Antonio Adriano Puleo didn’t intend to renovate his conventional 1946 bungalow within the Glassell Park neighborhood simply north of Mt. Washington, however after consulting with architectural designer Ben Warwas, who instructed him he might remodel the home right into a “eternally dwelling,” the artist modified his plans.
“I initially needed an ADU,” Puleo mentioned of including an adjunct dwelling unit to increase the artwork studio in his storage. “For me, it was about having a much bigger studio and with the ability to have collectors and curators come to the studio.”
Nonetheless, as Warwas explored the two-bedroom dwelling and nook property — the designer had beforehand designed and constructed a wooden deck in Puleo’s yard — he started to examine a brand new narrative for the areas.
The Glassell Park dwelling earlier than the renovations.
(Ben Warwas)
The outside of the home and ADU is now painted shiny yellow. There’s additionally quick access to the outside.
“The lounge wasn’t sufficiently big, and it featured an enormous pink brick hearth that had doorways on both aspect of it, resulting in the yard,” mentioned Warwas, who first met Puleo once they had been undergraduate college students at Massachusetts School of Artwork (now known as Massachusetts School of Artwork and Design). “To entry the outside, you needed to stroll down concrete steps to a coated patio.”
Paired with a 3rd door off the kitchen, the house’s entrance to the yard was awkward at greatest.
After touring the property, Warwas proposed some delicate adjustments: including a 250-square-foot ADU to the storage, eradicating the fireside and elevating the ceiling top in the lounge; including a loft bed room within the attic; and redesigning the outside of the home.
The entrance of the 1946 home stays the identical.
“It was a small undertaking, however there have been lots of points with the home,” Warwas mentioned. “I believed, ‘Why don’t I suggest 4 various things and he can select two or three of them?’ He selected all 4.”
Puleo, 49, bought the bungalow in 2010 for $387,500 after seeing an advert for a two-bedroom dwelling “priced effectively for a fast sale” in Glassell Park. Though only one,000 sq. toes in dimension, the home provided a yard for his canine and a indifferent storage.
“The storage was actually the draw,” Puleo mentioned. “The factor about the home that attracted me is that it had an area that could possibly be a studio.”
The lounge of Puleo’s Glassell Park dwelling earlier than it was redone.
(Ben Warwas)
Puleo, standing, and Warwas in the lounge at this time. “We each have a love of design,” Puleo mentioned of his longtime good friend.
Shortly after buying the home, Puleo renovated the kitchen and loo, opened up the wall between the 2 areas and widened the kitchen door. “There have been so many doorways,” he mentioned of the compartmentalized ground plan. “Doorways within the kitchen; doorways within the eating room.”
Nonetheless, it wasn’t straightforward to achieve the storage, which housed his artwork studio, and the adjoining laundry room. “I used to be at all times pissed off with the home as a result of it was not maximizing house effectively,” Puleo mentioned. “The studio was indifferent, and we needed to enter by means of a gate.”
And so the makeover started.
Warwas tore out the fireside and prolonged the lounge by six toes, including a modern Fleetwood sliding door that supplied instantaneous entry to the yard. Then, he raised the ceiling of the lounge and added a sculptural curve that fully reworked the dwelling house.
As a result of the house had a posh roof and an accessible attic, Warwas then reworked the attic right into a loft that Puleo makes use of as his most important bed room. (The 2 bedrooms on the primary ground are used as a den and a gallery house/visitor room.) Due to the excessive ceilings and a brand new skylight, the attic now floods the middle of the lounge under with pure gentle.
Puleo’s patterned canvases grasp within the ADU.
The ADU, which is hooked up to the storage, and simply six inches from the principle home, incorporates a kitchen, lavatory and dwelling space. Puleo is utilizing it as a part of his artwork studio.
“Little tweaks completely reworked the home,” Warwas mentioned.
Within the storage, Warwas designed an ADU that may perform as an artwork studio or rental, that includes a small kitchen, lavatory and sufficient room for a mattress. The design of the ADU was fastidiously thought of to maximise house and light-weight, with a skylight and excessive window flooding the house with gentle.
A degree shift affords a dramatic expertise while you step into the ADU, as the ground drops under to the artwork studio and the ceiling goes up, creating a way of spaciousness.
Puleo selected shiny blue tiles from Daltile for the bathe of the ADU.
The lounge of the principle home is now open and ethereal, with customized cupboards and millwork by James Melinat that showcase the paintings Puleo made himself and the items he has collected for greater than 30 years, together with ceramic pendants by Torbjörn Vejvi and Courtney Duncan, vessels by Bari Ziperstein and Pilar Wiley, and work by Patricia Fernández and Steven Criqui.
The lounge’s hearth is gone, however the picket mantle stays atop a console behind the couch, graced with a collection of colourful ceramic planters by Ashley Campbell and Brian Porray of Pleased Hour Ceramics.
“Ben and I’ve recognized one another since we had been in school,” Puleo mentioned, emphasizing their long-standing relationship and the collaborative nature of their course of. “The enjoyable factor in regards to the undertaking is that we did lots of forwards and backwards when it comes to speaking shapes and types. We each have a love of design, and Ben does an ideal job of utilizing conventional supplies in a approach that ignites them and will increase the dynamics of an area.”
Puleo’s artwork studio, a former storage, rests just a few steps under the brand new ADU.
On a latest go to, Warwas was nonetheless fine-tuning dwelling enchancment prospects. “You possibly can put a stackable washer and dryer right here,” he steered to Puleo as they stood within the hallway. (Puleo had moved the home equipment from the laundry room within the storage to the basement of the principle home.)
Equally, Warwas appreciates Puelo’s curatorial abilities. “He’s made his dwelling so private,” Warwas mentioned of his good friend, who, for the final 12 months, has featured the works of native artists in one of many downstairs bedrooms, which served as an artwork gallery.
“It’s an incredible home,” Warwas mentioned of the interiors, that are enhanced by the artworks and make guests really feel related to the house.
“Individuals usually take notes once they come to go to,” Puleo mentioned of his artwork assortment.
1. Designer Ben Warwas stands contained in the 250-square foot ADU, which incorporates a tall window and a skylight. 2. Within the former storage, stairs from the artwork studio lead as much as the ADU and loo. (Lisa Boone / Los Angeles Occasions )
From the sidewalk, the standard stucco bungalow seems to be like so many others within the neighborhood. However step into the yard, previous the colourful work, textiles, tiles, stained glass and ceramics and the brand new rear exterior — painted a shiny yellow — and it’s like a totally completely different property.
“The entrance of the home didn’t change, and the again of the home is completely completely different,” Warwas mentioned of the outside, which reminds him of a bit of paper that has been lower up and folded collectively. “It’s a enjoyable second.”
That he was in a position to completely remodel the home with out including a lot sq. footage doesn’t escape him. “It creates a panorama the place you’ll be able to journey forwards and backwards, and the backyard is now far more part of the home,” Warwas mentioned. “The yard obtained smaller, nevertheless it feels larger.”
A stained-glass panel by Puleo hangs within the lavatory.
Regardless of a $95,000 ADU addition finally rising right into a $320,000 overhaul for the property, Puleo is comfortable to have the flexibleness that comes with dwelling in a house with two separate areas.
“I might add a lofted mattress and dwell within the ADU and make artwork and lease out the home if I needed,” Puleo mentioned. “It might enable me to commute between the East and West coasts and educate and be with my household in Boston.”
As he sat taking all of it in from his eating room desk overlooking the San Gabriel Mountains, the artist mentioned, “The home is tremendous environment friendly now. It is a magical house.”
Puleo additionally selected colourful textiles for his canine Ono’s mattress.
