- 9 months ago
Architectural Digest is welcomed by AD100 designer Mandy Cheng to tour her Los Angeles home. Cheng shares how she transformed a run-down Craftsman house into her dream home through a sustainable renovation, custom built-ins, layered lighting, and a New Orleans-inspired color palette, creating a warm, functional space designed for everyday living, entertaining, and indoor-outdoor California living.
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00Good Design to Me is designing a space to its highest level while still functioning at its
00:13highest capacity. The house needs to work for whoever's living there. We do have two dogs,
00:18so I need to not be too precious about anything in here. But design matters so much. It makes a
00:24space feel pulled together. It makes it inviting. The color palette does so much to your emotions,
00:29what does it feel like in the morning when you wake up, and what does it feel like at
00:33night. So all of these things come into play and for me a well-designed space is the most
00:38harmonious version of that. My name is Mandy Chang and this is my house that my husband and I
00:46renovated together. So we were originally looking for a house that had a slightly larger yard space.
00:53We put in offers on like 30 places and this home was essentially in a state of disrepair. So nobody
01:02wanted it. So it was perfect. We want to do the most responsible environmentally conscious thing,
01:09which is to recycle and reuse. It's also the most budget-friendly option. You know, we had a huge
01:15project on our hands. This house was a beast. We didn't have the budget to just have teams come in
01:22and pull everything out. We had to do a lot of this ourselves. To finally be able to just sit in the
01:27space and not stare at all the to-dos is kind of wild.
01:37The most important thing for us for this space was for it to feel really welcoming the second you
01:43walked in. We don't have a proper foyer. You're just kind of walking straight into our dining room and our
01:49living room. So we really wanted it to feel immediately cozy, enveloping, bright, relaxing.
01:56I don't want anything to feel too stuffy. So we chose to open up this wall with the bifolding door
02:01because Rory had these really grand ideas of what our front patio should look like.
02:07This home was sort of a craftsman style house to begin with and we really wanted to honor that when we
02:13were renovating the house. The house came with a fireplace that I wanted to preserve. That really limited the
02:18footprint of our living room and of our kitchen. Because if you go into a traditional craftsman style
02:23home, the rooms are a little bit more separated typically. So I'm happy that we we kept with that
02:28original layout for the most part. Obviously closing off this doorway that used to lead into the kitchen
02:35and making this a proper built-in so that this room feels like its own room. When we started this
02:42house, Rory and I wanted there to be a theme and we decided on New Orleans. It's not supposed to be
02:48like a direct translation but the color palette, the way that New Orleans makes you feel. It's where
02:53Rory's family's from so we go there a lot. We love it there. This feels very much like our experiences in
02:59New Orleans where we go into these different bars and jazz clubs to our family's homes. This is really
03:05supposed to be an entertaining space. I don't want anybody to worry about spilling wine. No, I want
03:11them to be a little bit worried about spilling wine, but I don't want them to not drink wine on the sofa.
03:17I know that it's like a whole thing to have a TV over a fireplace. I really don't care. If I don't
03:21have a TV over the fireplace, maybe people don't want to hang out here. I mean, we're in LA. I'm not
03:27lighting that fireplace all the time, but we are watching TV all the time. So I think it's great.
03:31I think if there's one thing to really focus on when you're renovating your house, it would be
03:38to incorporate built-ins. To have something that looks like a piece of furniture designed and fitted
03:44exactly to fit within an opening is everything. It makes all the difference. We made it a little
03:50dining nook. My husband built this bench, but there's a lot of dining and drinking that happens
03:55here. We have dinner parties here pretty often. My parents growing up, we owned a restaurant. And I
04:03think because of that, having people gather around the table has always been the norm for us. We're
04:09definitely very proud to have a place that people want to come and hang out.
