A Spanish-Style Home Gets a Refresh—With Zero Remodeling

When it came to this L.A. home, the goal was to brighten up the space, according to designer Genna Margolis of Shapeside. “The goal was to make it modern, but keep the integrity of the Spanish style home,” she says. “The house had a lot of eclectic features.”

With that focus, she turned to mixing accessories and skipping any major remodeling. The only changes? “We painted everything, re-did kitchen cabinets and hardware, re-did the fireplace and did minor changes to built-in shelves,” says Margolis.

But even with a minimalist to-do list, there were still plenty of challenges with the home. “One of the biggest challenges was working the space for furniture layouts,” says Margolis. “We really didn’t want it to feel too traditional so we did have to work to make it feel open and modern and think outside the box for all of the rooms.”

The living room had its own challenge with the color and feel of the room. “The original fireplace was very wide and plastered as well the ceiling being a dark wood,” she says. “Together the living room just felt heavy. Painting the ceiling white and making a straight lined fireplace truly opens up the space.”

The living room’s bench space is a modern vignette that Margolis added to the room—and even added an extra personal touch. “I love how minimal and strong this area is. Each piece truly brings the vignette together,” she says. “The art is by me. It was a very last minute piece, but my client really loved it and ended up keeping it!”

The kitchen needed the most work when it came to paint and detail upgrades. “The original cabinets were all white and had only two glass cabinets with wood on the inside exposed,” says Margolis. “We made all of them glass, and painted the insides charcoal to give it more texture as well as black hardware throughout. The little changes truly made a difference.”

“This is my favorite part of the house,” says Margolis. “I was worried that the shelves having so much would take away from the design of the banquette and overall dining area, but mix of modern and eclectic really came together well in the end.”

Margolis’ clever plays on space and design especially came in handy when it came to the small space that became the media room. “The media room was really dark and small,” she says. “We didn’t want to use it as a second bedroom which is why I came up with this as a media room and embraced the minimal light that it had by painting it a deep navy blue.”

Meanwhile, the home’s office is full of light. “The office features a custom L-shaped desk that is oak on one side with front open shelving and an iron and a white stone desk area. I really love the tones of this room; the antique rug and linen curtains mixed with greenery truly warm the space.”

Small room challenges continued all the way into the bedroom, but Margolis was ready. “This room was small so to make it not feel so basic, we added two hanging pendants on each side to give it a way more interesting feel,” she says.

But the coolest addition to the home was out back. The only built addition to the home is the new outdoor shower, inspired by the homeowner’s visit to a beach hotel filled with outdoor showers. Margolis leaned into the inspiration, choosing bold tile, and added a sleek barn door for privacy.