A house becomes a ‘forever home'

WITH A NEW ADU, ANTONIO ADRIANO PULEO'S GLASSELL PARK HOME IS TRANSFORMED BY DESIGNER BEN WARWAS

- BY LISA BOONE

Photographs by JULIANA YAMADA Los Angeles Times "WE BOTH have a love of design," artist Antonio Adriano Puleo, below, said of longtime friend, architectural designer Ben Warwas, seated in the revamped living room of Puleo's Glassell Park home, which features a variety of artwork including his own.

Antonio Adriano Puleo didn't intend to renovate his traditional 1946 bungalow in the Glassell Park neighborhood just north of Mount Washington, but after consulting with architectural designer Ben Warwas, who told him he could transform the house into a "forever home," the artist changed his plans. "I originally wanted an ADU," Puleo said of adding an accessory dwelling unit to expand the art studio in his garage. "For me, it was about having a bigger studio and being able to have collectors and curators come to the studio." However, as Warwas explored the two-bedroom home and corner property the designer had previously designed and built a wood deck in Puleo's backyard he began to envision a new narrative for the spaces.

"The living room wasn't big enough, and it featured a huge red brick fireplace that had doors on either side of it, leading to the backyard," said Warwas, who first met Puleo when they were undergraduate students at Massachusetts College of Art (now called Massachusetts College of Art and Design). "To access the outdoors, you had to walk down concrete steps to a covered patio." Paired with a third door off the kitchen, the home's entrance to the backyard was awkward at best.

After touring the property, Warwas proposed some subtle changes: adding a 250-squarefoot ADU to the garage, removing the fireplace and raising the ceiling height in the living room; adding a loft bedroom in the attic; and redesigning the exterior of the house.