Viva Mexicana! : Two Southern California Homes Spiced With South-of-the-Border Style
This bright, painterly mode of decorating originated in Mexico and Central America. But the finished look--highly personal and colorful--is distinctively Los Angeles and could hardly have occurred anywhere else. “Los Angeles is rediscovering its Mexican roots,” says Robert Lopez, a Latino and curator of La Luz de Jesus, an art gallery in West Hollywood. “Every so often, Mexican style comes into vogue in some way, and right now Mexican fashion, food, art and design are popular and surfacing all over town.” Interestingly, the homes on the following pages are both owned and decorated by British- and Australian-born residents. “Probably a case of fresh eyes,” explains artist Annie Kelly. “We see things that people who grew up here take for granted.”
Lively, expressive interiors and exteriors sport bold color schemes with hand-painted friezes. Arches are highlighted by bright banding. Moldings, mantels, window and door frames receive a variety of artistic paint techniques. Curtains can be boldly striped Mexican serapes, or windows can be left bare to show off their framing. The casual attitude allows old and new furnishings to harmonize; in fact, some of the most interesting touches are garage-sale finds given new life with paint that coordinates or contrasts with the overall environment.
This resurgence of brights is probably a reaction to interior design of previous years, when muted, natural hues were preferred and decorating styles were serious and structured. There is a similarity to Southwestern and Santa Fe styles, but the colorful Mexican influence is most appropriate to Los Angeles and its ubiquitous ‘20s- and ‘30s-era, Spanish Revival- and Mediterranean-style homes.
“People who decorate with bold color are young, very creative types who have a good time with their homes,” says DeWayne Youts, a pioneer in Southwestern design and owner of the innovative Umbrello retail furniture showrooms in Los Angeles and Santa Fe, N.M.
“I’ve been a proponent of color in interior design for years,” Youts continues. “It suits the relaxed life style of Los Angeles.”
HAUTE HACIENDA
“In Mexico, people paint their houses with intense, vivid colors, which then fade,” artist Annie Kelly says. “I wanted to capture that same feeling and give our house a sense of history--rather like the old Mexican haciendas.”
Kelly and her husband, photographer Tim Street-Porter, bought their two-story, Spanish Revival-style home in the Hollywood Hills eight years ago. Previous owners, with a penchant for the pervasive ranch style of the ‘50s, had diluted the house’s Spanish flavor with “cottage-cheese” ceilings, fake brick and fluorescent strip lighting. Kelly and Street-Porter cleared away anything out of character with the original intent of the architecture, then began adding artistic touches.
Kelly, a native of Australia, and her British-born husband have long been drawn to the brilliant colors of Clarice Cliff pottery (Cliff worked in England but used bright colors associated with Bauer and other California potteries) along with American Southwestern furniture and art and, especially, the colorful designs of Mexico. “Mexico is practically at our doorstep,” Kelly says.
The living room and dining room are unified by a pastel frieze that she painted. For the kitchen, Kelly chose a cool blue to create the illusion of separation. In compatible pastels, she marbleized a staircase leading to an upstairs study, the upper half of which is painted cobalt to give the illusion of height.
Upstairs rooms are furnished to look like a Mexican cottage: Woven cotton serapes serve as curtains; inexpensive campesino chairs are compatibly rustic.
Themes and patterns reappear: A wooden sawtooth apron on the dining room table looks across at a sawtooth design on a pine bench. Kelly separated the dining room from the kitchen with screens, some of which also feature sawtooth patterns.
A Southwestern-style veranda by architects Batey & Mack is the only exterior addition. A front-yard cactus garden and back-yard tropical garden extend the hacienda theme.
OAXACA REVISITED
Quite simply, Hillary and Michael Anderson, owners of the stylish Clacton & Fricton clothing store on La Cienega Boulevard, like Mexican things. Consequently, Hillary says: “we didn’t set out to design our house; it simply evolved around things we like.”
