30 Easy Reader/BEACH December 17, 2009

Beach Dwelling

– Photos by Tom Sanders

something newsomething old

by Jennifer Capo

You are standing in the middle of anew home, on an oak floor, looking atan oversized front door, a stairwellsurrounded by wood next to a fire-

place. You wonder why youget a sense of the familiar.

You look again. Youlook closer, under yourfeet. You see the split-ting creases around thewise eyes of the oakwood flooring. You seetwo holes, eye level, inreclaimed barn wood,watching you as youclimb the stairs andround the bend to thesecond level. Boat anddock cleats anchor thesteps. You press yourface against the frontdoor porthole and get afisheye view of the pass-ing sun. Feel the weightas you push the 10 ft.vaulted front door

behind you into safety. This is the depth and the character that

designer Jon Starr has given his newly com-pleted Hermosa Beach project. Starr hasmelded the old and new: a clean, moderndesign aesthetic inventively infused with

timeworn warmth. “I wanted to have a house that had history

before it had history,” Starr says. “Somethingold, something new, something found.”

The “old” is wood salvaged from anIdaho barn and reclaimed corrugatedmetal on the exterior. Starr also used oldthrowaway wide planks of quarter-sawnoak to platform the floor.

“All this, to me, is character and makes itkind of more timeless and less perfect,” Starrsays. “I don’t like the perfection of what itcould be. I like it to be sort of perfect, but old.”

The “new” is the clean stucco, sky-lights, and floor-to-ceiling windows thatgive the home a glowing transparency,exposing materials inside and out. A dis-appearing rear wall opens the home tothe outdoors, further blending the homewith its surroundings.

The “borrowed” comes out of ideas fromthe designer’s own childhood.

“There is a raised wood deck outside,”Starr says, looking past the exaggeratedbutcher-block table in the kitchen. “Mydad’s house had a wood deck and I alwaysloved that – sitting outside.”

And the blue? Italian-blue colored tiles in oneof the bathrooms – the only color in the home.

“Kind of a funny analogy, like when youget married,” Starr says. “Something bor-rowed, something new, something old,something blue….A lot of these things,

these choices in materials, I always try tofind references, or analogies, or stealsomething from nature.”

The 5,600 square foot home is rooted on anunusual, trapezoid-shaped lot near 25th Streetand Hermosa Avenue. Starr says that peoplethought it would be difficult to build on.Instead of taking the entire lot and building a7,000 square ft. structure – the more obviouschoice – Starr did something different. Helooked at the space, and he saw an “L” shape.Many of his subsequent design decisions werebased on repeating this “L” over and over again.

Starr says the recurring shapes help createa sense of harmony.

“Maybe, in a sense, if things are kind of thesame, it creates order,” the designer says.

Multiple decks, an outdoor eating area, afireplace, and a hot tub mesh in with thegreen landscape of the backyard. Exposedfireplace flutes stand tall and proud like astack on a ship. Every inch of the home was created with

intention, thought, and has a back-story –whether from a country barn, a groundedship, or Starr’s own past. “It’s about decision making,” Starr says.

“And creating a place where I would want tolive…It’s modern, clean, and simple. But Iwanted it to feel like a home.” BFor more about this home and other Starr pro-jects visit www.starr-design.com.B

Corrugated metal, clean stucco, and barn wood combine the oldand new in designer Jon Starr’s newest project in Hermosa Beach.

The back of house opens up with floor-to-ceiling win-dows, creating transparency between the indoors and out.

Designer Jon Starr

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The kitchen opens to the outdoor lounge and fireplace, providing

a “clean and serve” window space.

The oversized front door includes a porthole.

A stairwell surroundedby reclaimed barn wood

gives a timeworn character to the home.

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