Houzz Tours
Houzz Tour: Organic Style on an Avocado Ranch
A designer uses a soft neutral palette, handmade tile and reclaimed wood to update a 1980s contemporary home
This contemporary 1980s home in Moorpark, California, is surrounded by an avocado farm and located down a long and winding single-lane road lined with beautiful citrus trees. “You know, it’s interesting — we started preserving midcentury architecture when it was just about as old as 1980s houses are now,” interior designer Shannon Ggem says. “And this house was very special and worth celebrating.” The home had soaring vaulted ceilings with exposed rustic beams, open spaces, clerestory windows, amazing natural ventilation, pleasing proportions and wide views out to the bucolic surroundings.
The homeowners are parents of toddler triplets and are international travelers. “The wife is especially well-traveled and appreciates architecture that has a sense of place,” Ggem says. “She had a wonderful sense of aesthetics and how a space should feel. She also understood that having a sense of place meant that the house should look and feel like Southern California.” This meant soft, comforting neutrals and a natural, organic feel that nestled into the surrounding farmland.
The homeowners are parents of toddler triplets and are international travelers. “The wife is especially well-traveled and appreciates architecture that has a sense of place,” Ggem says. “She had a wonderful sense of aesthetics and how a space should feel. She also understood that having a sense of place meant that the house should look and feel like Southern California.” This meant soft, comforting neutrals and a natural, organic feel that nestled into the surrounding farmland.
After: Ggem reworked the staircase’s odd angles into a graceful curve that better suits the architecture. Past the staircase to the left is a private wing with bedrooms and bathrooms, straight ahead are the public areas and large windows with views of the outdoors, and to the right is another bedroom and office wing.
For the flooring, Ggem recommended white oak hardwood throughout the house. This wood has an organic feel, pretty graining and doesn’t skew red, orange or yellow.
Browse vases in the Houzz Shop
For the flooring, Ggem recommended white oak hardwood throughout the house. This wood has an organic feel, pretty graining and doesn’t skew red, orange or yellow.
Browse vases in the Houzz Shop
Before: The existing kitchen was large and open. In fact, Ggem wound up making it a bit smaller during the renovations. Look to the angled peninsula bar on the left and the low soffit to the right to understand the changes you’ll see. Also note that a lot of the beams had 1980s track lights mounted to them.
“At first my clients wanted to change the color of the beams because they were reddish,” Ggem says. “But I told them to wait until we built out the rest of the color palette, because it would change the way the beams look. Also, it would have cost about $45,000 to refinish them, which was better spent on other things.”
“At first my clients wanted to change the color of the beams because they were reddish,” Ggem says. “But I told them to wait until we built out the rest of the color palette, because it would change the way the beams look. Also, it would have cost about $45,000 to refinish them, which was better spent on other things.”
After: “The wife had an idea for a tall plaster vent hood and I thought it was great,” Ggem says. “The only problem was that the range wall in the kitchen was low due to that soffit.” So she moved the range wall forward in order to give it the height the vent hood needed. She also got rid of the angled peninsula between the kitchen and the breakfast bay. This made the bay feel more connected to the kitchen and opened up wider views to the landscape.
Playing off the rustic feel of the beams, Ggem sought out reclaimed wood from a salvage dealer. “This was the coolest thing — Los Angeles gets its water from hundreds of miles away to the north, through the Los Angeles aqueduct,” she says. “This wood served as baffles in that aqueduct in a previous life.”
The main sink sits under a new casement window. There’s a panel-front dishwasher to the left of the sink.
Cabinet paint: Soft Chamois, Benjamin Moore
Playing off the rustic feel of the beams, Ggem sought out reclaimed wood from a salvage dealer. “This was the coolest thing — Los Angeles gets its water from hundreds of miles away to the north, through the Los Angeles aqueduct,” she says. “This wood served as baffles in that aqueduct in a previous life.”
The main sink sits under a new casement window. There’s a panel-front dishwasher to the left of the sink.
Cabinet paint: Soft Chamois, Benjamin Moore
Moving the range wall forward allowed it to meet the vaulted ceiling. Now it celebrates that aspect of the architecture and improves this view from the family room to the kitchen.
In fact, having an appreciation for the architecture and a keen sense of proportion was important when scaling different elements in the room. For example, Ggem met the range hood with the zellige tile backsplash, then continued that height around the room. She sized two islands to fit the space in a pleasing way, and she thought carefully about the height of the fridge and coffee bar built-ins on the right side of the room.
Her client also had a strong sense of scale. “She found these oversized pendants and I just love them over the island,” Ggem says. “I’m not a fan of recessed lights. The contractor said we would need eight, but I got it down to two by using pendants, sconces and undercabinet lighting throughout the kitchen.” Note that she also removed the existing track lights from the beams.
