On a plot between a sportswear store and an art gallery along a busy thoroughfare in Los Angeles’s Glassell Park neighborhood, local architecture and design firm Byben renovated a holdout 1921 bungalow-style home with a constellation of humorous design details. Referred to as “The Bagel House”— named after a bagel-shaped addition to the exterior dormer that might raise the eyebrows of passersby—it was originally built with several internal divisions to mitigate sunlight and divide each room by function. Opening up the front half of the 1,220-square-foot home gave rise to a playful dialogue between its past and present.

Byben altered the peak of the ceiling, allowing views from the open living room and kitchen to the backyard off to the side. Removing interior walls gave the kitchen room to perform visual tricks: Black laminate strips applied to the kicks of the white-oak cabinets make the kitchen appear to float above the flooring, which is a slightly different shade of white oak. “The Caesarstone countertops and large Daltile squares on the backsplash are both as nontextured as possible to bring out the natural wood grain,” Byben founder Ben Warwas told AN Interior.

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