A Los Angeles Cottage Transformed by a Design-Minded Couple
Eileen O'Dea and Ryan Silverman own a postwar cottage in Los Angeles's Mar Vista neighborhood. Over 14 years, they renovated it extensively, adding windows, raising the kitchen ceiling, and creating a closet from part of a bedroom. The couple, founders of The Wooden Palate and STUDIO E&R, share the home with three dogs.
Eileen O’Dea and Ryan Silverman bought a two-bedroom Los Angeles home in Mar Vista after Ryan had rented it for years. The roughly 75-year-old cottage was dark and plain before their changes. Their 14-year renovation added windows, lifted the kitchen ceiling, and converted half a bedroom into a closet.
That closet, finished before Eileen moved in, features fumed oak herringbone overhead, walnut dressers and shelves, and parquet flooring. Later work included quarter-sawn oak parquet in the bedroom, a custom bed with attached nightstands, and limewash or Roman clay finishes. The couple runs The Wooden Palate and STUDIO E&R and lives with dogs Lucy, Hank, and Tilda.
This story may resonate with homeowners, renters, designers, and craft-oriented readers by showing how incremental, personalized renovations can make small postwar houses more functional and expressive. It could encourage interest in custom woodwork, specialty wall finishes, and adaptive reuse of existing rooms rather than moving. For design professionals and small businesses, such features may highlight demand for bespoke, handcrafted interiors. It may also subtly shape expectations about the time, labor, and collaboration behind highly personal homes.