Before & After: From Crumbling Storage To Cocktail-Prepared Pool House

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What do you do with a crumbling storage connected to certainly one of West Hollywood’s most charming Thirties Spanish Colonial houses? If you’re inside designer Emily Brownell of Los Angeles studio Gilded Hearth, you rework it right into a pool home that by no means fairly needs to name it an evening.

The storage sat behind a house with an additional declare to fame: It was initially the private dwelling of the architect who designed lots of its neighbors. But whereas the principle home retained lots of its authentic particulars, the storage was hardly the function anybody would point out when recounting the property’s historical past. 

At least, not till the house owners got here alongside. Already drawn to the interiors, they wished an outside counterpart that felt simply as transportive. Their reference level was a boutique European resort—however with out the plain references. “You wouldn’t walk in and say, ‘Oh, this is so Italian Riviera’ or ‘so Nice,’” Brownell explains. Instead, they had been chasing a sense: someplace you could possibly present up in a swimsuit, keep for cocktails, and finish the night across the firepit.

There was only one catch: the storage was in tough form. “It had such a lean on it that it was becoming a structural hazard,” remembers Brownell. By the time the group set to work, there was solely a single wall price salvaging. Still, slightly than deal with the location as a clean slate, Brownell rebuilt inside the authentic footprint, preserving the outbuilding’s connection to the historic property whereas giving it a wholly new lease on life.

When You Can’t Expand Out, Expand Up

The authentic storage might have been small, however Brownell discovered a approach to make it really feel something however. Taking benefit of the unique roof pitch, she raised the ceiling peak to 10 toes and added a dramatic coved edge. The transfer wasn’t purely architectural. Brownell had her eye on a sculptural Italian midcentury gentle fixture and a customized arched bar, each of which wanted room to breathe. Somehow, the identical footprint now feels twice as beneficiant.

Give Guests a Reason to Gather

A photograph of a marble-clad bar in a London restaurant stopped Brownell mid-scroll. She despatched it to the owners, and so they had been simply as taken with it. The slab turned the jumping-off level for the customized walnut-and-marble bar, full with fluted shelving, banded detailing, and an vintage mirrored backdrop that softly glows after darkish. Brownell describes it because the undertaking’s “hotel lobby moment”—the very first thing friends see once they stroll inside and the visible anchor round which every thing else revolves. It’s equally suited to informal poolside cocktails and bigger dinner events the place a bartender wants area to work.

Let the Original Architecture Lead the Conversation

Rather than recreate interval structure, Brownell seemed for methods to echo it. The heat wall coloration picks up on the house’s authentic terracotta roof tiles and tiled stair particulars, whereas curves seem all through the undertaking—within the coved ceiling, furnishings silhouettes, millwork profiles, and the arched bar itself. The purpose wasn’t to freeze the home in time. It was to create one thing that felt linked to its historical past whereas nonetheless reflecting how the owners dwell right now.

A Mix of Eras Feels More Collected Than Correct

If she has one favourite pastime, it’s sourcing classic lighting. Rather than leaning totally Art Deco or Midcentury Modern, Brownell centered on items from the late Nineteen Forties and early Fifties—a transitional interval when ornamental varieties had been changing into cleaner and extra restrained. The lounge medallion and classic Stilnovo chandelier, sourced from Italy, completely seize that steadiness, bringing simply sufficient aptitude to enrich the house’s historic character whereas aligning with the owners’ modern tastes. 

The Powder Room Is the Perfect Place to Take Risks

The powder room punches nicely above its sq. footage. Because it’s reserved principally for friends, Brownell figured this was the place all bets may very well be off. A customized self-importance brings sculptural curves into the area, whereas a dramatic onyx backsplash follows swimsuit. Vintage Italian lighting provides one remaining flourish. It’s proof that among the most memorable moments in a house occur behind a toilet door.

Create Destinations, Not Just Seating Areas

Warm wood flooring inside give approach to limestone paving exterior, immediately shifting the temper and making a collection of distinct entertaining zones: a customized firepit for cooler evenings, a generously scaled eating space for dinner events, and a bespoke daybed made for lengthy afternoons by the water. The complete area is designed round one thought: that it’s by no means fairly time to move again inside.