Old Meets New In This Colonial Revival Home In Los Angeles
The living room’s custom sofa, in a Michael S Smith Inc. Jasper Collection classic stripe, is paired with 1940 chairs from 1stdibs enhanced with Arjumand’s World textile. The brass table lamp is Paolo Moschino and the artwork is Mònica Subidé from Megan Mulrooney.
WITHIN A HISTORIC RESIDENTIAL ENCLAVE, A 1918 LOS ANGELES COLONIAL REVIVAL IS REFRESHED WITH OLD-MEETS-NEW DECOR.
It’s possible that designer Georgia Tapert Howe manifested her role in reviving the 1918 Colonial Revival-style home her clients purchased. The stately house, holding court over a corner lot of Los Angeles’ Windsor Square neighborhood, first captured the attention of Howe, who lives close by, more than a decade ago. Clad with white wood siding, a pediment-topped entrance and a trio of dormer attic windows above a gracious, symmetrical front façade, “It doesn’t look like other houses in the neighborhood; it’s all wood, which feels so East Coast for L.A.,” remarks the designer. “I’ve always loved it.”
When the home she’d long admired hit the market, Howe nudged a family in the neighborhood to tour it. Already aware that the couple and their two young children were seeking a larger house in the same area, she advised them to jump on it, stat. Which they did. Then they hired her to helm the renovation of the 107-year-old dwelling, much to the designer’s delight. “It’s a historic house and the owners wanted to highlight that and authentically honor its traditional style, but still have it feel young and fresh,” Howe explains.
Previous homeowners had both preserved and updated the interiors and grounds in all the right ways, observes the designer (“which is so unexpected in a house this old,” she notes), providing her with a canvas already rich with original details and a framework that didn’t require an intervention. The plan, then, eschewed an extensive renovation in favor of cosmetic updates and furnishings that would juxtapose traditional and contemporary sensibilities.
“ I gravitate toward earthy hues and I like color and pattern—but with restraint. The goal is pretty rooms you want to spend time in.”
–GEORGIA TAPERT HOWE
This fine balance particularly plays out in the first floor’s main gathering spaces, composed of a spacious formal living room and an adjacent lounge area, the latter being an addition from 1939. To mitigate the size of the living room, Howe designated three distinct seating vignettes: a midcentury modern-inspired curvilinear sofa beckons from one corner, a gaming table rests in another and striking artwork helps define the main seating area, where a bespoke striped sofa and long coffee table anchor the space. Paneled walls, crown molding and a central fireplace make the room’s origins clear, while vintage chairs and stools upholstered in lively fabrics layer in an extra dose of personality.
Home Details
Interior Design:
Georgia Tapert Howe, Georgia Tapert Howe
An oak gaming table from RT Facts in the living room is surrounded by CB2 chairs sporting a Claremont fabric. The jute rug is Stark and Rogers & Goffigon cream linen draperies play off walls of Farrow & Ball’s Dimity.
Namay Samay silk-linen curtains with dark embroidery detailing add elegance to the dining room. A custom walnut dining table contrasts with vintage chairs from 1stdibs. The bronze chandelier is Richard Taylor Designs and the art is by Mason Bondi.
Penny Morrison performance fabric complements wicker lounge chairs from Sika-Design in the screened-in porch. The Munder-Skiles teak-frame sofa wears a Rose Tarlow Melrose House fabric. The tile-top coffee table is from Nickey Kehoe.
Designer Georgia Tapert Howe painted the paneled hood, set above a Viking stove, with Benjamin Moore’s Acadia White. The freestanding island from Room & Board, paired with McGee & Co. bar stools, adds counter space. A matchstick blind brings texture to the window.
Discoveries from Casamidy include the lounge’s leather-topped coffee table and chairs finished with Howe London striped upholstery. A hidden bar is lined with a Josh Greene Design grass cloth. The rug is Rush House and the art is by Mònica Subidé.
In the same room, a hand-painted chest from Casa Gusto adds to the collected feel. The 1940s lounge chair, another Panoplie find, is covered in a mustard velvet. A Marc Phillips Rugs wool carpet adds warmth.
The primary bedroom’s bespoke bed frame is swathed in a Loro Piana velvet. Beside lies a nightstand from 1stdibs with a ceramic lamp by Courtney Gertler of Cour Studio, sourced from Panoplie. The art is vintage.
A glass-on-bronze coffee table from RT Facts defines a corner of the living room, joined by a bespoke sofa wearing Mimi London, Inc. velvet and a Denmark 50 chair upholstered in Claremont linen. The antique mirror is from Obsolete.
Transformed into a play space for the children, the attic features bunk beds dressed in Gregory Parkinson textiles. The slipper chairs are updated with a Fermoie fabric from Hollywood at Home. The cotton dhurrie is from at From Jaipur With Love.
Continuing from the living room and defined by interior glass-paneled doors, the adjacent lounge features a fireplace, tongue-and-groove-paneled walls and a hidden bar. Howe resisted the urge to distinguish the socializing spot with a moody paint color. “These spaces all need to work together,” she observes of the tandem rooms, both of which feature warm white walls. “I gravitate toward earthy hues and I like color and pattern—but with restraint. The goal, really, is pretty rooms you want to spend time in.”
Much as the designer enjoyed scouring an array of Los Angeles antique shops, flea markets and websites like 1stdibs and Chairish for furnishings with her clients (the wife became an avid collaborator), Howe made an effort to bridge eras and styles for a more timeless look. The dining room, for instance, houses a Danish modern-inspired wood custom table surrounded by vintage wood-and-rattan chairs, backdropped by golden-hued draperies embellished with bold black embroidery. Not overly formal or stuffy, but not too casual either—and definitely not time capsule-y—the space exudes a relaxed, appealing elegance. The cheerful, detailed curtains became a jumping-off point for the whole project, recalls the designer, noting that her suggestion of the unexpected combination of color and detail resulted in an enthusiastic yes from the homeowners early in the process. “We’re more on the classic side, but with a modern twist,” comments the wife.
“It’s a historic house and the owners wanted to highlight that but still have it feel young and fresh.”
–GEORGIA TAPERT HOWE
Howe also made certain that the home’s traditional spaces would still work well for her clients’ contemporary lifestyle. A family room designated for kids’ homework and TV viewing near the kitchen keeps schoolwork and screens out of the main living spaces, for instance. And an enclosed porch space, accessed via the lounge and family room, functions “almost like an outdoor living room,” says the designer, adding, “A screened-in porch is so unusual in L.A., and I was as charmed by it as my clients were.”
Howe’s whimsical transformation of the attic, however, is the finishing touch. Reimagined as the ultimate kids’ escape, one wall is lined with built-in beds for sleepovers while a cluster of patterned slipper chairs below the vaulted ceiling provide ample seating for hangouts. There’s even a projector and pull-down screen for movie nights. “Initially, I couldn’t even imagine what this house could be,” the wife reflects. “Georgia captured everything we had hoped for. She turned it into a home we’re excited to come back to every day.”