A Los Angeles Home Reaches Its Peak Potential With Floor-to-Ceiling Views

In Bel Air, where tall hedges and winding roads hide the havens of movie stars and music executives, sat a home that was a time capsule of the famed neighborhood’s past. "It was a very charming, traditional home with great bones," says interior decorator Robyn Ordon, who owns the property with her husband. "But there were quite a few drawbacks." 

The house was built in 1952 and had been renovated by the previous owners in the mid-’90s, but not much had been done since. Despite the city’s perennially blue skies, sunlight barely made it inside the dated floor plan, which (this being Bel Air after all) seemed quite modest for the area. "The house had too few bedrooms for this neighborhood today, plus their layout wasn’t ideal," Ordon recalls. "There was also no foyer, and while not all homes can be blessed with one, the existing entrance opened into a narrow hallway right off the living room." 

It did, however, have 4,000 square feet to work with, and the potential to add a great deal more. Ordon pictured a bright, contemporary home where a family could have all they needed under one impressive roof. She didn’t want it to be too ostentatious, since newer neighboring homes sprawl considerably over these mountains, but the size needed to better complement the luxury materials that would soon be found inside.  

And besides all that, nothing was as problematic as the one true wasted opportunity. "There were overgrown hedges and scrubby trees surrounding the entire property, and as a result there was absolutely no view," Ordon says. "I had to climb my way through the brush to be blown away by how gorgeous the canyon, mountain, and ocean views were."