In Salt Lake City’s Sugarhouse neighborhood, designers Jason and Scott Singer team with Jaffa Group to give their old bungalow a new lease on life.
The story began with a drawing on a napkin, Jason Singer explains. When he and his husband Scott purchased a small 1929 bungalow in Salt Lake City’s charming 15th & 15th neighborhood, they recognized its need for a major overhaul.
Homeowners Jason and Scott Singer, principals of Honigman Design Studio, inside their newly remodeled home.
That’s when architect/builder Scott Jaffa stepped in. He had introduced the couple to the property and, after agreeing to help tackle a remodel that would transform the 2,700-square-foot house into the couple’s next home, he presented the Singers with a proposed layout casually sketched on a cocktail napkin. The project was born.
“The original layout was stuck in the past,” recalls Jason, co-principal of Honigman Design Studio along with his husband, Scott Singer. “The bedrooms were tiny and there were virtually no closets.” A jumbled floor plan, low 8-foot-high ceilings and a dark, narrow staircase were among the interior’s other shortcomings the Singers and Jaffa planned to remedy. The goal was to create a boldly modern home that exudes warmth, Jason explains. “We’re inspired by Australian contemporary design defined by stunning spaces that are timeless, contemporary and, most importantly, homey.” Think inviting, not intimidating. Teaming with Jaffa and working closely through the entire design process with Jaffa Group’s lead interior designer Jen Harpster, the Singers took every opportunity to make their 2,700-square-foot home feel spacious and comfortable.
“There are a number of outdoor elements that hint at the modern design inside the home,” says Harpster, noting the rebuilt garage, black-painted foundation, new front door and overhauled landscape.
A wall isolating the entry from the main-level living spaces was removed to open the floor plan. Inset bands of hand-rubbed brass team with white oak to give both sides of the front door a decidedly modern look. The entry table by David Alan Collection is crafted from a single root of a felled banyan tree.
The welcoming, modern style is evident the moment you stroll past the reimagined landscape and glimpse a new, strikingly modern front door filling the existing arched opening. “The oak-and-brass door we designed really is the perfect portal to highlight how special the interior is,” Jaffa says. Special, yes—and dramatically different from the original. “Prior to the demo, a wall completely cut off the openness of the first floor, so when you entered through the front door, the interior felt claustrophobic,” Jason explains. To set things right, the team reconfigured the floor plan to open it and vaulted the original 8-foot ceilings to rise 16 feet at their apex. “Vaulting the ceilings was a game-changer,” says Jason, crediting the idea to his husband Scott. Dark-stained birch beams accentuate the arresting lines of the soaring ceilings while adding bold contrast to the interior’s broad swathes of refreshing white. “We wanted our home to take your breath away when you step inside.”
In the living room, a painting by artist Michelle Tanguay hangs behind a lounge chair by Fabio Lenci—a gift from Jason’s grandmother.
In the living room, that meant allowing the expanded volume to prevail while using the light-filled space as a backdrop for keenly edited furnishings including a sculpture-like Hyaline Chair by Fabio Lenci—a gift from Jason’s grandmother—a custom sectional and a coffee table crafted from a single slab of petrified wood. “We don’t like crowded spaces,” says Jason, coining the couple’s preferred style as Minimalist Chic.
Collected minerals and travel keepsakes shimmer on lighted recessed shelves and, across the room, glass railing serves a sculpture-like staircase that connects the main and lower levels with its floating steel frame and oak treads. “We wanted this feature, in particular, to be a work of art,” Jason says.
“This really took on a completely different feel with the added volume and exposed angles in the ceiling,” Jaffa says. The revamped fireplace features leathered Black Saddle granite from Venetian Tile and Stone, fabricated and installed by European Marble and Granite.
Statement-making design carries over into the dining area, where the reimagined fireplace performs as a monolith clad in Black Saddle granite. “Its towering beauty became the centerpiece of the main level,” Jason explains. A modern chandelier by Apparatus Studio hangs above a custom table composed of an x-shaped steel base and a round top crafted from a single slab of Claro walnut hand selected by the Singers.
