I renovated a Walter S. White mid-century home in the Palm Springs area

It’s been 10 months since I started the renovation on my home, and it’s time to share the journey with you. For those of you who are picking up this story for the first time, here is a brief rundown: I bought a Walter S. White home in south Palm Desert and, after spending some time at the Historical Society of Palm Desert, I learned that the University of California, Santa Barbara is home to archives of White’s work. I made an appointment and took a road trip to Santa Barbara.

After spending some time at UCSB figuring out which blueprints matched my house and admiring other homes and designs in the archive, I returned with an understanding of White’s style and the intention to restore my house to its original state – or at least keep as much as possible while bringing it up to the 21st century.

Here’s what I learned upon returning from Santa Barbara: The entire kitchen and dining area was an add-on to White’s original plan. His small desert cabin was basically at just over 1,000 square feet, rather than the almost 1,400 it is now. In that process, the kitchen and bathrooms had been re-located. When I bought it, the home had two bedrooms with ensuites and a powder room.

During the renovation, I did not make any layout changes, as that would have made for a complete reframing of the house. I figured I could maintain the integrity and shed light on some of the original features by adding some things that had been taken away over the years.

Now to the fun stuff: the design! Some of you may know that I am a huge fan of Baja and I frequent the border towns almost weekly when I am not on tour. So, when I was looking for inspiration, I wanted to incorporate my travels into the design. It made sense that I go to Mexicali and Tijuana to see what was offered, plus it gave me another reason to go and eat tacos!

Mexico is famous for tile. A lot of what you see in the likes of Home Depot and Lowe’s is made south of the border, so I did some research to see if the brands offered in the U.S. had different lines in Mexico. What I found was a variety of different tile at great prices. Most of the tile in my home now is from Mexico.

A year or so ago, I was in Tijuana at a boutique hotel called One Bunk on Revolution Avenue. It is a hip hotel with a barber shop and coffee shop. In my opinion, it’s a very well-designed and curated hotel. The showers had the most amazing colorful tile and I had kept it in the back of my mind. After about five different trips to Tijuana and Mexicali, I eventually found it and brought the last 200 pieces available in northern Mexico. It is now in the colorful shower in one of the ensuites.

If you’re thinking about buying goods in Mexico and bringing them back stateside, here’s what you need to know: You’re allowed to bring $1,000 worth of goods per person per day through customs. HOW COOL IS THAT? I did three or four runs over a month or so to bring back the tile in my truck. The most important thing is that you have the receipt to show the customs officer the value of what you’re bringing. And you can bring a liter of tequila per person, too!

When I first started renovating, I peeled back the drywall and found some unique design features. Some of you may remember the distinct light box. I was able to find and identify White’s blue prints for it at the historical society’s exhibition during last year’s Modernism Week. Well, I used this design as reference and recreated the light box in the living room. Now, it gives off warm, indirect light thanks to an LED strip. I also added some gallery lights in the ceiling, which project onto the wall where art pieces will hang.

I wanted minimalist desert landscaping in the front of the house to complement the architecture. I also added some lighting that projects tequila shadows against the privacy wall to enhance the curb appeal in the evening. I choose tequila plants because I’ve been to (and have an extensive collection of) Tequila!

The backyard is still a work-in-progress. I have added a concrete patio around the entire house and am looking forward to working with a landscape designer to finish it off. Any of you out there? Hit me up.

Read the rest by heading over to DESERT magazine, part of the USA Today Network!