The stars seem to have been aligned for Lala Reimagined—a West Coast studio founded four years ago by Lia McNairy and Azar Fattahi—right from the get-go. Their very first clients turned out to be dream clients, who hired them, in fairly rapid succession, to design three different properties in California, including this Spanish colonial ranch near the beaches of Malibu.
“Our first project was their house in Los Angeles; we were in the middle of renovating it when the pandemic began and they acquired this property,” Fattahi says. “They put so much trust in our hands, it’s been an unbelievable synergy of a relationship.” The clients, Anjannette Padilla-Ryan, a clinical psychologist, and her husband, Tom Ryan, president and CEO of Paramount Streaming, made the purchase with the goal of having a place to retreat to with their three school-aged children.
“It’s only a 45-minute drive in good traffic but it just feels like hundreds of miles away,” Ryan says. “The kids can run around and go to the beach.” Perched on a Malibu hilltop surrounded by five acres of greenery, with ocean views to the south and mountain views to the north, east, and west, the 6,000-square-foot home does indeed seem like a faraway retreat. Taking advantage of the idyllic setting, Lala Reimagined’s team set out to create a space that called to mind the Argentario coast of Tuscany, specifically the rustic yet glamorous Il Pelicano, an iconic resort awash in sunny yellow and fresh green hues.
“We wanted it to feel like they traveled to one of their favorite spots in France or Italy, like a beautiful boutique hotel on the Mediterranean,” says McNairy, who worked as a creative director in the fashion industry before teaming up with Fattahi. “We used a lot of wicker, a lot of vintage pieces sourced from flea markets, and also high-end pieces, but nothing too precious.”
The summer vibes are strong in the entryway foyer, where the designers placed two straw armchairs with bright yellow cushions next to a wall hung with colorful ceramic plates. A couple of steps down is the main living area, which has wooden beams on the ceiling and terra-cotta tiles on the floor and is decorated with an eclectic “high and low” collection of furniture: ’60s armchairs with pistachio cushions perched atop wicker frames, a round coffee table with sculptural legs by up-and-coming designer Nikolai Lafuge, and a mushroom-shaped ceramic stool from Urban Outfitters.
Sunlight floods into the grand space through a series of French doors, which open onto an elevated veranda with sweeping canyon vistas. Down the hall, in the primary bedroom, the designers veered from the Mediterranean theme to add a bit of SoCal character, seen in an electric blue wooden bed set against a plum wall and in the en suite bathroom in a hot pink woven pendant from Mexican design studio Mestiz.
“We [aim to] source pieces that no one’s ever seen before,” Fattahi says, adding that they are always seeking out design galleries, craftspeople, and antique shops around the world. Most of the pieces in the Malibu house were newly purchased and required a bit of patience. The pink-and-green Milanese tiles in the primary bathroom, for example, took eight months to arrive, and a set of arched cane chairs from a studio in Australia, took all of a year. This was fine with the homeowners, who welcomed the designers’ ongoing presence and even asked them to work on a third property, a 10-acre estate in Palm Springs. “We’ve become very close friends,” Padilla-Ryan says. “We work together really well.”
Set on a hillside with views of Malibu’s mountains and seashore, this colonial-style home feels worlds away from the bustle of nearby Los Angeles. Lia McNairy and Azar Fattahi of Lala Reimagined designed the house to look like a resort on the Mediterranean, with special nods to Italy’s Il Pelicano, an iconic 1960s hotel filled with yellow, green, and terra-cotta hues. By the entrance, the yellow-and-black wool rug is by Temple Studio.
In the entryway to the home, a pair of canary yellow armchairs, by Nada Debs, are surrounded by a slew of colorful plates mounted on the wall.
“We were on the hunt for another project when we came across these chairs,” says Fattahi of the living room’s vintage wicker armchairs with draping pistachio cushions. “They shifted the whole design and became what we built the room around.” Though the designers kept the home’s original floors and built-in recessed mantle, they retiled the fireplace with porcelain earth-toned tiles from Wow.
The living room features plenty of natural light thanks to its French doors.
Another view of the living room, which is on the second floor of the home, shows a seating area with armless slipcovered sofas from CB2 and green Arcade side tables from Crump and Kwash. In the back, by the dining room table, lies a whimsical mirror by Mexico-based artist Lucas Rise.
A custom vanity with portly round legs adds a sculptural quality to this powder room, covered in handmade green terra-cotta tiles from Clé. The cast ceramic sconces are from Entler.
The dining area has a custom lighting installation from Cuff Studio made of rope-wrapped globes. Green Giraffe chairs by Juliana Lima Vasconcellos and pink beechwood Frisée chairs by Cristina Celestino help set the space’s casual, playful vibe.
A wet bar area continues the often citrus-focused color-story of the home.
In the main kitchen (there’s a second one on the level below, by the pool), the designers modernized the space with matte Cristina Celestino tiles in dark beige, dusty rose, and forest green hues.
A close-up view of the stove and the previously existing copper hood, which was restored.
Connected to the kitchen via an arched pass-through, this family room echoes the palette of the backsplash. A vintage sofa bought sight unseen from Italy was reupholstered in a pink bouclé fabric. “We took a leap of faith,” Fattahi says, explaining that a European contact sent them a photo of the piece. The tall rattan floor lamps in the back are from Heaps and Woods.
The kitchen downstairs, which opens to the pool, has pastel cabinets painted in Farrow & Ball’s Stone Blue.
Art: Anton Nazarko
Nearby, a dining area is filled with bentwood and natural fiber delights. Blonde ashwood dining table; chairs designed by Martino Gampe
In the primary bedroom, Lala Reimagined veered from the Mediterranean theme to add a bit of SoCal character, seen in an electric blue wooden bed set against an arched plum recess. The matching throw blanket is from LA’s Kneeland Co.
A cozy corner of the primary bedroom, furnished with a curvy cane armchair covered in a mustard velvet (Anthropologie’s Heatherfield model), a vintage powder-coated green chair, and a French ceramic lamp
These glazed ceramic tiles in the primary bathroom, designed by Cristina Celestino for Fornace Brioni, took eight months to arrive from Italy. “We’re willing to wait to make the magic happen,” McNairy says, tongue in cheek.
Serene mountain views envelop the primary bath, whose pièce de résistance is a hot pink wicker pendant by Mexico’s Mestiz studio, sourced by Kneeland Co.
The guest bedroom downstairs has a custom-made wood bed, vintage flea-market sconces purchased in Mexico City, and a painted elm lamp from Cressida Bell in the UK.
This hexagon-shaped mirror, by Merve Kahraman, has a golden hue matching the colors of the woven fabrics and American white oak of the frame.
Art: Anton Nazarko
Art: Anton Nazarko
Art: © 2023 Estate of Pablo Picasso / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. © Successió Miró / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris 2023.
Art: © 2023 Estate of Pablo Picasso / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. © Successió Miró / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris 2023.
