Step Inside 7 Craftsman Homes That Are All About Cozy Grandness
In 2013, the couple moved into their 1920s Craftsman home. It had lots of space (Milewski, who released four new singles this year, needed a music studio) and was in good condition, especially considering the climate, which does no favors for old houses. Slowly they restored the windows, painted the exterior an avocado green, and uncovered the living room’s original ceiling mural, previously painted over. Amid these thoughtful renovations, a steady stream of artist friends—many of whom crashed in the guesthouse for weeks or months—also left their own marks. Jim Drain conjured the entry’s new ceiling mural, inspired by the patchwork textiles of Florida’s indigenous Miccosukee people, while Katie Stout—fresh out of RISD—personally delivered and installed a chandelier after the first one she shipped arrived shattered. “Nina’s so good at her job because she really believes in her artists and the work,” says Stout, whose career has blossomed in the years since, thanks in no small part to Johnson’s mentorship. “She has this ability to make people see what she sees.” —Hannah Martin
Pared down in the Pacific Palisades
When actor Sam Page and his wife Cassidy Elliott began the hunt for a new home in Los Angeles, it was both an old-hat and a brand-new experience. Although they were looking for their fourth house together, this time they also had to accommodate three extra people: their toddler son, Logan, as well as twin baby daughters, Evie and Annabelle. “We just needed more space,” Elliott says succinctly. But also on their wish list were a home and a neighborhood more kid-friendly than Brentwood, where they lived at the time.
The couple ultimately decided on Pacific Palisades, a coastal area with a beach-y feel on the west side of the city. And when they saw the home they would ultimately buy, it was love at first sight: Elliott was enraptured first by the exterior details. “I got this instant feel in the front yard,” she says of the Craftsman-style house. “The outside garden was so pretty, and the home itself kind of looks like a big tree house, with wooden shingles and lots of greenery.” Luckily, though the interiors were not move-in ready, the 2002 home did not require a down-to-the-studs renovation.
To modernize the kitchen and bathrooms, as well as create a decor that reads as “coastal-farmhouse-chic,” the couple enlisted the help of close family friend Allie Boesch, of Allie Boesch Designs. “I wouldn’t have done this project with anybody else,” Elliott says of Boesch. Page also noted that Boesch was able to find stellar replacements for furniture pieces that they had not been able to bring with them from their previous home. “I think her particular gift was figuring out what we wanted and needed, when we didn’t actually know what that was,” he says. —Juliet Izon
