Garage

Color Me Rad To give the exterior of your home a chic, contemporary veneer without splurging on expensive cladding, use a bold accent color.

A wood-wrapped carport completes the property. The cottage is located near two additional homes Breuer completed for Stillman, which can be accessed by trails.

Circa-1940s documents that were filed with the Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety credit William H. Thomas, who was a very close friend of graphic designer Alvin Lustig, as the house’s “certified architect.” After extensive research conducted by the previous homeowner, Andy Hackman, the current owner, Andrew Romano, believes the structure was in fact Lustig’s design.

Designed by Jagoda, the door swings open to fit in front of a bookshelf.

When Libby May and Eoghan Mahony purchased a 1950s post-and-beam house in Los Angeles’ Santa Monica Canyon, they envisioned someday transforming the garage and adjoining workshop into livable space, with an office for each of them and a family room they could share with their sons, Wes, 14, and Duncan, 10.

On a side wall, sleek barn doors open to reveal a storage area for bikes. Stairs near the garage entrance, which features a door from Renlita, lead to a vaulted loft that was originally intended as an exercise room but is now used by Rakesh as an office.

Inside the closets are items like the family’s ski equipment, neatly arranged and always at the ready.

Replacing the sliding barn door, a new storage wall holding yoga mats, blocks, and other accessories partitions the massage room and small office behind.

Even the boat bunker frames the view.

SHED designed a half-buried, concrete boat bunker with a green roof to provide a windbreak and privacy from the neighbors, as well as storage for water craft. The concrete is repeated throughout the landscape, and the design references coastal defense bunkers seen around the Kitsap Peninsula, says the firm.

SHED converted the side door into the front door, adding a new entry sequence with a patio, landscaping, stairs, and a metal awning to protect the porch. Wide stairs and a patio lead down to new sliding glass door in the basement, which now has utility spaces and a media room/office. Many of the original window openings were kept on this façade and given new Andersen E-Series units. Two smaller openings were bricked in.

The Seattle-based SHED Architecture + Design worked with builder Joe Gates Construction to preserve the brick shell, while making room in the 2182-square-foot plan for two complete bedroom suites upstairs, an open main level, and a finished the basement. To the left is a partially-buried, concrete, 380-square-foot “boat bunker,” which acts as a windbreak and gear storage.

The apartment above the garage received a dormer to enlarge the interior footprint.

Molly has her design studio in the garage, which is one use Responsive Homes founder Michael Tessler envisioned when he was forced by the city to include space for two cars in the home’s plan.

The fifth floor has office space for Spiekermann and Dulkinys in addition to guest quarters.