Before and After: Dramatic Changes for Actor Gavin Houston’s Home

New finishes, millwork, built-ins and gallons of white paint freshen up a dated Los Angeles house

Becky Harris September 29, 2018

Houzz Contributor. Hi there! I live in a 1940s cottage in Atlanta that I'll describe as "collected." I got into design via Landscape Architecture, which I studied at the University of Virginia.

Houzz Contributor. Hi there! I live in a 1940s cottage in Atlanta that I'll describe... More

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While this house had good bones and was located a stone’s throw from Malibu’s mountains and beaches, the style inside was dated — deep marigolds and siennas in a sort of 1980s take on Tuscan or Mediterranean. It was not at all fitting for Hollywood actor Gavin Houston, star of The Haves and the Have Nots on the Oprah Winfrey Network. Houston wanted his Los Angeles home to be a calming place to relax after long days of filming and to entertain family and friends. Designer David Veltman of design-build firm Spazio L.A. helped the actor turn the home into the modern oasis he desired.

Spazio LA

Photos by Jack Bremen

House at a Glance
Who lives here: Gavin Houston
Location: Los Angeles
Designer: David Veltman of Spazio LA

“Gavin was very involved in the design and picking products,” says Veltman, pictured here next to Houston, right. “He knew what he liked, which was a neat, crisp, clean look with lots of white.”

The overall style after the makeover is bright, luxe and minimalist, yet still comfortable and homey. The project was a mix of significant cosmetic changes in some rooms and down-to-the studs remodeling in others. Gallons of white paint, new architectural elements like built-ins, sliding barn doors and coffered ceilings and special finishes like Venetian plaster mark the remarkable renovation. The most striking changes occurred in the fully remodeled master bathroom, where luxe touches like a freestanding bathtub, a large shower stall and marble-like porcelain floor-to-ceiling tile compose the ultimate relaxing spot.

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Before Photo

Spazio LA

New Flooring, Paint and Millwork Transform the Family Room and Kitchen

Before: In the family room and kitchen, marigold walls were weighing everything down. And the flooring throughout the house was full of dated reddish tones.

Spazio LA

After: The paint is responsible for the most striking change, instantly giving the family room more modern style and brightening the room. Millwork and built-ins also made a big difference. The new coffered ceiling added architecture to the room. All of the moldings that compose the coffers are painted the same color, which gives the ceiling depth yet maintains an uncluttered look. A long built-in for media equipment and other clutter has lines that are strongly horizontal, streamlined and modern. An orb chandelier draws attention to the coffered ceiling and also brings in a modern touch.

An engineered white oak updated the floors.

Wall and ceiling paint: Whisper White, Dunn-Edwards

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Spazio LA

Impactful Cosmetic Changes in the Kitchen

Because the kitchen layout worked well and was in good shape, a simple cosmetic makeover transformed it from dull and dated to fresh and contemporary. They painted the wood cabinets and added contemporary lighting over the island. “If your cabinets are good quality and in good shape, refinishing them makes a lot of sense,” Veltman says. “By refinishing them in white we were able to make a dramatic change at a small fraction of the cost of a full remodel.”

How to Update Your Kitchen Cabinets With Paint

Before Photo

Spazio LA

LEDs and Venetian Plaster Freshen Up the Master Bedroom

Before: More marigold paint and a passé geometric tray ceiling marked the master bedroom.

Spazio LA

After: Gavin had admired a Venetian plaster wall in the Spazio L.A. showroom and wanted to incorporate the look somewhere in the house. Veltman knew it would be a good way to turn the headboard wall into a focal point. He designed a framed wall that protrudes from the bedroom wall, leaving a gap in it for an LED strip system on the sides and top of the wall. Houston can change the colors of the lights with a remote to suit the mood and provide a soft glow at night.

Another coffered ceiling replaced the dated tray ceiling. A modern ring chandelier illuminates it.

Spazio LA

For the dresser, Veltman customized a piece to fit the scale of the room. And by using a countertop that complements the finishes in the bathroom, he created cohesion throughout the master suite.

The oversize sliding barn door between the bedroom and bathroom works with the grayish wood finishes on the bedroom furniture. These finishes provide a pleasing warm and rustic contrast to the crisp walls and ceiling. And its large size fits the scale of the room.

Before Photo

Spazio LA

New Layout Opens Up the Bathroom

Before: The bathroom required a down-to-the-studs renovation. Everything was overworked and dated, and while there was plenty of square footage, there wasn’t that much floor space because of the way things were arranged. For example, the odd enclosure around the bathtub was an awkward space hog that felt like a cave. And the mirror’s reflection lends a glimpse of the separated shower and toilet stalls.

Spazio LA

After: Given so much space to work with, they were able to keep the master bathroom’s footprint intact. The first thing to go was the spa tub and its surrounding cave. Removing it left room for a spacious shower stall, and the clear glass surround makes the room feel bigger.

On the right side of the room they took out the shower and toilet surrounds and moved the vanity over there, leaving room for a freestanding tub across from it.

Spazio LA

The freestanding tub has beautiful lines and looks like a piece of minimalist sculpture; a simple niche in the wall next to it provides a spot for soap and bath salts. Two hotel towel racks provide plenty of space for drying towels and storing extras.

Houston fell hard for a beautiful large-format porcelain tile that looks like Calacatta marble at Spazio’s showroom, and it set the style tone for the entire space. This tile is more durable and less expensive than marble, a great choice when covering so many square feet with it. Continuing it from the floor up the walls gives the room a luxurious feel yet still keeps things simple. The rugged barn door is a strong contrast to all of the elegant finishes in the bathroom, but the subtle gray tones in the wood complement the veining in the tiles.

Browse freestanding bathtubs

Spazio LA

Before, the lines of the vanity were jagged and there wasn’t much storage that made everyday toiletries easy to grab. Now a custom double vanity has a streamlined look and contains scads of storage. Check out the slim upper cabinets that flank the mirrors. They provide easy-to-grab spots for everyday toiletries. The countertops are white quartz and the finish on the hardware, faucets and lighting throughout the bathroom are polished chrome.

Spazio LA

Before, the space wedged next to the tub cave (left) was wasted. Now there’s room for a dressing table with a backlit mirror.

The shower is curbless, which is in keeping with a minimalist look. The floor is in the same porcelain as the rest of the bathroom but in a small-scale chevron pattern. “The grout between all of those tiles keeps the shower floor from becoming slippery,” Veltman says. The bench is covered in the same quartz as the vanity countertop and the infinity drain is hidden beneath it.

Takeaways

See beyond dated and drab because paint alone can make a really big difference.
Coffered ceilings painted all one color are a good transitional move — the millwork is traditional but the uncluttered look is more modern.
If cabinets are good quality and in good shape, refinishing them can make a big impact and will save lots of money and carbon footprint; it’s better for the environment than chucking them.
Neat trick: The protruding Venetian plastered headboard wall with the color-changing LED lights.
If you like a marble look but worry about durability or cost, look into digitally printed porcelain. The latest technologies make it hard to discern from the real thing.

More: See other before-and-after stories