Domino: The Black Paint That Took This Facade From “Flat and Square” to Sophisticated Scandi

September 11, 2021

ACME’s listing is featured in Domino

You don’t have to choose between blending in or standing out. A perfect balance does exist (at least, as far as your house goes). Just ask designer Lea Shain, who recently gave a once sad blue bungalow in Los Angeles (built in 1944) curb appeal, all without disrupting the flow of the rest of the one-story homes on the street. “It needed to fit into the neighborhood but also be modernized,” explains Shain. As her contractor, Brett Baer, puts it: It was never the goal to lay a spaceship on a postage stamp–size home. “It wasn’t just a ‘scrape and pop up’ type of project,” he says.

At the same time, Shain imagined what the next evolution of the house would be. Part one of that vision involved expanding the 1,000-square-foot home by widening the gable and porch, and on the inside, moving the entrance over a smidge in order to turn one of the bedrooms into a proper foyer. Before “it was just flat and square,” explains the designer (not to mention blue). “It was highly utilitarian. It needed depth.” Here’s how Shain and Baer pulled off the 360-degree transformation.