PEACE MAKER

Designer Kate Driver helps reconcile the diverging tastes of clients Alexandra Kerry and Julien Dobbs-Higginson in their classic Ray Kappe canyon house in LA

- MAYER RUS

Reflecting on his approach to architecture in a 2006 interview, the late Southern California maestro Ray Kappe stated, "I was interested in the possibility of diversity within a common system, both in terms of plan relationships and spatial qualities." The idea of diversity within a common system applies equally well to the kinds of interior appointments that feel comfortable and appropriate in a Kappe house. Consider the 1966 Rustic Canyon home of filmmaker Alexandra Kerry, her husband, Julien Dobbs-Higginson, cofounder (along with Kerry) of Madeworks, and their two daughters. It's a place where Continental antiques and family heirlooms mingle amicably with 20th-century design classics and contemporary art, all buoyed by the volumetric brio and poetic orchestration of natural light that are hallmarks of Kappe's work.

ABOVE A BUILT-IN WINDOW NOOK WITH SEAT CUSHIONS IN A LIBERTY LINEN, AN ALVAR AALTO TABLE, AND A FERM LIVING RATTAN STORAGE BASKET. OPPOSITE THE HOUSE BEARS MANY OF THE HALLMARKS OF KAPPE'S OWN LANDMARK HOME BUILT AT ROUGHLY THE SAME TIME-CANTILEVERED DECKS, CLERESTORY WINDOWS, AND INTERLOCKING WOOD VOLUMES. LANDSCAPE DESIGN BY JOAN WILLIAMSON.