Jewelry designer Amanda Keidan: a house that sparkles

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Amanda Keidan relaxes with her dogs, Woodruff and William, in the living room. Vintage glass jars and bottles from flea markets sparkle like delicate jewels on the mantel underneath a mirror from Serena & Lily. (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)

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Keidan with William, a rescue dog. Keidan has been collecting portraits of rescued animals for the forthcoming coffee table book “I Was Found at the Pound.” She said the book is an effort to dispel the notion that only “unlovable, anxiety-ridden animals” are available at shelters and through rescue groups. (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)

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Keidan repurposed a pair of dark wood barrel chairs from her father’s office. She sanded and repainted them a metallic hue. “There is something about adjusting a piece of furniture and making it your own,” she said. The bright red and orange painting is by Venice artist Lisa Bartleson. “When I first got the piece, I thought, “How am I going to make that work?’ ” Keidan said. “But the living room is so neutral, it works, and the mix of metallic elements help.” Round metal tables and faux animal skins complete the space. (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)

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Industrial leaded glass windows that Keidan said originally were in the old Helms Bakery in Culver City provide a vintage counterpoint to ottomans that Keidan bought from Ikea and recovered. “When I’m entertaining, I just pull them out and instantly have seating for five extra people.” She also uses them as side tables and catch-alls for magazines and mail. The black and white lamp is a Shine by S.H.O. design bought on the discount shopping site Gilt. (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)

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The walls in the adjacent dining room were painted gray for a calming effect. Delicate, shimmering Moroccan glass tea light holders were a gift from a friend. The table is from Restoration Hardware, and the chairs are from HD Buttercup. (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)

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A magnifying glass sconce from Anthropologie reflects the dining and living rooms. (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)

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“They are such an incredible thing to have,” Keidan said of the vintage windows, which a previous owner installed. “The texture is amazing. And because they are leaded, you never know what you are going to see.” (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)

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The O’Keefe & Merritt stove adds a note of nostalgia to the gleaming white kitchen. The gray walls not only create a sense of calm but also allow the white-framed vintage windows to pop. (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)

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A triptych by Venice artist Melissa Herrington stands out on top of white Carrara marble countertops. Asked if she worried about the artwork getting damaged in the kitchen, Keidan said no. It’s a way to “enjoy those pieces every day,” she said. “Those pieces make me happy.” As counterpoints to the contemporary art: more collections of vintage glass. (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)

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Woodruff waits for a treat in the kitchen. (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)

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Keidan chose the Marguerite bar stools from Ballard Designs because they allow guests to swivel between the kitchen and dining room. The frame echoes metal accents elsewhere in the house. (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)

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In the guest bedroom, another mix of styles: The ladder is from Nadeau in West Hollywood. The handblown glass lamp on the opposite side of the bed is by a Pasadena artist. The fabric chandelier is by Cindy Ciskowski. (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)

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The guest room was intended to feel like a bed-and-breakfast. Keidan added a long, built-in bookshelf to create a library for visitors as well as a desk at the far end. She even placed a pair of slippers next to the bed. The red abstract painting is by Keidan’s grandmother, Frances Godowsky. (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)

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The corner shower helps to preserve some of the home’s vintage feel. “I love the details that came with the home,” Keidan said. (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)

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Amanda Keidan personalized her bedroom with artworks by Venice artists and friends: a bird photograph by Bret Gum, ink-on-paper nudes by Fausta and a wood-and-steel bench by Alberto Bevacqua. (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)

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A small bathroom feels much larger thanks to an all-white palette and a skylight. The Moroccan-inspired pendant light is from Ballard Designs. During house renovations, Keidan added a window to create another layer of light in the house. (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)

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The bathroom window casts a strip of light into the hallway, where a photograph by Christopher Kerr hangs against a wall covered with grass cloth. (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)

