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 advised him he might remodel the home right into a “eternally residence,” the artist modified his plans.
“I initially wished an ADU,” Puleo stated 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 residence and nook property — the designer had beforehand designed and constructed a wooden deck in Puleo’s yard — he started to check a brand new narrative for the areas.
The Glassell Park residence earlier than the renovations.
(Ben Warwas)
The outside of the home and ADU is now painted brilliant yellow. There’s additionally quick access to the outside.
“The lounge wasn’t large enough, and it featured an enormous crimson brick hearth that had doorways on both aspect of it, resulting in the yard,” stated Warwas, who first met Puleo after they have 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 finest.
After touring the property, Warwas proposed some refined modifications: including a 250-square-foot ADU to the storage, eradicating the hearth 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 venture, however there have been a whole lot of points with the home,” Warwas stated. “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 residence “priced nicely for a fast sale” in Glassell Park. Though just one,000 sq. toes in measurement, the home provided a yard for his canine and a indifferent storage.
“The storage was actually the draw,” Puleo stated. “The factor about the home that attracted me is that it had an area that may very well be a studio.”
The lounge of Puleo’s Glassell Park residence earlier than it was redone.
(Ben Warwas)
Puleo, standing, and Warwas in the lounge at the moment. “We each have a love of design,” Puleo stated of his longtime good friend.
Shortly after buying the home, Puleo renovated the kitchen and toilet, opened up the wall between the 2 areas and widened the kitchen door. “There have been so many doorways,” he stated of the compartmentalized flooring 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 annoyed with the home as a result of it was not maximizing area effectively,” Puleo stated. “The studio was indifferent, and we needed to enter by way of a gate.”
And so the makeover started.
Warwas tore out the hearth and prolonged the lounge by six toes, including a glossy Fleetwood sliding door that offered immediate entry to the yard. Then, he raised the ceiling of the lounge and added a sculptural curve that fully reworked the dwelling area.
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 foremost bed room. (The 2 bedrooms on the primary flooring are used as a den and a gallery area/visitor room.) Due to the excessive ceilings and a brand new skylight, the attic now floods the middle of the lounge under with pure mild.
Puleo’s patterned canvases dangle within the ADU.
The ADU, which is connected to the storage, and simply six inches from the primary home, contains a kitchen, toilet and dwelling space. Puleo is utilizing it as a part of his artwork studio.
“Little tweaks completely reworked the home,” Warwas stated.
Within the storage, Warwas designed an ADU that may perform as an artwork studio or rental, that includes a small kitchen, toilet and sufficient room for a mattress. The design of the ADU was fastidiously thought-about to maximise area and light-weight, with a skylight and excessive window flooding the area with mild.
A stage shift provides a dramatic expertise once 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 brilliant blue tiles from Daltile for the bathe of the ADU.
The lounge of the primary home is now open and ethereal, with customized cupboards and millwork by James Melinat that showcase the art work 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 wood mantle stays atop a console behind the couch, graced with a collection of colourful ceramic planters by Ashley Campbell and Brian Porray of Blissful Hour Ceramics.
“Ben and I’ve recognized one another since we have been in school,” Puleo stated, emphasizing their long-standing relationship and the collaborative nature of their course of. “The enjoyable factor concerning the venture is that we did a whole lot of forwards and backwards by way of speaking shapes and kinds. We each have a love of design, and Ben does an ideal job of utilizing conventional supplies in a method 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 residence enchancment prospects. “You possibly can put a stackable washer and dryer right here,” he prompt 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 primary home.)
Equally, Warwas appreciates Puelo’s curatorial expertise. “He’s made his residence so private,” Warwas stated 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 stated of the interiors, that are enhanced by the artworks and make guests really feel linked to the area.
“Folks typically take notes after they come to go to,” Puleo stated of his artwork assortment.
1. Designer Ben Warwas stands contained in the 250-square foot ADU, which contains a tall window and a skylight. 2. Within the former storage, stairs from the artwork studio lead as much as the ADU and toilet. (Lisa Boone / Los Angeles Instances )
From the sidewalk, the standard stucco bungalow appears to be like 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 brilliant yellow — and it’s like a very totally different property.
“The entrance of the home didn’t change, and the again of the home is completely totally different,” Warwas stated 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 may journey forwards and backwards, and the backyard is now rather more part of the home,” Warwas stated. “The yard bought smaller, but it surely feels greater.”
A stained-glass panel by Puleo hangs within the toilet.
Regardless of a $95,000 ADU addition finally rising right into a $320,000 overhaul for the property, Puleo is comfortable to have the pliability that comes with dwelling in a house with two separate areas.
“I might add a lofted mattress and stay within the ADU and make artwork and lease out the home if I wished,” Puleo stated. “It might enable me to commute between the East and West coasts and train 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 stated, “The home is tremendous environment friendly now. This can be a magical area.”
Puleo additionally selected colourful textiles for his canine Ono’s mattress.
