Touring the 2019 Pasadena Showcase House of Design
If you’ve been reading this site for awhile you know I love a good home tour. Whether it’s a historic home or a contemporary one I love to see all the different design styles out there. I love it even more when the tour is combined with a good cause like the Pasadena Showcase House of Design which supports music programs throughout the Los Angeles area. Last week I was invited to Descanso Gardens to tour this year’s house and it truly is a showstopper.
In 1948 The Pasadena Junior Philharmonic Committee was founded to support the arts and in 1965 they organized the first showcase house. It proved to be an enormous success resulting in the organization’s name change to Pasadena Showcase House for the Arts and the presentation of 55 successive showcase houses. Last year’s house raised $315,000 in gifts and grants offered to various music programs throughout the area including the Academy of Music for the Blind, Pacific Pacific Opera Project, Pittance Chamber Music and Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles.
Over the years the showcase house has been staged at various locations throughout the San Gabriel Valley with the 2019 Pasadena Showcase House of Design occupying the historic Boddy House. E. Manchester Boddy, owner of the Los Angeles Daily News, commissioned the house to be built in 1938. Designed by James E. Dolena the 12,000 square foot 22 room mansion was sold to LA county in 1953 and today is part of the famed Descanso Gardens.
The 2019 Pasadena Showcase House of Design features the work of 26 different designers in the various areas of the home from the foyer to the kitchen to the master bedroom to the backyard…and everything in between!
Walking into the home I was immediately struck by the beautiful rich tones of the foyer.
Designed by Noelle Gex and Kelly Ferm of Kelly Ferm Inc. it was an elegant start to my home tour featuring numerous items I’d love to own (especially that green armchair!).
Touring the first floor of the home found me in elaborately detailed, plushly appointed common areas like the lavish Living Room designed by Louise O’Malley of Louise O’Malley, Inc…
the elegant Entertainment Lounge designed by Stina Funch of Atwater Inc. Studio…
and the marvelously Modern Family Salon by Laura & Cliff Muller of Four Point Design Build Inc.
But my absolute favorite downstairs room was the enormous kitchen designed by Samantha Williams and Michelle Porreca of Samantha Williams Interior Design and Jaime Hernandez, Diana Hernandez and Luz M. Torres of Reliable Cabinets and More.
Just look at that tile work! Simply incredible.
Heading upstairs I discovered beautifully appointed bedrooms and baths including this Writer’s Haven guest bedroom by Clancy Simon of Simon Projects.
I could just see myself writing this very blog in that delightful writer’s nook!
Upstairs was also my very favorite room in the entire house – the Teen Atelier by Taylor Jacobson of Taylor Jacobson Interior Design.
I don’t care that my teen years are far behind me. I want to live in this room. I love everything about it from the hand-printed wallpaper, to the artist’s easel to the reading nook that’s straight out of my childhood dreams. I wonder if they’ll notice if I just move in?
The 2019 Pasadena Showcase House of Design runs through Sunday May 19, 2019 and is an absolute delight. Tickets can be purchased here and provide entry to the gardens, the home and The Shops at Showcase featuring hand picked merchants offering a range of unique items for sale.