The Finishing Touch
“I grew up in a Bronx apartment with a view of hanging laundry,” says KLSX “Feed Your Face” radio talk show host and Zagat Survey co-editor Merrill Shindler. “I always dreamed of having a house with lots of windows and a view.”
On their first day of house-hunting, he and his wife, “Star Trek Voyager” supervising producer Merri Howard, found just that in a two-story contemporary on a steep Brentwood hillside. Designed by Topanga-based architect Finn Kappe in 1991, the house of redwood, glass and plaster revolves around a sky-lit, nautilus-shaped circular stairway, commanding sweeping vistas of the Santa Monica Mountains and the ocean beyond. The ample layout met most of the couple’s needs for space, but recalls Shindler, “It felt slightly unfinished. It needed accessorizing and some warming up.”
The pair hired interior designer Michael Berman, who began by installing additional task lighting in the kitchen, where Shindler now spends a great deal of time testing recipes and cooking for his wife and 15-month-old daughter, Sarah Jenny. New cantilevered shelves running the length of kitchen walls hold the couple’s extensive collections of cookbooks, olive oils and vintage American art pottery. Berman stained the maple cabinets cherry to complement the exterior redwood siding and added new stainless steel hardware throughout the house. “The knobs and pulls act as jewelry on the cabinets and add a finishing touch,” says the designer. Since Shindler’s former home--designed in 1939 by Modernist architect Raphael Soriano--had built-in furniture, the couple needed all new furnishings. With Berman’s help, they selected streamline Art Deco and mid-century pieces, mixing them with Berman’s own designs. In the combined living and dining room, Berman’s Hudson sofas keep company with Gilbert Rohde tub chairs, an Alvar Aalto dining table and Paul Frankl chairs, along with a refashioned ‘60’s coffee shop chandelier. In the master bedroom, the architecture is enhanced by Berman’s Asian-inspired platform bed of anigre wood with a tall upholstered headboard and custom Italian cotton and linen bedding. Berman chose Japanese grass cloth for the master bedroom walls and gauzy wool sheers for the windows. Throughout the home, chairs and sofas are upholstered in kidskin and zebra-printed cowhide, vintage Art Deco velvet, ribbed chenille and wool frise. “The decorative philosophy for the house was simplicity and comfort,” says the designer. “The whole idea was to bring luxury that’s associated with traditional design to a modern setting.”
The color scheme of soft golds, greens and ivory plays off the natural palette of the outdoors. “I wanted to capture the colors of the room bathed in warm sunlight,” says Berman, who painted interior walls a soft dove hue with moss green accents around the fireplace wall and central rotunda. Shindler, who works at home, loves to watch the play of light throughout the day and the vivid sunsets at night. “For a kid from the Bronx,” he says, “It’s real California living.”
Merrill Shindler’s foodie favorites:
* “The James Beard Cookbook,” “for its good common sense.”
* Krups toaster oven, “you can do everything but cook a turkey.”
* Metlox, for a “multicolored” table.
* The Brentwood Restaurant and Lounge, “for its extraordinary comfort and real bar.”
* Zankou Chicken on Sunset “the best takeout.”
* The Reel Inn, “where you wear your jeans and eat lots of shrimp.”