Inside Elisa Baran’s Soho-Inspired Los Angeles Loft

Rip & Tan: You came to interiors from a background in fashion—tell us more about this journey. How has your style developed over the years? 

Elisa Baran: Ever since I can remember, I always wanted to do something creative with my hands. I went to a Catholic school, uniform and all, which led me to expressing myself through jewelry. I started a very rudimentary jewelry line that involved a lot of chains (the age of the body chain if you can remember) that eventually led to a full fashion line a few years later.

I was also attending FIDM in Los Angeles and working for a fashion PR firm. I realized during this time that I loved the design process but the actual industry wasn’t grabbing me. At the time I was also dating someone who was in the real estate business and he suggested I get my real estate license. I did that and began to show people homes and found myself giving them advice (whether they wanted it or not) on how they could renovate, decorate, or rearrange a layout to make it feel better.

My parents were in the business of flipping homes back in New York without getting involved in the interiors. It would be a true flip with no character and just a quick buy-and-sell situation. I proposed the idea of them doing this in West Hollywood with a duplex I had found that was converted into a single-family residence. It was the largest home on the block but needed a ton of work. They bought it, I designed it for free with 9 months of hard work and no experience at all in interior design or construction. The “flip” was a success and the home sold in one day to a young female shoe designer, which was very special to me. After a few free smaller projects, I got my first real client and my little business just snowballed.

My style has completely changed since then as I learned to educate my eye with the importance of texture, pairing high and low pieces, scale, and trying to steer away from trends and focus on making a space timeless. I would say my style went from being very Pinterest-focused to really learning to trust my eye and put schemes together through inspiration gathered through nature and travel. 

Rip & Tan: We’d love to know more about how you made this particular space your own. What was it like when you found it? Was there a guiding feeling or intention driving your design?

Elisa Baran: This condominium was built by Julian Weinstock in 1963 and was the first high-rise residential building in Los Angeles. I loved this bit of history and found this unit for sale on the eleventh floor. The unit was last touched in the 70s so you can imagine how it had looked (linoleum vinyl flooring and laminate countertops everywhere).

What grabbed me was the views of the Hollywood Hills because in NYC I was used to city views. At the time, all of these units looked the same. Eight-foot ceilings, closed-off spaces with unnecessary walls, and very little natural light coming through.

I knew I wanted this space to feel like a Soho loft and to do that I would have to do a lot of demo work to reveal an open concept floor plan. Once we started taking down walls and the ceiling, we revealed a slab of concrete throughout the entire unit on the ceiling and pillars in the main space. My excitement was literally through the roof and it fueled me to become extra creative with adding custom powder-coated doors in all the bedrooms and a hand-carved walnut swing because every Soho loft at the time had one. The swing was designed and hand-crafted by Alexander Maroutian (a true inspiration and artisan with the biggest heart).

Rip & Tan: You’ve also referenced wabi-sabi as a major inspiration. What can modern design sensibilities learn from this ancient philosophy?

Elisa Baran: Modern home design always strives for perfection. Clean lines, symmetry, and manufactured are a few words that come to mind when I think of a modern home. I grew up appreciating the beauty in imperfection, collecting barnacle shells on the beach rather than the “pretty” and clean ones and broken leaves in the fall. My eye would always gravitate toward nature and its beautiful imperfections that constantly transcend time.

Something about a modern home balanced with a wabi-sabi philosophy of a space feeling incomplete is the sweet spot for me. Adding objects and taking them away and constantly editing a space to feel new again, to re-inspire the eye through seasonal flowers and plants or a piece of driftwood washed up on shore. This is the type of balance philosophy I like to bring to my clients that gravitate toward modern design. 

Rip & Tan: Historically, brutalist style hasn’t always evoked visions of coziness, and yet your interiors boast such a signature warmth. How does your interpretation of brutalism factor into creating these warm, livable spaces with minimal decor?

