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Airy Modern Style With Punches of Pattern and Warmth
Design and building pros add clean lines and organic details to turn a California tract house into a personalized home
Interior designer Laura Brophy incorporated several unifying elements in her recent overhaul of a Southern California home: natural stone finishes, warm wood accents and an emphasis on indoor-outdoor living. But each area of the remodeled three-bedroom, 2½-bath house also stands out in its own right. “Everything flows,” Brophy says, “but every space has its own uniqueness.” In turning the unremarkable tract house into a thoughtfully appointed home for a young family, Brophy and her fellow pros on the project delivered a fresh but lived-in look that will work now and in the years to come.
The family bought the standard-issue beige ranch house knowing they eventually would do a major remodel. They’d lived there for a couple of years before enlisting architect Jeffrey A. Dahl and builder Jason Gonterman to complete the project, removing all but two existing walls, reimagining the exterior, raising the ceilings and adding a pool. Brophy was then brought in to reimagine the interiors.
The clever design details start as soon as you enter the house. Sleek vertical walnut slats appear inside as well as on the home’s exterior. In the entryway, seen here, they serve to disguise a pair of closets and make a style statement.
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The clever design details start as soon as you enter the house. Sleek vertical walnut slats appear inside as well as on the home’s exterior. In the entryway, seen here, they serve to disguise a pair of closets and make a style statement.
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An ombre feature wall in the home’s breezeway came about as a sort of compromise between the homeowners, Brophy says.
“It was really hard for them to agree on art — I think they both had different thoughts on it, but they both loved the wallpaper,” Brophy says. “So it’s perfect because they don’t have to choose art. This can just be it.”
“It was really hard for them to agree on art — I think they both had different thoughts on it, but they both loved the wallpaper,” Brophy says. “So it’s perfect because they don’t have to choose art. This can just be it.”
The ceramic bells by artist MQuan that hang in the entry add art and natural texture.
Further inside, the house opens into an airy all-in-one living space with dramatic 14-foot ceilings accented with exposed wood beams. Partial walls that had divided the previous living area into separate “rooms” were removed and ceilings were raised to create a bigger, totally open feel. Brophy chose pieces with more organic shapes, such as the pendant lights over the dining table, for balance among the modern lines.
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Another set of naturally textured lights anchors the kitchen area. Beneath them, a quartzite-topped island is wrapped in the same bookmatched walnut as the surrounding cabinets. The bookmatched vertical grain “gives it a really custom, more high-end feel,” Brophy says.
In place of the existing kitchen’s cramped U-shaped layout, the new design puts its island to good use, sectioning off the space without disrupting the flow.
In place of the existing kitchen’s cramped U-shaped layout, the new design puts its island to good use, sectioning off the space without disrupting the flow.
Handmade Moroccan-style terra-cotta tile was used for the backsplash and on the range hood. “You see so many hoods that are stainless steel and I think using the same material really gets that monochromatic look that’s so interesting and different,” Brophy says.
Granite on the perimeter counters and walnut lower cabinets with burnished brass hardware frame the vintage-inspired oven.
15 Statement Range Hoods to Inspire Your Kitchen Remodel
Granite on the perimeter counters and walnut lower cabinets with burnished brass hardware frame the vintage-inspired oven.
15 Statement Range Hoods to Inspire Your Kitchen Remodel
Open shelving on the kitchen backsplash and over the bar offered an opportunity to incorporate more of the homeowners’ personality, Brophy says.
“I wanted to add areas in the home where we could display some special pieces,” she says. “It makes a home feel more like your own.”
“I wanted to add areas in the home where we could display some special pieces,” she says. “It makes a home feel more like your own.”
Another piece of walnut warms up the living area fireplace. The fireplace wall serves as a focal point and is one of the house’s only existing walls the architect and builder kept in the remodel. The screen-printed marble tile around the hearth is one of Brophy’s favorite details in the project — and the priciest tile they used in the house. The beautiful juxtaposition of the geometric pattern and the warm wood was worth the investment, she says.
See more fireplace design inspiration
See more fireplace design inspiration
A poolside waterfall feature was inspired by a photo one of the homeowners had saved early in the planning process. The detail was added as both a focal point for the outdoor living space and as a way to mask street noise.
A concrete outdoor dining table gives the family and its guests a view of the adjacent golf course.
Custom patio benches encourage indoor-outdoor living as well.
“For entertaining, it’s the perfect house,” Brophy says. “You can open up all of the doors and it’s incredible. It feels like a resort.”
Each of the home’s bathrooms has its own personality. This powder room makes the most of its small footprint with a floating vanity topped with a thick slab of quartzite. Dynamic wallpaper and a charming round mirror complete the look.
It was important to the homeowners that the house had enough storage to display their beloved collection of rare books, passed down from the husband’s father. The design team fit the books in this combination office and guest bedroom, which features a pullout sofa.
Next door, the bathroom of the couple’s elementary-school-age daughter has a more playful energy. The girl told Brophy she wanted a “mermaid bathroom,” and the designer worked closely with her to create a space that reflects that colorful, whimsical aesthetic. “She definitely had a strong point of view, but I also wanted her to have something that she really could grow into,” Brophy says.
They landed on a backsplash in green patterned cement tile, a double vanity with a marble top and glamorous gold fixtures, and a shower clad in iridescent tile.
They landed on a backsplash in green patterned cement tile, a double vanity with a marble top and glamorous gold fixtures, and a shower clad in iridescent tile.
Brophy carried that fun but sophisticated vibe into the girl’s bedroom. With an ombre feature wall that fades from mint green to coral as a starting point, Brophy again worked with her young client to pick statement pieces, such as the geometric mint green barn door on the closet, the chandelier and the ladder that leads to a lofted play area.
The master bathroom, with its rich Picasso marble details and gold accents, has a far more grown-up feel. To let the marble on the countertops and in the shower shine, Brophy kept other details in the room simple, with the exception of the glitzy pendant lights.
“Everything in there is simple, but then the pendants really add pizzazz — they’re like jewelry,” Brophy says.
“Everything in there is simple, but then the pendants really add pizzazz — they’re like jewelry,” Brophy says.
The bathroom features a concrete tub.
The Picasso marble in the shower is all the more striking against the simple large-format limestone floor tile — the same material Brophy used on the patio.
The master bedroom — which features a wallpapered accent wall and the other existing wall the remodeling team kept — is another airy retreat dotted with textured pieces.
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House at a Glance
Who lives here: A couple, their young daughter and their cat
Location: Huntington Beach, California
Size: About 3,400 square feet (316 square meters)
Designers: Jeffrey A. Dahl (architecture) and Laura Brophy of Laura Brophy Interiors
Builder: Jason Gonterman of Gonterman Construction