Name: Julia & Zeus
Location: Pasadena, California
Size: 1,300 square feet
Years lived in: 10 years (approximately 2 years since the remodel)
Julia and Zeus loved their California bungalow, but the space was divided into so many small rooms, and they dreamed of completely opening up the space. With a little help from two very talented architects, the main areas are now one large, connected space. Julia and Zeus love that they can stand in the living room and see through to the backyard.
Even though opening up the home made it a bit more modern, Julia and Zeus have kept the warmth of the California bungalow. The built-in seating in the dining room is a reminder of the home's roots, and Julia's pottery collection and linens from her Grandmother add warmth and soul to the home.
Apartment Therapy Survey:
Our Style: We wanted to make a light filled and open California contemporary house out of a very typical 1930's bungalow. Back then there was a room for every purpose, making a very cellular and divided house. We wanted an open, free-flowing plan, and to make greater use of our backyard. But we also really love some of the original cabinetry with their simple hinges and sometimes clever uses, like a hidden ironing board. We wanted to re-use as much as possible.
Inspiration: California is an amazing place to live: the sunshine, great weather,
and great light. But these Mid-Century tract bungalow homes were not designed to take advantage of that. We really wanted to take advantage of everything the house and California have to offer.
Favorite Element: Pocket doors/French windows. We love the sliding doors. Our architects, Bo and Hisako, proposed a Japanese style sliding system that uses multiple tracks so the whole wall opens up to the outside.
Biggest Challenge: Integrating aspects of the original home design into the remodel. Bo and Hisako did a great job with this; preserving and transforming many built-ins — see the open shelving, ironing board/bar, old bread and dry goods drawers from the old "California cooler" in original kitchen, now part of built-in benches in dining area, and toilet throne.
What Friends Say: Not what they expected from the outside, which looks like a typical 1930s tract bungalow; they love the beams, the pocket doors.
Biggest Embarrassment: The backyard, which we have not yet landscaped at all.
Proudest DIY: It was Zeus' idea to mount the hammock hooks permanently in the sunroom walls, though we can't claim to have installed them ourselves.
Biggest Indulgence: Pocket doors
Best Advice: Don't be shy to explore ideas you're drawn to. With the help of a talented designer/architect (like Bo and Hisako), you'll be surprised at what can be done with a small space and limited budget.
Dream Sources:
We love to bring things home from our travels.
Resources of Note:
APPLIANCES
- Bertazzoni range
- Fisher & Paykel two drawer dishwasher
- Samsung counter depth refrigerator
HARDWARE
- Sliding doors designed by Bo & Hisako of Bunch Design, custom made by Taylor Brothers, Los Angeles
FURNITURE
- Sofa in living room - Room&Board
- Orange recliner - Monte Grano nursing recliner
- Flowered chair in living room - Ikea
- Coffee table - Ikea
- Lamps in living and sun room - Ikea
- Couch in sunroom - Ikea
- Wicker chair in sunroom, dining room table and chairs - Second hand store in Phoenix
ACCESSORIES
- Couch throw pillows - Ikea
- Linens - Madeira, Portugal, via Julia's grandmother
- Pottery - Street fairs in Mexico and Portugal
- Hammock in sunroom - Merida, Yucatan, Mexico
LIGHTING
- Pendant fixtures in dining area - Sundance
- Fixtures on back deck - Schoolhouse Electric
FLOORING
- Oak
- Cork in the kitchen
TILES & STONE
- Kitchen backsplash accent - Mortarless Building Supply
- Kichen backsplash - Heath Ceramics
- Tiles in bathroom, Mortarless Building Supply
WINDOW TREATMENTS
- Custom, by Cathy Pack
ARTWORK
- Prints in sunroom and dining area - from 1971 calendar based on writings of Jose Saramago, bought from sidewalk vendor in Recife, Brazil
- Embroidered wall hanging in sunroom - purchased in Merida, Yucatan, Mexico
- Large black and white photo by window in living room, Flamenco dancers in Sevilla, Spain, taken during Julia's parents' honeymoon by her father
- Smaller black and white photos on dividing wall - by Peter McDonough (Julia's father)
- Embroidered wall hanging in living room - Madeira, Portugal
OTHER
- Architects: Bo Sandius and Hisako Ichiki of Bunch Design
Thanks, Julia & Zeus!
(Images: Marcia Prentice)
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No bedroom?
I love the kitchen, I can imagine you spend a lot of time there , it's light and nice.
I was wondering the same INNEEDOFMAKEOVER.
I'm not a fan of large open shelving but this home is simply charming. Love the bathroom and those window doors to the back yard..lovely.
Great use of bright colors, and I love the open shelving in the kitchen. It's a super cheerful house, which is great for a couple with a baby.
I love everything about the kitchen and dining area. So pretty! I love the sliding doors in the sun room. Such a fun house!
I almost bought that same flowered chair at Ikea they have in the living room but found it soooo uncomfortable..... it looks perfect in this space though!
Well done you guys.
What a happy house. I love the kitchen and the back deck, and the family looks adorable!
Nice job! I usually don't like open shelving, but this is quite possibly the best example of it that I've seen. There are normal things like boxes of tea (not totally staged!), and there's a lot of stuff there, but it works well.
This house is lovely and feels so homey. Great job!
Very cheery house. Please tell me you know the color of that bathroom (the blue green one with the shot of the toilet)
Absolutely gorgeous! Love the lights and colour, the ethnic artwork, the kitchen, oh... the kitchen!!
