Pro Designer Transforms a Run-Down Craftsman into Her Dream Home

[gentle music]

Good design to me

is designing a space to its highest level

while still functioning at its highest capacity.

The house needs to work for whoever's living there.

We do have two dogs,

so I need to not be too precious about anything in here.

But design matters so much.

It makes a space feel pulled together, it makes it inviting.

The color palette does so much to your emotions.

What does it feel like in the morning when you wake up

and what does it feel like at night?

So all of these things come into play,

and for me, a well-designed space

is the most harmonious version of that.

[gentle music continues]

My name is Mandy Chang and this is my house

that my husband and I renovated together.

So we were originally looking for a house

that had a slightly larger yard space.

We put in offers on like 30 places,

and this home was essentially in a state of disrepair.

So nobody wanted it. So it was perfect.

We want to do the most responsible,

environmentally conscious thing,

which is to recycle and reuse.

It's also the most budget friendly option.

You know, we had a huge project on our hands.

This house was a beast.

We didn't have the budget to just have teams come in

and pull everything out,

we had to do a lot of this ourselves.

To finally be able to just sit in the space

and not stare at all the to-dos is kind of wild.

[gentle music continues]

The most important thing for us for this space was for it

to feel really welcoming the second you walked in.

We don't have a proper foyer.

You're just kind of walking straight into our dining room

and our living room.

So we really wanted it to feel immediately cozy,

enveloping, bright, relaxing.

I don't want anything to feel too stuffy.

So we chose to open up this wall with the bi-folding door

because Rory had these really grand ideas

of what our front patio should look like.

This home was sort of a craftsman style house to begin with

and we really wanted to honor that

when we were renovating the house.

The house came with a fireplace that I wanted to preserve.

That really limited the footprint of our living room

and of our kitchen.

'cause if you go into a traditional craftsman style home,

the rooms are a little bit more separated typically.

So I'm happy that we, we kept with that original layout

for the most part.

Obviously closing off this doorway

that used to lead into the kitchen

and making this a proper built-in

so that this room feels like its own room.

When we started this house,

Rory and I wanted there to be a theme,

and we decided on New Orleans.

It's not supposed to be like a direct translation,

but the color palette,

the way that New Orleans makes you feel,

it's where Rory's family's from.

So we go there a lot. We love it there.

This feels very much like our experiences in New Orleans

where we go into these different bars

and jazz clubs to our family's homes.

This is really supposed to be an entertaining space.

I don't want anybody to worry about spilling wine.

No, I want them to be a little bit worried

about spilling wine, but I don't want them

to not drink wine on the sofa.

I know that it's like a whole thing

to have a TV over a fireplace.

I really don't care if I don't have a TV over the fireplace,

maybe people don't wanna hang out here?

I mean, we're in LA,

I'm not lighting that fireplace all the time,

but we are watching TV all the time, so I think it's great.

I think if there's one thing to really focus on

when you're renovating your house,

it would be to incorporate built-ins.

To have something that looks like a piece of furniture

designed and fitted exactly to fit within an opening

is everything, it makes all the difference.

So we made it a little dining nook.

My husband built this bench, but there's a lot of dining

and drinking that happens here.

Like we have dinner parties here pretty often.

My parents, growing up, we owned a restaurant

and I think because of that,

having people gather around the table

has always been the norm for us.

We're definitely very proud to have a place

that people want to come and hang out.

[gentle music continues]

The biggest thing we did in here

was add this hallway right here,

which gives you a straight shot down

for guests to use when we're up on this first floor.

Once we drew this, we realized like,

Oh, if we just straighten out the wall,

move everything in three feet,

this becomes a very typical single family residence layout

where, you know, the main space is on one side

and then the living quarters are on the other side.

This three foot hallway essentially gave us a guest bedroom,

a guest bathroom, our gym.

So you know, if people come and stay,

it kind of feels like they have their own private space.

In New Orleans, I feel like a lot of the spaces are tight,

they're older, they feel a little bit cozier

than what you would normally be accustomed to.

So I really leaned into that with the guest bedroom.

