When Edel Legaspi and Christopher Courts, the couple behind architecture and design firm Legaspi Courts, approached us to participate in a show house they were creating, we couldn’t say no. The husband and wife team (he’s an architect, she’s an interior designer) created the modernist home at 2120 Marine Street in Santa Monica with homeowner Michael Farag, who also happens to be a contractor and Edel’s brother-in-law. As they prepared to put the home on the market, they reconsidered the idea of hiring a traditional staging firm. Rather than handing off the job to someone else and not feeling a sense of completion, Edel led the charge of finishing the rooms—down to the last detail—but with an entirely novel approach. Working with Ginna Christensen of GC Collaborative, the group devised a plan to turn the home into a showcase house. “We started reaching out and creating partnerships,” says Ginna. “It became all about celebrating California design.”
Before they knew it, there were collaborations in the works with (wh)Ore Haüs Studios, A+R, A. Rudin, Cerno Group, Community Manufacturing, Custom Comfort, Douglas Jennings, Foundry Lighting, Fuse Lighting, Juniper House, Londubh Studio, Lumfardo, Marc Phillips, Mortise & Tenon, Parachute, PurePhoto, Stephen Kenn, Visual Contrast and us, Snyder Diamond. (Edel is a client at our Santa Monica showroom.) Several events later, the home and its contents have caught the eye of multiple editors. And rightly so.
“The house became what we had hoped,” says Ginna, explaining that the show house is not only a platform to celebrate Legaspi Courts’ work but it’s also a chance to support the people who have supported them. (A leather cuff by Meyghan Hill of (wh)Ore Haüs that was included in a gift bag sparked follow-up phone calls, for example.) “We’ve just had an extraordinary response.”
Our congratulations to Edel, Christopher, Michael and Ginna, and to everyone involved. We were delighted to be a part of it.
To see the latest on the home—from event snaps to press coverage—follow @legaspicourts on Instagram. For information on its sale (it hits the MLS later this week), contact realtor Todd Michaud at 310-429-8191 or www.OmegaGroup.LA.
Photography by James Wong