Before and After: A reimagined Midcentury design helps turn a home from frumpy to fabulous
Clad in then-fashionable Palos Verdes stone, a couple’s 1961 Woodland Hills home had soured to a decidedly frumpy look — it seemed entombed from all that heavy rock.
“The stone was considered a luxurious accent at the time,” said P.J. Megenity, who with wife Galya recently transformed their homely ranch home into a Midcentury Modern sparkler with brushed-aluminum and stainless-steel accents.
The four-bedroom home is on Dubois Avenue — named for Midcentury architect Charles DuBois, who designed the Woodland West development that includes the Megenity home, purchased for $760,000 in 2015. It is now on the market for $1.198 million.
DuBois is known for Palm Springs homes sporting his A-shaped “Swiss Miss” entries, a blend of Swiss chalet and Polynesian tiki-style structures.
The Palos Verdes stone was too entrenched to be blasted off, said Megenity, who design-mastered the two-year renovation.
Instead, the weighty facade was covered with framed walls faced with Brazilian walnut ipe.
The wood’s toasty hues warm the cool Midcentury look that extends to an aluminum and frosted-glass garage door.
The roofline remained, yet it now appears lengthened and heightened, thanks to the horizontal ipe and a new picture window that replaced a drab kitchen door.
Inside, the 2,216-square-foot home had been frozen within a “frumpy ’90s remodel — a lot of really dark wood, paneling, and Southwest-style tile,” Megenity said.
The gloomy front entry was revived with frosted glass-paned doors and a tube skylight that infuses the area with light. The doors are painted front and back with Benjamin Moore’s Tequila Lime that vivifies the home with a “super-mod feel,” said Megenity. The color is used as an accent throughout.
Megenity did much of the work beyond professional hires; he also has a builder’s license. This is his seventh home-renovation project. He declined to say how much the renovation cost but said he sold his Ferrari to help cover it.
He used 3-D planner software to envision the kitchen and after 78 layouts nailed his design.
Soffits were removed to enlarge the ceiling space. New horizontal cabinets are faced with lime-colored lacquer and are sided with a high-gloss gray. Open floating shelving is backed by glass mosaic tile.
Quartz waterfall counters, an ILVE Italian cooktop, Bosch appliances and a window seat complete the snappy look.
Oversized strips of gray Italian porcelain tile now face a fireplace formerly buried in white-painted brick. Gray bamboo flooring was installed throughout much of the house.
One of the four bedrooms was made into a home theater, and the master now includes a metallic silver 3-D wall with LED down lighting, as well as a brushed-stainless ceiling fan. The living room has a similar 3-D wall and fan.
The master bath used to harbor a tiny shower, which was switched out for a partially glassed wet area set with a diagonally placed tub.
The backyard had been a patchy mess of dirt and grass. Stones covering benches were blasted away in favor of a stucco-smooth surface faced with blue glass mosaic tile. The look is repeated in a new curved wall.
The pool was replastered and fit with a photo-shoot-ready stainless waterfall fountain atop a mosaic planter.
Blue rubber mulch slopes upward from the pool, extending the yard’s clean ultramarine look, all accentuated by aggregate coated with gray non-slip adhesive paint.
A new ipe wood deck includes an L-shaped floating bench, a linear fire pit and a Jacuzzi.
Wish Sotheby’s International has the listing.
