Two ex-New Yorkers embrace more-is-more style in their maximalist Pasadena home

Brent Poer is definite astir 1 happening erstwhile it comes to interior design: Minimalism makes him uneasy.

“When I locomotion into a minimalist home, I ever think, ‘Oh my God, person you been robbed?’” Poer says, lasting successful his surviving country underneath a Juliet balcony covered successful ceramic plates. “But then, I’m definite a minimalist would consciousness the [opposite] mode astir our home.”

From the outside, the 1922 Normandy-style location Poer shares with his husband, Beau Quillian, looks accepted and calm, with steep-pitched roofs and arched windows.

The Normandy-style location successful Pasadena was built successful 1922 and is preserved nether the Mills Act, a authorities instrumentality that offers taxation incentives to homeowners who perpetrate to restoring and preserving their historical properties.

But erstwhile you measurement inside, the Pasadena location feels wholly different.

Poer says visitors are often amazed erstwhile they travel wrong the space. “It’s either a speedy ‘Wow,’ which usually means they don’t similar it, oregon a long, drawn-out ‘Wwwwoooooowwww.’”

Guests besides thin to inquire the mates astir earthquakes.

“Our decorating benignant is simply a premix of 2 perspectives,” accidental Poer, a 58-year-old advertizing executive. “We person akin tastes, but Beau’s benignant is simply a spot much Miss Havisham — helium likes a hint of decay. What we stock is that our [obsessive compulsive disorder] is successful overdrive.”

Beau Quillian, left, and Brent Poer with their dogs Otis, Sister and Selene, beryllium successful the stairway successful beforehand of a poster that reads “Keep Calm and Call Brent.”

Many Californians debar Mills Act homes due to the fact that of strict preservation rules, but the mates enjoys the situation of restoring and caring for their historical house.

“Thirty-six radical toured the location the time I saw it, but nary 1 made an connection due to the fact that they didn’t privation to woody with the government,” Poer says. “If you archer maine I request a latch from 1922, I’ll find it. When we had to regenerate the roof, I brought 9 antithetic samples to the Mills Act bureau downtown — each gathering California code.”

“The location is peculiar if not for the sole information that the 24-foot ceiling successful the surviving country was conscionable the cleanable forum for each of these things,” Poer says.

Inside, the mates has decorated conscionable the mode they want, filling astir each inch of their three-bedroom location with lively collections. As Poer puts it, they bask “going down a rabbit hole” erstwhile they find thing they like.

Their location is colorful and has a interaction of “grandma chic,” since Poer’s grandmother, Gigi, near him the contents of her Atlanta home. It’s a playful instrumentality connected British decor with Victorian-era Tartanware boxes and pre-World War I Black Forest antlers connected carved wood plaques that were erstwhile utilized arsenic hunting trophies. They besides person English Staffordshire porcelain canine and giraffe figurines, vintage British and French Majolica plates, and lamps and rugs they recovered connected Etsy, EBay and astatine auctions.

The couple’s room is “great for parties,” Quillian says. It’s besides the cleanable mounting for French creator

Nathalie Lété

‘s sheet postulation for Anthropologie.

The plates successful the room are “another illustration of america liking thing and past going heavy connected that obsession,” Poer says.

“We cognize it’s crazy,” says Quillian, 54, a freelance manner exertion and wardrobe stylist who has worked for Harper’s Bazaar and Marie Claire. “But we emotion searching for treasures.”

Curled up connected a vintage sofa they recovered astatine a Long Island junk store and refurbished, the mates likes to reminisce astir their favourite finds from their 22 years together. These see Hermès canine plates, recovered successful Japan, and circus paintings by Denes de Holesch, whom Quillian calls the “Hungarian Picasso.”

“When the French creator Nathalie Lété created a sheet postulation for Anthropologie, of course, we went crazy,” Poer says of the wall-to-wall Lété plates successful the kitchen, which helium describes arsenic “odd and humorous.”

“We take creation that speaks to us,” Poer says.

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1. Polaroids of a photoshoot with exemplary Amber Valletta are connected show successful the bathroom. 2. A drafting of Poer and his dogs by manner illustrator Richard Haines.

Artworks enactment the stairway to the 2nd level including a people that reads: “We volition marque it done this twelvemonth if it kills us.”

When asked however they take their art, which ranges from a chopped insubstantial collage by Los Angeles creator Emily Hoerdemann to thoroughfare poster creation successful their bedroom, Poer says, “We acquisition things that talk to us, which means we volition emotion it forever.”

For example, erstwhile they saw a bird-shaped guerrilla creation portion successful a Silver Lake Junction store — the aforesaid 1 they had seen scattered passim New York — the couple, some primitively from New York, took it arsenic a motion they were meant to beryllium here.

Although their location sits successful the peaceful Historic Highlands vicinity of Pasadena, the mates has experienced plentifulness of play successful their abstraction implicit the years. Once, they brought successful a shaman to cleanse the location with sage and cedar during a afloat humor moon. “And we’re not woo-woo!” Quillian says.

After Poer’s begetter fell down the stairs, the mates converted their one-car store into a stylish impermanent house.

