Mini Inno renovates mid-century home Villa Kuro in Joshua Tree

Los Angeles studio Mini Inno added a Japanese-style tea room to a 1960s property in Joshua Tree National Park while turning it into a holiday home.

Interior design and real estate company Mini Inno transformed the ranch-style property that was built in 1966 in Southern California to create the desert hideway Villa Kuro.

The studio’s design contrasts the dark exterior of the house with pale interiors.

Throughout the design, Mini Inno said it drew on the Japanese concept of wabi-sabi that sees beauty in imperfection.

Wooden, ceramic and woven details are used to create a time-worn and natural feel.

“The design concept for Villa Kuro is inspired by nature and wabi-sabi, the Japanese philosophy about finding beauty in imperfection and embracing it,” said the studio.

“Nothing lasts and nothing is perfect; with age you find patina and character, a sort of deep beauty that is lost in shiny new objects.”

Mini Inno added sliding glass doors to the garage to create a light-filled tea room. Two nooks are built into the walls and have windows that frame nearby boulders.

The room is decorated with a low coffee table and woven floor cushions. It can also be used for meditation.

“Converting the garage to the tea room gave a really big impact to the overall serene feeling of the home,” the studio said. “The old garage has one of the best positions in the house since it backs up against our boulder mountain and faces west to the views.”

Villa Kura spans 2000 square feet (185 square metres) and has two bedrooms and two bathrooms.

Wood beams run along the ceilings in the open-plan kitchen and living room for a rustic aesthetic. In the kitchen, the counters have creamy, textured tops and bentwood barstools. Woven, delicate pieces overhead serve as shades for light fixtures.

“Creating a serene and unique space was one of our goals; since it is intended to be a vacation home, we want you to feel relaxed right when you walk in,” Mini Inno said.

Rounding out the home is a living room with a taupe leather chair, off-white sofa and wood console.

Several outdoor areas complete the property, including a covered patio with a dining table, a pebbled garden, a courtyard and a place with lounge chairs, a jacuzzi and an outdoor shower.

Villa Kuro perches atop a hill and has an arid 3.6-acre (1.4-hectare) landscape filled with cactus, shrubs, rocks of varying sizes and yucca palm trees.

Joshua Tree National Park is about a two-hour drive east of Los Angeles. Other homes in the area include a weathering steel cabin by Cohesion Studio, which is also available to rent, and Oller & Pejic’s black house.

Photography is by Stanley Yang.

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