See Actress Sophia Bush's Enchanting Midcentury Hollywood Home
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It must be written somewhere that to live one’s best life in and around Los Angeles, one must first find the perfect modernist house. It’s an axiom that TV star Sophia Bush is adhering to, having just lovingly renovated a 1,600-square-foot 1950s bungalow in the Hollywood Hills. “Restoring this house and bringing it back to its midcentury splendor has been such a joy,” she says.
The house is next door to the home she resides in, making it a familiar setting for the star of the early-aughts teen drama One Tree Hill and the upcoming Disney+ series Love, Simon. Her former neighbors had purchased the land in the 1950s and built the house for themselves, which, for her, gave the property an added feeling of authenticity and familiarity. She simply had to have it, but to say that the place needed work would be an understatement.
Initially, Bush thought that she’d only have to decorate and lightly renovate her new home, but history and patina don’t always equate to structural soundness. The foundation turned out to be uneven, and the plumbing needed updating. Bush realized she had her work cut out for her.
Luckily, she is not easily intimidated—as proven by her longtime activism for causes such as voting rights and gun control. Working in collaboration with ELLE Decor, she enlisted interior designer Jake Alexander Arnold, landscaper John Alden Sharp, and contractor Orie Prince to help in what became an arduous, yearlong gut renovation. “Once I knew that we were looking at a teardown, we were able to begin envisioning a new flow for the space,” she says.
Bush and Prince kept the original footprint of the house and left the guest rooms and guest bath in their original locations. But everything else about the home’s layout was reimagined. Key to the new design was an open central core that encompasses an airy and connected living and dining area.
The kitchen, which was shifted from the opposite end of the house, was outfitted with a dramatic 13-foot-long island the color of adobe bricks and topped with Caesarstone and a custom sink fitted with a Brizo faucet. There are new top-shelf appliances from Dacor and hardware by Rocky Mountain Hardware; era-appropriate terrazzo tiles from Nurazzo cover the floor. Bush also added a powder room and created a master suite out of what was once a small bedroom and a back den. “It flows so naturally now,” she says.
As it turns out, the project could not have come at a more opportune time. Last year, Bush launched her own design firm, Filles Des Rincón, with her friend Lauren McGrady. Bush’s newly finished house is her first major achievement in her growing portfolio, and Hollywood A-listers are taking note. “What I love most about Sophia’s home is that it is a reflection of her vibe,” says the comedian Chelsea Handler, who is a longtime friend. “Sophia is earthy, down to get real, and an intelligent being who thinks and leads and shares and searches.”
This is just the beginning for Sophia Bush, interior designer. This house is her proof of concept, one that she hopes will lead to a successful new career. “Everyone who’s come to visit says they’ve never seen anything like it,” she says. “And being here makes me feel incredibly grounded and creative. So it’s working.”
This story originally appeared in the March 2020 issue of ELLE Decor. Produced by Anita Sarsidi; Fashion Stylists: Brit + Kara Elkin; Hair: David Gardner; Makeup: Spencer Barnes.
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