Backsplash tile: Zia Tile; pendant lights: Bell, Normann Copenhagen
Shop for kitchen lighting
In fact, having an appreciation for the architecture and a keen sense of proportion was important when scaling different elements in the room. For example, Ggem met the range hood with the zellige tile backsplash, then continued that height around the room. She sized two islands to fit the space in a pleasing way, and she thought carefully about the height of the fridge and coffee bar built-ins on the right side of the room.
Her client also had a strong sense of scale. “She found these oversized pendants and I just love them over the island,” Ggem says. “I’m not a fan of recessed lights. The contractor said we would need eight, but I got it down to two by using pendants, sconces and undercabinet lighting throughout the kitchen.” Note that she also removed the existing track lights from the beams.
Backsplash tile: Zia Tile; pendant lights: Bell, Normann Copenhagen
Shop for kitchen lighting
The scale of the kitchen called for two islands, and so did the way the family likes to function. “I used a two-island layout so that we could keep other people out of the chef’s triangle,” Ggem says. She placed the work island near the range and fridge. It contains a prep sink, a second dishwasher, a microwave drawer and drawers on both sides for storage.
The second island is for seating. Both islands have Perla quartzite countertops. These have lovely veining patterns in soft neutrals that add to the nature-inspired vibe of the house. The perimeter countertops are Taj Mahal quartzite. Both have a leathered finish for durability.
The avocados in the bowl came from the ranch.
The second island is for seating. Both islands have Perla quartzite countertops. These have lovely veining patterns in soft neutrals that add to the nature-inspired vibe of the house. The perimeter countertops are Taj Mahal quartzite. Both have a leathered finish for durability.
The avocados in the bowl came from the ranch.
“There’s a lot of space in this kitchen and the ceilings are really high,” Ggem says. “While we wanted it to have a very clean look, I didn’t want to bury the kitchen in acres and acres of flat-front or Shaker-style cabinetry. We really needed texture in here.” So she opted for tambour — panelized sheets of fluted oak.
“It was really tough to size the fluted panels just right, and it took a lot of careful planning,” Ggem says. “Especially on the panelized refrigerator doors. You don’t want to have to slice a piece of fluting down the center — it will stand out and look so wrong. The way it came out exceeded my wildest dreams — that entire built-in looks absolutely seamless.”
There’s a tall cabinet for brooms and mops to the right of the fridge, with a coffee station beyond that. Beneath the coffeemaker are drawers for mugs and other accoutrements, as well as a fridge drawer for creamers and pastries. “My clients have guests who come from afar and stay for a month, so this is a great way for them to serve themselves breakfast in the morning,” Ggem says.
“It was really tough to size the fluted panels just right, and it took a lot of careful planning,” Ggem says. “Especially on the panelized refrigerator doors. You don’t want to have to slice a piece of fluting down the center — it will stand out and look so wrong. The way it came out exceeded my wildest dreams — that entire built-in looks absolutely seamless.”
There’s a tall cabinet for brooms and mops to the right of the fridge, with a coffee station beyond that. Beneath the coffeemaker are drawers for mugs and other accoutrements, as well as a fridge drawer for creamers and pastries. “My clients have guests who come from afar and stay for a month, so this is a great way for them to serve themselves breakfast in the morning,” Ggem says.
Ggem sized the seating island to fit triplets plus a parent while the other parent cooks. She also lined it up with the breakfast area, which has wide views out to the hills.
“My client wanted to turn the pantry into a back kitchen for canning and other work,” Ggem says. “She really loves the American farmhouse look, but it wasn’t appropriate for this house. The pantry was a chance to give it to her, paying homage to the fact that there has been a ranch here for so long.”
Ggem designed cabinets and shelves that have a freestanding furniture-like feel, including the walnut built-ins with the rolling ladder at the back of the space. To the right, she purposely kept the shelves open with no backing to lend a furniture-like feel.
Cabinet hardware: deVOL
Ggem designed cabinets and shelves that have a freestanding furniture-like feel, including the walnut built-ins with the rolling ladder at the back of the space. To the right, she purposely kept the shelves open with no backing to lend a furniture-like feel.
Cabinet hardware: deVOL
The flooring is terra-cotta tile by Arto, a Los Angeles company that locally handcrafts all its tile to order. Ggem moved the opening to the pantry to line up with the opening beyond it into the kitchen.
To the left is a fridge and a wall oven for back-kitchen baking projects. To the right of the wine fridge, the root vegetable storage baskets are vented to the basement crawl space below. “We tried to get a little ‘California cooling’ here — our own little take on a geothermal system,” Ggem says. The cabinets to the left of the wine fridge open on both sides and contain the battery-powered vacuum and other cleaning supplies.
