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Before & After: The Beverly Grove Renovation

Gregory Han
Gregory Han
A Los Angeles native, Gregory’s interests fall upon the relationship between design, nature, and technology. His resume includes art director, toy designer, and design writer. Co-author of Poketo's "Creative Spaces: People, Homes, and Studios to Inspire", you can find him regularly at Design Milk and the New York Times Wirecutter. Gregory lives with his wife Emily and their two cats—Eames and Eero—in Mt. Washington, California, curiously investigating the entomological and mycological.
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updated May 6, 2019
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Seeing potential. Not everyone has this gift to see beyond an aged surface, weathered finishes, a far from perfect interior space, or even damaged furnishings. But Greg and Alexandra certainly do, (no big surprise considering the couple operate home renovation specialty service, ModOp Design, while Alexandra is also a notable textile designer and interior stylist) extending their talents to make a Los Angeles house their very own home…

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Owners Greg and Alexandra share some insight about the history of the home and their renovation:

Lots of interesting history on this house. It was built in 1926 and we are the third owners. The original owner lived here for over 40 years and gave the house to his caretaker who lived here for another 40+ years. She had inherited some of the original furniture. So, when we bought the house from her children, I asked for some of the original pieces.

The mahogany post bed and dresser in the guest bedroom for example. I refinished it myself and found a photo of the original owners laundry business in the bottom drawer!

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I reupholstered the wingback chair that was in the living room with my own textile design, printed on upholstery weight cotton. And I had the original wood desk in the office painted and refinished by Jessica at ‘Disregarden’ who I found at the Fairfax flea market. I re-painted and re-wired the dining room and breakfast room chandeliers and moved them to the bedrooms.
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As far as the house goes, we restored all the original wood work – the beamed ceiling in the living room and dining room, the built in book cases and the front door were all stripped of the antique faux finish they had and were carefully stained. We restored the original windows which was a ton of work and put in new oak floors (the original floors were too far gone).
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We used Heath accent tile and Granada floor tiles in the bathrooms and had our carpenter built custom kitchen cabinets and bathroom vanities. We had to widen the original doorways to bring them up to code, so we took the original doors to a salvage yard and traded them for wider doors from the same time period. And we restored the door hardware that had been covered with paint.
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Thanks to Alexandra and Greg Becket

Images: Charmaine David for ModOp Design

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Before & After
Remodeling
Renovating