Los Angeles firm Chet Architecture crafts a deeply personal hillside home packed with primary colors—including a custom mural that now holds an even deeper meaning.
Before they bought their 1960 post-and-beam house in the hills overlooking Studio City in 2008, David and his wife, Laurie, each went to see it separately. “We both had the exact same feeling: This is our home” David recalls. “There was just a peaceful energy. It felt like us.”
The new kitchen sink (with a California Faucet fixture) and Corian counter extend through operable La Cantina windows toward the pool area. Just beyond, David and Laurie’s son Asher takes a plunge.
Photo: Ye Rin Mok
After purchasing the property and spending several years there with their sons, Noah and Asher, David and Laurie were ready to remodel. The house had already been altered numerous times by previous owners, and the updates took it further and further away from its open plan and midcentury-modern style. “We always wanted to bring it back to what its origin was,” David says. “And we knew that it needed some work.”
The kitchen was small, with damaged flooring. And though the house came with an outdoor pool, many of the interior spaces either felt too dark or too glaringly bright. They’d even hung sheets outside the patio’s sliding-glass doors to reduce the harsh sunlight.
Before: Kitchen
Before: The original, relatively narrow galley-style kitchen was isolated from the other rooms, and its floors were damaged.
Chet Architecture
After: Kitchen
The relocated kitchen, where the TV area had been, has Villa Lagoon concrete floor tiles, Heath Ceramics island tiles, Schoolhouse Electric pendant lights, and Design Within Reach Valencia stools.
Photo: Ye Rin Mok
See the full story on Dwell.com: Before & After: A Family (Quite Literally) Fills the Walls of Their Midcentury Home With Memories
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