This Ranch Had Barely Changed Since 1945
This four-bedroom ranch in Pasadena, California, looked quite different when Los Angeles interior designer Kirsten Blazek first purchased it. It was built in 1945 and stayed in the same family until she bought it in 2019, barely changing over the decades. Kirsten designed the house for her own family and lived there until selling it recently. She didn’t change many structural elements of the house, but essentially gutted it, including sanding down the front of the home to reveal its redwood siding. "It was a very, very traditional California ranch house," she says. No one else saw through its outdated style to the potential it had, she added, in spite of its amazing location — half a block from an arroyo (dry creek) overlooking the Rose Bowl. It was an incredible transformation that happened pretty fast — about four-and-a-half months in total. We asked Kirsten to walk us through her electric design that pairs bold prints with solids, and mixes vintage furniture with ultra-modern lighting.