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Photos: A modest home in Atwater gets a modest (and cool) expansion

Architect Rebecca Rudolph and husband, Colin Thompson, a designer and builder, more than doubled the size of a 500-square-foot house using inexpensive and repurposed materials in surprising ways. They bought the 1923 Atwater Village cottage nine years ago for $139,000. "It was basically a tear-down," Rudolph says — but one that they ultimately decided to keep, renovate and expand over time. The couple, both 36, met when they were students at the Southern California Institute for Architecture. Although their design sensibilities aren't always the same — Rudolph tends to prefer more glass — they agreed that they wanted a house that connected to the outdoors and a floor plan that flowed easily, so that the interior spaces felt larger than they are. The kitchen demonstrates Rudolph's ability to work with inexpensive materials and a great sense of color: turquoise ceiling, navy pendant lamp, red laminate countertop and white glossy IKEA cabinets. The antique stove came from Wertz Brothers. The floor is inexpensive plywood from a lumber yard cut into 5.5-inch-wide planks; it cost about $2 a square foot.
Architect Rebecca Rudolph and husband, Colin Thompson, a designer and builder, more than doubled the size of a 500-square-foot house using inexpensive and repurposed materials in surprising ways. They bought the 1923 Atwater Village cottage nine years ago for $139,000. “It was basically a tear-down,” Rudolph says — but one that they ultimately decided to keep, renovate and expand over time.

The couple, both 36, met when they were students at the Southern California Institute for Architecture. Although their design sensibilities aren’t always the same — Rudolph tends to prefer more glass — they agreed that they wanted a house that connected to the outdoors and a floor plan that flowed easily, so that the interior spaces felt larger than they are.

The kitchen demonstrates Rudolph’s ability to work with inexpensive materials and a great sense of color: turquoise ceiling, navy pendant lamp, red laminate countertop and white glossy IKEA cabinets. The antique stove came from Wertz Brothers. The floor is inexpensive plywood from a lumber yard cut into 5.5-inch-wide planks; it cost about $2 a square foot.
(Ken Hively / Los Angeles Times)
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