A Leak Leads to a Dazzling Kitchen Overhaul in Los Angeles

By the time designer Ginny Macdonald was called, the damage had been done. An unforeseen leak concealed within a South Los Angeles kitchen had dripped its way into an irreparable mess, and owners Mara and David had no other options but to find a way to clean it up. 

"This wasn't your typical ‘client would like help with upgrades to their outdated kitchen design so they hired a designer’ situation," Macdonald said. But just like how Macdonald’s entrance on to the scene wasn’t routine, neither was Mara and David’s response. 

Instead of lamenting the loss of what was, they looked at the wreck as a chance to create something better. "Since their insurance company was covering most of the renovation—or at least the damaged parts—they wanted to upgrade some of its cosmetic areas," she continues. "And the laundry room was something additional that they'd been meaning to do for a while, so they thought it was a good time for it since the contractors were already there." 

Although their home was built in 1955, it wasn't filled with the type of architectural details that make a midcentury property charming. Mara and David bought it after developers had upgraded certain details into the current decade, ultimately neutralizing its past in a palette of gray. "There were gray upper and lower cabinets, gray marble tiles, and an oversized chrome faucet," Macdonald remembers. "The wood flooring had a bit of a traditional farmhouse feel to it, so we wanted to make sure whatever we did worked with that."