Magazine: Valley Magazine
Issue: July/August 2000 (Vol. 25, Num. 4)
Title: Garden Rooms to Grow
Page: 34-36

Whether a garden room opens directly to the outdoors or not, the garden is always the main focus in these popular rooms.  In the Showcase House’s Morning Room, Calabasas designer Albert Janz and his associate Sherry Stein of Henry Johnstone & Co. in Pasadena took full advantage of the expansive views of the home’s gardens and Mt. Wilson in the distance. 

“The basic premise we started with is that the garden would be a focus for the room,” says Janz.  “The large window dominates the space.  It is a 9 feet wide and extends almost to the ceiling.”

To take advantage of this alluring vantage point, Janz and Stein thoughtfully placed a desk near the window so that whoever was working there would be able to enjoy the view outdoors.  To keep a clean look (and not block the great vistas), the room’s window treatments are uncluttered.  Curtains are simple silk, tightly shirred and ruched on a pole.  Mock Roman shades finish the window effect.

“There wasn’t a privacy issue, which would have affected the need for a heavier window treatment,” Janz says.  “Because the room faces east, the house itself created a barrier to the sun.  When designing a room facing the garden, I would want to know if the garden is sunny or shady.  A shade garden means that it isn’t necessary to block light or close off windows during they daytime.  A southern or western exposure might call for brighter colors.  One might try for a more tropical feeling.  Also, when a house faces a front garden, there is more of a privacy issue.”

Janz notes that it’s also important to be aware of how a garden room looks from the outside looking in.  In effect, the room has to function visually from both inside and out.

In the Morning Room, Janz and Stein used whimsy to create a relaxing, informal feeling.  The sofa is upholstered in chintz.  Chinese mulberry papers in soft gold and cocoa are placed in a checkerboard effect on the walls.  “In many people’s minds, checkers are seen as informal,” Janz says.

While the Showcase House already had great window, Janz says that in certain cases, enlarging a room’s windows to make the garden views more spectacular can make a dramatic statement.  For example, the designer is currently working on a home in Tarzana and proposed that the owners enlarge the windows to take advantage of the wonderful views of the Valley, the pool and the garden.  “These are wonderful greens to look at,” he says.  “Taking the windows up to 8 feet will add expansiveness.  Also, any time you create vertically, you get a more traditional feel.”

Janz points out that he’s also seen more and more homeowners enclosing parts of their gardens to achieve a more private space.  They are adopting the English sensibility that the house exists within the garden. “Today, people are creating boundary gardens with more enclosures which support interior space,” he says.

PASADENA SHOWCASE 1996
INTERIOR DESIGN: ALBERT JANZ AND SHERRY STEIN
PHOTOGRAPHY: DAVID PHELPS

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