Rather than filling it with bright colors,

it lends to the overall color palette of the whole house,

but also has its own little like cozy, unique feel.

So I have a lot of friends that are artists

and they've created a lot of these pieces.

I think galleries should be more popular than they are.

I know it was trending for a while

and then it fell out of trend.

I don't really care and I think it's great.

So we're gonna keep building on this.

It's gonna be completely filled with stuff.

I think Rory and I jointly designed this piece.

It had our stained glass guy make it,

and I love the way that the light comes through.

It's so pretty.

[gentle music continues]

The kitchen has changed significantly.

This beam right here is where the dividing wall was.

So the kitchen used to be significantly smaller.

Since the fireplace was there I didn't wanna get rid of it,

and it created this like funny little nook.

So that's why these little drawers are off center.

And I think it's great to kind of embrace

the original architecture of the house

to not feel like I have to always change everything

and make everything perfect, and new, and symmetrical,

and you know, all the things that

maybe by default you would do.

I love that we did mixed colors in here.

I have a lot of clients that ask,

Is it weird to have two different colors in the kitchen?

Is it weird to not have your kitchen cabinets

match your floors?

So this is kind of a a great case study for my clients

to see like, Hey, no, it's not weird.

Or if you do think it's weird, maybe just don't hire me.

But if you don't think it's weird, it's great.

I feel a little more connected to people

that are hanging out in the kitchen by having the sink here

as opposed to over here.

Because we have this little area here,

it does become a hangout spot, especially when Rory

and I are cooking or friends are making drinks,

we can all kind of gather.

[gentle music continues]

Some of my favorite things in the house,

I think, the lighting is one.

A lot of my own lights are in the house, which is awesome.

I partnered with Mitzi and created a lighting line.

And then also all of these other lights,

like they're from so many vendors that I love

and I really admire.

It's just this like pop of jewelry.

I use them to dress up or dress down a space

depending on what I need it to accomplish.

They all kind of play a role in either classing up

or classing down the space in a very specific way.

[gentle music continues]

The bedroom is really the same size

as how it was when we purchased the home.

Added this little Clara story window over our bed.

We added a balcony upstairs.

Downstairs, these French doors that lead out

to an awesome view of downtown.

[gentle music continues]

I love the colors in this room.

Again, going with the New Orleans theme,

but it's just this like soft, buttery,

golden color that's very, very relaxing.

By reconfiguring everything,

it made the room feel so much larger.

I love that we have two different vintage desks

as our nightstands,

and just being able to go outside in the morning,

have coffee on the sofa, you know, enjoy the view,

wash the planes, it's great.

[gentle music]

So this is our downstairs den

and it actually doubles as a guest suite if we need it to.

[gentle music continues]

A vendor that I work with a lot,

it's a store called Clad Home.

They're local to LA.

We designed the sofa and I really pushed them

to make it a king sleeper sofa,

which you don't normally find.

I knew that I wanted it to be a little funkier

and more colorful than the upstairs

where it could kind of feel like a boutique hotel.

So the property slopes down.

That's why the ceilings are so low.

So we just have kind of embraced it.

I think you have to be 5'11 to take a shower.

I chose to tile the ceilings

because I've always wanted to do it in a project,

and I didn't want a client's house to be my test case.

So I did it here and I love it.

It actually feels kind of like Japanese bath housey.

Everything is supposed to feel elevated

but also kind of whimsical and fun,

and that's kind of my way of achieving,

you know, a nice space that still feels approachable.

[gentle music]

Rory's an architect and he essentially designed the house.

Where we're sitting right now.

This was designed to be an extension of the living room,

the bi-fold doors fully open.

I mean, you have the ability to float

to the front patio here.

This planter here is an idea that we took

from a place that we visited years ago in Palm Springs.

It was The Lautner Compound.

You know, I want people to walk in, see the front door,

know that they have a destination,

but not really be aware of the front patio.

And as you move in towards the front door,

it's this big beautiful, expansive space.

[Mandy] I think the tile guys probably wanted to quit.

