Motley to Modern in the Hollywood Hills
The 2,000-square-foot residence was laid out like many other postwar houses. "It was a series of highly compartmentalized rooms with a staircase in the middle," says Griffin. She relocated the stairs and remade the entire lower level into open-style living by removing four walls that bisected the house and replacing them with a single column and four beams.
"All of these changes centered around one of our major challenges, which was to figure out how to create a larger apparent volume and maximize the views throughout the house so that the sight line was open from the front of the property to the back," says Griffin. As you'll see below, those aren't problems anymore.
Griffin notes that the family already had amazing furniture. "One of the owners is from Denmark and brought over a lot of the pieces," she says. "They had a very specific idea of a lifestyle and wanted the house to work with their furniture." The living room's main pop of color comes from the Zanotta sofa, which sits alongside Orange Slice Chairs by Pierre Paulin. The floors throughout the home are ebony-stained rift-cut white oak.
A single column (seen at the rear, center) stands where four walls previous met and divided the main level into four separate rooms.
The renovation included a complete makeover of the exterior. "The house was built postwar, but it was not midcentury," says Griffin. "It was a 'ranch burger' of sorts. We wanted to camouflage the existing roof and make the front of the house more dynamic."Her team transformed bay windows into large window boxes that step back from one another and cantilever over a courtyard that's just inside the door fronting the street.
The courtyard was previously divided into three separate areas. "We made it one large space — essentially you enter into a front outdoor room — and had the living room [which was previously at the back of the house] and dining area open into the courtyard," says Griffin. The old brick walls were redone with stucco.
The Louis Ghost Armchairs and Bubble Club Sofa are both by Philippe Starck for Kartell. The firepit is from Blomus.
Back inside, it's clear how well the indoor and outdoor areas flow together. "The family likes to entertain a lot, so we used the connection with the courtyard as a way to open up the entire house," Griffin says. The dining table, visible at left beyond the kitchen, is from Design Within Reach and is surrounded by Verner Panton chairs.
The library (and a guest room on the second floor) is part of a 300-square-foot addition to the floor plan. Its back wall abuts a fairly steep cliff, and "we wanted the library to step into the hill a bit," says Griffin. "It's part of the main house but distinct within the main area — basically a room within a room." To further distinguish the two spaces, the living room has dark wood flooring and a white ceiling, while the library has the exact opposite: a white floor and a dark-stained microlined oak ceiling.
The kitchen cabinets are rift-cut white oak that was bleached to provide high contrast with the white Corian counters and dark wood floors. The island holds the sink (recessed fixtures provide task lighting), while the Miele range has a pop-up Dacor hood to keep the overall look clean. ASub-Zero refrigerator completes the kitchen triangle. The doors visible at the rear lead out to another courtyard.
"All of these changes centered around one of our major challenges, which was to figure out how to create a larger apparent volume and maximize the views throughout the house so that the sight line was open from the front of the property to the back," says Griffin. As you'll see below, those aren't problems anymore.
Griffin notes that the family already had amazing furniture. "One of the owners is from Denmark and brought over a lot of the pieces," she says. "They had a very specific idea of a lifestyle and wanted the house to work with their furniture." The living room's main pop of color comes from the Zanotta sofa, which sits alongside Orange Slice Chairs by Pierre Paulin. The floors throughout the home are ebony-stained rift-cut white oak.
A single column (seen at the rear, center) stands where four walls previous met and divided the main level into four separate rooms.
The courtyard was previously divided into three separate areas. "We made it one large space — essentially you enter into a front outdoor room — and had the living room [which was previously at the back of the house] and dining area open into the courtyard," says Griffin. The old brick walls were redone with stucco.
The Louis Ghost Armchairs and Bubble Club Sofa are both by Philippe Starck for Kartell. The firepit is from Blomus.
Back inside, it's clear how well the indoor and outdoor areas flow together. "The family likes to entertain a lot, so we used the connection with the courtyard as a way to open up the entire house," Griffin says. The dining table, visible at left beyond the kitchen, is from Design Within Reach and is surrounded by Verner Panton chairs.
The library (and a guest room on the second floor) is part of a 300-square-foot addition to the floor plan. Its back wall abuts a fairly steep cliff, and "we wanted the library to step into the hill a bit," says Griffin. "It's part of the main house but distinct within the main area — basically a room within a room." To further distinguish the two spaces, the living room has dark wood flooring and a white ceiling, while the library has the exact opposite: a white floor and a dark-stained microlined oak ceiling.
The kitchen cabinets are rift-cut white oak that was bleached to provide high contrast with the white Corian counters and dark wood floors. The island holds the sink (recessed fixtures provide task lighting), while the Miele range has a pop-up Dacor hood to keep the overall look clean. ASub-Zero refrigerator completes the kitchen triangle. The doors visible at the rear lead out to another courtyard.
