Little house, big ideas: An uncluttered look and wide-open outdoor access make a 1,375-squarefoot home live large - How the West is Living - Brief Article

Sunset, March, 2002 by Jil Peters

* Perched comfortably on one of the many concrete steps that cascade from the living room to the front patio, Cheryl Erramouspe soaks in the sunlight and fresh air. Her four-year-old, Justyn, who has discovered that a bamboo stalk from the garden makes a remarkably good sword, runs from inside to out, making full use of the room. "Our house feels like a vacation home," says Cheryl, whose relaxed natural style belies the fact that she's a busy career woman--after seven years in the U.S. Marine corps, she is a technical evaluator for the F.A.A. Her husband, Matthew, a lawyer in Century City, also works long hours; tonight he won't be home until after 9 P.M.

Despite their frenetic lives, Cheryl and Matthew find time to relax with their son. The deliberate simplicity of their 1,375-square-foot, 3-bedroom, 2-bath house helps them do it.

A year and a half ago, Cheryl circled an ad in the paper for their home. Independently. Matthew highlighted the same ad. Living in a townhouse at the time, they were seeking something with architectural character and lots of light. The house they picked out, and purchased several days later, had been remodeled on a speculative basis by developer Jill Soffer. While having all the benefits of being small--easy to clean and simple to maintain--the home feels remarkably large. It's flooded with sunlight and breezes, has a flowing floor plan, and opens in many places to the outdoors.

"The living room is the room I enjoy the most," says Cheryl, then quickly adds, "if I am home alone." Matthew and Justyn often commandeer the living room, so Cheryl retreats to a quiet patio off the master bedroom, where she can listen to music or read the paper and sip her coffee.

Subtle changes

The home was once an architectural disaster: dark and claustrophobic, with awkward, poorly linked rooms and an unusable yard. The design team, which included Soffer, architects Michael Sant and Jason Teague, landscape architect Russell Cletta, and landscape designer Jay Griffith, transformed the house without changing the footprint and with minimal relocation of walls, They subtly altered the proportions of the major rooms to accommodate furniture and circulation more comfortably, which meant extending a wall here, repositioning a window for additional light there, and using sets of French doors to open corners to the garden.

The changes extended into the landscape. Originally flat, with steps leading abruptly up to the front door, it was regraded to make a more gradual transition between house and street and between indoors and outdoors. The use of carefully layered screening elements--such as a concrete fence, a hedge, bamboo, and trees--creates a sense of separation and privacy that is unexpected given the home's location on a busy corner lot. The design provides a place for Cheryl and Matthew to entertain outdoors and a safe place for Justyn to play.

Interior simplicity

In keeping with the architecture, Cheryl furnished their home with clean-lined items from flea markets and antiques stores, being careful not to overcrowd the spaces. The slender ceramic vases throughout the house are attached to surfaces with museum wax to prevent them from overturning when they inevitably come in contact with a certain energetic four-year-old.

Cheryl says it's a great environment for a child. The design gives her young son room to run. The durable bamboo floors have a low-sheen finish that doesn't show a lot of scuff marks. Dusting and sweeping are all that is required--even after a day at the beach. The plants are also low-maintenance. Cheryl and Matthew spend less time worrying about things getting dirty--and less time cleaning up when they do. According to Cheryl, the house is proof that "big is not always best." DESIGN: Sant Architects, Venice, CA (310/396-4828); Griffith and Cletta, Landscape Architects, Venice (310/399-4727).

RELATED ARTICLE: How to make a small home feel big

Indoors

* A feeling of spaciousness occurs if the eye has a place to travel. Architect Michael Sant suggests thinking about how large a space feels, not how large a space is.

* Use a limited palette of materials and colors throughout the house. Sant explains that too many elements can be visually exhausting. "When space is inherently calm and peaceful, it leaves room for you to have a thought."

* Merge indoor and outdoor spaces throughout the house. Use blinds that roll from the bottom up, so privacy can be maintained without completely blocking views.

* Eliminate the need for freestanding shelving units and armoires--which are space hogs--by using built-in storage elements.

Outdoors

* Russell Cletta explains that plants used in large drifts will make a much more dramatic statement than a little of this and a little of that. Simplify to create a stronger visual statement.

* Be consistent. At the Erramouspe residence, even the color palette flows from inside to out. The sage greens, off-whites, and warm wood colors of the house are echoed outside in the concrete steps and the colors of the plants.