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A report by Apartment Therapy profiles Eileen O’Dea and Ryan Silverman’s 75-year-old cottage in Los Angeles’ Mar Vista neighborhood. The creative couple say they have spent 14 years customizing the home, including building cabinetry and installing wood floors and ceilings; the timeline and costs of many projects remain tied to their available time and budget.
Eileen O’Dea and Ryan Silverman, creative partners who run woodworking and home-accessories businesses, have spent 14 years customizing a 75-year-old cottage in Los Angeles’ Mar Vista neighborhood, according to a home tour published by Apartment Therapy. Their work includes reshaping the kitchen and adjoining rooms, installing custom wood floors and ceilings, and building cabinetry, turning the two-bedroom house into a highly personal home shared with their three dogs.
Silverman first lived in the house as a renter for years before he and O’Dea had the opportunity to buy it, the Apartment Therapy report says. The couple then began making changes throughout the property. O’Dea described the original home as dark and lacking personality. Among the early alterations were adding windows, creating a larger closet by taking part of a bedroom, and raising the kitchen ceiling.
The closet was the first major project. Silverman built it before O’Dea moved in, using walnut for built-in dressers and shelves and adding a fumed-oak herringbone ceiling and parquet flooring, according to O’Dea. The couple later installed quarter-sawn oak parquet in their bedroom and a custom bed with integrated nightstands made by Silverman. O’Dea applied limewash and Roman clay finishes to walls and ceilings in several rooms.
The kitchen, dining room and laundry area became a larger renovation. The couple removed walls between rooms and raised the kitchen ceiling to the roofline, opening up the space. They installed antique French oak floors, built the kitchen cabinets themselves and added Roman clay to the walls. A bleached-walnut chevron pattern runs across the ceiling, according to the report. The kitchen also features green stone counters and a La Cornue stove the couple found at an estate sale.
How Their Work Shapes the Home
The renovation is a report on one household’s long-term approach to making a home fit its owners, rather than a building-industry announcement or a claim that the design is typical. O’Dea and Silverman bring professional woodworking and finishing experience to projects that many homeowners would hire out. Their account also shows how extensive home changes can be paced around available time and money: the kitchen took about nine months, and the couple say other projects can take much longer to complete.
The home tour may interest readers considering renovations because it links visible design choices to practical decisions: using part of a bedroom for storage, opening up adjoining rooms, and investing labor in floors, ceilings and cabinetry. It also makes clear that handcrafted work is not necessarily a lower-cost alternative. O’Dea said the couple’s professional standards and access to custom work influence what they want for their own home, even when those choices stretch their budget and schedule.
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From Rental to Long-Term Project
Apartment Therapy identifies the property as a postwar, two-bedroom cottage in Mar Vista, a neighborhood in Los Angeles. The source does not give the home’s square footage. Silverman rented the house for many years before the couple bought it, and O’Dea says the pair have worked on it together for 14 years.
O’Dea and Silverman are founders of The Wooden Palate, a company selling heirloom cutting boards and home accessories, and STUDIO E&R, a full-service woodworking business that makes custom furniture and wood features for interiors. O’Dea also works with specialty wall finishes, including limewash and Roman clay. The report describes their home as a personal living space, not simply a display of their businesses’ work.
““The house was quite dark and didn’t have much personality until we started playing … adding windows, creating a large closet from half a bedroom, raising the ceiling in the kitchen.””
— Eileen O’Dea, as quoted by Apartment Therapy
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Project Costs and Plans Remain Private
The Apartment Therapy report does not provide a total renovation budget, a complete list of finished or unfinished projects, or a schedule for future work. It also does not specify the precise dates when each renovation began or provide independent estimates of the home’s value or the costs of individual materials. The account is based on a home tour and O’Dea’s descriptions, so details about the work are attributed to the owners rather than independently documented construction records.
The report says the couple work with clients but does not identify those clients or set out the terms of their professional projects. It is also unclear whether the couple plan additional major renovations or expect to leave the home as it is.
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No New Renovation Date Given
The source describes the cottage as an ongoing, long-term project but does not announce a new renovation, completion date or next milestone. O’Dea said the couple often have to wait until they have both the time and the money to take on substantial work. For now, the reported account offers a snapshot of the house after 14 years of changes; any further updates would depend on what the owners choose to do and share.
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Key Questions
Where is the cottage?
It is in the Mar Vista neighborhood of Los Angeles, according to Apartment Therapy.
Who owns the home?
The homeowners are Eileen O’Dea and Ryan Silverman, a couple and creative business partners. They share the house with their dogs Lucy, Hank and Tilda.
What changes did the couple make?
They added windows, reworked the kitchen ceiling, removed walls between adjoining rooms, and made custom floors, ceilings and cabinetry. O’Dea also applied finishes such as limewash and Roman clay.
How long did the kitchen renovation take?
O’Dea told Apartment Therapy that the kitchen project took about nine months. The report does not give dates for the start and finish.
Have the owners announced another renovation?
No. The report does not identify a next project or a completion date for future work. O’Dea said substantial projects depend on finding enough time and being able to afford them.
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