Nestled in the park-like grounds of the Santa Anita Oaks neighborhood of Arcadia, California is an historic 1937 Federal-style home—Locke House— designed by architect, Gerard Rae Colcord, known as “Hollywood society’s architect.” The home is modeled after an East Coast country estate.
In 2020, Locke House was chosen to be the Pasadena Showcase House of Design. Now in its 56th year, the venerable showcase is one of the longest-running house and garden tours in the country. The 6,700 square-foot home was reinterpreted by 17 interior designers and four exterior designers and was an opportunity to completely reimagine what the home could be, more than 80 years after it was built.
In our recently released aspire design and home Showhouse Issue, we sat down with Jeanne Chung to learn more about her creative process in designing the Breakfast Room for this project.
aspire design and home: How much time did you have to complete this room, start to finish?
Jeanne Chung: We started designing the Breakfast Room the day we visited the house for the designer walkthrough in late October 2019, and we finished installation the 3rd week in August – just in time for the room to be photographed. We retained much of the original design that we submitted four days after the designer walkthrough in October and only had minor tweaks along the way, mainly the last-minute layering and styling details.
aspire: What was your biggest challenge? Did you have a Eureka moment during the process?
Jeanne: Masking the unsightly side yard is what we thought would be the biggest challenge when we first toured the home. The window overlooking the side yard was the first thing that visitors would see walking into the room, and it definitely did not give off the best impression of the space. But we quickly came up with a solution. I remembered the glass partition that I saw earlier in the year during a design trip to Murano, Italy and decided that a custom Murano glass curtain was the perfect solution that would allow light into the room, and obscuring the outdoors would keep the viewer’s eye focused and contained within the room.
Oh yeah, and our showroom was burglarized and the wallcovering was stolen two days before install day. To make matters worse, it was out of stock and had been discontinued, but that’s a story for another day!
aspire: What did you and your team accomplish that you thought would not happen in time?
Jeanne: We were worried that the glass curtain would not arrive in time, especially with the lockdown in Italy. However, it made it on the last flight out of Italy and arrived before we went into full lockdown here. I had no idea that we wouldn’t actually need it until a full 4 months later due to the postponed opening. But I always err on the side of caution and it’s better to be safe than sorry… so we executed our room exactly as we intended.
aspire: What was your inspiration for this room?
Jeanne: The inspiration for the Breakfast Room was everything I experienced on a recent design trip to Venice, Italy, and then we took it a step further by weaving in the theme of sustainability. When I visited Venice, I was stimulated everywhere I looked. Up, down, left, right – there was something that caught my eye at every turn, and I wanted the visitors to our Breakfast Room to have the same reaction when visiting our space. We wanted the room to resemble a jewel box with something interesting to look at, at every turn.
aspire: Did you step out of your comfort zone for this project, and if so, why?
Jeanne: I am comfortable designing in most styles but my best work is when I am faced with a challenge. I work really well under pressure, so having to design the space in 4 days to submit when we sent in our bid for the room was right up my alley, making this project well within my comfort zone. This was a traditional home, but what we did was not traditional…we added in modern details while still respecting the original architecture of the home. When mixing styles and periods, it is all about the balance. We really wanted to showcase all the different resources we carry that allow us to customize, as that is one of the real values of hiring a designer – utilizing unique and one-of-a-kind items in inventive ways.
aspire: Despite the fact that there were so many designers involved, there is an inherent cohesiveness to the home. Did you all converse/collaborate? Or was this a completely individual process?
Jeanne: The cohesive force was the paint color palette that was provided to us from the paint sponsor, Dunn Edwards. Other than that, we were all on our own and we were free to present our designs to the committee. I know that some designers were met with resistance from the committee and were asked to revise certain elements of their design, but they approved my design from the get-go and we were free to design to our heart’s content.
aspire: Is your preference for a showhouse a small space or a large space? Does one or the other provide a better opportunity to stretch your creativity?
Jeanne: I’ve done both small and large spaces for the Pasadena Showcase House. I’d say that this year’s house was less stressful for me because there wasn’t as much construction involved as in past years (in 2018 I did the kitchen, butler’s pantry, teen bedroom and bathroom) I don’t think the size of the space necessarily dictates the opportunity to stretch one’s creativity. To me, creativity is usually dictated by the condition of the space and the resources that I have to work with. The space was small and there were more windows and doorways than walls. The condition of the space coupled with the perfect solution that I had recently seen while visiting Murano, presented a great opportunity to present a creative and never seen before solution!
aspire: Describe the town of Pasadena in one sentence.
Jeanne: Pasadena is very much like a conservative, affluent east coast town (very similar to Greenwich, CT) except it is nestled up against the San Gabriel foothills and the homes within the town range the gamut of architectural styles.
This or That?
aspire: Paint or wallpaper?
Jeanne: Wallpaper
aspire: Hardwood or rug?
Jeanne: Hardwood
aspire: Beach or Mountains?
Jeanne: Beach
aspire: Saturated Color or Black and White?
Jeanne: Saturated Color
aspire: Brunch or Dinner?
Jeanne: Brunch, but no eggs – yuck!
aspire: Midcentury or 18th Century?
Jeanne: Midcentury
aspire: Draperies, shades, or nothing?
Jeanne: Draperies…if a glass curtain counts as draperies?!?
aspire: 2001: A Space Odyssey or The English Patient?
Jeanne: Neither
aspire: Week at the spa or Week of Broadway shows?
Jeanne: Week at the spa
Click Here to view more interviews for the designers of Pasadena Showcase House of Design.
Photography by Peter Valli.
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