Design 101: What Are Alexander Homes, and Why Are They Still So Beloved?
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