Before & After: This Suburban L.A. Home’s Most Attractive Quality? A Near Complete Lack of Character

Design couple Carlos Naude and Whitney Brown liked its vaulted ceilings, but otherwise transformed the space with plaster, handmade brick, archways, and more Spanish-inspired touches.

Mar 8, 2024 - 18:34

Before & After: This Suburban L.A. Home’s Most Attractive Quality? A Near Complete Lack of Character

Design couple Carlos Naude and Whitney Brown liked its vaulted ceilings, but otherwise transformed the space with plaster, handmade brick, archways, and more Spanish-inspired touches.

In 2022, with a second baby on the way and the ambition to grow their real estate portfolio, Carlos Naude and Whitney Brown were ready for more space. While a large kitchen and backyard pool were priorities for their growing family, so was finding a space that they could infuse with their own personal history and distinct taste. When they came across a dated, nondescript home for sale in good condition in Granada Hills, California, they knew they had found the right place.

The couple run Working Holiday, a multidisciplinary creative studio based in Los Angeles with a portfolio that includes several renovations. With a few completed projects across Southern California, including one in Woodland Hills, they were all too aware of the ultra-competitive real estate market in L.A. So they shifted their focus to Granada Hills, a quieter suburb they liked for its proximity to neighborhoods like Santa Monica and Sherman Oaks, to help their odds in nabbing a home. The strategy paid off when their offer—which was only in the ring with two compared with the 40 they were up against in areas like Calabasas—was accepted.