WEB-EXCLUSIVE HOME TOUR

Step Inside June Diane Raphael and Paul Scheer’s Character-Filled Los Feliz Home

LA’s Lafayette Studio updated and preserved the 1928 house’s strong sense of history for the comedic couple and their two children

By Jessica Ritz

Photography by Jess Isaac

April 22, 2024

Image may contain Paul Scheer Adult Person Plant Potted Plant Window Clothing Pants Footwear High Heel and Shoe

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“‘What are you doing? We’re all ready,’” June Diane Raphael recalls Los Angeles architect Doug Levine telling her. After all, plans were complete to add a second story to her and her husband, Paul Scheer’s, home, which had become too tight for their family that includes two young sons. The creative couple, who are both actors, screenwriters, authors, and podcasters, were determined to stay in their beloved Los Feliz neighborhood. “We fell in love with this area. You can walk to things,” Scheer recalls about how, as New York City transplants, they both landed in the community immediately east of Hollywood before marrying and settling here.

Thankfully, Raphael heeded Levine’s advice and went to see an intriguing option located just up the hill from their bungalow. “I walked in and I had such an emotional reaction,” Raphael, who grew up in a Victorian-style house on Long Island, says. “It felt like home.”

The property’s unique history helps explain this response. John V. Simons, president of the Standard Brick Company, commissioned noted architect Robert D. Jones to design the English Revival style home in 1928. Its graceful presence on the block served as a showcase for Simons’s family’s signature building material. In addition to the pitched gables and expanses of warm brick that reminded Raphael and Scheer of East Coast residential architecture, original details—such as diamond leaded glass windows and a distinguished, classic Batchelder tile fireplace—were among the multiple selling points. “We felt like we’ve got roots [here]. That was really important to us,” Raphael adds.

And yet despite the romantic appeal, there was one hitch. Masonry construction is ill-matched to Southern California’s seismically-minded building codes. So Levine and crew’s first order of business was to retrofit the foundation before designers Alexandra Neu and Samantha Wetton of Lafayette Studio could begin reimagining the character-loaded rooms into layered interiors that reflect Raphael and Scheer’s relatively informal lifestyle. “There were so many parts of my house as a child that I was not allowed in,” Scheer recalls. “I said to June early on, ‘I don’t want to live in that world.’” Here, all generations would be welcome.

The Raphael-Scheer family entrusted the design duo to guide them through the process of renewing the residence, balancing a respect for history and an astute understanding of how the four live. The existing historic integrity of the home instantly presented a context where vintage and new pieces seamlessly coexist. Starting with the brick, “We used that color and pulled it in throughout the house,” Neu explains, pointing to Roman and Williams Guild’s rust-hued sofa that stands in the living room. In Raphael’s office, located adjacent to the living room and foyer, artist Rebekah Miles hand-painted a decorative motif around the crown molding. This delicate gesture juxtaposes with a custom ebonized wood desk topped with a rosso francia marble slab that boasts a formidable and feminine flair.

The layout remained mostly intact with two exceptions. When Raphael and Scheer proposed converting the dining room into a cozy den where the TV would go, the designers immediately understood the brief. “Losing the dining room was a game changer. I’m really glad we’ve made that decision,” Raphael says. In turn, Neu and Wetton then convinced Raphael and Scheer to embrace a “darker and moodier” palette, with textured wallpaper by Elizabeth Dow, deep red drapery made of heavyweight Rose Uniacke linen, and richly stained wood ceiling paneling. “They’ve been incredible clients and given us so much freedom,” Wetton notes.

This room switch-up catalyzed architects Doug Levine and Elissa Scrofano’s transformation of the existing galley kitchen and under-utilized sunroom into an expanded and combined cooking and dining area. The new box-beamed ceiling manages the scale and adds warmth, while the pegged hardwood floors exactingly match the original flooring found throughout. With its generously sized bank of windows facing the revamped backyard, “people want to be in there,” Raphael observes about the bright and spacious—and mostly white—kitchen. Hosting guests for meals means migrating from the island below the oversized fringed Casamidy pendants to the Nickey Kehoe dining table that Neu and Wetton paired with a custom banquette bench from Dekor in Atwater Village.

Scheer admires how the duo’s impactful choices “brought out the beauty of this house.” Plus, “everything is functional,” he says. Raphael too values practicality, but a near-spiritual dimension enhances a sense of connection. “[With] every single thing in this home I have felt like, ‘Ah, there you are,’” she says. “Everything felt like it had been here before.”

Shop out the look of the house here ⤵

Actors, screenwriters, authors, and podcasters Paul Scheer and June Diane Raphael stand outside their 1928 English Revival–style brick-clad house designed by architect Robert D. Jones in LA’s Los Feliz neighborhood. “It doesn’t look like anything else” on the block, Scheer explains. “We’re from the East Coast, and there’s something about it that just scratched that itch.” The property was built by the president of the Standard Brick Company. “When we walked into this home, there was a thing that felt rooted,” Raphael adds.

