When a young family was relocated from the Midwest to Los Angeles, they found Brentwood Village to be the perfect neighborhood to put down roots. “It’s tucked between the 405 freeway and the tony neighborhood of Brentwood. The homes are quaint and were originally built for the professors working at UCLA on the other side of the 405 freeway,” explains interior designer Natalie Myers. 

The family contacted Natalie to help renovate the kitchen, bathrooms, and add two new powder rooms. She selected all of the finishes, lighting, and installed new cabinetry throughout. “Their main requests were durability in materials for the abuse they imagined the house would be getting from their girls over the years, and room to grow and play with careful space planning as bedroom assignments changed for the girls,” she shares. 

Style-wise, Natalie describes it as a modern cottage. “The owners shared traditional interiors for their inspiration with interesting details and left it to me to pull together a cohesive vision,” she recalls. “I took that and ran it through my unfussy lens to create a streamlined interpretation of traditional with charming details for them to enjoy. They trusted the concept wholeheartedly and made sure that we were sticking to the landing when any small changes had to happen in the field during construction.”

She says the timing was the biggest challenge, with a race to complete the renovation before the couple’s third baby was born. “Every month the project was in progress meant a month of them paying rent on their current housing and the mortgage on the house being renovated,” she recalls. “Luckily they had hired a builder who wasn’t messing around and took their timeline very seriously without compromising the quality.”

The other major win was their trust in Natalie. She says, “Their unwavering faith in my vision was touching. Most clients question this or that which is natural, normal, and part of the job is to soothe anxieties. None of that energy came into play throughout the project which was refreshing and greatly appreciated.”