A Home Redesigned for Family, Work and Meditation
A designer reimagines a place for two parents who work from home, their two young boys and a Buddhist practice
These Southern California homeowners needed professional help to make their three-story home family-friendly and conducive to working from home. They enlisted the help of interior designer Rachel Chulew, whose strategies included using durable fabrics, installing carpet tiles and wipeable wallcoverings in high-traffic areas, and designing custom built-ins for children’s toys and books. She also renovated the third floor to serve as a high-functioning, multipurpose office space for two parents who work from home.
The great room is open to this dining space and the adjacent kitchen. Another designer had already completed a kitchen remodel, which included white oak details on the open shelves and vent hood.
Browse lantern chandeliers in the Houzz Shop
Browse lantern chandeliers in the Houzz Shop
This space is close enough to the kitchen to feel like an eat-in kitchen space, but Chulew helped define it as more of a formal dining room. She delineated the dining area with a linear lantern chandelier, new vertical wainscoting on the walls and new built-ins. The built-ins can serve as a bar and buffet, and they provide plenty of storage for platters, table linens and kitchen overflow. The designer matched the countertop on the built-ins to the kitchen counters to create a cohesive look, but she chose other cabinet hardware in the same brass finish to differentiate it.
She also chose a white oak table to match the kitchen elements. “My clients like to host a lot of family gatherings,” Chulew says. She found them a table that extends to accommodate 12 people.
The large artwork is a piece of handmade African indigo mud cloth in a white oak frame.
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She also chose a white oak table to match the kitchen elements. “My clients like to host a lot of family gatherings,” Chulew says. She found them a table that extends to accommodate 12 people.
The large artwork is a piece of handmade African indigo mud cloth in a white oak frame.
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One of the homeowners is a Buddhist and this space next to the dining room is her meditation room. “The altar and symbols are important. For example, the bowl of apples are an offering and the open hand is a sign of offering and openness,” Chulew says. The lotus motif of the light fixture represents purity of the enlightened mind in Buddhism.
The homeowner hosts Buddhist meetups here, so incorporating extra seating was also important. Chulew worked it in with ottomans and floor pillows.
The walls are covered in a grasscloth wallpaper. The designer used brass light fixtures and organic elements such as woven pieces and white oak in keeping with the rest of the home.
The homeowner hosts Buddhist meetups here, so incorporating extra seating was also important. Chulew worked it in with ottomans and floor pillows.
The walls are covered in a grasscloth wallpaper. The designer used brass light fixtures and organic elements such as woven pieces and white oak in keeping with the rest of the home.
Before: The homeowners take off their shoes as soon as they enter the house, and the mudroom often became cluttered with piles of them.
After: Chulew added hooks, cubbies, baskets and shoe racks to keep backpacks, purses, outerwear and footwear in order. She kept the existing bench because it’s handy for putting on and taking off shoes, but she re-covered the cushion in vinyl and swapped in some blue throw pillows. She covered the walls in in a textured vinyl wallcovering. “It makes it easy to wipe off all those dirty prints from little hands,” she says.
Before: The first-floor powder room was lackluster.
After: Chulew added a beautiful patterned grasscloth wallcovering by Candice Olson, a statement mirror and new lighting. She also gave the existing vanity an upgrade with a new countertop, faucet and paint.
“The hues in the wallpaper and vanity change throughout the day,” Chulew says. “While the wallcovering has blue tones and the vanity has green tones, they both have gray in them, which ties them together.”
“The hues in the wallpaper and vanity change throughout the day,” Chulew says. “While the wallcovering has blue tones and the vanity has green tones, they both have gray in them, which ties them together.”
Before: Outside, the courtyard already had a stunning patterned tile.
After: Chulew had the fireplace surround resurfaced with white stucco and furnished the space. The drum table is concrete.
Before: The homeowners wanted the second-floor bonus room to serve as a playroom.
After: Chulew added lots of built-ins for storing toys and books. She repeated the white oak seen throughout the house on the countertops and added soft, kid-friendly leather pulls in lieu of cabinet hardware. “These are much softer in case of roughhousing,” she says.
The sofa she chose folds out into a queen-size bed. “The boys like to snuggle in for movie nights,” she says.
The chandelier is made of coco beads. The new window treatments are woven wood. And the homeowners already had the wicker camel book holder — a perfect fit for the space.
The tepee fort was the homeowner’s idea. “She wanted everything in here to feel very mobile so that the kids could move it around and do a lot of different things in here,” Chulew says. That includes vigorous fort-building.
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The sofa she chose folds out into a queen-size bed. “The boys like to snuggle in for movie nights,” she says.
The chandelier is made of coco beads. The new window treatments are woven wood. And the homeowners already had the wicker camel book holder — a perfect fit for the space.
The tepee fort was the homeowner’s idea. “She wanted everything in here to feel very mobile so that the kids could move it around and do a lot of different things in here,” Chulew says. That includes vigorous fort-building.
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Before: This photo shows the opposite side of the space before it became a playroom — and how much it was in need of the designer’s built-ins.
After: Chulew added built-ins for crafting supplies, as well as a window seat with storage drawers. Rails on the wall provide display space for books.
In the older boy’s room, the bunk beds were existing. Chulew ordered world map decals for the wall. “This is a multicultural family and they want their kids to grow up understanding that life does not revolve around California,” she says.
The wall-to-wall carpeting upstairs was also existing. “They decided to keep it until their kids destroy it, and then they’ll replace it,” Chulew says with a laugh. She added a new soft area rug for playing on the floor, as well as a new window seat with storage.