A French Brutalist–inspired floor lamp from LA’s Orange Furniture stands at attention in the foyer with Lawson-Fenning’s Alta Brass Dome lighting fixture above. A Peter Keil hangs across from the staircase. The Tiger bamboo cabinet is by Jefferson West, vintage Turkish runner is from Lawrence of La Brea. “One thing that’s interesting about this house is there’s not a lot of long halls. You still feel connected” to whatever is happening nearby, Neu observes about the layout.

Art: Peter Keil/Stefanie Obermeier

The property’s specific origins informed Neu and Wetton’s choices of rich reddish tones applied in the living room and throughout the spaces. Roman and Williams Guild’s Davenport sofa and a Canyon coffee table by Hollywood at Home stand opposite the intact Batchelder tile fireplace, a prized amenity found in Los Angeles homes of this vintage. The vintage Italian mirror above the fireplace is from Hollywood at Home. Swedish armchairs by DUX are sourced from Gallery L7. The Spider chandelier is Cisco Home.

One of Raphael and Scheer’s first decisions was to jettison any desire for a formal dining room in favor of transforming the space into a cozy family room where now a custom sofa and vintage kilim-topped ottoman facilitate TV and movie watching. Equipment is stealthily stored within the handsome antique Art Deco armoire Lafayette Studio sourced from the Golden Triangle. The Gallery L7 Chilton chandelier, newly added stained wood ceiling treatment, and Elizabeth Down wallpaper add to the moodiness that’s nonetheless family-friendly.

Raphael can keep her eye on the household’s comings and goings from her office, which is situated off the foyer, complete with a private patio. Neu and Wetton tapped artist Rebecca Miles to add a hand-painted flourish around the crown molding. A pair of Guillerme et Chambron Grand Repos midcentury lounge chairs feel simultaneously relaxed and dignified. The ceiling light fixture once illuminated lanes in a Portland, Oregon, bowling alley. Vintage rug is from Lawrence of La Brea. Drapery fabric is the appropriately named Brick colorway of Howe at 36 Bourne Street’s Knurl linen.

Neu and Wetton took inspiration from the pointed arch form of the front doorway by incorporating nods to Moorish design in the powder room. Soldo wallpaper is by Hygge and West, the Moroccan lantern is vintage from Chairish. The vintage hat rack is from Dekor in LA’s Atwater Village neighborhood.

The couple turned to trusted interior designers Alexandra Neu and Samantha Wetton of Lafayette Studio to update and transform the spaces for the family of four. Architects Doug Levine and Elissa Scrofano collaborated with the team to enlarge the kitchen into an eat-in space and take advantage of the extensive windows overlooking the backyard.

The expanded eat-in kitchen picks up the slack of the erstwhile dining room and serves multiple purposes—as well as the Raphael-Scheer family’s informal entertaining style. Casamidy’s Pila Seca pendants introduce a mix of materials, along with Serena & Lily’s Portside counter stools.

The eat-in kitchen features Nickey Kehoe’s Harvest dining table outfitted with a custom banquette from Dekor and No. 378 Dejavu dining chairs. A set of vintage Italian brass and glass sconces from Lumfardo offset the earthy furnishings and the original wood trim and surfaces in the house that LA firm Lafayette Studio opted to refresh in a darker stain.

“It’s kind of a safe haven for Paul and June. It’s the one room where the kids aren’t in,” Neu says about the primary bedroom. A nineteenth-century French hall bench complete with its original rush seat stands at the foot of a custom bed frame by Lafayette Studio. Davis nightstands are Faithful Roots. Ink drawing is by Greg Lauren via 1stDibs.

Art: Greg Lauren

Raphael and Scheer are always amenable to changes and suggestions, so Neu notes that “things have moved around in this house,” such as the wicker chest of drawers in the primary bathroom that previously stood in the guest bedroom. Slivers of brick are visible between the window frames and walls next to the bathtub.

The guest room features a Harbour Cane bed by Serena & Lily, an antique Mashad rug from Lawrence of La Brea, Le Klint no. 306 table lamps by Kaare Klint with custom lampshades, a midcentury chandelier from beloved LA source Liz’s Antique Hardware, and assorted vintage art.

In the kids’ bedroom, curtains made from Safari Toile by Coral & Tusk enhance the Oeuf Perch bunk bed with cocooning possibilities. The Moroccan rug is from Lulu & Georgia. A 1950s Rattan lamp from Pamono stands atop custom casework tucked beneath the windows. “It’s always ever-evolving, which has been really fun,” Wetton says about her and Neu’s working relationship with their clients through various life and professional stages.