Retro Modern Southern California Home

     This Southern California hillside residence presented several challenges. Its sloping lot caused the building to look very stacked and its original highly contrasting multiple colors caused it to look like a box.  The exterior door configuration was confusing for visitors, so the extra door was painted the body color to hide it.  The clients wanted the house to return to the Retro 1950's Modern “cool” style.  The final scheme employed warm gray with the shingle section in a bronze.  The trim is a Fifties ivory and the accents a Retro green. 

     The once gloomy rear courtyard is now an inviting space with light lattice covering the warm gray inner walls. The use of gray walls instead of a white eliminates the glare out of the windows often a problem in courtyards.

Side view - the railings are colored softly in a Retro Ivory so that they highlght the vertical elements of the house.

Copyright 2004-2006: Robert Schweitzer. Last revised: November 29, 2005