Inside a Beautifully Reimagined 1948 Tract Home in Los Angeles

It’s not every day a double-wide trailer is what seals the deal for an interior design gig. But in the case of one owned by Freudenberger Design Studio founder Nina Freudenberger, the masterful marriage of extreme family-friendly function with an elevated aesthetic of beautiful coziness in a small footprint made for a compelling proof of concept.
Kaitlyn Vowels and Jeff Cooke had purchased a decrepit 1948 Gregory Ain home in the midcentury architect’s famous Mar Vista Tract when they met Freudenberger through mutual friends. Immediately upon seeing the fun environment the mom of two had created in her 1,200-square-foot Malibu mobile home, they knew she would reinvigorate the single-story “Modernique” abode for their young family.
The 2,000-square-foot pad is one of 52 in what became Los Angeles’ first historic district of post-WWII houses, which Freudenberger says “people are really obsessed with—for good reason.” Above all, Vowels and Cooke set out to honor and maintain its integrity and character-rich spirit. Even knowing it would be a “permitting nightmare,” the designer was stoked about the historic renovation. Of her clients, she adds, “They had the courage and desire to push through that process, which is not for the lighthearted. That is exciting to me.”
Their journey, a labor of love, was intentional and exacting. “When Gregory Ain designed these homes he could never have accounted for people needing to work from home, but also a woman who doesn’t spend all of her time in a closed-off kitchen,” says Vowels. “We live in homes differently now than we did before.”
This fine balance of history and modernity played out in creative ways. Since there are so few walls, surfaces and pieces of furniture in the intimate place, every single element was carefully considered to feel layered in a collected vintage style inspired in part by Vowels’s grandmother. When sourcing furniture—much from Lawson-Fenning—the rule became that each piece had to be overwhelmingly adored by all three players.
The designer told them, “We’re not just grabbing an end table because you need it. I don’t care if we have to search for the next six months. We only have two end tables in this entire house, we’re going to love that end table.” There are raw brass sconces, distressed Moroccan rugs, quirky little stools, alien lamps, vintage artwork, and a custom sectional done in two-tone green, to look less new. Says Freudenberger, “We spent a tremendous amount of time on this house considering the size, and it was so fun.”
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