Houzz Tour: Midcentury Revival on the California Coast
A 1955 Pacific Palisades gem gets an open-concept update
Kelly LaPlante
October 19, 2017
Houzz Contributor
Photos by Amy Bartlam
House at a Glance
Who lives here: A young couple who, during construction, became the parents of twin girls
Location: Pacific Palisades area of Los Angeles
Size: 1,650 square feet (153 square meters); three bedrooms, two bathrooms
Interior designer: Natalie Myers
Scope of work: To update this classic post-and-beam-style midcentury modern home, built in 1955 by engineering powerhouse Pollack & Kahn, the homeowners focused most of their efforts on the kitchen, living spaces and entryway.
They took the original kitchen down to the studs and removed a wall to open up the floor plan. “The clients had a piercing vision of what they wanted their home to look like,” contractor Marisela Arechiga of New Generation Home Improvements says. “Designer Natalie Myers brought those ideas to paper in designing the space to highlight the home’s architecture and bright space.”
House at a Glance
Who lives here: A young couple who, during construction, became the parents of twin girls
Location: Pacific Palisades area of Los Angeles
Size: 1,650 square feet (153 square meters); three bedrooms, two bathrooms
Interior designer: Natalie Myers
Scope of work: To update this classic post-and-beam-style midcentury modern home, built in 1955 by engineering powerhouse Pollack & Kahn, the homeowners focused most of their efforts on the kitchen, living spaces and entryway.
They took the original kitchen down to the studs and removed a wall to open up the floor plan. “The clients had a piercing vision of what they wanted their home to look like,” contractor Marisela Arechiga of New Generation Home Improvements says. “Designer Natalie Myers brought those ideas to paper in designing the space to highlight the home’s architecture and bright space.”
Natural light: The entire home is lifted up on stilts above the carport, creating cascades of natural light throughout.
Floors: “We were under a very tight schedule because the owner was pregnant and set to deliver at any point in the construction, so every day was critical,” Arechiga says.
“Laying the epoxy floors was so very challenging, and we wouldn’t accept anything but great so it took six pours to get it right. It unfortunately killed our timeline, but we got the floors that the clients wanted.”
Olive sconce: Triple Seven Home; door paint: Damask Gold, Benjamin Moore
Floors: “We were under a very tight schedule because the owner was pregnant and set to deliver at any point in the construction, so every day was critical,” Arechiga says.
“Laying the epoxy floors was so very challenging, and we wouldn’t accept anything but great so it took six pours to get it right. It unfortunately killed our timeline, but we got the floors that the clients wanted.”
Olive sconce: Triple Seven Home; door paint: Damask Gold, Benjamin Moore
Before: In the previous layout, a thick wall separated the kitchen from the living area.
After: Removing the wall created a better connection between the two spaces.
What You Need to Know Before You Tear Down That Wall
What You Need to Know Before You Tear Down That Wall
Cabinets: For a sleek look on a budget, the designer added cabinet doors from Semi Handmade to low-cost Ikea cabinets.
Countertop: Caesarstone; backsplash in Weld: Clé Tile; appliances: Miele; faucet: Kohler; pendant lights: Heather Rosenman; ceiling lights: Justice Design
Countertop: Caesarstone; backsplash in Weld: Clé Tile; appliances: Miele; faucet: Kohler; pendant lights: Heather Rosenman; ceiling lights: Justice Design
Dining area: A George Nelson bubble light hangs over a midcentury-style dining set. Because the home is on stilts, the view of the tree canopy makes it feel like you’re dining in a treehouse.
Browse pendant lights
Browse pendant lights
Myers worked with the homeowners to outfit the space with a collection of modern furnishings that meld with the style of the home.
Walls: Vertical red oak rift-cut paneling custom-made in-house
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Walls: Vertical red oak rift-cut paneling custom-made in-house
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@H202: This site may help you understand about different grouts vs caulk. Most problems dealing with epoxy is not understanding its use, nor application. Perhaps the base flooring was not correctly prepared for epoxy. As with anything, knowledge and experience make all the difference.
My understanding is that the floors are solid surface epoxy -- and we're not talking about an epoxy grout? I spent hours googling mcm and modern renos that involve epoxy floors, and several of the blogs say that it was a disaster doing the job, but worth it in the end. There are several installers in our area, but they clearly are mostly doing garages, and have only ventured into interior floors in recent years as popularity has grown. Also, a lot of the interior floors are those bizarre glossy/marble effect ones, which i don't like at all. So just looking for best practices to figure out how we achieve this epoxy floor look that is so common on design blogs but doesn't seem to have reached real life yet!
Epoxy floors are well known in garages. Jay Leno's garage has an epoxy floor. It can be done as a coating which is usually temporary in the case of houses. Or it can be done like you have a garage which lasts for decades. Price can be cheap or expensive depending on what you want. More links for your pleasure. If you want a permanent job you'll need to start with a concrete base. If you want a decorator interior job on a current house, you would use temporary - coating - unless you want to uncover your concrete foundation.
Most problems deal with not understanding its use, nor application. And yes, you are finding one of the problems - the right contractor for the job.