Julia & Zeus, thank you for sharing a glimpse of your home, adorable baby blessing & your smiles! So much love, life, warmth & vibrant beauty springing from each image! Simply gorgeous, warm and real ... so much life and love here! The balance is amazing as well ... clever simplicity in a lived-in home where everything is truly a work of art, loved & serves a purpose! Love every bit of it!
@Julia, your dress is beautiful ... so, is the tablecloth. Is the tablecloth one of the linen items from your Grandmother?
Love the addition and paint color choices. Lots of weird little close ups in this editorial though. Would have liked more of the house overall.
I think the tablecloth is from Crate and Barrel. What a cheerful, real house!
This is a favorite of mine! So much design in AT seems like nothing but the results of shopping trips made by people with slavishly trendy taste. This space if really rich with personal details and well-used, well-loved furnishings, and it's beautiful but doesn't foreground aesthetics over comfort. My only question involves the bedroom (love your bed, btw; I just bought a similar one): why not angle the bed centered in the corner so that it doesn't block that great window that's now behing it? You'll still get lots of room to move around it. In fact, sometimes angling a piece that way makes a room feel larger.
Sorry about that comment above. I wrote it about another post but somehow posted it here!
Love this. Best housetour ever.
Cute family, great house. Love the tiles in the kitchen and how you have used the open shelves. This looks like a really happy home!.
Love the kitchen - especially the backsplash! I also really like the built-in over the toilet.
I like the open shelving. Really lightens things up.
Really inspiring for California! There are so many of these tract homes, where it happened that the original developers built the same houses that they had built in Cincinnati or Indianapolis or Milwaukee without taking one minute to consider, as you say, the sunshine, the great weather and beautiful light. Especially true for the post-war houses slapped up for the returning GIs. But these bungalows are not all bad: They usually have a very respectful scale, emphasize practicality over pretense and foster a sense of neighborhood. I very much appreciate your maintaining what was good while finding a way to make your home take advantage of "California". And love all that wood! The exposed beams and the doors and deck. A happy place for a happy family.
Fledgling, I second your remarks about the positives of this type of housing. In Denver we are sadly losing whole neighborhoods of these type of affodable house to McMansion and bowling alley scaled duplexes and triplexes crammed onto single lots. And the people who buy them seem to stay no more than three years before they're up for sale again at some ridiculously high price.
I second also much of the praise already offered (kitchen, color choices, bathroom toilet surround). I found the treatment of the exterior especially appealing. I may see how I could adapt the paint color scheme and landscaping choices for my place. Sadly, I have no room to copy or adapt that gorgeous back porch.
The overall feeling of this tour reminded me of the little Oregon farmhouse rental featured just a few days ago. Although this is a much more designed, finished and polished space the common thread is the feeling of disciplined but calm and not uptight tidiness that doesn't seem fussy and obsessive but serves to support the orderly and happy lives of the occupants.
Well done! Really like your open shelving in the kitchen and the backsplash is beautiful! Cute little family - thanks for sharing!
You have a lovely, lovely home and an absolutely adorable baby - congratulations. The handrail(?) caught my eye outside the front of your house and I didn't think it looked right - maybe if it was painted or even removed. Your little one may enjoy swinging on it when he/she is older : )
One of my favorites! No MCM anywhere, which makes my day as I am not a fan of that style.
Love the kitchen and the open cabinets, you have your treasured displayed nicely. The bathroom is too cute and the door to outside is fab. Great job!
Can you share the exterior and interior green paint colors you used? Really like them both!
Can you share where you got the bathrom basin? Thank you.
SUPER kitchen and dining area. Nice in every way. How are you liking your cork floor? I would like to replace our Pergo kitchen floor with cork. What is the counter material?
The pocket doors must be great.
Hello everyone! This is Julia. Thanks for all of your comments. I'll try to answer your questions as best as I can:
Muesli: I'm sorry, I don't remember the name of the paint color in the bathroom, and can't find the chip. It's Dunn-Edwards, and I do remember we found it in the whites, actually - I was expecting it to come out much whiter with just a blue undertone, but it came out quite blue, which in the end was fine.
Lifeabundant: Kitty from DC is right, the tablecloth in the dining area is from Crate and Barrel. My grandma's linens are mostly smaller lace and embroidery, like doilies - you can see some of them underneath the potted succulents and flower vases. There is a larger framed embroidered piece that you can see In one of the living room shots, next to te bookcase. The dress is from a garage sale. (0:
KB Design: The exterior green is Dunn-Edwards, Woodland Walk (I only remember this because we painted the exterior much more recently). The green inside was painted by my husband when he first moved in to the house 10 years ago, and he doesn't remember the color but does recall that it was Ralph Lauren.
Roxana: I'm still looking for the model # of the sink. I'm pretty sure we ordered it from Faucets Direct. It is a knock-off of a more expensive Moen sink. It is very cute and we needed something that small because the space is so narrow, but it's not incredibly practical. It does the job for washing hands, but even then splashes over a bit.
MEBJohnson: We love the cork floor! It has give that makes it easy to stand on for long periods of time, is sturdy, hides dirt well and is easy to clean. I aso just really like the way it looks. The countertop is Ceasarstone Lagos Blue.
Thanks!
One last thing : we forgot to mention our contractor, Mario Alatriste of Casa Vieja Construction. He and his crew ( most notably Vidal) did a great job, and were very easy to work with. They worked very well with our architects, so much so that Bo & Hisako have used them for other jobs since.
Julia & Kitty from DC, thanks for your answers. I knew that tablecloth looked familiar for some reason.
Julia, revisited your tour to look for your Grandmother's beautiful linens that you mentioned. Love the embroidered piece & how it's mounted.
Sunshiney happy and unpretentious. Love your kitchen and sunroom.