Benjamin Noriega-Ortiz Softens a Modern Home in Venice Beach, California
Top Interior Design Project of the Week
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Benjamin Noriega-Ortiz
The owner of a Venice Beach, California, home didn’t find her designer through a referral from friends or while flipping through the pages of a shelter magazine. Instead she found him when she checked into her hotel on a trip to visit the new property. “While she was seeing the house she was staying in one of the rooms I designed at the Mondrian Los Angeles,” says New York–based designer Benjamin Noriega-Ortiz. “She called from the room and asked me to fly to L.A. to see the house because she really loved what I did in that room.”
The owner wanted Noriega-Ortiz, whose high-profile client list includes Lenny Kravitz, Russell Simmons, and Sean Combs, to soften the modern space. “She wanted to the house to be a little bit more feminine than what it is,” he says. “It’s a very clean, beautiful house, but it was very masculine.” Noriega-Ortiz took inspiration from the owner’s love of fashion and incorporated couture details, such as luxe textiles and feathers. “A house should be treated as if you were designing a dress or a fashion show,” Noriega-Ortiz says. “In every room you can see elements that could be jewelry, could be clothing, could be hats, could be shoes. Everything is tailored to that feel.”
Noriega-Ortiz also incorporated Feng Shui principles into the layout and color palette at the client’s request. “She had a Feng Shui master that came to look at the house,” he says. “Some of the reds, pinks, and purples were actually requested by the master.” The furnishings included a mix of custom designs, antiques, as well as a few pieces [of home décor] from places like West Elm, for a balance of high and low. “We bought a lot of antiques in L.A,” says the designer. “I love buying antiques there.”
The end result proves that you don’t need a full renovation to transform the aesthetic of a home. “We kept the house pretty much architecturally the same way it was,” says Noriega-Ortiz. “We added layers to the house to give it the feminine feel that she wanted.”
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“I didn't want to repeat any style in the living room,” he says. “I wanted to have all these different combinations of forms.” Noriega-Ortiz designed a sofa with a clear acrylic base that glows at night to complement the owner’s existing coffee table. He found the settee at 145 Antiques in New York and reupholstered it in a soft blue fabric.
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An oblong shag rug and sweeping sheer curtains soften the double-height living area. “The wall was just so out of proportion with this room that I decided to drape it and hang this gigantic mirror that I designed and had handmade here in New York,” he says. A Murano glass chandelier hangs above an Eames rocking chair and a pair of Billy Haines slipper chairs.
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The dining room is illuminated by a custom feather-and-crystal light fixture. “We needed to use red in this room,” Noriega-Ortiz says. “I didn't want to make a red dining room, so we put an intense red on the wall, but then we masked that with a sheer organza drapery.” The underside of the dining table was also painted red, giving off a warm glow that contrasts with the cement floor.
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- Lamps with black rooster feather shades make a dramatic statement in the guest room, which Noriega-Ortiz painted seafoam green to complement the striking tufted headboard.
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A bed in encircled by fringe in the master bedroom. “I had done a similar bed for Lenny Kravitz in Miami,” says Noriega-Ortiz. “The owner loved that bedroom. We wanted something softer and more girly, so that's why we did the fringe. We basically copied that room conceptually.”
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The home features three outdoor spaces overlooking one of the man-made canals in the historic district. Noriega-Ortiz brought in props of blue and decorated the areas with a mix of modern and antique furnishings.
