Forever House Traditional Home Magazine. Copyright 2014. All rights Reserved. |
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THE TRANSFORMATION OF A TUDOR-STYLE TREASURE INTO AN UPDATED FAMILY HOME
Los Angeles is a city of surprises, but few are as unexpected as Hancock Park. The leafy vest-pocket neighborhood is as charming as any scene Norman Rockwell ever portrayed. In a zip code dotted with notable homes, this house’s sparkling diamond-patterned windows, enormous airy spaces, and exuberant moldings make it a neighborhood standout. Yet when Jay Ackerman and his wife, Stacy Sibley, went in search of a “forever house” to raise their two growing sons—Brayden, 10, and Jonah, 4 —they dismissed this place as a rundown old pile. Despite its being the work of noted architect Arthur B. Benton, it was in disrepair and had been languishing on the market for years. Most evenings, Jay and Stacy would walk their dog past the house and speculate on what it was like inside. Their conclusion: “dark.” And as much as Stacy loves Tudor architecture, Jay’s antipathy to dimly lit spaces made it a no-go. Then one day, Stacy got an excited text from Jay, who was inside the house. “This is nothing like what you’d expect from the outside.” So the reinvention of this lovely grand dame began. Due to the couple’s affection and respect for historical detail (they’d renovated five previous homes), the physical transformation consisted mostly of surface changes—painting and repair, sleek new bathrooms, and a beautiful 21st-century kitchen. “We didn’t blow out spaces; we wanted to keep the old-house feel,” Stacy explains.
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DINING ROOM: The designers paired a walnut dining table from Harbinger with painted Louis-style chairs upholstered in a Travers stripe (on the back) and a Schumacher velvet (on the seat). Emerald-green curtains mix playfully with a patterned wallpaper from Idarica Gazzoni. 
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KITCHEN: A newly renovated white-on-white kitchen updates the home without distracting from its 1920's charm. The backsplash tile is from Waterworks.
CHINA: The couple's antique china plays perfectly off the dining room's vibrant palette.
BREAKFAST ROOM:
Woven chairs from Janus et Cie and a custom table add visual weight to the breakfast room. The shade fabric is from Pindler & Pindler. LIVING ROOM: In the Living Room, a punch of pink on the pillows from Pat McGann Gallery makes the room both more approachable and more energetic. The tufted sofa upholstered in a Perennials fabric is from Harbinger. |
To the designer's eye, the public spaces were oppressive. “The living and dining rooms were very formal and dreary. There was this dark-stained mahogany crown molding that looked like a big uni-brow in need of trimming. I felt very strongly it needed to be painted out,” Lucas says.
"That did take time to digest," says Jay, "but now I see it was the right decision. And we kept the dark-stained paneling in the entry which makes that room really pop out at you."
"That did take time to digest," says Jay, "but now I see it was the right decision. And we kept the dark-stained paneling in the entry which makes that room really pop out at you."
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Entry: The dark stain serves to emphasize the updated painted moldings in the home’s other public spaces
Foyer: A custom settee is striking against the dark paneling of the foyer.
Foyer: A custom settee is striking against the dark paneling of the foyer.