Husband and wife celebrity interior design team Robert and Cortney Novogratz transformed a 1931 Hollywood villa into their gorgeous, modern dream home.

Not only are husband and wife team Robert and Cortney Novogratz celebrities of the interior design world in California and New York, but they also design their own furniture and have collaborated with U.S. heritage window dressing company The Shade Store to create stunning window treatment collections, which they use in their projects.

Recently, the couple completed their largest renovation to date – a 7,500-square-foot, five-bedroom, five-bathroom, 1931 Spanish villa that’s perched upon the Hollywood Hills in the desirable Bird Streets Neighbourhood in Los Angeles. The exterior of the house is white stucco with a terracotta tile roof and steel-framed windows, bringing to mind the aesthetics of Meditterranean Europe.

The property is the couple’s own dream home, which they share with their seven children who either live with them or visit from time to time.

“We rebuilt this 1931 Spanish-Modern style home from the ground up, doubling its size, but kept the same spirit of the original house. We decided to maintain the original layout and made the existing courtyard the focal point of the entire home, enhancing the Hollywood charm it always had,” says Robert.

This central courtyard, which I located on the main level and has red and white tiled floors, fills the interiors with natural light and serves as the perfect alfresco entertaining and dining spot where the family and their friends can enjoy the beautiful Californians sunshine. The courtyard leads to a great room with cathedral ceilings and a custom-made fireplace mantel. Each room of the home is designed with white oak floors and oak accents set against cream-coloured walls, creating an airy Italian villa-inspired look.

The original interiors were composed of a lot of little rooms, and the original kitchen was closed off from the living and dining area, so the Novogratz demolished the existing walls and relocated the doors to conjoin the old rooms and enlarge the living area. The original living and dining area was dark and cavernous, so the Novogratzs raised the ceiling height here from 10 to 18 feet to create a brighter, more voluminous communal space. The dining room now flows into the kitchen, and Venetian plaster walls in the kitchen give this zone texture and warmth.

The couple’s favourite part of the home is the pool house bar. To free up space for this expansive pool house, they reduced the size of the original pool and tapped into their experience with hotel design to create a boutique environment. “I’ve designed so much for so many wealthy people, but I have never done a pool house bar, and I always wanted to,” says Cortney. “We even planted a lime tree next to the bar to pull fruit off for fresh drinks!” she adds.

In the kitchen, they replaced the original bulky cabinets with open shelving and added a sleek La Cornue range cooker, Sub-zero appliances, and timber Trias Counter bar stools. They also added vanilla-hued Venetian plaster walls, limestone benchtops, and white-oak cabinets. 

To ensure that the villa retained its breezy Mediterranean atmosphere, they chose a sophisticated palette of creamy neutrals, a cosy white couch, and Crosby Berry Boucle swivel chairs for the living lounge. Above the art-deco fireplace hangs artwork by British mixed-media artist Ann Carrington.

The light-filled master bedroom that’s located on the top floor features a spa-like bathroom and a private balcony with city views. The Novogratzs furnished this room with a chaise they found on one of their many trips to Paris, Charles Dudouyt table lamps from Orange Furniture – their favourite shop in L.A., and artwork by American post-war and contemporary artist Ivan Witenstein.

“We are typically more is more people. We are known for colour, but for this project, we kept things minimal but used colour in the art and a few of the furnishings from our higher end collection,” says Robert.

To play off the open space, they included pieces from the Novogratz Collection including the berry-coloured boucle swivel chairs in the living room, and a retro-modern Holly upholstered wingback bed in the master bedroom. They also incorporated a collection of window treatments that they designed in partnership with The Shade Store in each of the rooms.

“We chose artwork such as Ann Carrington’s ‘Pearly Queen’ for the living room, and Donald Robertson’s ‘Harry Styles’, Indian Giver’s ‘Mikhail Baryshnikov’, and ‘Socialites’ by Liz Marcus in the bedrooms, which we felt were bold and modern but which still exude opulence and desirability. This house is very glamorous, but in a modern way.” says Cortney.

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