A Drybar founder finds room to roam in Costa Mesa home transformation

Following stints living in New York and Los Angeles, Drybar co-founder Michael Landau and his wife, Sarah Hutnick, found themselves in a tiny condo in Corona del Mar.

Like so many Southern Californians, the couple craved more outdoor space for themselves and their Australian shepherd Samson and less time commuting to the Drybar offices in Irvine.

After searching for more than six months for a home with a backyard, they came across a 2,500-square-foot ranch house on nearly half an acre in Costa Mesa. The 1950 house was run-down, but it wasn't the house that made an impression. The couple fell in love with the land, which reportedly had been a working farm at one time.

Looking back, Landau described the architectural bones of the four-bedroom, two-bath house as "not that bad."

His contractor, however, refused to work on the house, saying Landau would never be happy with the results.

To update the property, the couple hired architect Josh Heitler, the designer and architect behind the Drybar chain of blow-dry bars. "It was one of those houses that had grown organically," Heitler said. "People kept adding rooms to the house without any real plan."

The architect agreed to the remodel, but when he traveled from his office in New York to Costa Mesa, he was dismayed to find disjointed ceiling heights, awkward roof lines and uneven floor levels. Even worse were the dark interiors lined with knotty pine wood paneling, ceramic tile flooring and dark tongue and groove ceiling planks.

From the beginning, the couple knew they wanted an open floor plan that extended to the backyard they cherished. And they wanted something timeless and modern as well as elegant and comfortable.

Over a two-year period, Heitler took the house down to the studs and reorganized the interiors. In an attempt to create a cohesive layout, he moved the kitchen, which now faces a new dining room and a living room that opens to the outdoors. The absence of walls gives the living space an informal feel and allows ease of movement from room to room.

In what proved to be a fairly straightforward update, Heitler painted the dark ceiling white and installed lights underneath the ceiling beams to brighten the interiors. Additionally, walls on either side of the fireplace were replaced with walls of glass that allow sun and fresh air inside as well as easy access to the exterior living areas. In lieu of conventional doors, Heitler hung barn doors on industrial sliders, which separate the master bedroom from the rest of the house. On the opposing wall, another set of sliders encases the television and windows, allowing them to appear or disappear as the mood strikes.

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A Drybar founder finds room to roam in Costa Mesa home transformation