This minimalist midcentury modern living room, cheerful and welcoming in character, left plenty of room for hospitality.
The approach to it through the entrance patio, the main entrance doors and the gallery suggested a certain quality of formality. The room itself, although not strictly symmetrical, suggested this same quality.
Although this space from 1958 might have been used for an overflow from large informal gatherings in the recreation room and family dining room, there was a calmness about its atmosphere that suggested the pleasures of thoughtful conversation.
The enclosed, somewhat cloistered garden, set apart from the realm of busier activities, complemented this sense of quiet enjoyment.
A sense of quality, independent of costliness or ostentatious use of materials, was achieved with a limited building palette of Douglas fir boards, Mexican brick and marble floor tile.
They were combined with furnishings chosen to be an interesting but unassuming background for everyday living.
Above: The unification of the garden patio and living room was emphasized by the deep masonry piers, which suggested the interweaving of adjacent space. The wall of the bedroom wing, across the patio, became the farthest limit of the room.
There was a feeling of quality about this room that was typical of all rooms in the house. It originated in the careful selection of a limited palette of materials, and in a high quality of craftsmanship, which made it possible to put these materials together in a direct and unaffected manner, reducing details to the essential.
From these simple materials, straightforwardly used, emerged a fine dignity not to be otherwise found.
