A Creative Couple Give a Los Angeles Midcentury a Backyard Recording Studio

When Max Hershenow and Nick Davidson decided to buy a house, it was on a bit of a whim. They’d always rented, but when a cute little place next to some friends in Los Angeles’s Echo Park went on the market, they decided to go after it. They didn’t get it, but the process made them realize that they really wanted to own, both to have a home where they could really apply their vision without restrictions from a landlord, and to fulfill their wish for a pair of home offices that would meet their very specific individual needs for remote work.

Hershenow is a singer-songwriter and music producer known for his work as half of former pop duo MS MR (fun fact: his one-time bandmate’s "Pantone-Punk" Brooklyn apartment was featured in Dwell) as well as collaborations with pop stars like Charli XCX, who he once also called his roommate. Davidson, on the other hand, is a lighting designer who’s worked on everything from "The Making Of Harry Potter" experience on the Warner Bros. Studio Tour in London to music videos (including a recent one for Hershenow shot at the pair’s house). They both bop around often for their work, but when they need to get the job done from home, the standard desk and monitor combo won’t fully do it—which is why the duo finally set their sights on a house where they could live comfortably, of course, but also set up shop.

After months of looking, the pair ended up in a midcentury California bungalow in Tujunga, a quiet L.A. neighborhood near the Crescenta Valley and Verdugo Mountains. The two-bed, one-bath house was built in 1947 and has a ton of vintage features, like large casement windows, random touches of stained glass from a previous owner, and old-school raised panel doors. When they toured the space, they knew it would need a little work (there were Ikea kitchen cabinets on the living room wall and "everything was painted different shades of yellow, with all these horrible, mismatched laminate floors," Hershenow says), but they saw what it could become. They put in an under-ask offer and, after some struggles with lenders who couldn’t wrap their heads around what it meant to be a successful freelancer with relatively stable income, closed in the summer of 2021.

It’s taken a few years and some budget compromise, but the house is mostly where they want it. (They haven’t managed to renovate the kitchen yet, which they say isn’t their style but is totally serviceable.) There’s a step-down living room, sustainable cork floors throughout, and a tiled bathroom with a skylight that the pair says gives "Japanese gym" vibe. They found a Liam Montano dining table on Facebook Marketplace and then commissioned the L.A. furniture designer to make them bedside tables as well. Davidson has sourced vintage and new lighting pieces for the entire home, too, from designers like Louis Poulsen, Flos, Isamu Noguchi, Stilux Milano, and Santa & Cole.

Davidson’s home office sits at the front of the house, where those big casement windows afford the lighting designer plenty of natural sunshine, as well as a vantage point to gaze out over the comings and goings on the street. In contrast, Hershenow’s workplace sits behind the home, at the apex of the pair’s sustainably landscaped backyard. An off-the-rack Tuff Shed that the pair turned into a recording studio, the structure is soundproof enough that Hershenow can work all day and into the night, producing work for artists like Carly Rae Jensen, Chappell Roan, Miya Folick, and Mitch Grassi (Messer)—all of whom have visited the space.

"Because what we do is creative and I have artists coming here all the time to work with me in the studio, I think it freed us up to make bolder choices than we maybe would have," says Hershenow. The producer seems to have enjoyed the renovation experience enough to expand his career: He recently launched an architectural design and interiors firm, Onsen Studio, with fellow musician (and Dwell denizen) Drew Straus.

Below, Hershenow and Davidson dive into the details of building out their WFH spaces, including how they made them each their own, and why there’s always time for a little pruning during the work day.

Dwell: How would you describe your home’s style?

Nick Davidson: I always struggle to describe this house. I just say it’s 1940s California bungalow, which could mean a lot, but it’s all stone and brick, with these casement windows that I definitely identify with a house being "Californian." But I don’t know what our style is, because it’s so eclectic in a weird way.

Max Hershenow: We both have pretty defined aesthetic perspectives. I have a lot of interest in craft and making things with my hands, and Nick is a trained lighting designer who likes to do a lot of focused planning. I think that all blends and is part of what makes the house so magical, that it has this higher-end design perspective mixed with a more DIY aesthetic or a homey feel. All that combined with a lot of shared interests, like midcentury, Scandinavian, and Japanese design.