When we interviewed Kathleen Whitaker, the notable LA jewelry designer, four years ago about her turn-of-the-century home in LA’s Echo Park, she summed up her DIY remodel this way: “I suppose my jewelry designs are the antithesis of the expression displayed here at home.” Indeed. Back then, while her pieces were minimalist and understated, her home was expressive and vibrant with saturated colors.
Today? “It’s flip-flopped. I started a sister collection that explores texture and color, and that created an inverse effect of really committing to reduction and minimalism in our home environment,” she says. “My work and my home, they influence each other.”
This second makeover was far less labor-intensive. The first one involved restoring the building to its former glory, including converting the three-apartment structure back to a single-family residence, a laborious project that she and her husband, cinematographer Bradford Whitaker, undertook themselves. This time around, the rehab was mostly superficial—a fresh coat of white paint on every wall, the addition of a few new pieces of furniture, and the removal of others—but the results have been profound. “You can radically transform a space by doing very little to it,” says Kathleen.
Let’s take a tour.
Photography by Laure Joliet.
![long rustic benches once flanked this farmhouse dining table. no more. in their 17](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/kathleen-whitaker-joliet-echo-park-dining-733x977.jpg)
![one room that didn\2\17;t change much—the kitchen. \2\20;t 18](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/kathleen-whitaker-joliet-echo-park-kitchen-733x1100.jpg)
![the view from the sunroom into the dining/kitchen space. the built in shelves d 19](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/kathleen-whitaker-joliet-echo-park-sunroom-733x489.jpg)
![june and fitz enjoying the daybed in the sunroom. all the leaded windows are or 20](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/kathleen-whitaker-joliet-echo-park-window-seat-733x489.jpg)
![a lindsey adelman lamp rests under a painting by jay stuckey. 21](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/kathleen-whitaker-joliet-echo-park-sunroom-art-733x977.jpg)
![a peek from the dining area into the living room, at left; on the right is the 22](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/kathleen-whitaker-joliet-echo-park-living-room-733x523.jpg)
![\2\20;neutrals are hard. and white is the color you can go wrong w 23](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/kathleen-whitaker-joliet-echo-park-living-room2-733x977.jpg)
![the room that kicked off the neutral phase of the couple\2\17;s home. af 24](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/kathleen-whitaker-joliet-echo-park-powder-room-733x977.jpg)
![the only major changes occurred in kathleen\2\17;s downstairs work studi 25](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/kathleen-whitaker-joliet-echo-park-office-studio-733x550.jpg)
![kathleen found the thonet chair in an antiques shop near santa barbara. 26](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/kathleen-whitaker-joliet-echo-park-office-studio5-733x977.jpg)
![kathleen\2\17;s husband made two simple six foot long desks out of plywo 27](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/kathleen-whitaker-joliet-echo-park-office-studio3-733x552.jpg)
![one of the main reasons that kathleen opted for all white walls is that &a 28](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/kathleen-whitaker-joliet-echo-park-office-studio4-733x978.jpg)
For more bewitching LA home tours, see:
- House Call: Gallerist Lisa Overduin’s Artful Apartment in Los Angeles
- Kitchen of the Week: A Six-Week Transformation in Los Feliz
- Midcentury Modern Mashup: At Home with a Rising Design Star in LA
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