This Altadena Bungalow Is a Love Letter to Production Design and Americana

“It was compression-confusion,” Rickard jokes, referencing Frank Lloyd Wright’s compression-and-release maxim. “It was telling you this is a small house. By sacrificing storage and making the entryway more generous than it needs to be, it insinuates that the house is bigger than it actually is.” The designer recreated the living room’s Pickwick knotty pine paneling in a scaled-down form for the doorway vestibule walls. The expanded entry hall with slate flooring placed in an ashlar pattern is splashed in Zak + Fox’s Orangerie wallpaper pattern that evokes its SoCal setting. A delicate yet bold ceiling-mounted lighting fixture Rickard sourced on 1stDibs adds a glam touch.

“I designed the kitchen before we even moved in,” Rickard says, “I don’t like an open plan, but I like visual connection.” Standing in the intimate dining room next to the pass-through opening with millwork coated in Farrow & Ball’s Dead Salmon, he observes that “almost everybody on TV has one. Mary Tyler Moore. All in the Family. The Jeffersons had louvered shutters.” Details from 1970s and 1980s sitcom sets left an indelible impression on the Missouri native, who studied architecture and film in college with aspirations of becoming a production designer. His career trajectory led him to craft storylines and manage productions that aired on networks like Bravo and E!, and ultimately to residential interior design.

As a skilled cook, Rickard “was inspired by LA restaurants that have open kitchens, like Mozza, where they always have beautiful produce and bowls.” Other design details intentionally differentiate between what Rickard designates as back-of-house and front-of-house zones. In production design, pass-throughs can function as a device to maximize camera angles, but here “it’s the transitional space,” he explains. “Front-of-house is more formal, or finished,” Rickard adds, pointing to the dark wood countertop and brass hardware and the kitchen cabinetry’s simple painted knobs. The material palette is hardly austere, however, with custom-paneled appliances, soapstone countertops, and deVOL brass rails that are practical and luxurious, while the exposed and refinished original Douglas fir flooring feels a bit rustic.

The living room of the 1938 wood shingle-clad bungalow in Altadena, California, where interior designer Grant Rickard lives with his husband, Michael Burton, reflects the couple’s wide-ranging tastes that embrace nostalgic impulses. Rickard believes “it’s always good to have a collection of volumes that creates a nice graphic block. Back in the day it would’ve been encyclopedias or National Geographic.” The custom sofa fabricated by Landon Cole is upholstered in a dusty blue Romo viscose linen. Circa 1950s Cleopatra daybed by Auping is from Amsterdam Modern with abstract art by Michael Carter. Picture lights are by Chapman & Myers. Tommi Parzinger floor lamp at right.