In Bel Air, Natasha Baradaran Designs A Restorative Retreat

"This house captures the Los Angeles light so beautifully,” muses interior designer Natasha Baradaran of the Bel Air home she completed for a couple who’d long lived in a traditional-style dwelling. “Midcentury architecture was a departure for them, but they knew it would underscore the clean, simple, wellness-focused lifestyle they sought,” she explains. “Their new home is a modern-day oasis.”

Originally built in the 1960s and extensively remodeled more than a decade ago, “it had beautiful proportions, but needed refreshing,” architect Karim Ladjili says. “In a sense, we were creating a jewel box to showcase Natasha’s savoir faire, so my involvement focused primarily on improving the articulation of certain interior spaces.” Working closely with the designer and with general contractor Donald Hanover, Ladjili added clerestory windows and a glass pivot door to the entryway, which flood the space with natural light. The design team also fitted a powder room into the foyer, laid out a new kitchen and converted a home office into a hotel-like lounge. “Working on adaptive reuse projects in France instilled in me a sense of designing with timelessness in mind,” says the Tunisian architect, who practiced in Paris before settling in L.A.

“When Karim lifted the ceiling height in the entry, it created a very different sense of light that we wanted to continue throughout the home,” Baradaran notes. For instance, entering the sunlit living room offers an immediate sense of boundlessness thanks to glass corner walls that open to the garden. To balance the room’s embrace of the yard’s greenery and views that extend to the Pacific, the designer chose a fireplace surround of dynamic Patagonia quartzite that adds visual weight to the space. “It becomes its own work of art against the landscaping,” she explains. Pale neutrals, a large-scale patterned rug and walls of fluted plaster bring in depth and texture without layering in additional color. Baradaran then devised several seating areas, including a games table and two sofas. “The homeowners entertain often, so it needed to be inviting for groups, but also durable enough for dogs and grandkids—beautiful but livable,” she says.

From the project’s inception, Baradaran’s clients urged her to freely explore her vision for their home, placing a high level of trust in her abilities that felt particularly poignant as the designer neared the end of a journey through breast cancer. “They kindly encouraged me to use this project as therapy and as a creative outlet, and it was exactly what I needed to move forward,” she shares. Diving into her own aesthetic world on behalf of her clients while simultaneously readying her first L.A. showroom ultimately proved healing. And the residence itself highlights factors that promote wellness and longevity, the designer points out, from its emphasis on biophilic design to the inclusion of a gym and sauna. These elements accentuate the home’s sanctuary-like feel and call attention to Baradaran’s holistic approach to design, which weaves together multicultural influences—vintage Italian and French pieces, contemporary art—with a laid-back California vibe.

Connecting to the living room via a gallery-like hallway are the dining room, kitchen and family room. Originally one open space, Baradaran enclosed the dining room for a more intimate feel, borrowing a few extra feet from it to enlarge the kitchen. “These clients like to cook, so the kitchen needed to be very functional,” she says, noting subdued but still striking design choices like the room’s Italian glass pendant. “It has a simplicity that feels poetic and serene,” she says of the sculptural piece. That’s a feeling continued in the couple’s bedroom, where a neutral palette is punctuated with pale pinks and purples, hues pulled from flowers visible from their window. Baradaran emphasized the softness of the space with curved furnishings and area rugs, as well as a velvet-upholstered headboard wall. Adding to the residence’s richness is the couple’s extensive art collection, curated by the designer alongside art advisor Karyn Lovegrove.

The home offers an array of defining features, but for Baradaran, the bar that connects to the atrium-turned-courtyard is among her favorites. “We should be making more enjoyable spaces like this,” she muses of the courtyard, noting that a roof was eschewed to usher in sunshine and stars. But there are other surprises, too, including a Ladjili-designed accessory structure containing a luxurious home spa that’s tucked into the hillside below the house, its roof supporting an outdoor kitchen and dining pergola that seats 20. Bringing everything together are lush, fragrant gardens by landscape architect Dana White. “I take such satisfaction in this project,” reflects the designer, who is now cancer-free. “I’ll never forget how fulfilling it was.”