In 2009 on a quiet Los Angeles corner, then–The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf CEO 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, with one in a central dining area oddly embellished with a singular red tile. The glass-and-concrete construction was framed by high ceilings, rusted steel beams, and varied elevations across the single-story plan. The floor-to-ceiling rectangular bookcases lining the sunlit dining room hid an unusual surprise: a secret doorway that led to the primary bedroom walk-in closet.

“It was the most unique property I’ve ever seen,” Mel says, having looked past its leaking ceilings and previous year of obvious neglect. Following his own year of scouring the market for a new home, he knew he had to buy this one (along with some of Katselas’s paintings and his epic collection of art books). The rest of the housing market in comparison, he says, “was just terribly boring.”

Today, behind the privacy of manicured hedges, he and L.A. designer Carter Bradley are sitting around his kitchen table, where the aroma of coffee wafts upward to the 14-foot, skylit ceiling. (Naturally, “We can brew a cup of whatever you like,” says actor and landscape designer Sarah Butler, who lives here with Mel and their husky, Rooney.) Over the course of three years, Bradley led the home’s complete overhaul as project manager, working directly with the contractors and enlisting architectural draftsmen to formalize the plans.

The first major priority was clearing the grounds and roof of wayward plant life and then stabilizing what they would keep of the existing residence—namely, repairing and waterproofing parts of the roof and excavating mounds of dirt that had piled up against the walls. From there, as the renovation continued in piecemeal improvements, both Mel and Bradley not only wanted to preserve the property’s unique features, but to complement them in the new build: more fireplaces, more skylights, and more random red tiles.

“It was about fixing everything, then recreating something that was responsibly executed to complement it,” Bradley says, stirring oat milk into her latte. The newly built kitchen embraces the visual language of the original house: rich wood mixed with raw metal elements, and skylights built into the soaring, folded plate roof. The custom table and island feature weathered black granite surfaces reminiscent of a cast iron pan, a “completely indestructible” material, says Bradley, ideal for catering large-scale parties. A library ladder glides along the perimeter of the room, scaling the 10-foot-tall cabinets designed by Carter and built by Marmol Radziner. Its cherry veneer is a nod to Mel’s fascination with Japanese sensibilities: “I have a slight obsession with Japanese precision and culture,” he says. Ikebana vases, a sake bar, and Japanese maples dot the property, and authentic shoji screens function as sliding closet doors in the guest room.

Shop the Look

While the home’s amenities feel wholly residential, different rooms are specific to the couple’s various projects. Having launched different business ventures since leaving The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf in 2014, Mel spends the majority of time in his office, a former courtyard that’s since been covered and features a preserved loft space accessible via a retractable ladder. His other work space is off the living room—two black steel-plated steps down from the dining room— and functions as the music room, a studio for his production company to record live music and score films.

“Underneath this structure, we’ve undergone the difficulty of hiding all the sort of wires you typically use,” he says—wires that have been covertly connected to a custom-designed recording desk. “We’ve recorded full albums here with proper band setup. The acoustics here are fantastic.”

Other smells emanate from the guesthouse, a two-story stucco structure in the backyard across a series of stepping stones. There, Mel roasts coffee as part of a new startup and brews sake for fun. On the roof, Sarah, who helped redo the grounds and designed the outdoor living room adjacent to the pool, grows various produce in box planters. “The great thing about the house,” Mel says, “is that it’s been this creative vehicle for all kinds of activities.”

Initially struck by buyer’s remorse after purchasing a true fixer-upper, Mel found his own sensibilities meshing well with the previous owner’s during the overhaul. “It’s quirky, and it’s creative,” he says. “This house was a passionate labor of love, stone by stone, tile by tile.”

Project Credits:

Builder: Carter Bradley

Structural Engineer: Salvador A. Pineda, SAP Engineering

Landscape Design: Carter Bradley

Interior Design: Carter Bradley

Cabinetry Design: Carter Bradley, made and installed by Marmol Radziner

Other: Landscape additions by Sarah Butler, Atelier SEB

Also Appears In

An 11-Year Renovation Helps a Couple Grow Simpatico With the Original Homeowner’s Quirky Vision