In 2016, one of Jason and Laura Millersmith’s friends sent them a real estate listing with the note: “I found your dream house.” Turns out, they were right. The L.A. couple—Jason works in finance and Laura is a producer—wanted to relocate their growing family from an apartment in a streamline moderne building designed by Milton J. Black in Koreatown. They had lost out on several bids for homes in Silver Lake and Los Feliz, and hadn’t considered Eagle Rock until they saw the listing.

As they toured the space, Laura was struck by the flowing layout, the warmth of the existing cork floors, and the incredible views. For Jason, it was the floor-to-ceiling glass doors that opened to balconies, enabling a quintessential California indoor/outdoor lifestyle on a steep slope with no actual backyard.

“I’d always imagined myself living in the trees, because I grew up in a really rural place,” says Laura, who’s originally from Ohio. “It just felt like a place where I could have a respite. Jason and I are both pretty high-energy people, so having a chill, centered home is very important to both of us.”

Before: Foyer

After: Foyer

The home was listed by the family of Carrol Jennings, the original owner, and it came with a story. When Carrol lost his house through eminent domain due to the construction of the 134 freeway, he bought an undeveloped parcel high up in Eagle Rock. From there, he could see where his old house had once been. Then, he called up his old Eagle Rock High School classmate, who had become an architect, to draw up plans for a home, which was completed in 1965.

That architect friend was Conrad Buff, of the notable firm Buff and Hensman, responsible for hundreds of post-war houses in Southern California, as well as two Case Study homes. “We’re huge fans of architecture, art, and design, so it’s always been our dream to have the stewardship of a house,” says Jason. “Who doesn’t want to live in a piece of art?”

Before: Fireplace and Living Room

After: Fireplace and Living Room

The couple bought the home, and they proceeded to geek out over it with their designer friends, Cover Architecture principal Yan M. Wang, and EEK Studio founder Erin Kasimow.

Kasimow’s first visit was for a playdate between the children of the two couples. “The minute I walked into the house, I knew it was notable. It just had that Buff and Hensman vocabulary,” she says. “We subsequently visited the house many times, and once you’re aware of that architectural background, you start to see all the things that the subsequent owners did that changed the original intention and connectivity of the design.”

Previous residents had turned a pantry off the kitchen into a shower to expand a powder room, installed Ikea cabinets in the kitchen, and placed 90s-era frosted glass in a bathroom. Jason and Laura didn’t have immediate plans to remodel, but the fireplace bothered them.

Before: Kitchen

After: Kitchen

The hearth was supposed to be a focal point in the living room, but it appeared to have been left unfinished. Jason recounts talking to Carrol Jennings’ daughter about it: “She said, ‘Conrad tried to upsell him on some crazy wood, but he wouldn’t do it for the fireplace.’ So they put in plywood fir.” It also didn’t always ignite.

Over time, the group of friends developed a two-phase remodel plan. In the first, they would tackle the upper floor, including the bedroom suite, the kitchen, and yes, the fireplace, and for the second they would update the downstairs bedrooms. “Jason and Laura are very design savvy,” says Wang. “Every conversation we had with them with regards to the design was always about how to restore the house.”

Fortunately, the home came with its original plans. “We had them scanned for this project, so we could really pore over them again and again,” says Jason. “The original cabinetry pages were invaluable to our design team for both inspiration, and to know what was supposed to be there.”

After: Dining Room

On the upper level, the team reinstated the powder room, as well as a pantry/mudroom off the kitchen that had been converted to a laundry area. New cork floors blend in with the existing ones, and fresh closets make the spaces of the primary suite feel all apiece. “The bedroom and bathroom relationships are usually pretty fluid in Buff and Hensman houses,” notes Kasimow.

Before: Laundry

After: Mudroom

Wang and Kasimow devised a suite of cherry cabinetry to run throughout the home, with detailing that riffs off the post-and-beam architecture. “It was important that it felt fitting and timeless, but also not like cosplay,” says Kasimow. “We wanted it to feel like it had always been there.”

For the fireplace, the plans were less helpful. “There was maybe one elevation of it, so it was a bit of a question mark,” says Wang. As built, it had cobwebbed dead space, and wing walls protruded into the room, slicing off a sliver of the window.

The design team pushed back the wing walls to widen the view, created a comfortable bench at the front, clad the alcove in tile, and fashioned the chimney out of walnut that reaches the original ceiling beams (which now hide a movie projector screen). The arrangement creates a conversational circle in the living room, with the hearth doubling as a window seat—a spot where people tend to gravitate.

The project fulfills Jason and Laura’s desire to be stewards, while accommodating their everyday lives. They spend quiet Sunday mornings playing Nick Drake in the living room as they cook aebleskivers in the kitchen, and enjoy rowdy block parties with neighborhood kids and friends streaming inside. “It’s a livable space, not an untouchable one,” says Laura. “Because while we do want to live in an art piece, the design is also robust enough to withstand children and actual use.”

Before: Bedroom

After: Bedroom

Before: Bathroom

After: Bathroom

More Before & After stories:

They Gave Their Tiny Kitchen a Donald Judd–Inspired Upgrade

After 70 Years, a Seattle Midcentury Finally Reaches Its Full Potential

This $57K Ranch House Revamp Proves You Can Never Have Too Many Plants

Project Credits:

Architecture: Cover Architecture / @cover_arch

Builder: Pearson Construction

Interior Design: Cover Architecture and EEK Studio / @eekstudio

Cabinetry Design: Cover Architecture and EEK Studio

Cabinetry Install: Hardwood Habitat

Custom Tile Credenza Countertop: Makumade

Interior Styling: Jillian Kasimow

Appears In

Before & After: They Brought Their Buff and Hensman Midcentury Back to Its Original Glory