The charm of a 1961 ranch home in Los Angeles’s Mandeville Canyon was buried under previous renovations. Bernatz Studio approached the renovation of a young family’s home by first stripping things down. During demo, the beauty of the post-and-beam ceiling and pitched roof guided the architects’ direction. The task became about returning the home to some of its former glory, balancing new contemporary relevance while avoiding the feeling of being stuck in the past.
“We were lucky that the actual spaces generally didn’t have to change too much,” said Patrick Bernatz, founder of the studio. The main intervention into the floorplan involved structuring the connection between the kitchen and dining room after previous renovations converted the layout to be more open. “We didn’t want to have an actual door to the kitchen, but we wanted to tighten the egress into that space so the focal point from the living room and the kitchen was the dual-sided fireplace,” continued Bernatz.
With the new layout, housing three bedrooms and two offices, the architects focused on local and site-specific materials to reclad the home, including local oak and walnut for the paneling and millwork. Locally sourced limestone was used for the fireplace, and a slurry lime plaster was added to mimic Cliff May adobe walls throughout. The architects intentionally used it to make some walls thicker for this effect.
Millwork runs throughout the residence with a planar style, used mainly to reveal and conceal storage spaces or doors. In some cases, it’s used to add a touch of contemporary or modern relevance to the space. In one of the bathrooms, for instance, a wooden vanity holds two sinks on opposite sides. They’re separated by a mirror, affixed to two wooden beams that float down the middle of the space. The light form helps make the design feel warm and non-intrusive despite being a modern addition.
Throughout the home, tongue and groove paneling runs in between the ceiling’s beams. The feature recalls the original charm of the home, emphasizing its 1960s construction and the contours of the pitched roof.
“We didn’t want this to feel like a true 60s-era time capsule. We wanted to take threads of that, but make it conducive with 2024 and 2025,” explained Bernatz. To that end, the team added deep skylights throughout and redid many of the windows so that the landscape, which the architects helped with, felt like part of the interiors.
The intentional avoidance of making the home feel like a museum also informed furniture choices. The team selected a mixture of vintage and contemporary pieces, alongside two bespoke items made by the studio: the sculptural white oak No. 1 Dining chair and the polished chrome No. 1 Table Lamp. Axel Einar Hjorth Uto chairs are used in the breakfast nook. A cupboard from the 19th century sits in the living room. Meanwhile, Charlotte Perriand Chair No. 19 dining chairs were chosen for the dining room.
“It’s always hard to maintain the integrity and the era of the home, while keeping the style somewhat timeless,” said Bernatz. By opting for warm and natural materials, Mandeville Canyon residence toes the line of history and contemporary to find an enduring middle ground.