First introduced to the world in a 2012 House Beautiful cover story, the Hollywood Hills home of designer Mark D. Sikes is back this month in the pages of Veranda, fresh off a recent redesign that embodies "a Californian sense of ease, managing to combine sunny interiors with an elegance that never once veers in to fussy territory." Before launching his eponymous lifestyle blog in the fall of 2011, and opening his interior design firm soon after, Sikes spent over two decades as a fashion merchandiser, and as he tells it, designing homes isn't that far removed from designing stores. "It's important to think about the flow of traffic and where people are going to sit," he explains to Veranda. "You also want to develop a point of view and a cohesive story." In the tented guest room (pictured above with Lily the discerning French Bulldog), that story was inspired by a room at the Charlottenhof Palace in Potsdam, Germany, with the addition of walls and ceilings done up in striped linen, and magazine-stocked shelves that are equal parts reading material and decor element. Below, tour more of his breezy-yet-historically-rooted Mediterranean-style home:
↑ A Braquenié tree of life pattern covers one bedroom, from the curtains to the upholstery. A zebra-stripe rug and an antique Chinese screen give it a nice twist.
↑ In the living room, Sikes replaced the windows with French doors, giving easy access to a garden surrounding by a 12-foot-high ficus hedge. "People gravitate to the terrace," says Sikes, "and I treat it as an extension of the living room. I keep some of my blue-and-white porcelain there, and we'll drag out our French upholstered chairs. I cherish this indoor/outdoor lifestyle."
· Tour a Little Slice of Europe in the Hollywood Hills [Veranda]
· Printed Page archives [Curbed National]
· Designer Digs archives [Curbed National]
· All Los Angeles coverage [Curbed National]