Vibrant colors transform a Westwood home

The Tudor-like facade of Karl Thurmond’s home in Westwood contrasts with the colorful interiors.

The entryway includes another Murano glass lighting fixture as well as a wood door with glass placed at intervals created by an Israeli artist. “There are only two doors like this, supposedly,” Thurmond says. The mail chute is custom-made of old rosewood, and it happens to perfectly complement the front door.

Thurmond stands in his living room, which includes two contrasting yet compatible wallpaper designs along with swivel chairs from the Century Design Showroom at the L.A. Mart downtown. The room gets his guests talking. “People have a reaction to the house,” he says proudly. “To this day it’s still interesting to me today as it was when we first started.”

A side table by Jonathan Adler stands in Thurmond’s living room, which he likes to keep uncluttered to accommodate gatherings.

Thurmond’s den features hunter green walls, patterned wallpaper and a sofa. “I wanted it to be relaxing. This is where I spend a lot of my time,” he says. “I wanted it to be more comfortable and inviting” for either quiet reading, as well as for conversation. “I wanted each room to be its own place to be self-contained,” he says about the house overall.

The den is where Thurmond spends much of his personal time reading on the comfortable sofa.

The office located upstairs features a restored antique chaise lounge originally from Cuba, and a custom made coffee table with blue leather, another example of both the homeowner’s and designer’s affinity for that color. Frid-Madden designed the bookcases to fit the quirks of the space. Other elements are a mix of vintage, new and custom.

“I call these ‘Mexican yellow chairs,’” Thurmond explains. He showed Frid-Madden the color, which she used as a jumping-off point for the rest of the room. “She was right” about the wallpaper, Thurmond says. He had to see the entire room completed in the pattern and in combination with the color, “Otherwise I would have freaked out,” Thurmond jokes.

Karl Thurmond asked interior designer Karen Frid-Madden to source Murano glass light fixtures for his home. As a result, the dining room chandelier and the foyer ceiling-mounted fixture are from LAMF on La Brea Avenue.

Frid-Madden in the home’s dining room.

A vase stands in a corner of the dining room, where Thurmond initially resisted Frid-Madden’s bold geometric wallpaper selection. His only and first requirement was that Frid incorporate the bright yellow shade into the room.

A Jonathan Adler bird-shaped brass bowl in the dining rom.

The custom-made pocket door between the dining room and the kitchen echoes the dining room wallpaper pattern.

The downstairs powder room features a glass basin sink, which emits a soft glow thanks to internal lighting, and tiles in an earthy palette.

Frid-Madden selected Thibaut’s Alexander pattern in silver to add some dimension to the house’s stairwell.

The upstairs bedroom gave Frid-Madden and Thurmond an opportunity to further explore blue and white. Frid covered select surfaces with Designers Guild wallpaper in Castellani Indigo. The chairs are antiques that Frid had repaired and reupholstered, the console table is from HD Buttercup and lamps are by Jonathan Adler.

Upstairs, Frid-Madden designed a bathroom with elegant retro touches in various shades of white.

The downstairs bedroom features a custom-made bed and pillows along with patterned wall paper.