Backyard Bunkhouse, Hollywood Royal Family Edition - Remodelista
Photographs by Matthew Williams for Remodelista. When actors (and hands-on remodelers) Amanda Pays and Corbin Bernsen decided to downsize to a 1949 three bedroom fixer-upper in Studio City, LA, they had to find space to fit their family of six. Fortunately, the previous owner had built a palatial workshop-tool shed for himself in the backyard. Pays and Bernsen entirely lined the interior of the workshed with scrap wood siding from a now defunct salvage dealer. And built a mezzanine level; Corbin himself hammered the wooden ladder with metal railing that leads to it. The bedrooms are sectioned off by Pays’ signature curtains made from all-cotton painter’s drop cloths suspended from galvanized plumber’s pipe, both from local home supply store Anawalt Lumber. The metal bed frames are Room & Board’s Parsons Twin Bed. The industrial lighting came from the Rose Bowl Flea Market. In lieu of space-hogging bedside tables, Bernsen built shelves from scaffolding boards and steel L brackets. See DIY: Rustic Wooden Shelves. Each bedroom is kitted out with built-in shelves, drawers, and a small closet. A small TV has been slipped in between shelves. The closets have hardware store aluminum pulls–”$2 each,” says Pays–and are whitewashed inside and out. A new bathroom next to the bedrooms is just big enough for a sink–with cast concrete counter–toilet and shower. See Remodeling 101: Concrete Countertops to learn more. The mezzanine level serves as a music space and art studio. Bookshelves have been shoehorned under the eaves. True, most unheated backyard workshops aren’t stuccoed and shingled–and positioned next to pools. It’s featured in full detail in our book, Remodelista, A Manual for the Considered Home, as is Bernsen’s ingenious solution for storing batteries and light bulbs.