The interior’s new wide-plank, white-oak flooring flows seamlessly into the new kitchen, where a waterfall-style island formed in Ijen Blue quartzite anchors the streamlined space. Architect Scott Jaffa relocated the kitchen to take advantage of a uniquely curved window wall original to the home. Waterfall countertop and backsplash are by European Marble and Granite and the woven-leather counter stools are from Mark Albrecht Studio. A stone slab backsplash serves as a pattern-rich backdrop for an aged-brass range hood and walnut cabinets devoid of distracting hardware. “We wanted the space to be timeless and uncluttered,” Jason explains.
Brass butterflies that traverse a natural crack in the walnut inspired other brass decorative details including those of the dining room’s chandelier, the kitchen’s range hood and the primary bedroom’s sconces. “We wanted our house to be timeless, so we used subtle brass details rather than larger statements like hardware and full-on fixtures,” says Jason. Instinctively, he and Scott used the subtle repetition of numerous materials and colors to unify the interior’s distilled decor. “Repetition is a thread that creates continuity,” Jason explains.
Nearby, the kitchen’s curved window wall and vaulted ceiling endow the room with an intriguing shape unexpected in a small bungalow. There, streamlined walnut cabinets, an aged-brass hood and a waterfall-style island formed from richly veined quartzite further the interior’s engaging material palette. But function does not suffer for form. “As a designer and a cook, I knew the room’s utility had to be in the forefront,” Jason says. He and Scott ruled out high-maintenance marble and, instead, zeroed in on Ijen Blue quartzite the moment they saw it in the stone yard. It was the very first thing they chose for the kitchen. “We started with this statement piece and let it drive our other decisions on the kitchen’s other finishes and materials,” Harpster explains.
Serenity Blue granite and walnut pullout shelves form the primary bathroom’s underlit floating vanity. Suspended from the ceiling, a pair of mirrors appear to float in front of frosted windows. The stone is from European Marble & Granite; the tile is from KJ Tile
A backlit mirror, floating vanity of Alpine White Granite and a wall dressed in dark Phillip Jeffries wallpaper deliver a dose of drama to the chic powder room.
Concrete is one of the owners’ favorite materials, so they chose a tile for the shower’s walls and floor that achieve the same aesthetic. Lighted niches and double shower heads elevate the feature’s function and style.
Truth be told, the Singers have a thing for distinctive stone as further evidenced by the animated granites forming floating vanities in the chic powder room and the primary bathroom—a space carved from a previous bedroom. There, the team retained existing windows as celebrated light sources and, for privacy, inserted frosted glass in panes located behind the vanity’s mirrors cleverly suspended from the ceiling. The bathroom’s boldly contrasting tones link to those in the primary bedroom, where a cashew-hued leather bed and floating walnut nightstands visually pop against a headboard wall covered in dark charcoal wallpaper made from woven sisal. “We designed the space to feel masculine, but not overtly so,” Jason says. New double doors open to an Ipe deck overlooking the revamped, water-wise landscape and freshly detailed exterior.
In the primary bedroom, Phillip Jeffries woven sisal wallpaper creates a dark backdrop for a leather bed and floating walnut nightstands custom designed by Jason Singer. Herringbone-patterned white oak flooring helps to differentiate this room from the rest of the main level.
The team paid no less attention to the lower level with its two guest suites and a cozy media room located at the bottom of the floating staircase. Nearby, a stylish home office takes the monotony out of desk work with its reimagined fireplace, floating walnut shelves and dark accent wall covered in slightly metallic cloud wallpaper panels. “We wanted to work in a space that makes us feel comfortable but also inspired,” Jason says.
“We kept the location of the original staircase but changed its direction,” Jaffa explains. “Now when you walk into the house, it is one of the elements that captures your attention.” Recessed floor lights illuminate it from below to accentuate its sculptural form. Staircase crafted by Flynn/Noorda.
In fact, inspired design reigns throughout the dwelling. “So often, contemporary design invokes thoughts of sterility, and we wanted to challenge that notion,” Jason says. Gone is the choppy, cramped bungalow portrayed with a simple napkin drawing; these days the old house—freshly reimagined as a modern haven—begins a new chapter as the Singers’ new home.
Floor-to-ceiling walnut cabinetry furnishes the handsome mudroom, where light and mountain views spill through French doors.
The team skim-coated the lower level’s floors with matte-finished concrete. Dark tile clads the guest suite’s hotel-like shower detailed with a large lighted niche and a sliver of light sourced from above. Tile from KJ Tile.