04:14The biggest thing we did in here was add this hallway right here, which gives you a straight shot down
04:26for guests to use when we're up on this first floor. Once we drew this, we realized like, oh,
04:32if we just straighten out the wall, move everything in three feet, this becomes a very typical single
04:39family residence layout where, you know, the main space is on one side and then the living quarters
04:44are on the other side. This three-foot hallway essentially gave us a guest bedroom, a guest
04:50bathroom, our gym. So, you know, if people come and stay, it kind of feels like they have their own
04:55private space. In New Orleans, I feel like a lot of the spaces are tight. They're older. They feel a
05:02little bit cozier than what you would normally be accustomed to. So I really leaned into that with the
05:07guest bedroom rather than filling it with bright colors. It lends to the overall color palette of
05:15the whole house, but also has its own little like cozy, unique feel. So I have a lot of friends that
05:19are artists and they've created a lot of these pieces. I think galleries should be more popular
05:25than they are. I know it was trending for a while and then it fell out of trend. I don't really care
05:31and I think it's great. So we're going to keep building on this. It's going to be completely filled
05:35with stuff. I think Rory and I jointly designed this piece, had our stained glass guy make it and
05:40I love the way that the light comes through. It's so pretty. The kitchen has changed significantly.
05:49This beam right here is where the dividing wall was. So the kitchen used to be significantly smaller.
05:56Since the fireplace was there, I didn't want to get rid of it and it created this like funny little
06:00nook. So that's why these little drawers are off center. And I think it's great to kind of embrace
06:08the original architecture of the house to not feel like I have to always change everything and make
06:15everything perfect and new and symmetrical and you know all the things that maybe by default you would
06:20do. I love that we did mixed colors in here. I have a lot of clients that ask, is it weird to have two
06:26different colors in the kitchen? Is it weird to not have your kitchen cabinets match your floors?
06:32So this is kind of a great case study for my clients to see like, hey, no, it's not weird.
06:39Or if you do think it's weird, maybe just don't hire me. But if you don't think it's weird, it's great.
06:43I feel a little more connected to people that are hanging out in the kitchen by having the sink here
06:48as opposed to over here. Because we have this little area here, it does become a hangout spot, especially when
06:55Rory and I are cooking or friends are making drinks, we can all kind of gather.
07:02Some of my favorite things in the house, I think the lighting is one. A lot of my own lights are in
07:08the house, which is awesome. I partnered with Mitzi and created a lighting line. And then also all of
07:13these other lights like they're from so many vendors that I love and really admire. It's just this like
07:19pop of jewelry. I use them to dress up or dress down a space depending on what I needed to accomplish.
07:27They all kind of play a role in either classing up or classing down the space in a very specific way.
07:33The bedroom is really the same size as how it was when we purchased the home. Added this little
07:47Clara Story window over our bed. We added a balcony upstairs, downstairs. These French doors lead out
07:54to an awesome view of downtown. I love the colors in this room. Again, going with the New Orleans theme,
08:03but it's just this like soft buttery golden color that's very, very relaxing. By reconfiguring everything,
08:10it made the room feel so much larger. I love that we have two different vintage desks as our nightstands.
08:16And just being able to go outside in the morning, have coffee on the sofa, you know, enjoy the view,
08:21wash the planes. It's great.
08:31So this is our downstairs den and it actually doubles as a guest suite if we need it to.
08:41A vendor that I work with a lot, it's a store called Clad Home. They're local to LA.
08:45We designed this sofa and I really pushed them to make it a king sleeper sofa,
08:51which you don't normally find. I knew that I wanted it to be a little funkier and more
08:56colorful than the upstairs where it could kind of feel like a boutique hotel. So the property
09:02slopes down. That's why the ceilings are so low. So we just have kind of embraced it. I think you have
09:08to be 5'11 to take a shower. I chose to tile the ceilings because I've always wanted to do it in a
09:14project and I didn't want a client's house to be my test case. So I did it here and I love it. It
09:22actually feels kind of like Japanese bath house-y. Everything is supposed to feel elevated, but also
09:29kind of whimsical and fun. And that's kind of my way of achieving, you know, a nice space that still feels
09:38approachable. Roy's an architect and he essentially designed the house. Where we're sitting right now,
09:55this was designed to be an extension of the living room. The bifold doors fully open and you have the
10:01ability to float to the front patio here. This planter here is an idea that we took from a place that we
10:06visited years ago in Palm Springs. It was the Lautner compound. You know, I want people to walk in,
10:11see their front door, know that they have a destination, but not really be aware of the front
10:16patio. And as you move in towards the front door, it's this big, beautiful, expansive space.
