Michael Smith News>C Magazine

The weekend home of a Los Angeles-based couple - he's a businessman, she's a portrait painter and writer - the abode has evolved substantially from what they first encountered eight years ago. The two were looking to buy in Malibu, and the then-owner had festooned the home with a decidedly outre taste - think red upholstery, crystal chandeliers and Vegas-like glitz - and the pair doubted they could put their own stamp on it. Enter designer Michael S. Smith, a longtime collaborator of the couple's. Smith, who possesses the uncanny ability to channel the unconscious of a space, divined the potential in an instant. As he faced the residence, Smith said, "Imagine a Palladian front," the Pacific framing his view.