Bestor’s strategy: Balance splurges and bargains

“Iam totally the put-your-money-where-your-mouth-is lady,” architect Barbara Bestor says. When building her own home on a pricey and challenging hillside lot, she offset splurges with strategic purchases. A look at how she balanced the budget:

WINDOWS: The dining room has a picture window that’s 15 feet wide and 8 feet tall. “That’s one continuous piece of glass, and it cost $10,000,” Bestor says. Elsewhere she used aluminum windows from an industrial supplier that cost $200 each.

LIGHTING: Some fixtures were designed by her friend David Weeks, whose work can cost thousands at the Ralph Pucci showroom in the Pacific Design Center. By contrast, a vintage bamboo globe pendant on the deck was $200 at Rewire in Los Angeles, and her kitchen breakfast bar is illuminated by $50 woven wicker pendant lights from IKEA.

FIXTURES: Good mirrors and sinks in the bathroom are important, Bestor says. She splurged on La Cava and Duravit sinks and saved money on tile, citing B & W Tile in Gardena and Universal Tile Co. in Ontario. “Even though I cover the floors and the walls all the way to the ceiling, I only spend between $5 and $8 a square foot on tiles,” she says. “It’s supposed to be background stuff. If you want it to last a long time, you don’t want to be too of-the-moment.”

FABRICS: For the pool deck, Bestor had cushions made from Donghia’s Oahu print in Sunbrella; the fabric costs $140 per yard. By contrast, the bold colors and patterns used for her throw pillows are less expensive fabrics from IKEA, Marimekko or vintage sources.

FURNITURE: Bestor was besotted with the Mai Tai collection of outdoor furniture, a short-lived 1950s design by John Caldwell for Brown Jordan. She found a set of four chairs and two chaises at All Patio Furniture in Sylmar. “They were really trashed, so I had to have them stripped and powder coated and re-strapped, bringing the total cost to $7,000,” she says. For Bestor, who saves money with built-ins and vintage finds, the furniture was worth the expense. The finished product, now a juicy orange, “is the only furniture I was going to put by the pool,” she says, “so I wanted something bright and with presence.”

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David A. Keeps