Living Room Medium Hardwood Floors Bookcase Ceiling Lighting Storage Design Photos and Ideas

The renovated living room  gave the space a splash of white, icluding a fireplace makeover, but retained the original red oak floors.
Library; brass starburst ceiling light fixture brings a sense of ‘20s era glamour.  Vintage sofa by Gerard van den Berg.
The double-height wall of windows in the living room looks out on the property and was a big draw on their first walk-through.
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.
Removing the hallway created room for a cozy family room upstairs. The family is enjoying the nesting process since the remodel was completed in 2017. "We are raising our kid here, learning how to cook, and I even started to do a lot of working from home here even before the pandemic," says Martin. "We hop from one place to the other, making minor changes and making them our favorite for some time. We spent lots of nights here."
The entry between the living room and dining room was widened.
Two dividing orange bulkheads—which are the box gutters that protrudes through the house—separate the three pavilions. The family congregates in the central pavilion for meals around the dining table, and to relax in the lounge.
The built-in sofa anchors the living room and faces the existing fireplace. The Leather Oval Chair with a red steel base sits off to the side, and the coffee table was fashioned by attaching vintage steel legs to another tile sample board.
Boiserie panels made of zebrawood create a cozy nook in the main living area and also form a picture rail to display the client’s art collection.
Preda elegantly reallocated the space to contain a side-by-side living room and dining room area, with the latter defined by a custom Cor-Ten steel and zebrawood bookcase designed by the firm. The dining table is by Alepreda for miduny, the firm’s sister furniture company. The fireplace is an ethanol model, since incorporating a chimney wasn’t possible in the building.
Shalina Kell is a graphic designer and a maker—and now she can add "tiny home builder" to her resume. The single mom lives with her teenage daughter in a lovely, light-filled, 350-square-foot tiny home in Sacramento that she built and designed herself.
Adding in live-edge details via countertops, freestanding furniture pieces, or built-in shelves is something that O’Donnell enjoys. "It’s fun to come up with uses for funky live edges and incorporate that into the design and still make it functional," he says.
Leaving the ceiling unfinished adds to the material contrasts and saved money. Says Knight, "One example of a cost-effective strategy that also balanced the aesthetic qualities of the house is how we chose to forgo drywall on the ceilings. We paid more for the insulation to go above the rafters at the roof, but we gained this back in not using drywall and venting in the second-floor ceilings."
As an architect who specializes in universal access design and ADA compliance and as a wheelchair user herself, Karen Braitmayer was no stranger to the challenges of accessible design. Although she had been able to take advantage of her 1954 home's single-level, open layout, as her daughter (also a wheelchair user) grew up, the family's accessibility needs also shifted. The main living area includes a more formal sitting area near the entrance, the dining area, Braitmayer’s workspace, and the kitchen—you can see the couple’s daughter working at the island. In the foreground is a pair of midcentury chairs; at left is a Heywood-Wakefield that Braitmayer found at an antiques shop. Seattle-based designer Lucy Johnson completed the interiors. The windows are from Lindal, and the exterior doors are from Marvin.
“I loved the challenge of planning a fully functional home on a 32 ft x 8.5 ft trailer. I knew I wanted to include all of the basic living spaces that you would find in a conventional home: kitchen, living room, bathroom, two enclosed bedrooms, a laundry area, and storage spaces,” explains Kell.
In the living room, the wood and concrete shell is accented with a steel stair railing and a window wall with a Mondrian pattern in the glazing.
In the wide hallway between the kitchen and additional bedrooms is an entertainment and leisure space.
View from the entrance to the Living Room
The Dining and Living Room
Once the structural shell of a Deltec home is built, the interior is finished just as a traditionally constructed house would be.
Near a Gent wood-burning stove by Thorma in the living area, an IKEA Poäng chair and ottoman provide a cozy spot for reading. Thanks to the passive design strategies utilized by Ovchinnikov, the house stays warm through the winter with only minimal heating required.