Randy Franks' meticulously remodeled Montecito condo
A ship-tight lounge by day converts into a bedroom at night. (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

By Barbara Thornburg, Special to the Los Angeles Times
May 21, 2011

Randy Franks wanted to make his dream home out of a 670-square-foot condominium in Montecito, so the interior designer called on his experience restoring financier E.F. Hutton's 1920s clipper ship Yankee, which Franks had made glamorous once again for the 2001 Fox reality show "Love Cruise."

At the time, Franks found a newspaper article, hidden behind a picture frame, that recounted the ship's maiden voyage around Manhattan. He says Mrs. Hutton, General Foods heiress Marjorie Merriweather Post, remarked that "the yacht was nice but a bit small." According to the article, her husband promptly sold it and built one double the size.

But for Franks, small is beautiful.

"Living in a tiny space is a lot like living on a yacht: Every square inch is important," says the designer, who inhabited the condo for a year while making detailed plans, assigning a place for everything — socks, forks, files — before he made any changes.

With so many people downsizing and simplifying their lives — figuratively and literally — Franks' home stands as a model for how smart choices can balance beauty with efficiency, particularly when faced with an economy of space. For Franks, the first thing to go: the coat closet opposite the front door, which blocked the park-like view of the condominium's grounds. Bonnymede Shore was built in 1965 on what had been the 1912 estate of Esther Fiske Hammond, a wealthy Bostonian with six children who wanted to escape the harsh winters of the Northeast. The land still abounds with original plantings of weeping willow, Monterey cypress, live oak, magnolia and citrus trees.

By removing the coat closet as well as two walls of the kitchen, Franks created one large, open space. To gain an additional 120 square feet, he replaced French doors opening onto a terrace with two 5-foot-wide sliding glass doors and stationary side windows that provide a seamless indoor-outdoor ambience. Instead of a stucco or wood terrace railing, a 10-foot-long glass panel acts as a safety and security partition when the doors are open.

"I just knew I was never going to sit out there in that opera box," Franks said. "Besides, I needed more space for actual living."

The day Franks moved in, a redheaded woodpecker flew into the room — to check out the birdhouse-like accommodations, no doubt.

The strict Bonnymede Shore Assn. needed more persuading to allow Franks to add a 2½ -by-6-foot skylight by the entrance and an adjacent dressing room to bring in much-needed light. To convince the association that the skylight would not be visible to other residents, he built a full-scale model.

Franks also made the stationary side window next to the front door operable — a move that brings in not only light but also cooling ocean breezes from the nearby beach, which skirts the southern side of the condominium complex.

Visually, Franks divided the small space by function. The kitchen, walk-in dressing room and small bath occupy the front of the condo. Franks' two work desks are stationed on the opposite side, by the new sliding glass doors. A bedroom-lounge and a dining-conference area are sandwiched in the middle. A simple palette of materials — quarter-sewn oak floors, vertical grain white oak cabinetry with woven rattan panels, and other blond furnishings — create a seamless, airy space.

"I tried to use a lot of materials that breathe — rattan and wicker — and floors and walls are kept purposely light to make the space appear larger," Franks said. "Using just a few materials in interesting ways keeps a harmony to the space."

An interesting medley of vintage and modern furnishings decorate the apartment: a black Regency chair that Franks found in an antique store in Tennessee, a contemporary Caboche Tavolo golden table by Patricia Urquiola. More unusual midcentury pieces such as a Paul McCobb chaise and a rare George Nelson Perch stool for Herman Miller keep company with two of Franks' own pieces: the glass-and-rattan Anita table made by Vittorio Bonacina, which serves as his dining-conference table, and the Volare pendant manufactured by Andromeda.

Throughout the space, nomadic carpets add texture and warmth while Franks' eclectic art collection sports style and personality. For starters, there's a real zebra rug that his Baptist minister father shot in Tanzania on safari. Then there's a quirky black-and-white photograph of Elvis Presley meeting President Nixon. Nearby, a pair of Fornasetti plates, vintage Murano glass ashtrays and a giant ceramic peanut commingle.

"The peanut dish reminds me of growing up in Georgia — I just had to have it," the soft-spoken designer said with a laugh. "I picked peanuts every summer of my life."


Client Gail Boswell, co-owner of Dos Gallos in Los Angeles and a Bonnymede Shore resident, said Franks is "absolutely fearless" in putting rooms together.

"He's got an eye for all kinds of good things whether they are pricey or not," she said. "He'll take me shopping to a junk shop to buy a goofy ashtray or lamp, then turn around and make me special-order an air vent that is more streamline."

It's in the kitchen where Franks' yacht-designing skills are most exemplified. The 3-by-9-foot space has an 18-inch sink and appliances that come in drawers: Sub-Zero refrigerator and freezer drawers on one side, a Fisher & Paykel dishwasher on the other. A compact two-burner Gaggenau cooktop sits flush to the back counter, and a GE Profile convection and microwave oven is hidden away in the cabinet below. A custom cabinet holds a trash receptacle and storage drawers on the side facing the kitchen, office file drawers on the other.

A ship-tight lounge by day converts into a bedroom at night. The sofa, built on a wooden platform mounted on industrial casters, pulls out and reveals itself to be a double bed.

"I sleep horizontally in the bed facing the wall, where I have a television hidden in a teak cabinet," Franks said. "Surrounded by all these built-ins, it feels a bit like sleeping in a yacht."

When it's day again, Franks stows pillows and blankets in side cabinets, slides the mattress partly away, then tops the bed-turned-sofa with a vintage Japanese textile and George Nelson wedge-shape cushions.

Franks continually analyzes just what he really needs to live.

"If something new comes in, something else usually has to go, so every new piece has to meet a very high standard," he said. Attending flea markets — one of his big passions — can be challenging.

"I just have to say to myself, 'Randy you don't have room for that,'" Franks said. "Unless, of course, I absolutely, positively have to have it."