Eight decades back on a whim, Jeff Olde visited an open house on a fairly elm-lined street he’d long admired. “I walked in the front door and was immediately taken with all the two-story entry hall with a sweeping staircase,” says Olde, a TV network executive. Then he called husband Alan Uphold who, without visiting the house, agreed to put in an offer. In just two hours the couple, who weren’t even trying to find a new home, found a new home, sold their current house and bought a new one. “It was only meant to be,” Olde says. “The home type of claimed us and we claimed it.”
Beyond the front entrance, however, the very best aspect of this house was that entry hall. “The remainder of this was mostly a wreck,” he says. “It was remodeled from the ’60s or ’70s and needed a whole lot of work”
in a Glance
Who lives here: Jeff Olde, Alan Uphold and puppy Bailey
Location: Los Angeles
Size: 3,900 square feet; 3 bedrooms, 3.5 baths
That is intriguing: The house features over 40 authentic Spanish light fixtures.
Brenda Olde
This open area functions as a passageway along with an intersection involving the family room, the living area and the kitchen. It’s also a library, anchored with a large custom painted glass window. “It had been made by an old family business in Pasadena called Judson Studios, that has been producing stained glass windows for a hundred decades,” Olde says. “I took a picture of a crest from a different home and had them replicate it. I really like it. I look at it every day, and it warms up the home”
Olde believes the light to be artwork. “I actually wanted an authentic, amazing, old-world intimate appearance and feel to the home, and a lot of this comes through the light,” he says. Not one original fixture was retained, so everything had to be substituted. “It was nearly as pricey as the building, but they make the home.”
In total, the couple additional 12 antique chandeliers and 32 sconces, a mixture of antiques and reproductions. Many of the fixtures came out of nearby Ray’s Hardware.
The initial two light fixtures they added were fitting chandeliers found in an antiques store in Pasadena, California. “We bought these amazing yet heavy fixtures before we started building because we loved them so much,” Olde says. “We ended up nearly building certain rooms around these two light fixtures, which inspired the chambers” One hangs here from the library, and the other is at the kitchen pulling the two spaces together.
Brenda Olde
The entryway staircase convinced Olde to purchase the house. Shortly afterwards, he and Uphold decided to restore it to honor the house’s architectural roots. Their vision was for the home to stream from the kitchen throughout the library and the family room outside into the terrace and the pool, along with light as the central function of art.
They lived in the home for six months prior to hiring architect David Serrurier and builder Terry Richardson to assist with renovations. “It was good to have that time residing in it before we began building, because we actually got a feeling of how we would utilize the chambers,” Olde says.
Brenda Olde
The couple wanted to restore each room to what they believed was the first layout. “We took our hints from the few rooms on the primary floor that hadn’t been altered,” Olde says. “They were characterized by thick plaster walls that were extra deep in the passageways. So we adopted that thick type of castlelike character into all of the chambers to create this beefy Spanish look I like.” Most rooms were gutted down to the studs and rebuilt with this particular design aesthetic.
One of their biggest design dilemmas was hoping to make sense of this 1960s addition, which generated a huge, long room, “just like a giant bowling alley,” says Olde. Their solution was to divide the distance in two, making a living space in the front and also a family area in back.
Brenda Olde
These two red tufted leather salon chairs from Olde’s favourite furniture store, Mortise and Tenon, were the very first purchase for your home. “They make such a statement, and I am in the process of discovering the bits that move around them. I really like the hunt. I wake up at 3 a.m. considering what might move there, which compels Alan insane by the way”
As the couple adds new furniture and fireplace tile, they are redesigning the living space more for beauty than for comfort. “I need it to be a great visual, even when we do not go in it, because you see it so prominently from the chambers we do live in. I just enjoy its pure visual beauty,” Olde says.
Brenda Olde
This baby grand piano, a birthday gift to Uphold, is the centerpiece of the living area. Olde says, “Nothing makes me happier than to have a glass of wine and sit with the puppy and listen to him play and sing. Those are some of my favourite times together and the way we mostly enjoy that space, only the three people with songs.”
Brenda Olde
The family room includes lots of casual seating, warm carpeting and a entertainment centre.