10:23I think the tile guys probably wanted to quit. I really wanted to incorporate a lot of color in here.
10:30Normally you, you pick a tile and that's the floor tile. Then you pick another tile and that's the wall tile.
10:35I wanted to change that up. They were really, really proud of the way that it all turned out.
10:42We come out here and hang out pretty much every night. After work, it's just such a cool place to
10:47chill, have a glass of wine. We have the fire on. Such a nice little cozy space. We were inspired by
10:56some places that we've stayed over the years. Being outdoors is such an incredible experience anywhere
11:01in California. We wanted all of our outdoors to feel as though they were as refined as the interiors.
11:08And so another thing that was very memorable at resorts that we went to is just having lighting
11:13integrated everywhere to the extent of hanging pendant lights from the trees. He's being modest,
11:19by the way. I think he's planted over a thousand plants on this property. Rory ran all of the irrigation.
11:26He ran all of the exterior lighting and then planted all of the plants you see. Like, I can't tell you
11:31how many truck beds full of plants he's brought home since we bought this house.
11:36So the last holiday my family was coming to town and we were really worried about my family getting
11:41bored. We installed a bunch of games. But yeah, we needed to enter town families.
11:46Like I said, practice makes perfect.
11:47Stop it. That's so annoying. I don't think I've ever gotten that.
11:51This is the remnants of the original house, but I kind of love it because it's, you know, it,
11:59it reminds us of what the house used to be on theme with New Orleans, where you just kind of
12:04find these new structures mixed with old things. It feels on point.
12:09To be true to the craftsman, we installed a board and batten siding, I think in a more
12:14contemporary fashion. And I had these made with the little fleur-de-lis so that it feels very
12:20new Orleans. It's like the one thing that is very on the nose.
12:24This is a really interesting space because this used to be the door that led to the downstairs
12:30studio space. The rest of this was essentially like outdoor storage. It's such a fun little
12:35surprise when you're coming down the driveway and turn the corner. As far as the pink quartzite
12:41goes, this is also from Walker Zanger. Had this table fabricated. It's great for entertaining. We're in
12:47LA. We all want to hang out outside and now you can eat and drink here too. My countertop fabricator
12:52loves to create cutting boards every time he does the countertop. And rather than a cutting board,
12:58I asked for a lazy Susan. If you've ever been to dim sum, they always have lazy Susans at the tables.
13:05I grew up going to dim sum restaurants and I like that aspect. So this is a very miniature version of that.
13:11The base along here, we planted a creeping thyme, which is edible. You shouldn't eat this. Our dogs pee in
13:21here. But in theory, it's great. Actually, one of the reasons we moved into this area was for a park
13:27nearby where I play basketball during the week. This is just another opportunity to play basketball.
13:32I'm really bad at basketball. Rory plays with our dog more than I do. The only sport we really play together
13:39is or have played together is tennis. She's a really good tennis player. I'm not. I'm terrible
13:44at tennis. I'm just better than he is.
13:51I mean, a lot of it was just blood, sweat, and tears. Mostly Rory's blood, sweat, and tears,
13:57if we're really being honest. He worked his butt off for this house. This house was built on favors,
14:03truly. Like, I am so grateful to LA Design Build. They did this whole renovation. They were so kind.
14:11Armin did an amazing job. Our landscaper, you know, just so many people that I have worked with
14:17and partnered with on past projects. They all kind of came in to help us build our dream house,
14:22and I'm so grateful for that.
14:24This used to be a storage space. We turned it into my office. I painted it pink for the same
14:32reason that I chose pink countertops. Why not?
14:38It used to be really scary in here. There was this really scary rocking horse hanging from the ceiling.
14:45It had, like, this creepy smile, and now it's my office. This table came from my previous office space.
14:51It fits my whole team. It's nice that people can kind of enjoy the property. So we work here,
14:57and people can go into the main house to use the kitchen. So it turned out really, really nice.
15:06There's, like, a very, very short journey where I leave the office and walk up the steps and around
15:12the kitchen into the house. It's, like, the end of the day. So now we can come inside. We'll sit in the
15:17front patio or hang out, you know, have dinner. It feels very relaxing and soothing in an escape.