A Glamorous Farmhouse

 Here's a peek into the Hollywood Hills home belonging to interior designer Tobi Tobin featured In House Beautiful.

Tobi Tobin on Updating Her 100-Year-Old Hollywood Hills Farmhouse

Tobi Tobin discusses how she transformed her 100-year-old farmhouse in the Hollywood Hills into a light and airy space with a neutral palette and mirrors everywhere.

by Lisa Cregan

Tobin:"The mirrors aren't about seeing me; they're about creating modernity in my 100-year-old farmhouse, injecting a little Mondrian."

Lisa Cregan:You mean Mondrian the painter?

Tobin: "Yes, I call it using a Mondrian map. I measure the walls, and then I draw up blueprints for the mirrors, mimicking patterns in Mondrian's paintings of squares and rectangles. Copy a genius and you can't go wrong! I did a little Mondrian on the wall over my bed, and again in the living room, where I thought a grid would cut the old-fashioned feel of the curved moldings. In the entry, I hung mirrors to look like the portraits you see going up the grand staircases in English country houses. But they're not paintings, they're mirrors, so it's modern!"

Honeyed wood tones add warmth to the black-and-white palette in the living room of designer Tobi Tobin's Hollywood Hills farmhouse. A grid of mirrors animates the space with multiple reflections. The Belgian linen sofa from Tobin's furniture line matches the wall color, Farrow & Ball's All White, "to unify the space," she says.

A Z Gallerie abalone chandelier in the dining room is a luminous foil for the elegantly distressed La Mer table from the Tobi Tobin Vintage Collection.

Lisa Cregan:Even with all the sparkle and shine, this place has its dark side.

TOBIN: "Darkness is important! Black is a must; it's the grounding element. The living room fireplace, the trim on the doors, they're all in this shiny, high-gloss black that reminds me of the glossy front doors you see in London — traditional, elegant, but somehow modern, too. Upstairs, I used black window valances in every single room, and outside, there's the black fireplace. I painted that fireplace white at first, but it grabbed way too much attention. Now it almost disappears."

Lisa Cregan: How would you describe your style?

TOBIN:"At its core, my style is all about neutrals. My clients are often artists, and I believe you have to live in a neutral palette in order to be creative. It feeds the soul. I write every night — I even published a novel — so I know that if you live in a loud environment, the volume is on too high to hear your own thoughts. Artists don't need somebody else's color; they need a neutral place to create color of their own."

In the breakfast room, Tobin arranged a trio of vintage chairs, all from different periods. She used simple bamboo shades from Target, painted the walls Farrow & Ball's Lamp Room Gray, "and — voilà — a modern farmhouse!" she says.

Lisa Cregan: But what about this beautiful biscuit shade you've used in every room — tables, chair legs, even the woven rugs?

Tobin:"That's actually a noncolor I call 'fruitwood' or 'pearwood.' It's a natural wood tone that always warms up a black-and-white palette. And it feels sort of modern and midcentury, with a touch of old Palm Beach. That color is the 'through-line,' as we say here in L.A. In a script, the through-line is the thread that ties the whole movie together. I used the same bamboo shades on every window in the house to emphasize my black, white, and fruitwood palette. You need a through-line in design, too!"

"I don't like to cook and stare at a wall," Tobin says. So she added a shelf and created a mix of interesting shapes and reflections — but no color: "Neutrals are what hold this vignette together." The vertical lines of Ralph Lauren Home's Newberry Stripe wallpaper make the low ceiling feel higher.

A crystal chandelier and high-gloss kitchen cabinets painted Farrow & Ball's Pitch Black "remind me of Paris apartments and grand French style," Tobin says.

Lisa Cregan: Your version of comfort is pretty chic. I love the elegant black kitchen.

Tobin: "It's a 1920s kitchen, and it was hideous before, something right out of The Ghost and Mrs. Muir.It needed love! It needed glamour! But I didn't want to spend a lot of money. So I painted the cabinets glossy black, and I glazed the tile and sinks a crisp white. Then I hung a chandelier that I put together myself from a vintage brass fixture and a box of old crystals I bought at an antiques store. The whole thing cost less than $50. And it really does provide a lot of light over the sink. I'm not a huge fan of those pendant lights everyone is using in kitchens now. They've become so expected."

An assortment of shells adds a natural element to the breakfast room.

Mirrors stand in for ancestral portraits in a sly reference to the majestic staircases of 19th-century English country houses. "It makes my small entry a little bit grand," Tobin says.

The upstairs landing's showstopping capiz-shell chandelier from Z Gallerie provides a dose of glamour amid more simple touches, such as black cotton–trimmed seagrass rugs that match the staircase runner.

A small bedroom and sleeping porch were combined to create an airy master bedroom. Wallpaper, Ralph Lauren Home's Abbeywood Damask. "The gold-leaf design is so beautiful and dramatic at night," Tobin says. A four-poster bed from Carlyle Design has the feeling of a canopy. Sheets with Tobin's double-T monogram are from her Los Angeles shop.

The leather Dante Chair from the Tobi Tobin Collection gives an antique secretary a bit of edge.

Ralph Lauren Home's Ashfield Floral wallpaper turns a small guest room into a romantic retreat.

Lisa Cregan:You seem to love wallpaper almost as much as you love mirrors.

Tobin: "The funny thing is that I used to hate wallpaper. I didn't do wallpaper for a solid decade and then suddenly decided I loved it and wanted it everywhere. I went crazy! I think these patterns in the bedrooms come right off the wall and give the rooms so much texture — they wrap you up and envelop you. The frames on all the upstairs mirrors are thicker than downstairs — they had to have more weight so they wouldn't be gobbled up by the strong wallpaper."

"I found the console in the entry at auction, stripped off its ugly blue paint, and aged it with white paint and sandpaper." On the walls, Crezana Design's Sisal wallpaper.

Foyer with glossy black front door.

Antique French twin beds and Ralph Lauren Home's Marlowe Floral wallpaper give a period look to a guest room.

Tobin completely revamped the backyard. She used brick from an old patio for the new fireplace and created a terrace from sand mixed with granite. A candlelit chandelier can be raised and lowered by a rope pulley rigged to a tree. It casts a soft glow over Restoration Hardware's Gun Barrel Salvaged Wood dining table and all-weather wicker from World Market.

via: House Beautiful