No Passport Is Required To Reach This L.A. Home’s Many ‘Destinations’
“Oftentimes the entry is an overlooked space, so we wanted to make sure this one held its own,” says designer Melissa Warner Rothblum, who chose Benjamin Moore’s Yukon Green and a metallic Krane Home wallpaper for the space. The outdoor rug and stair runner are by Stark and the brass stair rods are from Zoroufy. At the base of the staircase stands an antique table from the clients’ collection.
“You have to be brave and make your house you,” declares Melissa Warner Rothblum, the Los Angeles-based half of Massucco Warner, the design firm she cofounded with Julie Massucco Kleiner. So when a couple of avid travelers asked her to transform their Hancock Park-area residence, this maxim led her to set an intrepid course: turning her clients’ abode into a series of bold destinations. With Warner Rothblum in the cockpit, they embarked on a top-to-bottom redesign inspired by their favorite getaways from the four corners of the world. “This whole project felt like an adventure,” she recalls. “A great design adventure.”
“My clients wanted their home to be a reflection of themselves, so we talked a lot about what they love,” Warner Rothblum explains. Embracing everything from London hotels and fine suit jackets to golden retrievers and their cookbook collection, her conversations with the pair became the inspiration for highly personalized design moments. And because the house, which celebrates its centennial this year, had been lovingly restored by the previous owner, it was a relatively uncomplicated effort. “No walls were moved—this was a really good ‘before,’” says the designer. To elevate each room, she relied on an array of patterns: Fabrics inspired by menswear and what she calls “dressmaker details” (think nailhead trim on upholstered pieces and hem tape on curtains) were added to the mix for a refined, polished look. “Melissa took our love of haberdashery and combined texture and palettes with distinctive choices,” explains one of the homeowners, an executive in the entertainment industry. “She brought such boldness to the project,” adds his husband, a digital producer.
The entryway’s eye-catching wallpaper sets the tone, with a striking scene of gilded tigers romping amid birds and leafy branches. “The tigers are a protective symbol. You feel enveloped in that space,” Warner Rothblum observes. The print is also a playful nod to the couple’s dogs, who love to frolic around the home. “They wrestle on the carpet and shed everywhere, so we needed practical pieces like the foyer’s outdoor rug—it’s beautiful but you can hose it,” says the husband. Adjoining the entry is the equally alluring dining room, clad in a cloud pattern wallpaper and paneling painted a deep red. “They wanted a welcoming dining room. With the plaid rug and head chairs, it feels a little British, too,” adds Warner Rothblum, noting that the homeowners are fans of English designer Kit Kemp’s bold but classical interiors. Adding an element of surprise over the sideboard is a portrait of a young woman that the couple found in Vietnam. “It’s always been a centerpiece in our homes, but Melissa reinterpreted it with a simpler frame,” the husband continues. “And when she suggested painting the woodwork red, we just said yes.”
To add softness to these dramatic interiors, Warner Rothblum turned to mellow hues for the living room. “In houses with a lot of color, the eye needs a place to rest,” she says of her decision to paint the walls a warm taupe and balance brighter touches with camel and navy hues, shades that “makes green accents stand out.” The room is lengthy, so she established three defined areas: Sofas arranged near a central fireplace, a bar at one end and a pair of lounge chairs at the other. Rounding out the redesign is the kitchen, which is largely what sold the couple on the abode. “It had a Diane Keaton-Hamptons-Something’s Gotta Give feel,” one of the homeowners recalls. To accommodate the pair’s treasured cookbooks, the designer converted several cupboards into shelves. And adding another stop to the home’s travel chart, she created a breakfast nook evocative of a Parisian bistro.
Now, should the owners long for the feel of Southern Europe, the front courtyard is inspired by Italy, with Moorish accents. Should the English countryside beckon, the back garden is an homage to the Cotswolds—albeit with a drought-tolerant interpretation by landscape designer Nick Dean. Those outdoor spaces also lead to another “sunny and sweet” surprise, as Warner Rothblum describes it: a charming guest house that nods to Singaporean Colonial aesthetics with dark wood furnishings playing off cream-colored walls and fabrics. “This home doesn’t fit into a one-word style, it just feels very collected,” she reflects. Or, as her clients put it, “We can now go everywhere without leaving. Every great place we could think of came together in our house.”