High in the Hollywood Hills, Griffith Observatory offers an unrivalled view of the stars, but it’s a very different type of star who resides in this nearby home surrounded by nature and with spectacular vistas over downtown LA: Emmy-winning director and producer Randy Barbato.
The co-founder of World of Wonder production company, known for RuPaul’s Drag Race, as well as Party Monster and documentary The Eyes of Tammy Faye, lives with his two sons in a classic California colonial-revival house that was built in 1936 by Milton Black, an acclaimed architect who specialised in the moderne style. Seeking to honour the heritage of the building and its creator while making a fun and modern home for his family, Randy turned to Commune Design, led by Roman Alonso and Steven Johanknecht, for help and advice.
The LA-based studio is known for its easygoing, Californian style and ability to craft homes that reflect their owners’ personalities. ‘With his art collection and the furniture he likes, there’s a freedom,’ explains Steven of his client. ‘He’s got a great sense of humour, so it was always this play between being appropriate for the elegance of the house and making it feel relaxed and eclectic.’ He and Roman decorated a few rooms before Covid hit, then renovated the kitchen after the pandemic. ‘That was the most dramatic transformation,’ Steven says.
A collection of smaller rooms were opened up to integrate a central island, a family lounge and a breakfast nook. ‘It was important for us to make the functionality work for how a family lives today, but pick up on the vibe – a nod to the property’s existing period details – so it felt like it could always have been that way.’
Upstairs, the space was reconfigured to give the two boys their own equal-sized bedrooms and a bathroom each, working within the constraints of the footprint and preserving the original casement windows. They left the main rooms as they were, respecting the architect’s original intentions.
When it came to decorating, inspiration sprung from an unlikely source: menswear. Tweed and herringbone are focal points of the lounge, tartan curtains feature in Randy’s study and houndstooth decorates the dining chairs. It’s stylish, unexpected and masculine.
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‘There’s a lighthearted approach to weaving in these fabrics that felt appropriate for Randy,’ notes Steven. Even the George Smith ‘Turkish’ sofa in the family room is wearing denim that was specially washed for that lived-in feel.
‘It was important that the room looked great but the boys at the time were 14, and it needed to be durable and not fussy,’ he adds. The workwear-like textile is juxtaposed with Trustworth Studios’ botanical ‘Apothecary’s Garden’ wallpaper. ‘It’s those contrasts that are our signature. The end result, hopefully, is a home that doesn’t feel decorated at a particular moment in time; it should age well.’
In the entrance hall, the dramatic clouds of Fornasetti’s famous ‘Nuvole’ wallpaper billow across walls and ceiling. Even though it could never be called a ‘neutral’, Steven says this monochrome moment acts as a ‘pause point’ in the house. ‘That intensity of the pattern is this central core that the other rooms play off.’
Colour was also critical to the scheme, with the designer approaching the palette with a painter’s eye, thinking about the experience of walking through the house and the relationship between spaces.
From a fiery, poppy-red powder room to the deep-indigo snug that draws the eye into Randy’s golden-toned bedroom, colour is used in confident washes to establish a mood and create a narrative. Respectfully reshaped and filled with ‘the stuff they love to live with’, this home now reflects the energy of father and sons. ‘The boys are very creative and so is Randy,’ says Steven. ‘There is a lot of spirit in the house.’ communedesign.com
