Decorators Christie Ward and Staver Gray of Ward + Gray have become known for creating hospitality spaces that feel like someone’s home—or at least the home of someone who has excellent taste. See their work at the new 1Hotel Melbourne, the Auberge Wildflower Farms, and the newly opened Sanderling in North Carolina’s Outerbanks. So it comes as little surprise then that the entertaining spaces of a recent midcentury Los Angeles, California home, created from the studs up for a family of four, shows the duo’s work at their most creative.
For the home’s bar, Ward and Gray went for a Miami, Art Deco style, inspired by the clients, who originally met in Miami. The chandelier, inspired by a palm frond, was sourced from an antique store in Florida, and the bar stools were upholstered in a tropical patterned Clarence House fabric. Exterior doors were created to flank the bar for the ease of entertaining larger groups, and refrigerated drawers were added to the bar island so that kids, or lounging adults, didn’t have to trek all the way to the indoor kitchen for a cold drink. “We wanted the space to feel like a destination. It already sets the tone,” Ward says. “We thought these rooms should feel more like the hotel spaces of the house.”
The bar room includes a chandelier inspired by palm fronds and bar stools upholstered in a Clarence House print.
The previous galley kitchen was opened up to include an island large enough for the family to congregate around, as well as an eat-in breakfast nook complete with charging stations in the banquette. Now, the space doubles as a place to do homework or send emails. Even the pets have a place to hang: A cat den was carved out of a space below the stairs.
In the dining room, custom pieces include the chairs and hutch, which the duo specifically designed for this area. The pendant was sourced from the Ukrainian-based Makhno Studio and purchased shortly before the war broke out in Ukraine. “The studio trucked it to Poland to ship it to LA. Every time I look at it I think about the amazing artisans who worked on it,” Gray says.
In the den, Ward and Gray brought a cooler tone to the space. “They wanted the den to feel intimate and cozy and we were looking for a color to complement the rest of the house without it feeling too jarring,” Ward says. “California being sunny all of the time we wanted it to set a moodier tone.» The walls were painted in Narragansett Green by Benjamin Moore and the furniture upholstered in linens.
The den was painted in Benjamin Moore’s Narragansett Green to give the room a «moodier» feel than the rest of the house. Ward and Gray created arched doorways throughout to add more architectural details to the existing layout.
Upstairs, the primary bedroom layout was rethought to include a long corridor of closets. The primary bathroom, which previously had a tub in the middle of the room, was reconfigured to function as a wet room with dual shower heads.
“We like our hospitality projects to feel residential, and our residential projects to have the consideration you find at five star hotels,” Gray says. “So we approach them the same way.»
«We come at it with the angle of creating a lot of custom pieces,” Ward adds.
As for what’s next, the two are already at work on a member’s club in Florida and a Montauk hotel, as well as debuting their own line of lighting, Lido, launching this summer.
See the Before and After of This Midcentury Home
