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"When it comes to visions of a family dream home, certain essentials seem to be universal to the genre. A safe and welcoming environment for children? Naturally. Happy common areas for family relaxation and divertissements? Of course. Comfortable places to receive friends and relatives? Check.   To complete their picture of domestic bliss, Lynn Harris, an executive vice president of production at Warner Bros., and her husband, Matti Leshem, founder and CEO of the branding company Protagonist, had two additional requirements\u2014neither of which involved such typical Hollywood demands as an infinity-edge pool or a Pilates studio.    &amp;quot;The house had to be big enough to host a Passover Seder for at least 60 people,&amp;quot; Leshem says. &amp;quot;That&amp;#039;s a lot of matzo balls!&amp;quot;   &amp;quot;And don&amp;#039;t forget the dogs,&amp;quot; adds Harris, referring to their lovable albeit occasionally unruly Weimaraners, Hank and Coco. &amp;quot;It&amp;#039;s all about our dogs. If they&amp;#039;re content, so are we.&amp;quot;   The couple found the raw material to fulfill their dream in a classic midcentury post-and-beam house in Studio City, a short distance from Laurel Canyon, the bohemian mecca immortalized by Joni Mitchell. Architect Maynard Woodard, a former set designer for MGM, Warner Bros., and RKO, built it for himself in 1951 while working at Welton Becket &amp;amp;amp; Assoc., the venerable firm that would go on to design such Los Angeles landmarks as the Capitol Records Building and the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. Neighborhood lore has it that renowned California architect Cliff May\u2014the reputed originator of the ranch-style house\u2014also briefly lived in Woodard&amp;#039;s home.   Despite its excellent pedigree, the house, like so many of its contemporaries, had suffered over the years from a series of unsympathetic renovations, its integrity lost in the shifting tides of taste. &amp;quot;It looked like no one had loved it in a very long time,&amp;quot; Harris says. &amp;quot;There were shutters everywhere, so it felt bizarrely dark and cramped\u2014the exact opposite of what it was intended to be. Plus, there were awful details like stucco walls, mirrored walls, even a mirrored wet bar. That might sound cool in a hip, nostalgic kind of way, but trust me, it wasn&amp;#039;t!&amp;quot;   Despite all the &amp;quot;egregious stuff,&amp;quot; the place had &amp;quot;a good heart and a good vibe,&amp;quot; according to Leshem. &amp;quot;We knew we could make it work.&amp;quot; The couple, who have been together for six years and married for one, envisioned a fast, easy makeover to get the house up to speed and up to date for themselves and for Kaley and Nathaniel, Leshem&amp;#039;s children from a previous marriage. Remove the shutters, clean everything up, paint it all white, and put down a cork floor\u2014at least that was the plan.   Once the project left the gate, however, the quick face-lift turned into a yearlong obsession. With the help of their friend Sarah Walker, an L.A.\u2013based designer, Harris and Leshem systematically stripped, repaired, or replaced every surface. The house emerged as a crisp, contemporary incarnation of what Woodard had imagined and built a half-century earlier, with smooth concrete floors, an original ceiling of Douglas fir now liberated from its straitjacket of accumulated paint, a modern kitchen wrapped in bright-white Corian, and new floor-to-ceiling glass walls that open the house to its lush surroundings.  Click here to see the gallery for &amp;quot;Midcentury for a New Century.&amp;quot;   &amp;quot;Lynn and I were coming from great single-person homes. This was the house we built together, for our family. It may sound corny, but this was an expression of our love,&amp;quot; Leshem says. &amp;quot;I wanted Kaley and Nathaniel to grow up in a really well-designed environment so they&amp;#039;d learn to appreciate art and beauty.&amp;quot;   The furnishings are a mix of 20th-century design classics with like-minded contemporary pieces\u2014signature chairs by Hans Wegner and Jeffrey Bernett, a Warren Platner table, and Harry Bertoia barstools, to name a few. The art focuses on works on paper, with notable pieces by Chuck Close, Ed Ruscha, Anish Kapoor, and Raymond Pettibon. A media room off the kitchen contains photographs by Pamela Hanson and Terry Richardson.   &amp;quot;We&amp;#039;re totally in sync about aesthetic direction,&amp;quot; Harris says. &amp;quot;Everything feels like we created it together. This is a mature idea of what a house should be\u2014our kids are comfortable, our friends are comfortable, the dogs are comfortable. When you grow up, you appreciate the satisfaction of doing something right.&amp;quot;   And the Seder? The couple held their first, with more than 60 guests, halfway through the renovation, amid the chaos of construction. The invitation depicted the couple in hard hats in front of the pyramids, with Kaley as the Sphinx and Nathaniel as a pharaoh. Click here to see the gallery for &amp;quot;Midcentury for a New Century.&amp;quot; "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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