Working with an aggressive timeline, architect Barbara Bestor cut out dated carpeting and wasted space—and added fresh finishes and an ADU with colorful storage.
Barbara Bestor’s one-of-a-kind homes for high-flying clients may get the lion’s share of attention, but the Los Angeles–based architect is just as willing to reach deep into her bag of talents and exercise her creative vision on lower-cost projects. Her fast-track renovation of a ’70s ranch house in Ojai, California, for a family of four is the latest example.
Before: Front Exterior
Before: Kim Master and Noah Lieb searched for a while before finding this Ojai ranch house, which was built in 1977. “Everything we looked at was either too expensive, needed too much work, we were outbid on, or it just didn’t check off enough of our boxes,” says Kim. “For us, the location was the absolute first draw of this house.”
Photo Courtesy of Bestor Architecture
Budget, of course, is a relative thing, but in an area where even more modest homes sell for millions, pulling off an extensive redo for about $1.6 million was a matter of ingenuity and strategy.
After: Front Exterior
With no major structural work to do, the design team focused on things like color. For the exterior, they paired Benjamin Moore’s Cabbage Patch green with a front door painted in the company’s Tawny Day Lily. “Kim had a lot of really great people on the project,” Bestor explains, “and that made it possible to go super fast and still be design-y and not just do a white box.”
Photo by Michael Wells
Homeowner Kim Master was crystal clear about what she wanted when she and her husband, Noah Lieb, headed west to California from Aspen with their two teenage daughters. “I had a laundry list of things: an office for Noah, a laundry room that didn’t keep us up at night, a pet room that would keep my dog from eating the cat’s food, en suite bathrooms, and a connection to the outdoors,” Kim recalls. “I wanted something clean and modern with soul and character. And I wanted it to look great even when it was messy.”
Before: Living Room
Before: The original living room featured wall-to-wall carpeting and a popcorn ceiling. “We found a stash of $2 bills in the old fireplace,” recalls Kim. “I don’t know what they were saving them for, but it felt like good luck.”
Photo Courtesy of Bestor Architecture
See the full story on Dwell.com: Budget Breakdown: It Took $1.6M and Less Than a Year to Reboot This ’70s Ojai Ranch House
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