When most designers take on a new project, they come armed with moodboards, themes, and a clear vision. This was not the case with Los Angeles– and Toronto-based And And And Studio’s latest commission, a rehabbed midcentury home tucked in a bohemian enclave of Laurel Canyon.
Because of the staggered renovation timeline—and a pair of long-term clients who gave designers Daniel Rabin and Annie Ritz near-total creative freedom—the project unfolded like a novel written without an outline. “It was like designing almost in reverse,” Rabin says. The duo began with the exterior areas—usually the last on a renovation checklist—piecing together an outdoor living room and kitchen. Phase two tackled the primary suite “without knowing how everything [would be] connected.” The full story didn’t coalesce until the third and final chapter, when the family—a Hollywood writer-producer power couple with two kids—moved out so the team could redo the floorplan and add a 900-square-foot second story.
Despite reaching a dazzling ending, the original structure the AD PRO Directory studio was given to work with proved tricky. The house was purchased for the flat lot, privacy, and the pool (a rarity in Laurel Canyon’s hilly close quarters), not necessarily for its bones. Yes, it was a midcentury, but more “midcentury light,” as Rabin puts it. “The good midcentury was sort of buried in there,” Rabin continues. “It was built in the ’60s, renovated in the ’90s—and the ’90s weren’t ever very kind to anybody’s renovation.”
What did emerge as an obvious plot point was the living room with its clerestory windows and iconic views. But finding the right paint color to set the tone for the home was a challenge. “We went through 20 options to find the perfect buttery-warm base color,” says Ritz. The winning hue was Cream by Benjamin Moore. “The minute you walk in, the house kind of glows,” she gushes.