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The owners toured this home, which surrounds a mature tipu tipu tree, while visiting relatives for the day. The brick is original to the 1947 construction.

In addition to using the house as a weekend and vacation residence, the sisters also rent it out. The presence of the 'hinge' corridor allows it either to be rented as one or two units.

Before: The kitchen was small and cramped, so the team relocated it downstairs.

The ground floor features a few of the home's main components: walnut, cement, and terrazzo. It's lit from a skylight above, where the home's three levels are all joined.

Owner Jill Lucia has her own interior design firm, and she and her team oversaw the furnishings. A Marenco Sofa by Mario Marenco for Arflex anchors the living room alongside a thrifted coffee table and a Little Petra side chair. The custom rug is by Montana Iabelle.

Segmenting the home allows it to expand and contract depending on the number and needs of its occupants, who use it as a vacation residence.

In the process of transforming a run-down motor lodge into Hotel Wren, designer and Manola Studio founder Jessica Pell also turned the accompanying home into her own desert retreat.

In the process of transforming a run-down motor lodge into Hotel Wren, designer and Manola Studio founder Jessica Pell also turned the accompanying home into her own desert retreat.

The custom sectional banquette, and the kitchen and bathroom millwork was designed by Jessica and fabricated by Fire on the Mesa, a design workshop in Joshua Tree.

Earthy tiles by Heath Ceramics surround the alcove bathtub with custom wood millwork.

The family living has a huge L-shaped sofa from Hanuzzi in a warm tone of beige brown. Both the walls behind this sofa are flanked by wall-to-wall windows. Curtains, wall colour and sofa are all washed in the same hue giving a subtle monochromatic look. A minimalistic wooden table from IKEA compliments the setup. This is the space where the family unwinds and interacts with each other and watches TV. The TV wall is clad and designed in such a way that it hides the door to the parents’ room and balances the centre.

You may think that an existing or historic home—known for its drafty windows, old-fashioned mechanical systems, and obsolete construction materials and techniques—would be one of the least sustainable, green-friendly buildings around, but you'd be oh-so-very wrong!

Boy Boy fabricated the framing for the flue shroud and base, which was then finished with plaster, and given a limestone benchtop. The Arto Ceramic tile extends into the kitchen, which has a preserved wood ceiling with new skylights.

The wet bar was given a custom cherry top, and the couple added wall molding for texture.

“I wanted you to come into a place that was inviting, but with a muted warmth,” says Kara of the decision to immerse the dining room in Farrow & Ball’s Green Smoke, including walls, ceiling, cabinetry, and fireplace, the latter with a relocated mantel. The table is a 17th C. Spanish Walnut Trestle Rectangular Dining Table via Restoration Hardware, surrounded by Ceremonie Green Mohair dining chairs by Athena Calderone, from Crate&Barrel. The Tambor Buffet, beneath windows that Seamus relocated from elsewhere in the house, is from Anthropologie.