Sectional: Pampa Furniture
Brenda Olde
The dining area, which is adjacent to the entry along with also the kitchen, sets the palette and tone. Olde retained each of the walls the exact same neutral colour to create visual continuity. He says, “I liked it all just flowed together, so I painted it very creamy and neutral to create a light, open and free-flowing space. I wanted the light, tilework and furnishing details to actually pop.” He maintained the old reclaimed tile and dark wood for several of the flooring and ceiling beams. The one distinct color accent is a brilliant deep reddish.
Brenda Olde
Although lighting and materials were chosen to honor the heritage of a Spanish colonial, some concessions were made to the ground plan. “We opened up the kitchen so that it was just one large area in the middle of the home. This is not standard of Spanish design, but I needed the home to be livable from how we like to enjoy our own lives, which can be free and open.” Here is actually the view in the kitchen island.
Brenda Olde
The original plan for your kitchen was to go with bright, clean and traditional 1920s tiles. At the 11th hour, on a business trip, Olde discovered a wine cellar in Lake Como, Italy. He loved it so much, he immediately changed the kitchen plans to produce their own variant. The kitchen is now adorned into the ceiling with limestone tiles and black painted cabinetry.
Brenda Olde
“I found old reclaimed red floor tiles in Spain, this great putty-colored tile from Morocco to the walls and this awesome limestone for the countertops,” Olde says. The laundry and utility room off the kitchen is clad in the identical aesthetic. When asked about the kitchen appliances, Olde replies, “You mean in this area where the wine resides?”
All appliances: Viking
Brenda Olde
The master bedroom suite includes a balcony overlooking the yard. Much of the home’s art was discovered in Revival Antiques and the Rose Bowl Flea Market at Pasadena.
Window remedies: Restoration Hardware
Brenda Olde
The third upstairs bedroom comprises a attached en suite bathroom. The afternoon light flows in through French doors, and a balcony overlooks the front yard.
Window remedies: Restoration Hardware
Brenda Olde
The creamy palette is consistent throughout the home.
Brenda Olde
The second upstairs bedroom.
Window remedies: Restoration Hardware
Brenda Olde
Three decades ago the couple put in a pool and landscaping to create an inviting private backyard, which has been the highlight of their home. A spa featuring Moroccan tiles doubles as a fountain. The bathtub separates the seating area from the outdoor dining room.
Brenda Olde
“We live in our family room and rear patio with fire pit. We hardly leave during the evenings, and we find lots of company constantly needing to come lounge by the pool with margaritas,” Olde says.
Brenda Olde
The home flows out of the kitchen throughout the library along with the living room into the terrace and the pool.
Brenda Olde
Uphold from the backyard with Bailey.
Brenda Olde
This exterior exudes warmth, comfort and beauty. A tiled terrace and greenery create an inviting first impression. “When they built the area back in the 1920s they had planned to bring a street in the back. But they changed the plans and gave all of the extra yard space to the houses on this road, so the whole lot was incredibly deep for Los Angeles,” Olde says. “We had a very big canvas that I believed we could really not merely restore, but also make better than the first. Due to the critical Historic Preservation Zone designation, the area has been shielded and frozen in time.”
Olde and Uphold love their neighborhood and the Grove is within walking distance, offering outdoor shopping, dining and entertainment. “Beverly Boulevard is just a short stroll into the north, and La Brea into the east has an entire series of restaurants and companies,” Uphold says.
Brenda Olde
Olde was attracted to old Spanish houses by the film Sunset Boulevard. “The character lived in this wonderful Spanish mansion, and I recall thinking as a young boy, ‘I wish to live there,'” he says. A self-described frustrated architect, Olde says he has obsessed over houses his entire life. “l will drive down a road and see a home I need to see and I only need to go knock on the door and see if they will allow me to take a look. As a kid, I actually used to do so — I’d ask them if I could use their toilet,” he says.
Olde pored over books of antique Spanish homes to aid with the recovery. The novels Classic California and Colonial California were his bibles. “I studied every photograph for layout ideas, a lot of that I’d replicated”
Brenda Olde
Olde crouches from the entryway. The following home project is completing the living space and enhancing the three bedrooms and two bathrooms. Olde says, “Our canvas is still lovingly painted. I believe I was inspired to create a mood, and I need the home to shine and draw you in.”
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