The wall-to-wall carpeting upstairs was also existing. “They decided to keep it until their kids destroy it, and then they’ll replace it,” Chulew says with a laugh. She added a new soft area rug for playing on the floor, as well as a new window seat with storage.
The house also has two guest rooms, which were bland. One element Chulew needed to keep in here was some overflow office space. “Even though a large office space for multiple people was part of this project, sometimes one of them just needs to get away to their own space to work alone,” she says.
In addition to organic materials, the designer added touches of blue throughout the house. “In this guest room, we wanted to go totally bold,” she says. “This blue floral wallpaper makes the room.” The chandelier is composed of beads and iron.
“We worked in a desk so it also can serve as an ‘escape room’ when one of the homeowners wants to work alone,” Chulew says. It’s wrapped in a gold woven textile. An ottoman that tucks underneath for seating helps camouflage the desk as a pretty dressing table for guests.
Six-light chandelier: Dr. Livingstone
“We worked in a desk so it also can serve as an ‘escape room’ when one of the homeowners wants to work alone,” Chulew says. It’s wrapped in a gold woven textile. An ottoman that tucks underneath for seating helps camouflage the desk as a pretty dressing table for guests.
Six-light chandelier: Dr. Livingstone
The second guest bedroom has touches of blue in the accent pillows. A trio of African juju hats fills the space over the upholstered headboard.
Before: The third floor was the designated office area. Though spacious and finished, it had become a jumbled storage spot.
After: “The at-home workspace was extremely important to these homeowners,” Chulew says. “He works from home full time and she works from home part time. And they wanted room for one or two assistants when necessary.” They also needed the office to give them their own individual workspaces, as well as smart storage. This is his work area.
“They both wanted sit-and-stand desks but didn’t like the style of the electric models,” the designer says. She found them white-oak-topped versions that manually crank from sitting to standing height. The cranks and gears give the desks a cool industrial look.
“They both wanted sit-and-stand desks but didn’t like the style of the electric models,” the designer says. She found them white-oak-topped versions that manually crank from sitting to standing height. The cranks and gears give the desks a cool industrial look.
This is the wife’s workspace. Because she does creative work, Chulew provided her with a magnetic pinboard for inspirations. White oak shelves match her desktop. Brass library lights illuminate the work area.
A sofa separates the his-and-her spaces. It folds out into a king-size bed for guests if needed. There’s also a full bathroom on this floor.
The sofa and swing chair provide alternative seating options during long workdays. “We wanted some points of relief that were not work-related to brighten them up. Sometimes you just need to go hang out in a swing chair,” Chulew says.
The sofa upholstery is camel mohair. The walls are covered in a linen-weave wallpaper. And the chandelier is another organic touch: natural abaca rope woven over a metal frame. Along with the blue cabinetry, these organic elements tie the office to the rest of the home’s decor.
The sofa and swing chair provide alternative seating options during long workdays. “We wanted some points of relief that were not work-related to brighten them up. Sometimes you just need to go hang out in a swing chair,” Chulew says.
The sofa upholstery is camel mohair. The walls are covered in a linen-weave wallpaper. And the chandelier is another organic touch: natural abaca rope woven over a metal frame. Along with the blue cabinetry, these organic elements tie the office to the rest of the home’s decor.
Chulew designed expansive built-ins to take care of all those boxes and bins seen in the “before” photo. They include lots of file drawers and some hidden rolling files.
A wall of cabinets, file drawers and shelves occupies a space between the separate workspaces. Chulew also designed a custom sliding door in a diamond pattern. The door hardware plays off the bases of the desks. Both the door and the built-ins are painted Hale Navy by Benjamin Moore.
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House at a Glance
Who lives here: A couple and their two young boys
Location: Playa Vista, California
Size: 4,000 square feet (372 square meters); five bedrooms, six bathrooms
Designer: Rachel Chulew of DesignHaus 24
“The house was just kind of vanilla and lackluster before,” Chulew says. “The wife is creative, she’s a writer, and she had a vision to improve it. They wanted to be able to live in the house during the remodel, so we are completing it in strategic phases.”
Phase one was the first floor, phase two was the second-floor kids’ rooms and two guest rooms, and phase three was the third-floor office space. Chulew is currently working with the homeowners on phase four, the master suite. Because she now lives in Dallas, she flew in every few weeks and called in interior designer Tathienne Kader of Studio Neshama for local assistance.
The homeowners have two young boys, and Chulew kept family-friendliness and durability in mind throughout the home. She had worked with the couple before, so she had a good handle on what they liked: warm, modern California style with worldly accents. “Houzz was a place where we shared some inspiration images and did some shopping,” Chulew says.
She outfitted the home with calm neutrals, dashes of blue, interesting artwork that includes framed African textiles, a variety of woven textures and soft organic elements. She also worked in lots of beautiful built-ins for toys, books, serveware and office organization.
In the great room, storage for the kids’ toys and books was key. There’s space in the console, in the ottoman and in baskets, which makes it easy to quickly corral all the things that little ones tend to spread out everywhere. Chulew chose durable, stain-resistant and wipeable fabrics for as much of the furniture as possible. And she used carpet tiles. “This way if one of the kids spills something, they can just replace the individual tile,” Chulew says. The sofa’s slipcovers in a Perennials fabric are easy to remove and wash.
The artwork on the wall at right consists of six framed pieces of African cactus silk. At the time of the photo shoot, the family was waiting for some beautiful black-and-white family photos to be framed for this room.
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