Inside this mid-century modern house everything looks just as it would have done when it was first built. Nice to know, then, that it has seen a sensitive renovation by Peterssen Keller Architecture.
The Golden Valley Ranch was originally designed by the architect Don D. Davies in the 1960s. Davies designed it for his family of four as a modest yet conspicuously cosy retreat.
The theme for the original mid-century home design centred on a few striking colours, but more importantly it centred on an abundance of wood.
The image of the landing illustrates how far Davies went in his application of wood panelling. Here, there is wood on every side, floors, walls and ceiling, in all shapes and sizes, going in all different directions. It’s a real feast for the eyes, with the wood polished in more or less the same tone, for maximum impact.
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Meanwhile, it is in the living room where you get a wonderful fusion of the wood theme with the theme of striking colours.
This starts with some beautiful, original mid-century modern furniture, upholstered in a bright lime green fabric. However, the thing that really holds the rest of the room together is the painting above the sofa.
This painting is distinctly evocative of the palette overall: the reddish-brown band at the bottom echoing the wood of the walls and the supporting beams but also the colour of the exterior; the green and yellow represents the furniture and the top two lighter blue bands mirror the light grey stone wall featured on one side of the living room.
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Beyond this, there’s some really nice textures in this room. The aforementioned stone wall is made up of a beautiful, array of slightly smooth, flat, grey stones. This is complimented by the carpet, which features a subtle line pattern in two shades of light brown.
Overall this room is characteristic of the original design’s special preoccupation with colour and texture. In this regard, we’ve already touched upon the landing, with the textured grains of the wood brought to full effect by the polish. It is also evident in the exterior, with its panels painted in a dark burgundy colour, lending a subtle depth the surface of the exterior walls.
This repaint was the decision of the renovators, P/K. Besides this, their redesign also focused on bringing the house up to date. This mainly related to improving the flow of the home.
Specifically, they transformed the original breezeway that connected the home and the garage.This allowed the introduction a formal entry way with a vibrant yellow front door, a mud room, and a screened porch filled with warm southern light from a new transom window and sidelight. They also included insulated glass so as to improve acoustics in the main room (and energy efficiency) and also updated the kitchen with modern appliances.
All in all it’s a very successful piece of work, securing the future of this original mid-century house for many years to come.