To the left is a fridge and a wall oven for back-kitchen baking projects. To the right of the wine fridge, the root vegetable storage baskets are vented to the basement crawl space below. “We tried to get a little ‘California cooling’ here — our own little take on a geothermal system,” Ggem says. The cabinets to the left of the wine fridge open on both sides and contain the battery-powered vacuum and other cleaning supplies.
Before: Here’s the kitchen looking toward the family room. The open feeling was especially nice because of the continuous beams and trusses and the expansive windows and doors. The spaces share the views and light.
After: The family room is comfy and cozy, with a big, cushy sectional the clients found on Craigslist. Ggem added many natural touches, including rustic wood.
“My clients originally wanted a plaster finish all over the house, but adding that to walls in such a large home was a real budget buster,” Ggem says. “Instead, we added a skim plaster finish in some spaces and used lime paint from Color Atelier in others to get a similar feel.”
“My clients originally wanted a plaster finish all over the house, but adding that to walls in such a large home was a real budget buster,” Ggem says. “Instead, we added a skim plaster finish in some spaces and used lime paint from Color Atelier in others to get a similar feel.”
Before: “This just looked like the dinkiest little wood stove in this big room — it was sad,” Ggem says. It’s even too small for its tile surround — nothing about the scale of it worked in here.
Also, there were half walls that cut off the room, with odd soffits chopping up the architecture overhead.
Also, there were half walls that cut off the room, with odd soffits chopping up the architecture overhead.
After: Ggem ripped out the wood stove and half walls, creating this new gas fireplace wall. Note the way she used a thick-wall strategy to carve out the recessed niches that flank the fireplace. The shelves are the reclaimed aqueduct wood, and the new mantel is a reclaimed barn beam.
A leather chair, live-edge coffee table, baskets, and leather and wood stools bring in more natural elements. Ggem used wool for all the rugs in the home. “Wool has been used for rugs for thousands of years and can take on whatever humans throw at them,” she says. “They are natural and cleanable.”
A leather chair, live-edge coffee table, baskets, and leather and wood stools bring in more natural elements. Ggem used wool for all the rugs in the home. “Wool has been used for rugs for thousands of years and can take on whatever humans throw at them,” she says. “They are natural and cleanable.”
With the half walls gone, Ggem expanded the family room to the left and created a new arched opening to the bedroom wing of the home. This created delineation between the public and private spaces and threw a soft curve into the clean-lined space.
“This family has a huge book collection, so I put in shelving wherever I could,” Ggem says. She also used a thick-wall strategy to recess the shelving in here, both around the fireplace and to the left. Beneath the bottom shelves, she had drawers crafted from the aqueduct wood, sizing them for lots of toy storage. (Note the family’s book collection had not yet been unpacked on photo shoot day.)
“This family has a huge book collection, so I put in shelving wherever I could,” Ggem says. She also used a thick-wall strategy to recess the shelving in here, both around the fireplace and to the left. Beneath the bottom shelves, she had drawers crafted from the aqueduct wood, sizing them for lots of toy storage. (Note the family’s book collection had not yet been unpacked on photo shoot day.)
For the toddler triplets’ bathroom, Ggem chose this wall to accommodate triple sinks. A trio of mirrors hangs above. The bottom drawers are pullout step stools with finger pulls, so the kids can easily pull them out and step up to reach their sinks. Wall-mounted faucets lend a cleaner look and also make it easier to keep the sinks clean.
This flooring was also handmade by Arto. It’s a through-body cement tile that Ggem had laid in a chevron pattern. Through-body means the color goes all the way through the tile. These tiles come as separate pieces, not in sheets, so it took a top-notch installer to get the pattern right. Ggem also ordered extra tiles to serve as the baseboards around the room. “These tiles are the most rustic texture we added to the house,” she says.
Ggem designed a built-in white oak cabinet with lots of drawers to make up for the lack of storage on the open vanity. “These have these great little leather pulls,” she says. “They are tactile and neat for the kids to pull open.”
Ggem also had all the doors in the home replaced with cerused white oak doors, including the one seen at the left of this photo. “The house needed something to really ground it in nature,” she says. “This finish really shows the grain of the wood. And the doorknobs have this sanded and distressed texture that you feel when you touch them. It feels comfortable and brings the house down to a human scale.”
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Ggem designed a built-in white oak cabinet with lots of drawers to make up for the lack of storage on the open vanity. “These have these great little leather pulls,” she says. “They are tactile and neat for the kids to pull open.”
