In This Songwriter’s Midcentury Laurel Canyon Home, No Two Rooms Are Alike

The first time they met, interior designer Victoria Holly had an unusual ask for her client, 30-something songwriter Michael Matosic. “He had a very large, very modern navy sectional scheduled for delivery. Within 10 minutes of meeting him, I said, ‘Please don’t kill me, but you have to cancel that order.’ And he did,” says Victoria. Luckily, the request didn’t throw Michael, who was happy to have her lend a helping hand in figuring out a style for his midcentury Laurel Canyon home. “Funnily enough, I originally gravitated toward a more traditional aesthetic, but as I really got down to it, I noticed I was having fun pairing a modern rug with an old-world settee, or placing new pieces against a vintage backdrop,” says Michael, an East Coast native best known for composing for and with artists like Lauv, Kane Brown, Bebe Rexha, and Adam Levine.

It was important for him that the house feel warm and exciting, but also inviting—somewhere people could put their feet up and not worry about sitting on this or touching that. And while he was all for color and pattern, he was wary of too much of it. “I remember when we painted the white trim of the interior doors this beautiful blue, for days afterwards, I was calling Victoria and saying I thought it looked odd. Truth is, my eyes hadn’t quite adjusted yet. This happened with a few other changes in the house, and the three to four days after a big change jokingly became known as the ‘Michael Meltdown Period.’ I ended up loving each change afterward though,” laughs the songwriter.