Designer Jonathan Taylor finds that a mix of exposed shelves for select display items and cabinets for additional storage work best for most people.
Jonathan and Jess Taylor are the husband-and-wife team behind aptly named Los Angeles–based design firm Taylor + Taylor . The self-described best friends are raising a family and running a business together, so it makes sense that many of their clients are couples. “It’s really rewarding to bring our experience as a couple that is perpetually navigating the creative process together into the dialogue and decision-making that’s required in design,” Jonathan explains.
For a recent project, the Taylors worked with a pair in their mid-30s who had stumbled across an untouched late-midcentury property while they were on a walk in Silver Lake. They had been searching for a real estate investment, so the couple purchased the duplex home from the original contractor who had built the place more than four decades ago.
"It was a very segmented little galley kitchen," Jonathan says of the original, ’80s-style room.
While the new owners considered moving into one of the two units, they ultimately decided to create a duo of luxury rentals with the help of Taylor + Taylor. “We tried to approach it kind of like a boutique hotel, where you weave in themes that continue throughout, but each space is distinct in itself,” Jonathan says. Natural maple wood is one of those themes.
This material is on full display with custom cabinetry in the south kitchen in the property’s lower unit. The room opens up to the leafy backyard, so it offers a jungle quality that Jonathan and Jess played off when they imagined the decor. But before they were able to have fun with terrazzo and mustard tones, the team had to figure out how to make the tiny footprint feel bigger. They ended up knocking down a wall and introducing a peninsula that provides the openness the owners wanted.