Ggem also had all the doors in the home replaced with cerused white oak doors, including the one seen at the left of this photo. “The house needed something to really ground it in nature,” she says. “This finish really shows the grain of the wood. And the doorknobs have this sanded and distressed texture that you feel when you touch them. It feels comfortable and brings the house down to a human scale.”
Find a local tile professional
This first-floor powder room has a counter and backsplash made of wood from a local tree that had fallen. “It was the countertop pro who recommended folding this beautiful slab of wood up to form a backsplash and it was genius,” Ggem says.
The sink is an old agricultural trough from Europe. To make it function properly as a sink, Ggem had it chipped out to slant toward the drain and used a sealant on the bottom that didn’t change the color of the stone. The mirror was another Craigslist find. Its elegance contrasts with the rustic sink and counter. So do the alabaster pendant lights.
The sink is an old agricultural trough from Europe. To make it function properly as a sink, Ggem had it chipped out to slant toward the drain and used a sealant on the bottom that didn’t change the color of the stone. The mirror was another Craigslist find. Its elegance contrasts with the rustic sink and counter. So do the alabaster pendant lights.
Before: Upstairs, there was another 1980s misstep: a loft space that wasn’t very functional. It also had long spans of the traditional railings that didn’t jibe with the contemporary architecture.
After: Ggem transformed this space into the family library. “My clients had not unpacked their books before the photo shoot, but these shelves will be full of books, with kids’ books on the bottom shelves so they can reach them,” she says. Comfortable armchairs are also on the way, but for now the kids like lying on the floor and reading. The vintage rug warms the space.
“It was really tricky to figure out how to design this wall, but it came out really well,” Ggem says. She used more of the reclaimed aqueduct wood on the shelves and added a rolling ladder to access the higher books. The clear glass opening overlooks the kitchen’s beams and clerestory windows.
“It was really tricky to figure out how to design this wall, but it came out really well,” Ggem says. She used more of the reclaimed aqueduct wood on the shelves and added a rolling ladder to access the higher books. The clear glass opening overlooks the kitchen’s beams and clerestory windows.
A special moment occurs at the entry to the primary bedroom. Ggem found a pair of antique doors at an architectural salvage yard and had the opening sized to fit them. “Having to add framing around them was a good tradeoff to be able to use these incredible doors,” she says.
New to home remodeling? Learn the basics
New to home remodeling? Learn the basics
All the primary bedroom required was furnishing and a few tweaks. Making it a clean-lined, soft neutral space put the focus on the views. This room and the family library enjoy a large balcony overlooking the farmland.
Ggem added a reclaimed beam above the fireplace and stripped off some old trim down to the original steel. She used leftover Taj Mahal quartzite from the kitchen for the hearth. The flat-weave wool rug is vintage. The live-edge headboard adds another organic touch.
Ggem added a reclaimed beam above the fireplace and stripped off some old trim down to the original steel. She used leftover Taj Mahal quartzite from the kitchen for the hearth. The flat-weave wool rug is vintage. The live-edge headboard adds another organic touch.
In the former primary bathroom, a corner tub with a large triangular deck had thrown off the layout. Ggem removed it and borrowed a little space from the primary bedroom to make room for a larger window. (The bathroom used to end under the ceiling’s peak.) The window provides views of the hills. “Giving the tub this view provided an ‘ahhh’ moment,” Ggem says.
The floor tile is composed of onyx pebbles. “These are super biophilic — they feel so good under your feet,” Ggem says.
The floor tile is composed of onyx pebbles. “These are super biophilic — they feel so good under your feet,” Ggem says.
Ggem repeated the thick-wall architectural strategy she used in other rooms by recessing the mirrors. All the bathroom walls, including the shower walls, and the countertop are covered in Tadelakt. “This is a waterproof Moroccan wall plaster treatment that has been around for hundreds of years,” Ggem says.
The sinks are handmade ceramic. “These are so special,” Ggem says. “They have an organic, handmade look — they undulate and almost look like rocks.”
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The sinks are handmade ceramic. “These are so special,” Ggem says. “They have an organic, handmade look — they undulate and almost look like rocks.”
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Tour more homes
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House at a Glance
Who lives here: A couple and their toddler triplets
Location: Moorpark, California
Size: Six bedrooms, 5½ bathrooms
Designer: Shannon Ggem
Before: While the house had fantastic 1980s bones, some markers of the era had not aged quite so well. One was the combination of contemporary architecture and more traditional details and finishes in odd ways. This included the dated front door and the staircase and railings, which looked too busy and out of place in the clean, open space. “Tastes have changed, and this house had some unfortunate ’80s moments like weird soffits, low cabinets and odd angles,” Ggem says.
Also, the flooring materials changed throughout the house. The existing hardwoods were short polished planks that looked busy within the larger spaces.
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