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Keidan draws and designs her jewelry in her home office, a converted bedroom with French doors opening to the backyard. The recycled wood desk is from HD Buttercup, and the stools are from Keidan’s apartment in New York. The artwork above her desk is by artist Parvez Taj. For a cleaner look, Keidan likes to showcase her artworks without a frame. Sometimes she uses frameless glass; other times the photograph or collage is mounted on wood and then finished in a glossy transparent resin. “It is a modern clean look,” she said. (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)

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In the corner of Keidan’s office, a nickel-plated floor lamp from Restoration Hardware blends with an antique daybed and hanging file boxes from the Santa Monica flea market to give the room a casual, eclectic look. (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)

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Early afternoon sun falls on a bench outside Keidan’s garage, as seen from her home office. (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)

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Keidan made over the small porch outside of her office and installed artificial grass in the backyard to allow for easy outdoor entertaining. (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)

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The narrow side yard feels less like lost space thanks to a path that eschews linear in favor of curvaceous. The area is a repository for plants that Keidan pulled while streamlining the look of the backyard. (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)

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What had been a dark blue exterior got refinished in smooth, white stucco to give the house a brighter, more modern look. Lavender and strawberries fill planters by the home’s entrance. Bikes are ready for her next excursion to Abbot Kinney Boulevard. “There’s a huge biking community in Venice,” Keidan said. “People bike to yoga, to the farmers markets, to the beach.”

More profiles: L.A. home and gardens in pictures. (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)

By Lisa Boone

Oct. 18, 2012 10:17 AM PT

As a designer of custom jewelry, Amanda Keidan sometimes takes delicate vintage pieces and reworks them into intricately sculptured, modern collections.

The same could be said for her sunny, art-filled Venice home, where gold accents blend with sparkling glass, and vintage barrel chairs share the living room floor with new Ikea ottomans and a cool lamp bought off the flash sales site Gilt.

“Everything is very specific,” Keidan said of her decorating style. “I want your eye to look at something. I like having things to look at — things that are pretty.”

In the otherwise all-white cottage kitchen, a startling blue contemporary triptych by Venice artist Melissa Harrington catches your eye. In an otherwise staid, traditional guest room? A red abstract painting.

“I enjoy those pieces every day,” she said, noting that the red painting was by her grandmother. “Those pieces make me happy.”

Keidan’s passion for art is not surprising given her background: Her great-grandfather was renowned pianist Leopold Godowsky. Her grandparents were Leopold Godowsky Jr., a violinist and co-inventor of Kodachrome film, and Frances Gershwin Godowsky, sister to composers George and Ira. The multitude of artworks throughout Keidan’s house creates an ambience that is elegant yet whimsical — and deeply personal.

“I love that there is a story behind each artwork,” she said. “It’s as though my friends and family have left thumbprints on my home.”

She purchased the three-bedroom, two-bath house last year after looking at more than 100 properties in the last four years. She had, she said, given up when she visited the Venice house ,where friends from London had been staying. “It was a little like the cliche you often hear about falling in love,” she said, laughing. “Stop looking and you will find it.”

After convincing the owner to sell, Keidan embarked on a four-month renovation to give the 1947 home a cleaner look.

“I wanted it to be light and airy and cheerful,” she said.

Mustard and red accent walls were painted museum white and soothing neutral tones. The exterior went from dark blue to more white. New windows were installed to bring in natural light, and new landscaping made the most of outdoor spaces, too. Small fixes, such as smoothing the home’s warped walls, helped to achieve the clean-lined look Keidan wanted. And though much changed, Keidan was careful to keep what worked: the original floor plan and striking leaded glass windows that Keidan said were from the old Helms Bakery on the L.A.-Culver City border.

For Keidan, who grew up in New York, the result is much like the Venice community she has grown to love: an eclectic space that doesn’t conform to one particular style — just like her jewelry. “I tell my friends to start with pieces they love,” she said. “And go from there.”

lisa.boone@latimes.com

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Jewelry designer Amanda Keidan: a house that sparkles

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