Handled With Care

Do you fear that a house furnished with castoffs may emit a sense of wacky whimsy but no real style?

Rest assured that style can thrive in such an environment. Consider Trevor Kensey’s 600-square-foot home in Laguna Beach.

By cleverly mixing such disparate items as family heirlooms with bargain finds, Kensey has created a masculine “island colonial.” It’s kind of a Britain-meets-Bora-Bora look--on a budget.

The oldest item in his home is something his mother gave him: a 200-year-old bonnetiere, a tall cupboard originally made to hold hats.

“I like it because the door’s crooked, and that makes the whole thing look asymmetrical,” says Kensey, 36.

A ‘40s wood-veneer cabinet is a garage-sale find that Kensey had refinished.

“The owner had a plant on it, and it had been in the sun. I liked it because it’s functional,” he says.

“When you’re in a really small space, you need items that have dual purposes. I don’t have a dining room or a dining room table, so when I have people over for dinner, I can set this cabinet by the kitchen and serve off it or set out a buffet on it.”

An old shutter from his grandmother’s house acts as a screen in front of a closet, and an old wrought-iron fire screen, painted black, leans against a wall.

There’s a lot going on in this small space, but because the proportions are correct, nothing jars the eye or seems out of place.

And it doesn’t feel cluttered.

“I didn’t want this to look like a showroom,” Kensey says. “Real houses have things people have collected and inherited that they have to make work together. I wanted this to be comfortable and casual. And real.”

What are his key decorating suggestions?

* Develop an eye for design.

Kensey did this by attending antiques shows and searching flea markets and swap meets.

“There’s so much stuff; you have to zero in on only good things,” he says. “If you look at more than one of the same thing, you will train your eye to what’s good.”

* Become a collector.

“I started being a basic collector by seeing things that I liked and that I had to have. I’d bring them home and move them around until I found the spot for them.”

* Consider how items complement one another.

“After [collecting] for a while, I had so many things that had no rhyme or reason that I decided I needed a better game plan. I bought things not only that I liked, but also things that worked with each other.”

* Group items together.

Kensey has gathered silver candlesticks in various sizes and shapes in his bedroom.

“One thing is very nice,” he says, “but three or more together show them all off better.”

* Establish a palette.

After going wild with bright plaids and colors in a previous place, Kensey chose only tans, browns and blacks this time.

“These colors make flea market shopping easier because I can see something and envision it with a black coat of paint on it. That forces me to pay attention to the lines of the piece.”

Continuing the palette is the living room upholstery, a leafy design in shades of brown. “I liked it because it was a nice island tone, but not like the garish ‘50s,” Kensey says.

He was lucky that his apartment building, constructed in 1929, had wood floors and the color complemented the furniture.

* Stick to your budget.

“All my fabrics were bone cheap,” Kensey says.

The living room drapery is $3-a-yard shearing from Diamond Foam in Los Angeles. It’s usually used as a lining. The long draperies in the only bedroom are made from black canvas.

“I use cotton burlap trimmed with canvas over an old pub table and over the narrow table made of plywood and 2-by-4s,” he says.

He finds retro items at Decor Delux in Costa Mesa.

“I bought some painted Oriental linens there that I have above my bed. They’re from the ‘60s, but next to the other things on the wall they look older.”

To maximize space without spending a bundle, Kensey covered many of his tables with cloth to create storage areas. Hiding underneath the pub and plywood tables are stacks of items.

“Since this is a rented space, I couldn’t change anything structurally,” he says. “But I did put a lot of holes in the walls for the prints and the drapery rods.”

He says he can’t afford paintings, so he hung prints on the walls. His final suggestion: Invest in good frames. Kensey says he often spends more on framing than he does on what it encases.