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"Nine years ago, when Leah Simon launched a sushi restaurant called Tsunami in her hometown of Lafayette, Louisiana, the buzz could be felt throughout the bayou. Five years later, she triumphed again, with a second outpost, in Baton Rouge. It wasn&amp;#039;t just the food that had patrons talking. Working with Los Angeles designer Susanna Kost, Simon created dining spaces that were edgy, industrial and as fresh as the sashimi special.  Deciding to retire from her career as a Los Angeles record executive to supervise her restaurants full-time, Simon purchased one of the few midcentury-modern houses in Baton Rouge. Unfortunately, the home&amp;#039;s contemporary features were buried under a blanket of extravagant window treatments and fussy trim that Simon ascribes to too many viewings of Dynasty.   &amp;quot;I wanted a California house,&amp;quot; she says. For help, Simon called on Kost and architect Jim Sullivan, a professor at Louisiana State University. Sullivan stripped away the errant additions, improving the home&amp;#039;s flow and restoring its contemporary credibility. &amp;quot;Leah wanted to push the house away from what it was: a modern house that didn&amp;#039;t want to accept the fact that it was modern,&amp;quot; says Sullivan. New decorative steel screens separate rooms without sacrificing openness, while 65 feet of folding NanaWall doors inspire the easy indoor/outdoor flow Simon enjoyed back in L.A.   Built in 1959 but flanked by homes that are significantly older, Simon&amp;#039;s place has an Alice-in-Wonderland quality that&amp;#039;s underscored by the interiors. &amp;quot;Once you walk in the door, it&amp;#039;s like you&amp;#039;re in a different land,&amp;quot; says Kost. Statuesque chairs from the 1970s (discovered on the curb outside an L.A. furniture store) greet visitors in the entry, which is wrapped in a shimmering Maya Romanoff paper infused with glass beads. Covered in a different fabric\u2014Ombrione, from Designers Guild\u2014the same chairs anchor either end of the dining table, which was designed by architect Jim Sullivan to contrast the roughness of the raw wood with the refinement of its finish. The room is illuminated by a trio of cloudlike Frank Gehry lights from Belux.  In the living room, a 13-foot sofa from the 1940s faces a voluptuous chaise modeled after one Simon admired in a Victoria&amp;#039;s Secret catalogue. The coffee table between them was improvised from a casket dolly\u2014the kind used in mortuaries. &amp;quot;We like unusual stuff,&amp;quot; notes Simon, who prowls secondhand stores from California to the Gulf Coast in pursuit of her quarry.  Sullivan painted the brick walls white and replaced blue shag carpeting with pearly white terrazzo. In the kitchen, pristine custom cabinets were professionally coated with white auto-body paint to offer an understated lacquer backdrop for entertaining. Gargantuan graphics of a fork, knife and spoon (Eat wallpaper by Tracy Kendall) enliven one wall. Counters are Colorado gold-vein marble; the range hood is from Sirius.  Honoring her client&amp;#039;s request for &amp;quot;old Hollywood meets Palm Springs meets rock &amp;#039;n&amp;#039; roll,&amp;quot; Kost set Simon&amp;#039;s bed atop a prowshaped platform wrapped in white leather. &amp;quot;I wanted something that felt good underfoot,&amp;quot; explains the designer. &amp;quot;And since Leah has a cat and a dog, it had to be pet-friendly.&amp;quot;  Click here to see the gallery for &amp;quot;Updating a Midcentury Ranch House&amp;quot;.   The walls and velvet headboard are pale lavender, as are the bedside reading lights: a pair of Murano-glass table lamps that Kost found on eBay and retrofitted so they could hang from the ceiling. Mirrored walls on either side of the room slide out of the way to reveal the closet and the bathroom. The latter is wrapped in squares of precious onyx; a walnut vanity with organic edges counterpoints the room&amp;#039;s slick surfaces.  Since Simon&amp;#039;s restaurants keep her occupied most nights, she hasn&amp;#039;t had a chance to entertain as much as she expected. But that doesn&amp;#039;t mean the house sits empty: It&amp;#039;s become a popular setting for fund-raisers for charities she supports. Guests drift through the open doorways to congregate around the pool or gather in the living room, where upholstered pieces are augmented by an abundance of stools and ottomans, allowing visitors to drag their seats wherever the conversation leads them.   &amp;quot;People love Leah&amp;#039;s restaurants because they love the vibe,&amp;quot; Kost says. &amp;quot;It&amp;#039;s the same thing in her home\u2014people who are lucky enough to visit just feel comfortable here.&amp;quot;  What the Pros Know Leah Simon&amp;#039;s kitchen cabinets were finished with auto-body paint, a durable acrylic polyurethane that&amp;#039;s available in a vast selection of solid, metallic and pearlescent finishes. &amp;quot;It has more depth than a normal lacquer and it&amp;#039;s a little stronger,&amp;quot; notes interior designer Susanna Kost. The paint will adhere to almost any primed wood, metal or drywall surface, but care must be taken to remove imperfections first, since they&amp;#039;ll be magnified by the clear-coat finish. Auto-body paint should only be applied off-site by a professional auto or industrial painter using a spray booth with ample ventilation, since the fumes can be hazardous and the wet surface can be compromised by airborne dust. It&amp;#039;s a costly, labor-intensive process, but Kost loves the special effects that can be achieved. &amp;quot;Plus,&amp;quot; she adds, &amp;quot;people like having something that nobody else has.&amp;quot; Click here to see the gallery for &amp;quot;Updating a Midcentury Ranch House&amp;quot;. Click here to see the resources. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.elledecor.com/home-remodeling-renovating/a3959/updating-a-midcentury-ranch-house-a-60365/>