I really wanted to incorporate a lot of color in here.

Normally you, you pick a tile and that's the floor tile.

Then you pick another tile and that's the wall tile.

I wanted to change that up.

They were really, really proud of the way

that it all turned out.

We come out here and hang out pretty much every night.

After work, it's just such a cool place to chill,

have a glass of wine. We have the fire on.

Such a nice little cozy space.

We were inspired by some places

that we've stayed over the years.

Being outdoors is such a,

an incredible experience anywhere in California.

We wanted all of our outdoors to feel

as though they were as refined as the interiors.

And so another thing that was very memorable

at resorts that we went to

is just having lighting integrated everywhere

to the extent of hanging pendant lights from the trees.

And he's being modest, by the way.

I think he's planted over 1,000 plants on this property.

Rory ran all of the irrigation.

He ran all of the exterior lighting,

and then planted all of the plants you see,

like I can't tell you how many truck beds full of plants

he's brought home since we bought this house.

[gentle music continues]

So the last holiday, my family was coming to town

and we were really worried about my family getting bored.

We installed a bunch of games,

but yeah, we needed to entertain families.

Like I said, practice makes perfect.

Stop it. That's so annoying.

I don't think I've ever gotten that.

[gentle music]

This is the remnants of the original house,

but I kinda love it because it's, you know, it,

it reminds us of what the house used to be.

On theme with New Orleans where you just kind of

find these new structures mixed with old things.

It feels on point.

To be true to the craftsman,

we installed a board and batten siding.

I think, in a more contemporary fashion.

And I had these made with the little Fleur De Lis

so that it feels very New Orleans.

It's like the one thing that is very on the nose.

This is a really interesting space,

because this used to be the door

that led to the downstairs studio space.

The rest of this was essentially like outdoor storage.

It's such a fun little surprise

when you're coming down the driveway and turn the corner.

As far as the pink quartzite goes.

This is also from Walker Zinger, had this table fabricated.

It's great for entertaining.

We're in LA, we all wanna hang out outside

and now you can eat and drink here too.

My countertop fabricator loves to create cutting boards.

Every time he does the countertop,

and rather than a cutting board, I ask for a Lazy Susan.

If you've ever been to dim sum,

they always have Lazy Susans at the tables.

I grew up going to to dim sum restaurants

and I like that aspect.

So this is a very miniature version of that.

[gentle music]

[Rory] The bay along here,

we planted a creeping thyme, which is edible.

You shouldn't eat this.

My, our, our dogs pee in here.

But in theory it's great.

Actually, one of the reasons we moved into this area

was for a park nearby where I play basketball

during the week.

This is just another opportunity to play basketball.

I'm really bad at basketball.

Rory plays with our dog more than us.

The only sport we really play together is,

or have played together is tennis.

She's a really good tennis player.

I'm not. I'm terrible at tennis.

I'm just better than he is.

[gentle music continues]

I mean, a lot of it was just blood, sweat and tears.

Mostly Rory's blood, sweat and tears

if we're really being honest.

He worked his butt off for this house.

This house was built on favors.

Truly, like I am so grateful to LA Design Build.

They did this whole renovation.

They were so kind, Armand did an amazing job.

Our landscaper, you know,

just so many people that I have worked with

and partnered with on past projects,

they all kind of came in to help us build our dream house,

and I'm so grateful for that.

[gentle music continues]

This used to be a storage space.

We turned it into my office.

I painted it pink for the same reason

that I chose pink countertops.

Why not?

It used to be really scary in here.

There was this really scary rocking horse

hanging from the ceiling.

It had like this creepy smile, and now it's my office.

This table came from my previous office space.

It fits my whole team.

It's nice that people can kind of enjoy the property.

So we work here and people can go into the main house

to use the kitchen, so it turned out really, really nice.

[gentle music continues]

There's like a very, very short journey

where I leave the office and walk up the steps

and around the kitchen into the house.

It's like the end of the day.

So now we can come inside, we'll sit on the front patio,

or hang out, you know, have dinner.

It feels very relaxing and soothing and an escape.