With their three children, the Andersons have traveled extensively in Mexico, paying special attention to its residences. “We were most impressed by the design of the El Presidente hotel in Oaxaca. It had been a convent dating to the 16th Century and it has the most extraordinary old frescoes and fragments from the original building,” Michael says.
The Andersons, natives of London, bought their circa-’20s, three-bedroom Hollywood home in 1984. To begin, Michael, a graphic artist by training, painted the lower portion of the entry an inviting shade of blue, which he softened by sanding. Later, he added the frieze, painting freehand. He enlivened the interior arches with painted bands of turquoise, sanding again to emulate the patina of Mexican homes. Wooden windows are turquoise on the outside, white on the inside; window frames and interior-door frames are deep terra cotta. Good-luck talismans sit over each door and window frame.
Furnishings are simple, appropriate and--important in a family with young children--user-friendly. Much of the living room furniture, including wood-frame sofas covered in bright Guatemalan fabric and tables painted by Michael, came from swap meets. The children’s rooms are filled with painted tables and chairs in vibrant colors.
Dining, entertaining and children’s playtime center on the large, tile-roofed veranda--the Andersons call it their “loggia”--at the rear of the house. Walls are painted the same blue as in the interior; doors and window frames are offset in a soft shade of terra cotta. The adults relax on ‘50s-era, metal-frame patio furniture. The children play on swings suspended in the beams supporting the loggia. “It’s here where we spend most of our time,” Hillary says.
BUYERS’ GUIDE
Bright, inventive color schemes and well-chosen touches from south of the border are the primary ingredients of Mexican style. The following is a select list of sources for Mexican wares:
ARTE de MEXICO, 5356 Riverton Ave., North Hollywood 91601; (818) 769-5090. For the past two years, owner Jerry Stoffers’ seven warehouses--full of carved wood furniture and wrought iron, once sold only to movie makers, theme parks and restaurants--have been open to the public.
THE FOLK TREE, 217 S. Fair Oaks Ave., Pasadena 91105; (818) 795-8733. Owner Rocky Behr fills about 2,500 square feet with items from every state in Mexico: textiles, Oaxacan rugs, Tarahumara pots, tinware, religious artifacts and housewares. A back-room gallery shows the work of local artists.
LA LUZ de JESUS, 7400 Melrose Ave., Los Angeles 90046; (213) 651-4875. Three years ago, Bill Shire opened this second-floor gallery above the Soap Plant, another source for some Mexican crafts. The gallery shows the work of artists such as Robert Williams, Susie Ketchum and Jon Bok. Also featured: Oaxacan rugs and blankets, planters, religious artifacts.
SONRISA, 8214 Melrose Ave., Los Angeles 90046; (213) 651-1090. Peggy Byrnes’ shop stocks children’s furniture, country antiques and folk crafts. Also featured are the works of local Latino artists, including Robert Gildemontes, Teddy Sandoval, Frank Romero, Gilbert Lujan.
LOS MUNEQUITOS, 1008 Manhattan Ave., Manhattan Beach 90266; (213) 379-2777. Owner Pat Dolley travels throughout Mexico, handpicking carved wooden animals, masks and tin mirrors for her shop. Also noteworthy: pottery from Guanajuato; rugs from Oaxaca; candlesticks from San Miguel de Allende; Talavera ware.
OLVERA STREET: This central-city tourist attraction is a surprisingly good source for vendors such as the Casa de Sousa, W-19 Olvera St., (213) 626-7076 (for ceramics); the Casa de Bernal, W-23 Olvera St., (213) 687-4568 (for clothing), and The Olvera Candle Shop, W-3 Olvera St., (213) 628-7833.
UMBRELLO, 8607 Melrose Ave., Los Angeles 90069; (213) 655-6447. Owner DeWayne Youts fills his showroom / store with colorful furniture, pottery, antiques and reproductions.