Houzz Tour: Resort-Style Living in Orange County

Check out the hip decor, indoor-outdoor flow and beautiful pool area at this builder’s new California property

Bryan Anthony April 28, 2019

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Erica Bryen Design

Photos by Ryan Garvin

House at a Glance
Who lives here: Jason Gonterman of Gonterman Construction, his wife and their three teenage children
Location: Huntington Beach, California
Size: Five bedrooms, five bathrooms
Designer: Erica Bryen Design

Builder Jason Gonterman often works with interior designer Erica Bryen when developing his own properties to sell, so it was a no-brainer to reach out to her when building his own family home in Huntington Beach, California. “We work really well together and he trusts my style, so the design process was really easy,” Bryen says.

The Gontermans love to take vacations in Northern California’s Wine Country, which is where they found inspiration for the style of their newly built home. The exterior features design elements — such as the metal seam roof and mix of stone and wood — that are found in many modern farmhouses in Napa Valley. The facade is a combo of white fieldstone and wood paneling painted a custom black from Dunn-Edwards. The landscape features drought-resistant plants, olive trees and two small palm trees.

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Erica Bryen Design

The double-height foyer features a contemporary staircase with a glass railing and crisp white walls. To add some depth and texture to the sleek entry, Bryen devised a custom wall covered in horizontal slats painted in Dunn-Edwards’ Black. “The paneled wall draws you into the family room, where there’s lots of dark metals in a similar shade,” the designer says.

White oak floors are featured throughout the house, but Bryen had them laid in a chevron pattern in the family room, seen through the doorway. Other highlights of the room include the gas fireplace surround made of dark gray marble. Above the marble, the designer used matte-finished steel to surround the flat-screen TV. The bookcases flanking the fireplace are blackened steel.

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Erica Bryen Design

The heart of the home is the large open area that includes a seating area, dining space and kitchen. The dining area in the center of the room features a stained walnut table surrounded by eight molded plastic chairs, with a sculptural glass-and-brass chandelier above making an elegant statement. A two-sided gas fireplace covered in slabs of gorgeous white marble creates a slight separation between the dining space and seating area.

Erica Bryen Design

The seating area was designed to attract a crowd. “This is a family that loves to have people over and bring the party to them,” Bryen says. “Therefore I wanted to create a space with a fun, lounge feel.” The TV wall is covered in shiplap painted a gray-green and the back wall is covered in a funky wallpaper designed by Kelly Wearstler. The low-slung contemporary furniture adds to the lounge-like feel.

Erica Bryen Design

The bold kitchen features a bevy of materials. The lower cabinets are crisp white, while the uppers are a dark charcoal gray. Brass hardware on the cabinets punch up the space and complement the custom unlacquered brass range hood and brass-and-black hexagon tiles covering the range backsplash. Dark stained wood covers the kitchen walls, adding an organic touch.

Erica Bryen Design

A large bank of sliding glass doors tucks into the walls to create an indoor-outdoor flow from the kitchen to the covered patio. An outdoor dining table is set under a stained tongue-and-groove ceiling and next to a stunning feature wall made from a massive slab of Black Rainbow granite. “The granite-covered wall was one of the last things we added,” Bryen says. “But it instantly elevated the entire design.”

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Erica Bryen Design

The outdoor bar is a hot spot for family and friends. It includes a sink and refrigerator stocked with beverages. The same Black Rainbow granite that covers the adjacent feature wall also tops the bar.

Erica Bryen Design

The backyard includes a pool and spa outlined in stylish gray hexagon tiles that connect back to the kitchen tile, furthering the indoor-outdoor link. To add some of the Wine Country feel the homeowners love, a mature olive tree was planted in the center of the pool area. “This olive tree is really quite massive — the picture doesn’t do it justice,” Bryen says.

Erica Bryen Design

In the master bedroom, the hip black-and-white wallpaper behind the bed and the graphic-patterned shades and curtains are designs by Kelly Wearstler. “The homeowners wanted the funky vibe found in the rest of the house to extend into the master bedroom,” Bryen says. The space also includes contemporary brass light fixtures.

Erica Bryen Design

A pair of white oak vanities in the master bathroom are separated by a custom soaking tub clad in white marble. “We added as much beautiful marble and granite as we could throughout the entire house,” Bryen says.

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