The best art/fashion/style has tension—a push and pull between textures, colors, and shapes. This recent project by a Remodelista favorite, LA-based Reath Design, has that coveted tension in spades. It is a modest mobile home, but sited in an exclusive Malibu Beach neighborhood. It feels youthful yet worldly. It juxtaposes somber, autumnal colors with more spring-like lavenders and greens. It places vintage rattan stools next to a sumptuous, color-blocked velvet sectional.
And it all somehow works. “I’m the happiest girl in the world when I’m here,” says Sofie Howard, a photo producer who has worked for high-profile clients like Nike and Beats by Dre. Longtime friend and Reath founder Frances Merrill had already worked her magic on Sofie’s prior two homes (one of which was a smaller mobile home in the same sought-after trailer park community of Paradise Cove), so Sofie knew she could trust her to redo her beach shack—but make it fashion.
The whole project was seamless—”When the trust is already built up, it really flies,” says Frances—but getting that effortless look takes effort. The key? “Test, test, test, test again. And then make a leap.”
Photography by Laure Joliet.
