Studio Jhoiey creates a peaceful space for the Pasadena Showcase House of Design

The annual Pasadena Showcase House of Design is one of the oldest and most successful fundraising house and garden tours across the country.

In in 1965, the Pasadena Junior Philharmonic Committee—now known as Pasadena Showcase House for the Arts—held the first Showcase House and it was a huge success. Since then, the event has grown throughout the years to include local vendors, artists, and more in order to raise funds for music programs including the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s Pasadena series of concerts, and to award gifts and grants to other nonprofit organizations.

Every year, a different home is selected to be the Showcase House, and different interior and landscape designers participate by transforming and decorating various parts of the house. After the complete transformation, more than 30,000 people walk through to experience the home in person, and also have the opportunity to buy the furnishings and décor.

Due to COVID-19, this year’s event has gone virtual, but the experience promises to be just as grand as previous years.

The 2020 Pasadena Showcase House of Design will be unveiled to the public virtually on Friday, October 2. The interactive virtual tour, Ultimate Viewpoints:56, will feature stunning photography, 360-degree views and informative videos.

The 2020 Pasadena Showcase House of Design is Locke House, a 1937 federal-country estate in Arcadia that was designed by renowned architect Gerard R. Colcord. Designer Jhoiey Ramirez, who owns the Los Angeles-based, full-service design firm Studio Jhoiey, was the mastermind behind the home’s primary bedroom and bathroom suite, which she transformed into a beautiful botanical theme.

“The inspirations were both the architecture and the history of the house and its architect,” Ramirez says.

“Being built in the late 1930s by an architect known as a ‘Hollywood Society Architect’ and during the time when the beautification of Arcadia through planting its parkways and bowling greens was in full bloom, we envisioned a client for the space who wants to turn the volume up on glamour and yet still have the space feel relaxed, feminine yet wouldn’t alienate the masculine, and be very dramatic and tactile. We made use of the different tones of green and lots of botanical patterns to achieve this concept. Using lighting to create drama was also a theme followed through the entire suite.”

The bathroom suite features wall tiles from Walker Zanger’s Botanicals collection, which included a pattern called “Tahiti” that perfectly matched all the green tones that Ramirez had initially picked from the Dunn Edwards color palette (refined green, midnight garden, fresh sod and white picket fence). She also fearlessly mixed metals with the Sawyer Tub from Americh in Smooth Copper, which was paired with polished gold faucets and fixtures from Franz Viegener to elevate the room so that it would feel like a luxurious spa retreat.

“We paired brass with polished gold to add a jewel-like feel to the suite, with plumbing fixtures with modern details that perfectly marry the traditional elements of the room with the Edge Cross collection by Franz Viegener,” Ramirez said.

“Now we cannot call it a relaxation suite without using every bit of spa elements for it, from the soaking tub to the dry sauna and a complete Smart Shower with steam experience from ThermaSol for immersive relaxation to the max. The experience is enhanced by being enveloped in aromatherapy, steam, chromatherapy, and sound therapy all integrated into the shower with a rain showerhead. Being in this bathroom suite, the limit is your imagination.”

Just a few steps away in the primary bedroom suite, Ramirez selected a porcelain slab tile from Walker Zanger that had the same look as the marble mantel that already existed in the room. She used the slab tile as a panel behind the bedside table sconce and in the steam shower enclosure.

While it was a challenge to find floral print bedding that would complement the wood grain pattern in the bedroom and appeal to both feminine and masculine tastes, Ramirez found it in the Designers Guild Indian Sunflower Graphite Bedding from The Linen House, which had a gold threaded wood grain pattern that she combined with her own fabric to complete the bedding and really set the relaxed elegance of the room. She also threw in a Kevin O’Brien burnout silk velvet pillow in Woodgrain Velvet from the same place.

“Continuing this push and pull of feminine and masculine, glamour and relaxation, we used lighting to achieve that balance as well,” Ramirez said.

“Using crystal ceiling fixtures and wall scones from Allegri Crystal by Kalco Lighting and mixing it with the fashion-forward ruggedness of Hooked wall sconces and Stoned desk lamp from Buster + Punch with a brass finish to tie them all together, we really embraced the eclecticism of the traditional and the modern.”

To control the abundance of natural light with both room darkening and light filtering effects, Ramirez used Smith & Noble’s Day/Night shade with a drapery Island Leaf/Green to add softness to the space and bring more botanical patterns. To further soften the details of the ceiling that really replicated all the federal details of the home, she asked Arpy L’Artist to hand paint a mural using the colors from the Dunn Edwards palette.

“I enjoyed the freedom of imagining my client’s profile and how they will use the room and all the ways they can enjoy it, and this was even before we were all stuck at home due to the pandemic,” Ramirez said.

“It was so timely, which gave it even more meaning to us. Pushing the boundaries of design and what can be done in space and how it can be achieved—that challenge really enhances the enjoyment of creating this space. We are completely in love with the final result. It was better than we imagined it. We are also glad that we can push our boundaries and be able to fit in the traditional aspects of the house.”