A drive down Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles will take you through lots of ritzy, well-known areas — Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Bel Air. But a little farther west, just over the 405 freeway, you’ll hit an improbable picture: a rustic canyon where horse paths and farm-recalling character are the way of life. Welcome to the city of Brentwood, among the most desired places to live in fast-paced L.A.
It’s here that a California ranch house in Sullivan Canyon captured the eye of an author and her amusement manufacturer husband, who had been trying to find a nature-hugging home for themselves and their teenaged son and daughter, three horses, four dogs, a duck and six chickens.
But the house had not been touched since its construction in the 1970s. Windows were rotting; pipes fixtures were outdated; and obsolete fixtures, like pea-green sinks in the master suite, were uncontrolled. What is more, the city would not permit any additions to the house, because fire codes would have required the homeowners to expand the narrow canyon road by 4 ft to accommodate fire vehicles, which was hopeless.
The couple begged their designer, Susan Jay, to come to the run-down house and gauge its possible. “It was not in good shape,” Jay says. “But the land surrounding it was magic. They asked me, when they purchased it, would we make it something special?”
in a Glance
Who resides: A family of 4 and also many pets
Location: Brentwood, California
Size: 3,900 square feet; 5 bedrooms
Susan Jay Design
Having to remain within the first structure’s footprint, Jay took the house down to the studs and approached the revamp attentively. “It was my job to use every inch efficiently,” she states. Knowing that the family enjoys entertaining and cooking, the designer left the dining and kitchen spaces the heart of the house.
With encompassing perspectives of organic items such as rocks and trees, Jay stuck using natural substances. Wood ceilings and American walnut floors are highlighted with hickory cabinets, a reclaimed live-edge walnut island counter tops and stone countertops.
The homeowners didn’t need cabinetry on either side of the cooktop. And because they were already doing a costly Walker Zenger glass tile backsplash on the windowed wall (about $25 per square foot), Jay used a dark brown Italian ceramic tile (about $3 per square foot) on another wall to save money but still add texture and warmth. “It generated so much more depth than a painted wall,” she states.
Before Photo
Susan Jay Design
BEFORE: This wooden article dictated the previous kitchen layout. With no, Jay pushed the kitchen workspaces to the opposite side near big windows and beneath the skylight.
American walnut substituted the terra-cotta floors throughout the house.
Susan Jay Design
AFTER: By removing the wood pole and adding a room-spanning steel girder on the ceiling, Jay managed to open up and reconfigure the kitchen area. The wooden pole would have been right at the top of in which this table today sits. The amusement producer’s father made the table and chairs by hand in the 1950s.
Jay camouflaged the steel beam by getting it painted to look as the ceiling.
Plexiglas chairs: Plush Pod; pendant lights: Modiss
Before Photo
Susan Jay Design
BEFORE: Stone countertops and hickory cabinets substituted this worn-out-looking blue tile. The designer also replaced all of the wood-frame windows in the house with metal ones to cut back on obstruction and maintenance of views.
Before Photo
Susan Jay Design
BEFORE: First white brick tiling and terra-cotta tile composed of the entryway.
Susan Jay Design
AFTER: A wood shelving unit and walnut floors now warm up the space. The carpet and all-wood monk’s table belonged to the writer’s mother. The table was longer, but Jay had an artisan cut it down, then constructed the wall long enough to include it.
Lights: JGood
Before Photo
BEFORE: Because the city wouldn’t enable the homeowners to add square footage, they transformed this garage into a workplace and a TV room.
Susan Jay Design
AFTER: There was no insulation in the garage, so radiant-heat floor and a wall-mounted air conditioner were added. The retractable garage door has been rendered inoperable.
Bubble chair: Plush Pod; light fixtures: Rejuvenation; bookshelves: Elfa, The Container Store
Susan Jay Design
Custom cabinets hold the TV. Wood-frame doors covered in cloth on back conceal a recess in which the electric panel resides.
Susan Jay Design
A bright orange Corian countertop and a subway tile backsplash cheer up this small butler’s pantry, where food can also be prepped for your homeowners’ four puppies.
Backsplash: Filmore Clark
Susan Jay Design
On the opposite end of the kitchen area is a custom-designed hickory bookshelf that holds a huge number of cookbooks, many of which are signed by the chefs. Little shelves above the door display the homeowners’ PEZ dispenser collection.
Oma and Bunny Lou, the household Labradors, get comfy in the dining room.
Susan Jay Design
Walnut and wenge cabinets maintain the house’s well-stocked bar. The table and chairs are made from walnut and cherry.
Jay designed the carpeting with ModernRugs.com to match the midcentury modern colors and contemporary feeling of the space. The LED light fixture, from Water Stress Lighting, is called the Lawn Sprinkler chandelier. It’s Swarovski crystals wrapped in brownish to green to emulate grass.
Before Photo
BEFORE: Concrete block wall plaster in the living room made the space feel chilly. The challenge for Jay was the way to seat as many individuals as possible in the very long and narrow distance.
Susan Jay Design
AFTER: Furniture at a linear layout, developing a dialogue area in addition to a TV watching region, was the solution. The fireplace has been replaced with walnut bookcases and a media cabinet.
Susan Jay Design
The grass cloth wallpaper in the master bedroom gives the room depth. “I just think adding texture makes it look richer than you can achieve with just paint” Jay says. The Douglas fir ceiling has been refinished to provide it an inviting shade and tone.
Nightstands: Wud; light fixtures: Ralph Pucci; Chair: habit
Susan Jay Design
The couple wanted to get a fireplace in their master bedroom, but it would have been impossible to make an actual fireplace which needed venting, so Jay added this bioethanol-burning unit out of L.A. firm EcoSmart; it burns cleanly and needs no venting.
Cabinet: Wud
Before Photo
Susan Jay Design
BEFORE: The first bathroom exuded an obsolete 1970s style.
Susan Jay Design
AFTER: Jay responded elegantly using a free-floating bathtub for spaciousness and a glass tile shower for a reflective quality. She subsequently increased the window size and revived the outdoor walkway region to make a personal enclosed outdoor area. The general vibe is spa-like and calm.
To further the indoor-outdoor vibe, Jay created a brink of substances underfoot. Tile gets Mexican pebbles.
Before Photo
Susan Jay Design
BEFORE: “Green sinks. That’s what I had to use,” Jay says. The house had not been upgraded since its structure 40 years ago.
Susan Jay Design
AFTER: She responded with refined custom walnut cabinets which add an enormous amount of storage space. Wanting a sign of uniqueness, Jay created custom cabinet panels through Lumicor; they’re reeds and leaves suspended in resin.
The Nelson light fixture has been the owners’.
Susan Jay Design
This wine room was formerly an extra bedroom.
Susan Jay Design
The powder room was small, so Jay purposefully didn’t create cabinets for storage. Rather she added a wall-to-wall cantilevered-edge Corian counter. The Eden Bath spout is polished rock.
Sconces: Ralph Pucci
Susan Jay Design
The girl fell in love with some Pottery Barn hanging decorations, so Jay turned them into light fixtures. The first floors were painted a powder blue.
The one petition from the son was a Narnia-like secret passageway. Jay delivered using a vintage wardrobe that hides the bathroom doorway.
Susan Jay Design
Plush poolside lounge chairs back to some climbing hillside covered in greenery.
Susan Jay Design
Mindy the duck used to phone her house, but she has moved on to her own pond on the house.
Susan Jay Design
A path leads up the hillside to fruit trees and meditation areas.
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