Recently our clients have been requesting traditional house designs with a modern twist. A few months ago, I shared Steve's design for his client's Modern Italian Villa, today my post is about another one of Steve's house designs, a Modern Mediterranean house here in Santa Monica.
Our clients' house is nearing completion and the Owner has been kind enough to let us share it with you. The interior and exterior color palettes are very cohesive. The shutters on the window above are coming soon..
The exterior wood has been stained to look similar to the white oak that you will see inside.
The hedges and trees, which are the formal structure of the landscape design, are being planted this week.
You can catch a glimpse of the garage through the port-cochere. It will actually be used as a yoga studio and the owner will park next to the side door that leads directly to the kitchen. Steve designed the driveway hardscape in strips that will be softened by groundcover planted between them.
Here is one of Steve's drawings of this area as well as a sketch of the front and back facades. Steve always starts with these small 8 1/2 x 11 sketches to work out the scheme.
This picture taken from the Master bedroom gives you an idea of the garage. There will be grass planted in front of the garage allowing the yard to extend all the way across.A mature Sycamore tree will be placed at the end of the barbeque counter that you see being contstructed in the middle of this image.
This is the view from the inside back toward the entry. The door has changed from this first sketch.
The vaulted ceiling gives an intimate entry feeling and the house opens up as you move toward the back.
Off the Entry is the Study. We thickened up the walls rather than build it with traditional paneling.
You can see how the white oak on the walls tie into the white oak floors. The door beyond is stained to match.
The owner selected these wonderful light fixtures for picture lights above the cabinets. A sofa will be placed in the middle section, in front of the Oak paneling.
Looking from the arched Entry toward the back of the house, you can see how the house opens up and the stairway becomes part of the great room. The original idea of French doors along the back becomes...
Nana doors that open the house entirely to the outside.
Here is an image looking back toward the front door...
You can see the beams above.. Since this job was built on a tight budget, we used scaffolding planks for the beams that were mitered to look solid. The chalky gray Patina is just right. You can also see a steel beam beyond that Steve thought looked cool and decided to leave exposed.
Here is a sketch looking towards the fireplace.
To the right of the arched window is the gently curved stairway. It took a lot of hard work to make these lines flow together.
Our fantastic Superintendent, Anthony Garcia and the Contractor Roy Abbott of RT Abbott Construction did a great job working out all of the details and building this house at a reasonable cost.
The iron hand rail finishes directly into the plaster.
We selected a hand hammered iron for the hand rail. We're using an acid finish, so we don't need to paint it. You will also notice there there are no baseboards any where, even at the stairs.
The kitchen opens to the Great room with a Breakfast room beyond, that connects to the porch..
Here you can see Steve's steel beam again... The beam will be stained bronze to look similar to the stair handrail.
At the top of the stairway, Steve designed an operable skylight to give cross ventilation. He ran beams thru the skylight to support the chandelier.
The Master bath is very simple, just a few materials. In fact ,all the baths use the same travertine tile, and slab.
The tub will fill the Window bay..
Here is a sketch of the Master bedroom, with Nana doors that open to a balcony and a lovely vaulted ceiling. Stay tuned for more photos as this room comes along...
In the next couple of weeks I will be sharing the progress of this house. I'll also update you on Steve's clients' Modern Italian Villa, as well as two Traditional Modern houses that are also under contruction (one is on the beach in Malibu).
In the meantime, we are also moving ahead with our own Patina Farm. I hope to have more images of our finish palette and refined plans soon.
Happy Week to you all!
xo
Brooke
If you would like help creating the home of your dreams, email me about our design services. You can also purchase many items found here on Velvet and Linen as well as "to the trade" furnishings through Giannetti Home. Email Kelly about the details.
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