Gorgeous but brooding. That was designer Sebastian Zuchowicki’s first impression of a Mediterranean-style villa in Beverly Crest. The 4,000-square-foot home—newly purchased by social media personality Gabrielle Rose Ressler and her husband—had good bones, but the interiors skewed more somber than serene. “I saw potential. Everything was in the right place,” the New York–based designer recalls. “But I’m not gonna lie, it was dark.”
From the floors to the window frames, nearly every surface leaned heavy and formal, a mood that felt miles away from the energy of this young couple expecting their first child. Zuchowicki knew immediately what the house needed to fit its new owners. “Their home should be bright, light, and airy,” he explains. What started as a shadowy, slightly severe structure was about to become a soft-spoken backdrop for a growing family.
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Zuchowicki began reshaping the narrative, envisioning spaces where style didn’t come at the expense of practicality. “A linen slipcovered sofa can be really elegant with the right roll-arm detail, while also being comfortable for people to sit on,” he says. And slipcovers bring another advantage—an important one for parents. “If anything spills—and that’s inevitable with children—you can just remove it and send it to the dry cleaner or have another one made,” Zuchowicki points out.
While Ressler and Zuchowicki bonded over their shared love of design, their aesthetics couldn’t be more different. “Gabby’s vision is more traditional, while mine leans midcentury,” Zuchowicki explains. “So this became a true merger of our two worlds, with each of us pushing the other to try something new.” Ressler agrees that their collaboration pushed boundaries and made the home better. “I thought about doing it myself,” she admits. “But given the circumstances, Seb was the only one I wanted to work with.” Her easy use of his nickname says everything about how naturally their collaboration clicked.
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With just seven months until Ressler’s due date, Zuchowicki was working against the clock—regularly ping-ponging between Los Angeles and New York while coordinating a full roster of West Coast vendors. His first priority was lifting the mood of the house. He lightened the floors, painted the window frames, and coated the walls in a pale plaster. “It picks up the light and really brightens the interiors,” he explains. He also replaced the home’s carved fireplaces with sculptural, Modernist-inspired designs that felt more in line with the couple’s evolving aesthetic. “I really wanted to make the house feel as if it was more collected than decorated,” he says. “What were her favorite things? And how can we make these pieces work together?”
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A thoughtful blending of sensibilities followed. Zuchowicki’s midcentury leanings—his love of sinuous lines, Chinese furniture, and plush textures in dusty neutrals—proved to be the ideal backdrop for Ressler’s affinity for patterned fabrics, dense wallpaper, and English antiques. In the kitchen, an arrangement of blue-and-white plates, originally displayed behind the bar at the Resslers’ wedding, hangs alongside a custom pot rack dripping with copper cookware and a row of rush barstools. The combination brings warmth and texture to the room’s strong, clean lines.
In the living room, two bespoke Studio Zuchowicki pieces—a traditional roll-arm sofa and a wooden coffee table—anchor a vignette that includes antique Chinese chairs, a low-slung pair of 1950s armchairs, and an Art Deco–era mirror. The conversation continues upstairs in the primary bedroom, where a hearth—modeled on Marcel Breuer’s trapezoidal windows at the Breuer building—plays against lush Drapes Decor Fabrication draperies and a Chinese Coromandel screen. “The curtain’s puddled finish and the lacquered paneling balance this very sculptural fireplace,” Zuchowicki points out. “So you have the traditional with the modern.”
Even the guest room gets its own lively push-and-pull: an exuberant Schumacher floral covers the curtains, walls, and Roman shades, but contemporary elements—a flat-weave rug, Scandinavian side tables, and Nakashima-style lamps—march the space squarely into the present. “You have to really find a way to create a good, thoughtful dialogue between each and every piece,” Zuchowicki says. With that accomplished, the villa now feels like a breath of fresh air with a point of view. The finished home, says Zuchowicki, “is a little laid-back California with a hint of New York attitude.”
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