The art of having a second home is no small thing. It’s the perfect blank canvas for collectors and the indecisive homeowner. Have a cozy, collected home? Make your winter retreat a minimalist haven. Enjoy natural wood paneling and neutral palettes during your day-to-day? Turn that vacation home into an explosion of bright happy color. And perhaps the best example of how to make the perfect midmod hideaway using the sofa color and silhouette choices of Joybird Furniture is a couple who combined their talents in Palm Springs.
What happens when a midcentury leaning minimalist meets an interior designer with colorful tendencies? They create a weekend home that radiates pure joy. Dappled with citrusy shots of yellow and tropical blue, the midcentury modern vacation home of longtime Palm Spring residents Ossie Saguil and Craig Mann brings a breath of fresh air into the desert. “It puts a nice smile on our faces when we come here,” says Ossie, a physician who traded in the hustle and bustle of L.A. life nearly 15 years ago. “I think Doris Day would be happy here,” says Craig, an interior designer and event producer. He’s right; a luxurious leather daybed, cheerful polka dot kitchen curtains and a small putting green out back reinforce a certain Old Hollywood charm.
Finding a Midcentury Modern Gem
Nearly two years ago, shortly after meeting partner Craig, Ossie leapt at the chance to snap up one of only 40 condominiums in the exclusive Park Imperial South neighborhood. “Units don’t easily come up for sale, so we moved to purchase it right away,” says Ossie of the two-bedroom fixer upper.
Designed by renowned modernist architect Barry Berkus in 1960 as an early experiment in condo living, the homes on the secluded 3.5-acre property bear his trademark details: accordion-style plate rooflines, terrazzo tile floors and a clever use of concrete blocks inside and out. “We wanted to honor the architecture itself and impart the feeling that you’re going back in time,” says Ossie.
Coloring Outside the Lines
Ossie and Craig’s second home gave them an outlet to color outside the lines, taking a departure from the more subdued interiors of their primary residence just a mile away. “We wanted to come into a happy place so we chose colors to reflect that as soon as you walk in,” says Ossie.
The once all-white space begged for a pop of color, and it all began when they found and painted the kitchen’s original stove hood a retro blue. Building on the theme, blue and yellow accent walls bookend the open living room bathed by sunlight from sliding glass doors that look out onto a private courtyard. “We’re not sure we could live here on a daily basis,” says Craig admittedly, “but it makes us happy when we come here.”
