Breaking out of the box - house remodeling

Sunset, June, 1988

Breaking out of the box The owners started with a squat, 1,000-square-foot 1953 house in the Hollywood Hills. They expanded up and out for space and views As it expanded, this 35-year-old house attained a cool, white, Bauhaus elegance combined with the horizontal sleekness of the streamline moderne style that Los Angeles helped make famous. Sitting on a skinny pad cut into a chaparral slope, the original building packed a living-dining room, a kitchen, one bedroom, and one bath into 1,000 square feet. The Los Angeles architectural firm of Boss & Agnew and designer Pat Barash added 800 square feet by extending the living room 16 feet and building a second-story master bedroom and bath. The living room expansion created a new entry. Before, a streetside gate opened to a deck, and sliding glass doors there opened into the house. Now, in the gate's place, a front door leads directly inside, where travertine paves the entry and surrounds the adjacent fireplace. Opposite the entry, the architects turned one end of the old living room into a bedroom-study and a stairwell, angled to orient the living area toward views over Los Angeles. Keeping the kitchen's black plastic laminate cabinets from an earlier remodel, the architects refaced appliances black to match. They relocated the refrigerator to an adjacent pantry created next to the back door, and lined the walls with storage. Beside the wall ovens, a wall extension keeps appliances out of view from the dining room. Upstairs, the master bedroom opens to a wraparound deck. The bath centers on a skylight-roofed double shower, supplied by an auxiliary 60-gallon water heater. At both ends are built-in sink counters and spacious closets. Outside, a new stucco facade adds horizontal emphasis with aluminum channels that continue on the wood facing the garage door. Owners Leslie and David Hopp credit two pointers with making their remodeling process particularly successful: to keep on budget, choose all materials before construction and stick to them; and decide in the initial contract to pay the cost for the architect's on-site supervision.

PHOTO : Before. View across pool to rear of squat and boxy original house shows its tar-and-gravel

PHOTO : roof, '50s picture window

PHOTO : After. From streetside and from poolside, opposite ends of house show the sleek new

PHOTO : facade, which wraps the entry and formerly detached garage. Second story has deck

PHOTO : overlooking 1950s-vintage kidney-shape pool

PHOTO : Glass doors open living room addition to pool deck and views. Across the room, glass-block

PHOTO : panels flank front door; dining area is at right

PHOTO : Glass-block curve encloses double shower in master bath, up one tiled step from the

PHOTO : bedroom

PHOTO : New counters and oak floor update the kitchen with its antique butcher block