Fixing up a house can be a romantic endeavor. Andre Herrero, a founder of the architecture and design studio Charlap Hyman & Herrero, discovered this when designing an apartment for his girlfriend, Paige Zollars, who works in fashion. In 2020, Zollars and her sister, Laura, a music manager, purchased a West Hollywood duplex that was "ugly as sin," Herrero says. Untouched since the 1970s, it had a dated ski-chalet aesthetic and a suffocating layout. "I'm so grateful Andre came with us to view it," Paige says. "Only an architect could have seen the potential."
Herrero took it down to the studs and built it into a modern home of muted hues and airy spaces. Things got more layered when Herrero introduced his favorite materials-stainless steel and metal mesh-throughout the home, helping to distinguish areas by use: "We hate open floor plans for small apartments," Herrero says. "Everything feels smaller."
Cheeky art enlivens the apartment, while American antiques ground it. Everything was done on a shoestring budget without sacrificing quality. "We were crafty with our resources and took advantage of architectural quirks," Herrero says. "Things that seem like negatives can contribute to a more romantic narrative."
"We wanted somewhere to relax and reset." -Laura Zollars
MAKING A LIVELY MIX
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If you must go to the Hamptons, however-because it is devilishly good fun, after all-you may notice an apparently modest, low-slung cottage on Sag Harbor's Main Street and think, with a comfortable sort of feeling, Now that is how a house should look. Nestled amid the Botox bars, helipads, and club-staurants, it could almost set the sordid world aright both a rebuke and a solution to the chaos that surrounds it. A real home.
