Living Rooms

In the dining room, under one of six large industrial skylights, one of the massive hearths is ornamented with a single red tile. Though they don’t know why Katselas placed it there, Mel and designer/project manager Carter Bradley turned it into a motif that pops up unexpectedly elsewhere in the house.

The Meranti wood and glass doors are over nine feet tall, and have a custom arch detail at the top. The clay coating on the walls and ceiling are by Matteo Brioni. “We mixed some colors together to give the space a perfect warm and serene feel,” says Valérie. “We like to add the same clay finish to the ceiling as the walls to create a sense of intimacy.”

Upon arrival, a broad, sculptural staircase leads to the main living areas on the upper level.

The fireplace is covered in Norman brick from Mutual Materials, in an era-appropriate stacked pattern.

For the living room, Caroline chose lounge chairs from Australia’s Barnaby Lane, a coffee table from Sobu, Maiden Home sofas, and a Moroccan rug from Muima.

An exposed ridge beam at the ceiling and sloping ceiling defines the living room in the open plan. The lights over the dining table are by Muuto.

“The challenge was how to make the space feel comfortable without dividing it into small units,” says Karsten.

Mauricio Ceballos X Architects

In 2009 on a quiet Los Angeles corner, Mel Elias found a severely water-damaged, crumbling 5,000-square-foot house hidden behind a tangle of overgrown vegetation. Its former owner, the late Hollywood acting coach Milton Katselas, had filled his property with industrial skylights and enormous, wood-burning fireplaces. The glass-and-concrete construction was framed by high ceilings, rusted steel beams, and varied elevations across the single-story plan. Thanks to an 11-year long, multiphase renovation by designer Carter Bradley, the home—with all of its quirks and character—shines again.

Sometimes all it takes is a little luck. For a young married couple, it came in the form of this rare find: a 19th-century, three-story, single-family home in the heart of Paris. The building was a charmer with good bones, but was in need of some serious care. In a vibrant retrofit by architect Pierre-Louis Gerlier that includes structural reinforcements, the reimagined design is set off with a new floor plan. The lower level now serves as a space for the couple’s children, with the public areas—including an open-plan living/dining room and kitchen—on the floor above. Upstairs, the attic has been transformed into a very large primary bedroom with a green-and-white bathroom suite. The living room (pictured) showcases the firm’s bespoke carpentry work with a beautiful, mossy-green built-in bookcase that frames a new fireplace, and a staircase surrounded by arched doorways that hold hidden storage. “We created visual breakthroughs in order to connect the different spaces,” says Gerlier. “The rounded arches are there to help magnify these moments.”