Creative director Dabito used his interiors k now-how to treat his 1950s bungalow to a medley of pattern and colour alongside a smattering of clever design tricks
HALLWAY
The designer created the Spanish style elements he was craving by incorporating an arch.
LIVING ROOM
‘You can’t beat a good gallery wall,’ says Dabito. ‘Ours features photos from a trip to Iceland, two wood carvings from the Philippines and a watercolour I recently painted.’
LIVING ROOM
Crisp white walls are the perfect backdrop for the vibrant art and furnishings, which include an antique Chinese rug.
DINING AREA
‘This nook is the most hardworking space in the house. I eat, read, work and even nap here.’
I findjoy in colour,’ says Dabito, and after a few minutes spent in his company, it’s not hard to see its impact, both in his optimistic outlook and the bright-hued interiors he inhabits. In four years, he’s transformed a box-like 1950s bungalow into a covetable LA pad, also home to his partner Ryan and their menagerie of pets, including two pit bulls and a cat.
Dabito is the founder of Old Brand New, a platform that rose to prominence with Instagrammable interiors hacks – what he can’t tell you about inventive, affordable do-overs probably isn’t worth knowing. Having divided his time between New Orleans and his home turf for the last few years, Dabito was ready to ‘grow roots’ in the South Pasadena district where he grew up with his parents, who emigrated to the US from Vietnam in the 1970s. ‘It’s a lively community, with Asian and Latino influences. Buying here seemed like a homecoming.’
The property he chose, however, didn’t feel like a scoop. ‘I can’t say I fell in love with it,’ he says. ‘It was boxy and featureless. I really wanted a Spanish-style home, which I find architecturally more interesting. This place had been done up, though not creatively, which meant removing what didn’t work and rejigging the layout.’ Originally a four-bed, two-bath space, Dabito reworked the house to accommodate three bedrooms (the fourth became an en suite) and three bathrooms. One bedroom is now an office, while the couple’s bathroom is accessed by an archway – introducing some of those Spanish lines he craved.
Ask him which of his hacks he found most useful and he doesn’t hesi
