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Where dark interiors and an overgrown yard might have turned others away from the 1947 Monrovia address, one couple saw an opportunity to renovate and expand for their growing brood of kids and pets.
Kat and Nick Howell’s first dates in 2012 were to open houses. A longtime animal lover, Kat came up with the idea. "Finding a rental when you have a lot of pets is hard," she says. "I needed to own so I could get more pets." Nick was game, despite the side-eye from real estate agents on their sojourns. "We got kicked out of open houses because they didn’t think we were serious," says Nick. "They were right."
The couple—she works in the medical industry and he’s in specialty coffee—were living in Pasadena, in northeast Los Angeles, and married in 2014, after which they got more serious in their search. But they became somewhat discouraged as the years passed, from being outbid or turned down several times. "The goal was to find anything," says Nick. Then in 2016, they found a house just 14 lots down from Kat’s parents, an 858-square-foot midcentury in Monrovia, east of Pasadena. They wrote a letter to the seller introducing themselves and were ecstatic when it worked.
Before: Front Exterior
Before: Kat and Nick Howell bought this 1947 home in Monrovia, California, in 2016. It was a probate sale, so it was being sold "as-is." "We got the worst house on a great street," says Nick.
Courtesy of DNA Architecture + Design
After: Front Exterior
In 2023, the couple worked with Valery Augustin of DNA Architecture + Design on a remodel and expansion, adding a total of 460 square feet to the existing footprint of 858 square feet. "One of the things I wanted to do was create more of an entry sequence," says Augustin, including a deck, walkway, covered entry, and pivot entry door.
Photo: Undine Pröhl
The new entry sequence includes sight lines to the back of the house and yard.
Photo: Undine Pröhl
See the full story on Dwell.com: Before & After: They Turned a "Spooky" L.A. Midcentury Into a Sunny Family Home
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By: Melissa Dalton
Title: Before & After: They Turned a "Spooky" L.A. Midcentury Into a Sunny Family Home
Sourced From: www.dwell.com/article/before-after-monrovia-renovation-by-dna-architecture-and-design-117bfaff
Published Date: Fri, 11 Sep 2026 15:49:48 GMT
