This lux mid century remodel at 930 S. Paseo Dorotea has been a labor of love for over a decade. And if you’re a friend or client, then you know that this is also my personal weekend retreat away from Los Angeles, and my artist studio.
After selling my condo in L A, I was looking for a new place to call home. Demuth Park in South Palm Springs became my new home away from home. I won’t lie to you, I’ve invested so much more money into this home than I ever imagined, but when you’re fresh out of design school at UCLA and obsessed with detail, you simply have no other choice.
I started by removing every piece of landscaping except for the palm tree in the front yard. The fruit trees in the back yard were replaced with drought resistant Palo Verde trees. The front lawn was replaced with Ocotillos and Barrel Cactus. And that traditional sidewalk up to the front door was replaced with 36 x 36 concrete pavers placed on the diagonal from the driveway… who needs pesky salesmen walking right up to your front door so easily, right? The dilapidated wooden gates and walls were replaced with corrugated metal, or cinderblock, to better withstand the summer heat. And when I replaced the rickety pergola on the north side of the home, I expanded it to wrap down onto the cinderblock wall, creating an additional private patio for outdoor dining or reading. I added a 12 x 12 concrete slab in the back yard for a gazebo, just steps away from the out door shower that I also added. Nothing better than jumping out of the pool from swimming laps, then rinsing off outdoors, clothing optional of course.
When it came to redoing the interior, my sledgehammer and I had so much fun. I opened up the wall leading into the kitchen, and while doing so, discovered that a dropped ceiling had been added in the 70’s to modernize the kitchen. In one afternoon I was able to completely pull it down, exposing the original ceiling, still intact. I removed the hallway closet behind the kitchen, and closed up the odd pass through to the bedroom. Voila, I doubled the size of the kitchen in one afternoon!
The guest bedroom had been equally chopped up, so I reconfigured it by removing a tiny closet and adding a new back door for patio access in it’s place. The old back door was walled off, and became the outdoor shower. The little tool room became the new walk-in closet complete with a washer and dryer.
The master suite bathroom had a very dated and non-functioning jacuzzi tub, remember those? I replaced it with a large walk-in shower made from tumbled travertine and chocolate frosted glass tiles... the contractor hated working with those materials, but it turned out stunningly well.
Some of the other boring, but expensive items I replace included: a new roof, new ac unit and duct work, energy efficient double-pane windows, and 18 x 18 tiles through out the home to unify the flow from room to room.
More recently I installed ceiling fans and low voltage halogen lighting. The later was a must since I opened my home to the public for Modernism Week 2014 , showcasing all of my original oil paintings that you see in the photos above. I even created that butterfly wall mural as part of a youtube video to promote the event at my home.
All good things must come to an end, so this home will be put on the market shortly. It’s time for me to move onto to another project… maybe an Art Deco inspired pied-a-terre in the city?
I’m including a few images below to show you some of the before and afters… after all, isn’t that always the best issue of Architectural Digest! Oh, and in case you’re wondering about the rock wall in front of the house painted high gloss white… I faux painted it to look like natural rock again.
