MICHAEL S. SMITH’S LATEST PROJECT IS A MASTERCLASS IN INDOOR-OUTDOOR LIVING

Far from the tropical clime of Bali or Brazil, it’s not very common—let alone practical—to build a home in the United States in which the barriers between indoors and outdoors can almost completely disappear. But that is precisely the type of house a couple of loyal Michael S. Smith clients found in a lushly verdant corner of Los Angeles’s Holmby Hills neighborhood. Smith, the acclaimed L.A.-based interior designer whose long list of repeat clients also includes the Obamas and Shonda Rhimes, describes the house as being “almost woven throughout the garden, with unexpected points of union between the two.”

The prime three-acre property, which feels deeply private yet has choice views over Los Angeles, was home to several Hollywood legends over the course of the 20th century. The present 14,000-square-foot home was designed by architect Howard Backen, pioneer of the modern American farmhouse aesthetic. Drawn to what Smith characterizes as the home’s “spare, reductive series of volumes,” his clients brought in landscape designer Christine London to rethink the garden, expanding the views across the property and through the house.

“The goal was to create cohesion for the family’s full use of the property so that the rhythm of the garden balances open and enclosed spaces, wood and glass, private retreats and larger gathering spaces, all in response to both the architecture and the land,” says London, who also oversaw the transplanting of beloved white crape myrtle trees, bonsai boxwoods, and other prized plantings from the family’s former garden.

Indoors, Smith wanted to respect the home’s luxe rusticity, which he summed up as “comfortably proportioned and well edited, like something you’d see in a Nancy Meyers film,” while also reflecting the sophisticated taste and passions of his clients. “They are significant art collectors with wide-ranging interests, and their homes need to match that level of refinement to be engaging for them.”

Perhaps no room reveals more clearly the balance struck by Smith’s urbane decorating and the home’s casual, open design than the kitchen and great room. Clad, as the rest of the house, in simple bleached walnut planks, the room opens to the outdoors on two sides through vast doors that seem to disappear into the walls. It has the distinctive (perhaps intentional) feel of a small barn or shed that’s been upgraded to be part of the house. In this case, the upgrade includes a museum-caliber painting by Kenneth Noland, a vintage rosewood cabinet, and stylish Swedish ceramics.

By contrast, the grandly proportioned dining room—which has its own large glass wall opening to the garden—is decidedly more polished and cosmopolitan. Here, an elegant suite of klismoses from Saridis in Athens, Greece, surrounds a custom marble and gilt-bronze dining table by French designer Hervé Van der Straeten. Gesso and silver leaf panels by Nancy Lorenz appear as a folding screen and open to reveal a glamorous built-in bar.

Throughout, Smith has deftly deployed the couple’s stellar art collection as yet another way of bringing the outdoors in. Beyond landscapes, there are tropical beaches, swimming pools, and even a tightly focused composition of dense foliage, as is the case of a work by Nigerian-born Njideka Akunyili Crosby in the great room.

Even with its impressive Pagani Studio ceiling lamp in the husband’s study, Smith says: “The clear focal point of the room, what catches your eye immediately, is the intense blues of David Hockney’s Paper Pool: Diving Board,” created with Tyler Graphics. In the wife’s dressing room, Lorenz camouflaged the closet doors with a forest of branches created in lacquer and mother-of-pearl, again echoing the quiet luxury of Japanese screens.

For all the nature brought into the home through the windows and artworks, there are also multiple outdoor “rooms” in the garden. Among the most popular for family and guests is the sprawling courtyard lounge anchored by a monumental concrete fireplace, a signature Backen home feature, that provides a cozy sense of shelter and wonderment beneath the stars. And of course there’s art, including a steel sculpture by Bernar Venet at the culmination of an evergreen allée. “The house and the garden blend so well to provide moments for reflection and appreciation of nature,” says Smith. “Add in Hockney’s wonderful pool iconography, and it’s the perfect summation of idyllic California living.”

Terrace

A wisteria-covered bronze pergola shades a terrace with seating from Sutherland.

Living Room

Country Club by English painter Hurvin Anderson brings the garden views inside the living room. Chaise, Atelier Viollet. Coffee tables, Alexander Lamont. Antique rug, Mansour

Hall Entry

A marble sculpture, Déméter by Jean Arp, graces the hall’s garden entry.

Kitchen

Kenneth Noland’s Mexican Camino bathes the kitchen in serene color. Range, Wolf. Pen­dant fixtures, Philippe Anthonioz

South Hall

An original Mark Rothko brings shades of sea and sky into the Venetian plaster-wrapped South Hall. The rug is by Woven Accents, and the table is by Philippe Anthonioz.

Primary Bedroom

In the primary bedroom, soft textiles—a Swedish-style rug (Mansour), a striped headboard on the canopy bed (Holly Hunt), and shearling-covered seating (Roman Thomas)—lend comfortable contrast to the bleached walnut walls. Hurvin Anderson’s Audition adds a splash of electric color

Dressing Room

In the wife’s dressing room, Nancy Lorenz embellished closet door panels with flowering branches in lacquer and mother-of-pearl.

Primary Bathroom

A bronze chandelier by Claude Lalanne illuminates a floating tub (fixtures, Lefroy Brooks) in the wife’s bathroom.

Guest Bedroom

A 19th-century English mahogany bed (upholstery, Robert Kime) anchors the guest bedroom. Rug, Patterson Flynn. Table lamps, SCDS. Chandelier, Philippe Anthonioz. Painting, Hurvin Anderson

Family Guest Room

David Hockney’s House Palm and Pool paintings bring California’s spirit of cool into the family guest bedroom. Chandelier, Atelier de Troupe. Sofa fabric, Penny Morrison. Ottoman, Nickey Kehoe

Lavender Bedroom

Airy curtains (fabric, Soie de Lune) cocoon the lithe canopy bed, whose frame is dressed in a geometric Fortuny fabric. Nightstand, L’Artigiano Studio. Lamps, Liz O’Brien. Rug, Beauvais

Pool

Indigenous oak and a grove of multitrunk sycamores frame the path to the pool, where reclaimed Belgique Blue limestone is arranged in a random ashlar pattern.

Dining Garden

Beneath a teak pergola, woven Sutherland dining chairs gather around an expansive

L’Artigiano Studio table on the limestone-clad terrace.

Featured in our May/June 2024 issue. Interior Design by Michael S. Smith; Architecture by Howard Backen; Landscape Design by Christine London; Photography by Michael Mundy; Styling by Rachael Burrow and Liz Strong; Written by Andrew Ferren.

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