The mates chose the colour palette successful the impermanent location due to the fact that “we wanted the spaces to consciousness calm and a spot that radical would privation to relax,” Poer says.

Three years ago, Quillian’s begetter fell down the stairs and astir died. Six months later, a monolithic oak subdivision dropped and pinned Quillian for 45 minutes, breaking his limb successful 4 places and giving him treble caput trauma. Then, past January, the mates had to evacuate during the Eaton fire.

When they got the evacuation order, Poer packed his bags and started taking paintings disconnected the wall, putting them successful his truck. “I told Beau to instrumentality 1 past look,” Poer recalls. “‘Is determination thing you’d beryllium upset astir losing? We person to judge that immoderate is successful the motortruck mightiness beryllium each we person near to commencement over.’”

“When we left, I thought, ‘The location is decidedly going to pain due to the fact that of the winds,’” Quillian says of the January 2025 fires that destroyed parts of Pasadena and Altadena.

In the impermanent room, the wallpaper matches the drapery cloth and upholstered furniture.

The adjacent morning, their location was inactive lasting conscionable 5 blocks from the pain line, though looters had already been inside. The thieves didn’t instrumentality immoderate of their art, which was a relief, since that’s what is astir precious to them. “When we archetypal got unneurotic successful New York, we dilatory started curating overmuch of the creation postulation together,” Poer says.

Besides the art, each country successful the location has its ain unsocial feel. In the impermanent room, the mates paired the wallpaper with the drapes and the upholstered furniture. The first-floor chamber is present a cozy den with acheronian navy bluish walls, canine etchings by French creator Leon D’anchin and the Hermès canine plates, and an attached bath is decorated with Scalamandré’s celebrated prancing zebra signifier wallpaper.

In the kitchen, wherever the mates hosted much than 20 radical for a Southern-style New Year’s Day enactment successful January with black-eyed peas, ham and collard greens, they added caller antagonistic tops and painted the cabinets a shiny Benjamin Moore Marine Blue. Poer installed each the brass run hardware himself. “It conscionable takes a dependable manus and the willingness to drill a cardinal small holes,” helium says.

Poer fondly remembers the “amazing antique stores connected Long Island” wherever they recovered their dining-room array for conscionable $300. To which Quillian replies, “You marque it dependable truthful proper. Those were junk stores.”

Green and achromatic floral wallpaper successful the eating country meets up with prancing zebras successful the adjacent bathroom.

Four years aft buying the location successful 2021, the mates transformed the store into a stylish impermanent location with a bathroom, ablution and a customized feline container for Mr. Kitty, oregon “MK,” who came with the house.

“Brent went from telling maine ‘Don’t provender that cat’ to designing a customized feline container for him successful the impermanent house,” Quillian says, laughing.

Like the den, the walls of the impermanent location are painted a lukewarm greenish hue for a relaxing feel. The mates besides installed IKEA Pax built-ins and closets and paired them with Billy bookcases with added trim to springiness them a customized look.

The mates turned the first-floor chamber into a cozy den with acheronian bluish walls and dog-related decor.

There’s a batch to look at, but the interiors of the location consciousness cohesive alternatively than chaotic acknowledgment to the couple’s colour choices and however good they enactment together. Poer likes to gag that helium has to get escaped of Quillian’s things erstwhile helium isn’t looking oregon “he would ascent into the trash tin and propulsion things backmost out.” But their teamwork and shared emotion of British decor marque the location consciousness sentimental and bespeak their agelong past unneurotic surviving connected some the East and West Coasts.

There’s a poster by Lété that Poer and Quillian bought astatine John Derian successful New York erstwhile they didn’t person overmuch money, portraits of them and their dogs by Carter Kustera, and astatine the apical of the stairs, the ashes of their erstwhile pets remainder successful custom-painted canine urns.

On 1 of their galore assemblage walls, Poer proudly displays their astir prized possession: a caller drafting of him and their 3 dogs, Selene, Otis and Sister, by manner illustrator Richard Haines, whom Poer contacted straight connected Instagram. “Beau ever says the dogs travel maine astir similar a schoolhouse of fish,” helium says. “I gave it to him astatine Christmas, and helium cried erstwhile helium opened it. He said it’s his favourite happening I’ve ever fixed him.”

Their person Georgia Archer says the couple’s location “feels polished without trying to triumph an argument, beauteous but precise cozy and livable, and precise overmuch ‘them.’” She precocious asked them to assistance remodel her and her hubby Anthony Dominici’s Los Angeles home. “Brent is bolder, and Beau much restrained, which is wherefore they enactment truthful good arsenic a team.”

Black Forest antlers connected carved wood plaques bent connected a partition of the sunroom.

Sister, the couple’s English Springer Spaniel, rests connected 1 of galore armchairs disposable to her successful the historical home.

When asked however galore items they person successful the house, Poer says he’d alternatively not know, “only due to the fact that I privation to judge determination is country for more.”

And if determination ever is simply a large earthquake, helium says, they are prepared. Everything is installed connected earthquake hangers, “so we aren’t showered successful a downpour of porcelain.”