After moving to Santa Inez Valley from Los Angeles, Joe Lucas was a designer industry insider who realized they needed a place to live and do business.
“We wanted to feel more peaceful and found a wonderful home in Solvang. But we still needed something in West Hollywood as it was close to my office,” Lucas, the owner of Harbinger, an interior design showroom. It’s hard to find something charming that has outdoor space. But we were lucky.”
Lucky came in the form of one-half a 1926 Spanish-styled duplex located on a quiet, tree-lined street in the middle of the city. This 1,850-square-foot, three-bedroom, three-bathroom stunner included three outdoor spaces. Although stylistically, they could have used most of their old furniture, which was constructed in the same style and era as their current home, only a handful of key pieces and a collection of favorite artworks were selected. Heikka, vice president of retail at Parachute Home, jokes that Joe might have wanted another project. “It was almost like the seven-year itch – but it’s good that he has both a showroom and a design business, so we were able to hit the reset button.”
Lucas adds, “The other thing about it is that we also have the new home, so many special pieces went there.” “And other pieces [we thought about bringing over] weren’t compatible, so we snagged some favorites from the showroom – we joke that everything is inventory in our home.”
Their aesthetic is a compromise exercise, but they agree that the term eclectic seems a bit cliché. Lucas says, “It’s layered but collected.” Heikka agrees with Lucas’s assessment. “Another term I would use is textural. The wallpaper in my dining room feels more like a texture and less like a pattern. It allows me to be comfortable with lots of practice.
The duo has furnished the home with their combined design skills and plenty of products from Parachute’s well-curated vendor family.