A California Ranch Renovation Opens to the Outdoors

When a family relocated to Los Angeles, they tapped Montalba Architects to revitalize this 2,400-square-foot home with a simple, open, minimal style in mind.

An American illustrator and her executive husband had been living in London with their two teenage children when they decided to move back to the States. They found a possible new address in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Brentwood, a Westside city known for its luxury and exclusivity, but the property was far from the surrounding standards. The cramped home had been neglected, and clusters of dark rooms were removed from the sunny outdoors. But the couple envisioned a renovation that restored the structure’s original California Ranch style, and they hired principal David Montalba and his namesake firm to follow through. “The goal was to create large open spaces, with a minimal color and material palette, and lots of natural light,” Montalba says. In the end, the family was not unlike the house they transformed: both returned to their roots with a few added details.