Catalina Remodel
Earning our reputation as dream-distillers, Claret-Cup was tasked with the complete remodel of a 2000 sf single-family home in Burbank on a shoestring budget for an adventurous, young couple with a vision for a modern home filled with light and air.
The original house, built in 1938, was was extended multiple times over the decades, resulting in a labyrinthine arrangement of rooms, extraneous corridors, and contorted stairs. Each door revealed a retailer’s palette of different wallpapers, wood and plastic wall paneling, and floor finishes.
Our design relocated the kitchen—originally landlocked between two smaller rooms—to the 1950s extension of the house with direct access to the garden and a new ground-floor deck. The new, single-shot staircase adds storage-space and opens up the floor plan between the more public areas of the house. The second-story master suite was completely reoriented to favor the views and to allow for a walk-in closet and a luxurious bathroom, including a tub with a view. By reorganizing the interior space in a more efficient way, we were able to accommodate an extra bedroom, full bath, and enlarged kitchen, all within the original footprint of the house.
Several aspects of the finished house speak to a synergetic relationship between Claret-Cup and the owners, who are kindred spirits with a passion for screen-printing and an appreciation for “making.”
While the diagonally-laid utility oak flooring that seamlessly transitioned into diagonally-laid bathroom tiling was pushing the installers’ comfort zones, they contribute to a more dynamic spatial sequence of the home. A set of bespoke sliding pantry doors, inscribed with a topographic map of the San Fernando Valley (with the door handle indicating the owners’ place in the landscape), combines digital fabrication techniques with hand-crafted wood finishing to impart a personal touch to the house.
Credits
Photography by Jenny Brennan
