Playing with elegance

When Antonia Hutt bought her West Hollywood home 2 1/2 years ago, her least favorite part was the backyard English garden created by the previous owners. An interior designer originally from London, Hutt favors a more modern look. Moreover, she wanted a lap pool that would serve as an extension of the master bedroom, so that she could just “step out of bed into the water.” To that end, Hutt moved the rose bushes to her office a few blocks away and transformed the quaint flower beds into an elegant Modernist outdoor spa.

Large floor-to-ceiling doors line the rear of the house and open onto the yard, which has become one more room, though without walls or ceiling. Surrounded by tall bamboo, the space has an intimate otherworldliness made fragrant and inviting by flowering vines, tall potted palms and a rose apple tree. Hutt says she uses the space at all hours of the day, but nighttime is the prime time. Then the outdoors becomes magical with the glow of the changing fiber-optic pool lighting, a flowing fountain and the blue-green and white LED lighting from a dragonfly chandelier above the dining table. “My garden is a little surreal and a little Vegas,” she says with a laugh.

There’s also a living room space with vintage lounges and a dining area with an artist-designed table and Verner Panton chairs. The raised pool--on the same level as the bedroom--is surrounded by concrete coping that serves as a sideboard or informal seating. Folds of orange fabric cover a trellis that provides protection from the harsh afternoon sun and, when lighted from above, adds a warm glow to the night. Striped draperies set off the dining area with a playful elegance.

All this finery is not just for show, Hutt says. Her small indoor dining room has been overtaken by an extensive design library, so when her staff members want to brainstorm or do research they come for lunch on the patio. Most dinner parties also are outdoors, and the radiant-heated floor warms guests in cooler months. Best of all, Hutt has made her small home feel expansive.

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Resource Guide

Interior designer Antonia Hutt, Antonia Hutt & Associates Inc., Los Angeles, (323) 782-4949. Dragonfly LED light by Sean Sobczak, available through Antonia Hutt. Dilmos hand-painted wood dining table, $4,900, at Lucas L.A., West Hollywood, (323) 654-8835. Sunbrella canvas in tangerine, $50 per yard, at Janus et Cie, Pacific Design Center, West Hollywood, (310) 652-7090. Bigger Stripe Perennials fabric in Pebble Beach, at David Sutherland showroom, Pacific Design Center, West Hollywood, (310) 360-1777.