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"Michael S. Smith&amp;#039;s house in Bel Air was simple in its first incarnation, a 1950s low-slung ranch that reputedly was built for a member of the oil-rich Doheny clan. A couple of walkabouts, however, and the faded mid-20th-century charms that initially caught the designer&amp;#039;s attention in a newspaper ad began to appear merely forlorn.    &amp;quot;It had everything you could possibly want, but it was all in the wrong place,&amp;quot; Smith explains. The pool was too close to the house, and the Jacuzzi was marred by a cheesy waterfall. And though the grounds were gratifyingly lush with fragrant eucalyptus, they were strangely disconnected from the house. &amp;quot;Oh, I can fix all that,&amp;quot; Smith recalls thinking at the time, predicting an effortless transformation. Four years after that naively hopeful image of architectural infelicities briskly solved, the little ranch that could has been entirely obliterated from the landscape through an inspired partnership with Smith&amp;#039;s frequent collaborator, New York\u2013based architect Oscar Shamamian. In its place has risen a sophisticated, slate-roofed brick house that the early-20th-century British tastemaker Sir Edwin Lutyens would have been proud to call his own. Smith came to admire Lutyens&amp;#039;s work up close and personal when he was working in England for Sir Evelyn de Rothschild and his wife, Lynn. (Other tiptop clients include Cindy Crawford, Rupert Murdoch, and Michelle Pfeiffer.) &amp;quot;I am such an Anglophile,&amp;quot; says the designer, who admits with a laugh that he occasionally says drawing room when he means living room, &amp;quot;though I draw the line at saying lavatory.&amp;quot; Seriously, he adds, &amp;quot;English houses are the prettiest, most comfortable houses in the world. Who are we kidding? Youthquakers are embracing tradition, and why not? It&amp;#039;s the last meaningful thing.&amp;quot; Given that extravagant PDA, the previous home Smith owned was fairly contemporary in tone: crisp white rooms luxuriously underfurnished with a bit of modern art here, a strong-boned antique there. Thistime around, he and James Costos, an HBO executive, and their Labradoodles, Jasper and Sport, putter around sumptuously comforting rooms chockablock with old-world touches: an antique Dutch folding screen, a billboard-size Peter Paul Rubens painting in a gilt-wood frame, hemlock paneling, canopy beds \u00E0 la Brideshead Revisited. &amp;quot;Fancy just creeps up on you,&amp;quot; a smiling Smith says.   In the master bedroom, a Sony flat-screen TV perches on a ducal-quality gilt-and-marble console, and in the poetically spare entrance hall, the fireplace is tended with 1820s English tools, beautifully polished and leaning against the wall, ready for use, instead of displayed in a fussy stand. Even the beds have allure, each a tumble-inviting jumble of crisp Porthault linens, chintz cushions of his own design, curious fabrics from Morocco, and sprightly pillowcases from India. &amp;quot;People think California is all guacamole and Eames furniture, but we have a big tradition of pretty houses, too,&amp;quot; explains the designer, who grew up in Orange County. &amp;quot;One of my favorite things Joan Didion ever wrote was about California style, with it needlepoint rugs and potted orchids and Rigaud candles. That pretty much sums this place up.&amp;quot; For all that to happen, however, walls had to come down, and interesting ceilings (tray, vaulted, and otherwise) had to go up. &amp;quot;This is the museum of ceilings,&amp;quot; Smith says, only partly joking. The marble-floored, plastered sunroom, which took over a spot that was a guest room in the original house, rises to 18 feet overhead, tall enough to handle potted palm trees planted in hefty wood tubs like those used at Versailles. Outdoors, the ill-placed swimming pool was moved to a better location and backed by a columned pergola. Anglophile leanings aside, Smith hasn&amp;#039;t forgotten his California roots, aesthetically speaking, which means loads of linen upholstery and not so much silk damask (&amp;quot;just a cushion or two,&amp;quot; he says). And nearly every room has a door leading to the garden or a terrace, because indoor-outdoor living is one of the best things about being in L.A. &amp;quot;Our place is done,&amp;quot; Costos concedes. &amp;quot;But I find it casual, relaxed\u2014not formal at all. It&amp;#039;s filled with amazing things that Michael has found all over the world, yet the dogs jump on the sofas, and we&amp;#039;re barefoot more often than not.&amp;quot; "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.elledecor.com/design-decorate/house-interiors/a3877/inside-michael-s-smiths-home-a-54545/>