House Beautiful
Written by Hadley Keller | Photography by Read McKendree
Kevin Isbell Brings New Life to a Spanish Revival Bungalow
For his new home on the West Coast, the designer looked to local sources and original architecture to inform his design.
"As soon as I saw that giant shuttered window, there was no turning back," says designer Kevin Isbell of the Spanish Revival home in the Fairfax neighborhood of Los Angeles that he and his partner, Gianantonio Corna, now call home. But this wasn't just any switch of street addresses: With the move, Isbell officially relocated his New York design practice to the West Coast. So, that is to say, those shutters were good enough to inspire a cross-country move.
Isbell was immediately smitten with the architecture of the home ("it's a style you just don't get in New York," he says) and set about creating a design scheme that honored those bones while reflecting his own style.
"A lot of these old bungalows are getting sold and knocked down to build behemoth houses," says the designer. His process was the opposite: Maintain the original charm while making minimal changes to create a comfortable, personality-filled living space—all while working with an almost entirely blank canvas (Isbell only moved a small amount of his belongings with him, opting instead to source locally for his new home). Here's how he did it.