Appian Way Hollywood Hills

Over 5,000 square feet of interior living space, a palette of French white oak and stone, a cook’s kitchen, elevator, and an infinity pool with views of the sweeping Los Angeles skyline.

It’s no wonder that Appian Way recently sold for over $7 million.

The modernist home is situated high up in the Hollywood Hills and was designed by Mehdi and Mandi Rafaty of Tag Front Architecture + Interiors. “With almost all of our projects, our design focus is to come up with solutions that make the outcome something unique,” explains Mandi. 

Due to the studio designing a lot of restaurant and retail spaces, Tag Front tends to work with installations and sculptural elements within its residential projects as well. “Sometimes it’s a sequence of different things that become apparent as you move through the space,” explains Mehdi. In Appian Way, it’s sculptural wall panels, CNC’d with a map of LA, that welcome you as you enter the house.

Both Mehdi and Mandi were very detail-focused throughout their work on Appian Way, something that’s evidenced not only in the sculptural additions, but also the carefully-planned material and hardware selections. Weathered asphalt tiles pair with white oak and hot rolled steel in the master bedroom and bathroom, and downstairs, a cobalt blue felt wall serves as a backdrop to the breakfast table. Meanwhile, carefully selected Designer Doorware hardware solutions are spotted all throughout the interior.

“We tend to always look for new cutting-edge products, solutions that have something about them, a certain aesthetic,” Mehdi says. “We value companies that aren’t always doing the same thing as everyone else.” This is what brought the team to Designer Doorware. 

In addition to Quad Lever door handles, Designer Doorware produced two custom designed products to cater to the aesthetic Tag Front were looking for in Appian Way. A brass squared pull handle in oil-rubbed bronze finish was customized for the project, as well as a custom size rectangular, raw timber pull handle.

“Being able to go into the Designer Doorware showroom and feel and see the products was imperative,” explains Mandi. “And it’s important to us that the company we work with doesn’t say, ‘Oh, we only offer two finishes because this thing could scratch or it could end up looking a certain way with use.’ Let it have some patina! We want something that isn’t so plasticky that you can’t hurt it in any possible way. That was what we were after and Designer Doorware knew how to select the products that would work for us.”