At Home: Hollywood ‘fixer’ seeks design help to downsize and fix up a fixer | Lifestyle

Prior to COVID hit, Howard Bragman experienced two properties and a husband or wife. Today, the celebrity crisis manager, recognized for cleaning up some of Hollywood’s largest messes, is single and living substantial in half the house he as soon as had.

For a perception of what he’s dealt with, previous consumers contain Sharon Osbourne, Nick Cannon, Wendy Williams, Chris Brown and Monica Lewinsky, which just will make me feel grateful I’m not contacting him for representation.

“After I got divorced, I didn’t have to downsize. I chose to,” Bragman informed me, when I termed him to converse about his downsizing method and how he arrived at his gorgeous final result.

Likely into the pandemic, Bragman occupied a 1,000-square-foot apartment in New York City and a 4,200-square-foot, 5-bedroom, five-tub fashionable farmhouse in Valley Village, a Los Angeles suburb. After COVID took maintain, supplying up the condominium created feeling, due to the fact Tv perform he did there he could now do remotely.

As for the California household, as soon as he and his spouse parted ways, “the spot appeared too major,” reported Bragman, 66. “I didn’t want the repairs. I desired to dwell in a different way and travel extra.”

He discovered a two-story, 2,700-sq.-foot townhome in close by Toluca Lake. Other than needing a makeover, it experienced what he preferred: two bedrooms, a position for an office, area for a health club, a generous wonderful home, a roomy outside terrace for entertaining, and accessibility to a pool and jacuzzi. The bones have been great, but the location hadn’t been up-to-date considering the fact that it was designed in 1977.

“That was a plus,” he added. “I detest shelling out for a bad renovation. I’d somewhat spend for no renovation.” The spot also did not have area for his extensive artwork and photography selection and his mixed 5,200-square-ft really worth of furniture.

Due to the fact a correct skilled is aware of when to call for help, the Hollywood fixer termed on longtime good friend Beverly Hills interior designer Christopher Grubb to aid him resolve the fixer.

Grubb, who joined our connect with, satisfied Bragman in the late 1990s, and has worked on quite a few of the PR maven’s properties. “We’ve been on fairly a design journey,” Grubb mentioned. “This residence is 180 levels diverse from his final 1.”

“When you’re going by a disaster, you uncover out who your pals are,” Bragman joked.

Bragman bought the townhome in May perhaps 2020. He offered his farmhouse that summer, and moved into an apartment when he, Grubb and architect Kenneth David Lee of KDL Architects went to get the job done on the transform. Aside from the structure’s clean up traces and substantial ceilings, all that remained were being a handful of partitions, the stair railing, a built-in bookcase, an office cabinet, which they repainted, and the garage doorway.

Making use of a palette of blues (Dunn Edwards Luna Pier), grays, lotions and taupes, they installed new cabinetry, flooring, fixtures and created-ins, together with a ladder-clad library wall in the primary bed room.

Then they grappled with the artwork and household furniture. “What do you really like and what will healthy?” Grubb reported were being the defining issues. They started by picking out which massive art parts would keep and embellished all around them. Among the the keepers had been an oil pastel by American artist Rockwell Kent, and an iconic shade photograph Annie Leibovitz took of the late movie director Billy Wilder on Sunset Boulevard. Wilder and Bragman were being pals.

“Art has a amusing way of talking to you and telling you exactly where it belongs,” said Bragman, who estimates he offered or gifted about 35 parts of major artwork. Some he marketed at auction or by personal revenue some went to museums, and quite a few items he gave to buddies and relations. “After I picked out what I required to preserve, Christopher created a breathtaking gallery wall.”

Because likely from 5,200 sq. ft to 2,700 can really feel like an amputation, I requested Bragman and Grubb if they could translate their procedure into encouraging tips for other individuals going through identical existence and housing transitions:

• Get out your happiness meter. “When clients are downsizing, and we are functioning together to edit what goes and what stays, I start out by inquiring what helps make them happiest. Then we glance at what fits,” Grubb explained.

• Look at your artwork on mortgage. “I seem at it this way,” Bragman said, “I may well have compensated for the artwork, but I never personal it. I am only the caretaker so long as I have it. I appreciate that now another person else will appreciate it.”

• Approach to subtract, then increase. While much more than half of Bragman’s previous furnishings built the minimize, a lot of of the greatest parts did not. “When moving to a scaled-down place, you in fact require to get rid of much more furniture than you think,” Grubb mentioned, “to make room for some new goods you are going to will need to pull the location with each other.”

• Enlist a professional. A experienced designer will assist you determine out what will get the job done exactly where and what won’t. Grubb knew ideal away that particular parts wouldn’t function, but he allow Bragman consider them in any case. “He would say, ‘We’ll see,’” explained Bragman, “when he actually intended, “It won’t operate.’”

• Be realistic about worth. “I experienced a great deal of tailor made furniture created,” Bragman claimed, “pieces that I truly cherished but that did not transfer perfectly to the new household. I learned they were being not really worth considerably.” He sold some for modest quantities and gave a ton absent. “New furnishings is like a new car, it depreciates the minute you travel it off the whole lot,” Grubb additional. Plus, today’s applied-home furnishings sector is flooded.

• Explore the upside of downsizing. “I beloved my farmhouse, but this is more my fashion,” Bragman mentioned. “It feels excellent. I feel like I dropped fat. I have anything I require and nothing at all I really don’t. When I check out somebody who life in a a great deal greater, extravagant residence, I enjoy it, but I thank God I really don’t have it. I want more folks knew that if they scaled again, they could be so a lot happier. I do not regret letting go of just about anything. They are matters.”

Marni Jameson has prepared six household and way of living publications, including “What to Do With Every little thing You Possess to Depart the Legacy You Want.” Arrive at her at marnijameson.com.