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FeedPutting the Romance Back in Revival
In love with old homes, a young couple updates a Spanish Revival to accommodate a busy, modern lifestyle.
LIKE THE SCATTERED PIECES within a kaleidoscope, the shadows cast by a starshaped light fixture add interest to an otherwise bare ceiling. Beneath it is an inviting mosaic tub and a copper bowl, surrounded by hand-painted tile. A milky-white ceramic arch has been painstakingly carved to look like lace—a labor of love, no doubt.
“Our tile maker wasn’t sure it would work, as it’s the biggest thing he had ever fired. But we told him to just keep going, and it turned out beautiful,” says Richard Gatling, ASID, the interior designer who appointed the archway. It’s a fancy piece to hang in a powder room, but in a Spanish Revival house, these details bring small spaces to life.
“We wanted it to be a showpiece,” homeowner Paul Schmeling says of the bathroom inspired by Old World romance. It reflects the consideration given to every room in his Point Loma home, and to the people who spend time there: Schmeling; his wife, Didi Discar; their 10-year-old daughter, Mikaela; and the 40 guests they regularly entertain during holidays and family celebrations. “We have 14 grandkids on my wife’s side alone, so we definitely had entertaining in mind when we decided to remodel,” Schmeling says.
Inside, Gatling took account of traffic by repositioning a hallway, removing a wall to combine the library and media room, adding balconies and glass doors so rooms could open onto the courtyard. He also de- signed a more substantial entry featuring a coved ceiling, stained-glass window and a fir door studded with clavos —decorative wrought-head nails typical of Spanish doors.
“I look at entries the way I look at powder rooms,” Gatling says. “You can do a lot in a compressed space. The entry especially needs to make a statement because it is the preview into a home. This one needed to be warm with lots of interest, and as large as possible to support the balcony above it.”
Hand-blown lanterns hang on both sides of the door. One is original; the other, Gatling reproduced, as he often does with period pieces that remain in old homes.
“When we work with a house like this, one that was very nice originally but not heavily detailed, we look for any existing details consistent with the style and age of the house,” he says. “Then we reuse and extend those details in the appropriate manner.”
Today, an entire collection of newly designed and reproduction light fixtures adorns both floors of the house. Wrought iron—sometimes twisted like rope, other times curved in curlicues— is another detail used throughout, a harmonious complement to beautifully painted Malibu tile.
“The design palette available for Spanish Revival homes ranges from the rustic Mexican to the highly ornate Mediterranean,” Gatling explains. “In this house, we chose a richness of detail that is expressed in the extensive use of custom Malibu-type tiles, strong ironwork, a subdued dark interior stain palette and exterior wood details.”
The designer was just as deliberate about furnishings. He chose Monterrey chairs for the living room. Their rustic, colonial style lends to the historic feel of the home. Upstairs, in the new mas- ter suite, he designed wide, elaborately carved armoires to make up for the lack of storage space. Even the bathroom vanity looks like an old chest transformed.
While each room has a unique design palette, the kitchen is the most alluring. Discar, who loves to cook, requested a bigger, updated kitchen that would be comfortable enough for friends and family to gather around. She wanted ample storage, two sinks and places to hide her countertop appliances while also keeping them within reach.
Gatling answered by relocating the kitchen toward the back of the house and widening it 3 feet. A casual breakfast area accommodates guests. To make room for an eating bar, he placed the La Cornue stove on an angle and above it hung a hand-hammered hood of his own design. Power strips hidden inside appliance “garages” allow equipment to be used on the spot.
While Gatling says he never sacrifices function for aesthetics in kitchen design, this one looks as good as it works. Custom stained cabinetry features board-and-batten paneling. Decorative accent tiles wrap around counters and appear like splashes of ink amidst rhomboid-shaped tiles on the floor. Even fluorescent lights, installed to meet requirements for energy conservation, are covered by a custom shade that enhances the room’s warm, inviting ambience.
The remodeled kitchen is one of two places designed specifically for the woman of the house. The other, surprisingly, is a chilly, dimly lit wine cellar with craggy stone and a musty smell. Just what Discar wanted after a trip through the wineries of southern France.
Schmeling, on the other hand, loves to spend time in the outdoor room. For a room he describes as “an afterthought,” it is welcoming on a grand scale. Massive columns and a full roof keep it proportionate to the rest of the house. Walls were deliberately omitted in order to extend the room into the courtyard. A Spanish-style dining table is actually a pool table by day, and a hidden flat-screen television hangs above the wood-burning fireplace— further proof of this family’s intent to mix old with new and to always put friends and family first.
“For the holidays, Mikaela and I like to hang big ball ornaments on the giant redwood in front of the house,” Schmeling says of the traditions they’ve already established here. “We love our neighborhood, and we love our street. We entered the remodel knowing this is where we plan to stay, and now our friends come over and they don’t ever want to leave. That’s exactly what we wanted.”
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