Soft Lighting and Incredible Views Set the Tone in This Silver Lake Home

When it came time to furnish their Silver Lake home, Rachel Traub and Todd Banhazl aimed to center their decor on the natural beauty of their area. The filmmaking couple was drawn to the nighttime quiet of the neighborhood’s hillsides, where “you can pretend you live in the mountains but you’re five minutes from Sunset Boulevard,” as Todd put it. Their home was the perfect perch to appreciate the multiplicity of L.A.’s urban sprawl, a quality that is reflected in their decor.

“The house feels oriented toward sunsets,” Rachel notes, referring to the 1963 structure’s extra-wide front windows that make the living area feel almost like an observation room. That living space, which is minimal yet cozy, and full of character, sets the tone for the rest of the home. Plenty of plush seating is provided, including a green &Tradition Develius velvet sofa, an &Tradition Little Petra lounge chair, and a vintage wooden Don Shoemaker chair from the ’60s.

A sense of playfulness is brought in by a unique triangular coffee table and a Vetri Murano egg lamp which is used in conjunction with a Hue color changing bulb to “transform the room into a colorful womb space,” as Rachel describes it. “Todd is a stickler about good lighting,” she adds.

“Our basic mantra with lighting is everything should be soft and ambient, no hard light anywhere, and everything on dimmers so the room can take on different moods and energies depending on the occasion,” Todd says. “It’s about creating little glowing nooks throughout the house that invite you into the space.”

Rachel and Todd first fell for the home in 2019 because of the genuine ’60s elements that were still in place from when the home was first built. The original fireplace, with its simple marble mantle that houses plants in the summer months when there’s no need for a fire, and wood panels surrounding it all, is an undeniable link to that heritage. Original wood details remain intact throughout the home, including large, wooden closets in the bedrooms and a wood-panel-encased staircase. The most unique wood accent is the built-in geometric headboard in the primary bedroom.

These stylish midcentury elements speak to their inspirations—the Eames House and Usonian homes—but it was important to the couple that the space didn’t feel museum-like. Their large, carefully curated art collection adds Todd and Rachel’s distinct personalities to the space, along with the aforementioned array of plants. For the latter, they turned to Sunset Nursery, also located in Silver Lake, “which has all different types of wild and weird alien-looking plants,” Todd says. “We love the more graphic-looking plants that bring color and pattern and personality to the space, but also still have love for the classic fiddle-leaf fig.” 

As for the art collection, an assortment of ceramics made by Rachel herself are presented, plus works by friends and other ceramicists who inspire her, like Ben Medansky, Leah Fraser, and Jim McDowell. Like most of the home’s decor, these are constantly being rearranged to keep the environs fresh, especially the ceramics made by Rachel, which she often sells and gives away. Paintings by Jessalyn Brooks, Miles Debas, Irene Royo, Tomaz Azevedo Capobianco, and a framed lithograph by Laila Tara H., add color and dimension throughout the space. “We look for art that brings us joy, and that keeps you coming back for another look,” Rachel explains. “But mostly we want things that feel good to exist in our space.”