This 1937 Palm Springs Spanish Revival became a true haven for its owners, Teri and Ken, and their family during the pandemic—a place to retreat from Los Angeles, gather with friends, and celebrate some of life’s most meaningful moments, including one of their daughters’ weddings. But their connection to Palm Springs goes back much further.

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Teri’s father and uncle were the original developers of the Riviera Resort, helping shape an important chapter in Palm Springs’ evolution as the celebrated resort destination we know today. It feels especially fitting that Teri and Ken’s home is in the Movie Colony, just a stone’s throw from the Riviera—a neighborhood itself so closely tied to the glamour, architecture, and cultural history of Palm Springs.There is another wonderful layer to that connection. Ken, an entertainment attorney, has spent his professional life immersed in the entertainment industry, making the Movie Colony an especially resonant place for them to call home. The location creates a natural bridge between Teri’s family history in Palm Springs and Ken’s own connection to the world of entertainment that has long been part of the city’s identity.The desert, then, is far more than a destination for this family. It is woven into their history, their professions, and the life they have built together.Teri and Ken themselves were equally important to the design story. Teri is a residential real estate professional with an intuitive understanding of homes, the market, and what gives a property lasting appeal. Together, they are thoughtful, mindful, and deeply considerate people—casual enough to move through life barefoot, yet sophisticated, highly intelligent, and discerning. They appreciate beauty without preciousness, comfort without compromise, and spaces that feel elevated without ever feeling overly formal.That balance became central to the way we approached their home.And somewhere along the way, baking became something of an obsession.Ken, an entertainment attorney, avid photographer, and passionate collector, transformed into a baker extraordinaire, developing a particular affection for bagels and babka. But as his culinary ambitions grew, the home’s small, isolated kitchen became increasingly cumbersome. What began as a desire for a true chef’s kitchen soon became the catalyst for reimagining the way the entire home could function.We determined that an addition was essential. By capturing an underutilized side yard near the property line, we were able to create the space the house—and our clients—needed. We opened the wall between the existing family room and kitchen, transformed the former kitchen into a dining room, and added a wet bar, powder room, and an expansive chef’s kitchen with a seamless connection to the outdoors.The result is a home designed equally for a house full of guests and for a quiet dinner for two.One of the greatest rewards of my work comes after the drawings, construction meetings, material selections, structural decisions, negotiations, and countless details are complete: being invited back into a client’s home for a meal.After months—and often years—of knowing every nook and cranny, every square inch, where every utensil, glass, and bottle belongs, how the lighting works, and precisely how to set the mood, there is something incredibly meaningful about returning not as the designer, but as a guest.I get to experience the spaces we created as they were intended to be lived in.Even more rewarding than enjoying the finished home myself is seeing my clients’ joy in it: watching them cook, entertain, linger at the table, and move naturally through rooms that were designed around the way they truly live. That is when a project feels complete.For this home, the aesthetic challenge was just as compelling as the architectural one. Teri and Ken have a progressive, highly contemporary art collection juxtaposed against the character and history of the home’s Spanish Revival architecture. Our goal was never to make the new spaces feel “new.” We wanted them to feel as though they had always belonged to the house, while still feeling distinctly current.The flooring became one of the most important elements in bridging those worlds.The original home featured 14-inch hexagonal Saltillo tile that had previously been painted light gray. We proposed taking the existing tile to a deeper charcoal, but the clients wanted something smoother and easier to maintain in the new kitchen.Rather than simply changing materials at the threshold, we turned the transition into a design feature.In the former kitchen—now the dining room—we created what feels like an inlaid floor rug. Large-format porcelain tile reminiscent of concrete forms the border, followed by a decorative Spanish tile incorporating charcoal, green, and saffron. At its center, the home’s original Saltillo hexagons remain, refinished in the new charcoal tone. The composition connects old and new while allowing the architecture of the original home to remain part of the story.Throughout the kitchen and adjoining spaces, modern technology is layered thoughtfully into materials that celebrate craftsmanship and history. High-performance appliances and plumbing fixtures, Dekton surfaces, handmade tile, and carefully considered lighting bring contemporary function to the home without overpowering its Spanish Revival soul.It is a dialogue between old world and new, history and modernity, beauty and performance.Most importantly, it is a home that reflects the way Teri and Ken truly live: cooking passionately, collecting thoughtfully, entertaining generously, and enjoying the everyday moments in between—sophisticated, relaxed, and entirely themselves.And perhaps most meaningfully, it is a home rooted in a family’s long history with Palm Springs, reimagined not only for how they live today, but with the hope that future generations will gather here, celebrate here, and continue to make their own memories in the desert.

DESERT HEIRLOOM