This Modern Spanish Revival: A Dream Home

Architecture forms the foundation or canvas for everything in a home's interior design process. When people reference a house having "good bones," this is what they mean, and this Spanish Revival home is full of them. Built in 1927, the house formed the ideal canvas for Shannon Wollack and Brittany Zwickl of California-based Studio Life.Style. Although the designer duo renovated the entire house ("almost every room down to the studs"), their goal was to keep the integrity of the iconic Spanish Revival architectural style intact.

Wollack and Zwickl pared down some of the heavy traditional Spanish elements to create a more updated and modern Spanish-style home. "We have a refined, yet approachable, style, and really try to stay true to the architecture of the home or space we are designing," says Zwickl. The dynamic pair's transformation of this outdated home is pretty spectacular.

Bold, Colorful Tile

To maintain the Spanish Revival style, Zwickl and Wollack ensured the entry looked the part, too. "We loved the idea of being immediately greeted with this beautiful tile at the entry," she says. "It is a bit unexpected to see a colored tile in an entry, and it makes a great impact."

This also meant keeping many of the home's original arches. "We left the front entry door and window arched, and added one to the transition from the living room to the dining room," says Zwickl. "We also added an arch above the primary bathroom vanity, and on the back patio."

Worn and Aged

The dining room evokes an antique aesthetic, which is quite different from the rest of the home. "The homeowners asked to incorporate the vintage pieces from their travels," says Wollack. "The room has a worn, aged feel that works with the Spanish architecture of the home."

Original Arches

If there's one room in the house where the architecture is completely original to the home, it's the living room with the arched window. They also salvaged an original window from the front of the house and turned it into a mirror that is hung in this space.

Clean and Crisp

Staying true to their design aesthetic, Zwickl and Wollack wanted to keep most of the space "pretty clean and crisp, with touches of color via the tile and reclaimed wood."  

Open Kitchen

The major renovations took place in the kitchen. Opening up the living room into the kitchen was important for the overall design of the home. "The kitchen has a very clean, fresh feel with touches of decorative elements, such as the statement marble, and the vintage lighting piece over the island," says Zwickl.

Marble Backsplash

Say hello to the marble backsplash of your dreams. The grey-tinted marble adds some contrast to the otherwise all-white kitchen.

Modern Meets Traditional

The primary bedroom is where you really see the merging of modern and traditional. The neutral tones and soft textures of the bed fuse effortlessly with the blue European floor-to-wall tiles of the complementary bathroom, ensuring an impactful and seamless appearance. 

Wall-To-Floor Tile

The stunning primary bathroom tile is also a callback to the original design of the home. "A larger window in the shower and the addition of the decorative arch at the entrance of this bath helped to bring the other elements from the home all together," says Wollack. 

Textured Wallpaper

Despite the small size of the powder room, Zwickl and Wollack wanted this space to have some major impact, so they paired a statement tile with a dark, textured wallpaper. "We love when each bath in a home tells its own story," says Zwickl.

Cement TIle

This house has three and a half bathrooms, so the duo wanted to ensure each made its own statement. The combination of the black shiplap and the cement tile incorporates a "great moody intensity."

Black Shiplap

Even the smallest of rooms were carefully considered. We love how much they experimented with darker wall colors despite the small space of this vanity. 

Marble Shower

For this bathroom, they wanted to keep it really simple with an all-white motif and let the marble in the shower make the statement.

Indoor/Outdoor Living

Despite all the beautiful rooms in this Spanish Revival home, the designers' favorite thing about the space is the bi-fold doors that open to the charming backyard and pool. "It's really a quaint space, and when the doors are open, the indoor/outdoor really become one," says Wollack.