CJ Baran, a sibling who is a realty agent and interior designer, doesn’t make sense to work with anyone else. CJ needed a new home in Los Angeles both for personal and professional reasons. After years of living in an apartment, Mr. Baran, 32-year-old music producer and songwriter, wanted a home with a view and outside space. He also needed a place to make noise. Mr. Baran has worked with artists such as Carly Rae Jepsen and Panic! at the Disco, and Melanie Martinez. “In the apartment I was constantly getting complaints, which was so frustrating.” He sought out the perfect space high up in the Hollywood Hills with the help of Elisa Baran, his sister and an interior designer. At first, he hoped to find a move-in ready house, but all the best ones were priced well beyond his budget, so he began looking for a fixer-upper instead.ImageCJ Baran, a songwriter and producer, bought a house in Los Angeles and spent three years renovating it with his sister, Elisa Baran, an interior designer.Credit…Beth Coller for The New York TimesIn the summer of 2017, he found one: a 2,200-square-foot house built in 1977, with a recently stalled renovation that had left it with open walls, sections of unfinished drywall and bare subfloors.The asking price was $2.9 million, but the seller accepted Mr. Baran’s offer of $2.5 million. Mr. Baran was able to negotiate a credit of more that $300,000 for structural issues. He then closed the deal and moved into his sister’s apartment. “We both love Japanese living and Brutalist architecture so we combined them.” Ms. Baran began by expanding the family room and removing the walls that separated it from the kitchen to create a spacious space. She also expanded the living area, removing the back wall to maximize the property’s view of the city and removing columns to make room for sliding-glass doors. ImageThe kitchen features cabinets from Reform and Calacatta Arabescato marble countertops. The family room was expanded by pushing out the back wall and eliminating columns.Credit…Michael CliffordAiming for an almost monastic look inside, she and Mr. Baran decided to plaster the walls in a custom off-white color. Ms. Baran stated that the color should be neutral and not too dark, but it should also have some warmth and mottling. She used the same plaster to create a sofa-like seating element in the living room. She had the plasterer create vertical grooves around the TV in the family area. This gave the illusion of a built in media cabinet. Ms. Baran also used leftover plaster to create custom art, including a wood-carved arch that hangs in the foyer. She used European oak in a herringbone design to finish the floors. The stone was whitewashed to match the plaster. All of the home’s built-in stone features, including the kitchen counters and backsplash, and the walk-in shower and sink in the new primary bathroom, are made from the same kind of marble: Calacatta Arabescato.ImageIn the primary bathroom, Elisa Baran designed a custom tub with a plywood base covered in waterproof tadelakt plaster of the same color.Credit…Michael CliffordFor free-standing furniture and accessories, she chose more natural materials, heavy on texture: travertine coffee tables for the family room; a custom daybed with a weathered wooden base for the living room; and craggy onyx table lamps for the guest room.At first, the siblings thought the renovation would take about a year and a half. It took them eight months to dig the holes down 17ft. “But there wasn’t any bedrock. He continued digging and found no bedrock. He said that Marikah Baran shares his passion for tidy minimalism. Baran met Marikah during the renovation. He said that the couple share a passion to tidy minimalism. “I wanted to create a place where artists could come and work. We come in to write, then they might go out to focus on lyrics, while I’m building the track. It can feel like they’re at resort. Baran also noticed that his neighbors haven’t had as much luck with their renovations. He said, “There are other houses on our block that started way ahead of us, and I thought we would finish sooner.” “But they’re still in construction.” Sign up here to receive weekly email updates about residential real estate news. Follow us on Twitter at @nytrealestate
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