WEHO Bungalow

I’d rather live small + well than big + ugly. We have just the right amount of space for the two of us.

Stephan purchased this modest 1940’s West Hollywood bungalow from its original owners to use as his own home. It provided the perfect canvas for him in southern California, and it was a fitting counterpoint to his Chicago high-rise apartment.

While keeping the structure intact, Stephan undertook a full renovation of the home. He brought the home up to modern standards, while honoring the original period when it was built.

In addition to the updates of interior finishes, he changed the fireplace surround in the living room in homage to the mid-century designer Samuel Marx. Using unfilled travertine to create a linear sculptural hearth to anchor the living room.

The real fun began when he started from scratch filling the house with furniture and decorative objects. A buying trip to Belgium and France yielded a dynamic mix of mid-century European furnishings with a few traditional elements thrown in. The artwork, partly collected in Belgium and Italy, runs from the Abstract Expressionist movement to contemporary, with an emphasis on collage, one of Stephan’s favorite mediums from his art school days.

This buying trip also yielded **too much**, which led to the creation of STOCK’s storefront today. (!)

The exterior was magnificently transformed to create a sense of departure from the busy environment of its location in West Hollywood. Stephan created a courtyard using planting materials to define the space. Stephan employed a palette of pea gravel, privet hedge, low sculptural boxwoods and an allee of olive trees.

In the back yard, this theme continued with a similar palette of pea gravel, the planting of a stately sycamore for shade, shaggy dwarf olives for texture and vertical cypress for sculptural punches. These spaces act as extensions of the interior, intimate, natural and a retreat from the surrounding city.

This charming WeHo bungalow is the closest reflection of who Stephan is. A very personal thread that runs through his work is thoroughly on display in the home’s groundedness, simplicity and humanity.