Elisa Baran: What I love about a brutalist space is that it is very cold, minimal, and neutral in color. I use brutalist architecture as inspiration and try to evoke this style in the structure of the home and through artificial lighting that feels natural, rather than in the actual design and styling portion of my process. I bring the warmth in through the furniture upholstery, objects, artwork, and accessories, which is my favorite part of the whole process.

I love sourcing vintage with a story and completely avoid buying things that don’t make my heart sing, which leads to a very minimally styled space with purpose. My life is filled with samples that clutter my rooms, so often I need space to think and a blank wall to stare at sometimes to really get creative.

Rip & Tan: From the statuettes placed among your potted plants to this incredible coffee table, the decorative moments in your home feel so intentionally unexpected. What makes a piece of decor stand out as a must-have? Where do you source?

Elisa Baran: I love this question because it can be answered in so many different ways depending on who you talk to. For me, a piece will stand out if it’s imperfect. Give me that hand sculpture that’s missing a finger or that piece of pottery that imploded in the kiln. I source from flea markets on the weekends, Chairish, 1stDibs, Facebook Marketplace, Etsy, and Ebay all over the world. I make connections with sellers and collectors that I think have a great eye and keep those relationships close.

Rip & Tan: Talk to us about your art. What drew you to these pieces? What’s the secret to finding a single piece that’s capable of filling a room?

Elisa Baran: A lot of the artwork in my home is from my really talented friend, Adrian Nina. He’s a Brooklyn-based photographer with an incredible eye and quirkiness you can see in his work that sets him apart from the rest. He’s always with his camera to capture moments and create them, so a lot of his work that you see in my home are pictures he took of his friends and the moments they’ve shared. I’ve had these photos in my space for years and I still love them.

As I started to source art and objects for clients, I found things that I couldn’t part with like that tapestry in the dining space and the statuettes you asked about earlier. They added the balance I was striving for when paired with the clean and custom-framed photography.

Rip & Tan: Your style places emphasis on the use of structures and textures. Do you have any tips for creating authentic materials-focused moments in homes where they don’t already exist architecturally?

Elisa Baran: In the case of my home, which really had no textural or structural moment other than when the concrete was exposed, I really had to think outside the box.

If you’re looking to add some architectural moments in your home, my advice would be to try and stay away from making them look too manufactured as well as stick to a theme and make sure that theme fits the style of your home.

You can add texture and structure through mineral-based paints and by playing with scale using plinths or sideboards to hold unique vases and other carefully curated collectibles. 

Rip & Tan: Can you share any tried-and-true rules for color palettes? Are there certain shade ranges that lend themselves to more structurally-minded design?

Elisa Baran: The color palette I always start with is very earthy. Shades of brown, terracotta, beige, and concrete grey. When this palette is paired with unlacquered brass finishes, architecturally unique plants or wildflowers, and cozy upholstered furniture, the space immediately feels calm and balanced.

You can think clearly with this color palette and feel relaxed. Using an earthy palette also gives the client room to play with more colors in pillows, throws, or art if they choose to without their space feeling loud and crazy. 

Rip & Tan: Do you have a favorite moment in your home? Any particular spot you find yourself spending the most time in—or most inspired by?  

Elisa Baran: I naturally spend the most time in the kitchen because I love to cook and bake. It’s a form of creativity for me and helps me de-stress. My soon-to-be husband loves it because there are always cookies freshly baked.

I also love the kitchen because it has this step up to the island that almost makes it feel like I’m on a stage that was added to hide the re-routed plumbing to allow for the open-concept layout. It lends for a different perspective on my home bringing the elements I see every day at eye level to a different height, allowing me to look at the items in my home differently. 

Rip & Tan: What does living well mean to you?  

Elisa Baran: Living well to me means a true work/life balance. Setting a routine that allows for me not to think in the morning and just do was something I developed at a very young age and stick to now. Since I give my clients access to myself 24/7, it’s important to me and the ones I love that my phone always goes away around meals.

If I had to define it I would say to live well is to stay active and hydrated, do what you love, travel for inspiration, make mistakes to keep learning and growing, and be fully present with the ones you love.