Living

Feldman Architecture opens up a dark and cramped seaside house with big windows and a healthy dose of wood.

A built-in window seat wraps around a corner offering the perfect spot to contemplate the piñon pine-dotted mountains. These ledges are also an opportunity to display Moore’s collection of textiles.

The green plaster, a color inspired by the palette of architect Luis Barragán, now covers the stone fireplace and hearth, extending the column up to the ceiling so there’s no longer a line chopping up the wall. “It made such an incredible difference that it goes all the way to the ceiling. It draws your eye up,” says Brooke. The new built-ins are white oak, and evoke the style of what was there before.

A dry-stacked rock hearth supports a Charnwood freestanding woodstove, which was carefully chosen to fit the scale of the surroundings.

From the opposite angle, it becomes apparent how important it was to remove the support post and add in a new header to open up the views between rooms. “I think it changes everything,” says Amber. The large rugs were picked up on Amber’s travels, and she hasn’t had rooms big enough to display them until now.

Squaring the window made it possible to install a window seat for reading sessions beside a favorite Spruce tree in the front yard.

The main floor plan was opened up, so the living, dining, and kitchen flow into each other, and all can partake of the scenery. “The interiors feel very calm and the house is small enough that the open plan doesn't seem too large,” says Hale. La Cantina doors now lead to the protected porch. White oak was used for the flooring throughout.

The bookshelves lining the walls of the living room were inherited from family.

After: To camoflauge ceiling soffits that hide upstairs plumbing, a set of bookcases was installed at one end of the living room.

The old wooden ceiling beams in the dining room were purchased from a local Amish farmer and painted white. Warm timbers tie the home together.

The custom-designed white maple modular coffee table can be kept together as one piece, or separated to form stools or smaller tables. "Each of the four cubes is slightly different, with a storage recess or dividing panel for stowing books, magazines, pillows, or other objects," says Thomas.

The original fireplace was cleaned up and repaired. "Also, the room previously had just a small passageway to the kitchen and no real place to put a television. We’re not big TV watchers, so we wanted to keep the mantle TV-free, so that it was not a focal point of the room," says Valencia. "We opened up the passage to the kitchen to give the home a modern layout and added a built-in TV/media cabinet (on the left wall)."

White paint considerably brightens up the space, and now the living room overlooks the pool.

“We chose aluminum wood-clad windows because the material is high quality and energy-efficient,” says Wijaya. “They offer more design options and match well with the style of this house. We particularly wanted to add arches, windows, and doors to enhance the Spanish Revival character.”