Sarah Solis Conceives a Creative Sanctuary for Artist Camilla Engström
With a grounded palette and a decisive structural overhaul, the designer transforms a modest Los Angeles cottage and studio into an understated refuge that supports Engström’s thriving painting practice—and daily life as a new mother
For years, artist Camilla Engström lived and worked along the windswept shores and foggy bluffs of California’s resplendent central coast. The spiritually charged terrain often crept into the Swedish-Chinese painter’s metaphysical landscapes, rendered in a psychedelic palette that has drawn comparisons to her idol Georgia O’Keeffe’s romanticized portraits of the American Southwest and the radiant color studies of compatriot Hilma af Klint.
Then, life expanded. A partner arrived, then a baby, as her career gained international momentum. Engström needed a home base that could support domestic life while sustaining her studio practice, and she found a kindred sensibility in the grounded interiors conjured by Los Angeles designer Sarah Solis. A century-old adobe dwelling that she restored in Pioneertown, California, had caught Engström’s eye for its natural plaster walls, tactile finishes, and deep connection to its desert environs. “I wanted a similar sense of serenity,” she tells Galerie. “I wanted the space to feel like a reset, grounded by earthy colors and natural materials.”
The Los Angeles cottage Engström ultimately purchased sat tucked behind tall hedges in a dense residential neighborhood. Its scale appealed to her, but the interiors felt compressed. Solis immediately zeroed in on the issue. “The only thing she didn’t like about the house was that it just felt a little heavy, a little low,” she recalls. Never one to shy away from a decisive move, Solis’s solution required a bold architectural intervention: “Raising the roof,” she says matter-of-factly. “We quite literally took the roof off the whole house and gave it a peak.”
The new roofline introduced vaulted ceilings and a central ridge that spans the entire cottage, exposing reclaimed wood beams while dramatically increasing natural light. “It’s very Swedish to have homes with more slope,” Solis says, explaining how the change reshaped the home’s emotional register and gave it a loftier presence. “It provides what I call ‘breath.’ You can fill into the space better than with a lower ceiling.”
The added volume also unlocked breathing room for Engström’s striking canvases, affording their saturated color fields ample space to sing against a deliberately understated backdrop. To that end, Solis opted for a restrained material palette with earthy nuances. Plaster walls and ceilings wear a creamy off-white shade; wide-plank white oak floors introduce warmth underfoot. The open kitchen and living area unfold beneath the vaulted ceiling, with an antique baker’s table from Galerie Solis—her firm’s product arm that offers artisan-crafted bespoke furniture—serving as a central island. Honed travertine counters and an integrated sink keep the surfaces intentionally spare. “Mornings making coffee while touching the countertop are my favorite,” Engström muses. “It’s such a grounding material.”
Across the way, a gracefully shaped sofa upholstered in tobacco linen faces a French work table in knotty wood, one of several moments where Solis paired furnishings of her own design with European antiques plucked from 1stDibs. “My pieces have this way of floating into the space,” she says. “They don’t take it over.” Engström, meanwhile, fully trusted the vision while sprinkling treasured keepsakes into the vignettes, including her own hand-thrown ceramics and souvenirs hand-made by her friends. “It was just simpatico,” Solis raves. “It’s so special to have clients that you align with and give you the opportunity to do your best work.”
Tucked at the rear, the primary suite takes shape as an airy refuge separated from the rest of the cottage by a tall half wall with no doors. “The energy circulates really well,” Solis observes. A romantically draped bed sits beneath an antique Murano chandelier, its petal-like components echoing motifs that recur in Engström’s paintings. “This fixture just felt like Camilla entirely,” Solis says. “She needed to have it. From there, it was about keeping everything else minimal.” Beyond the half wall, an understated bath takes spa-like cues, complete with a freestanding tub, walk-in shower, and built-in vanity that Solis paired with a petite Art Deco chair.
A short walk across the backyard leads to Engström’s personal studio, which Solis converted from a former garage. French doors and carriage-style openings replaced the original garage door, allowing large-scale canvases to move in and out with ease. “She needed good access to crate and manage deliveries,” Solis says, noting that Engström often throws the doors open to welcome direct sunlight while she works. Vaulted ceilings with exposed trusses and overhead skylights draw in even more daylight. A compact kitchen and bath, meanwhile, make it possible to remain there for hours at a time.
After two years of renovations, the compound reflects a collaboration defined by mutual trust and respect. “She knows what she likes,” Solis says. “Her decisions were pragmatic, exactly how she paints.” For Engström, the finished home documents a particular point in her life, realized on the cusp of profound personal change. “It’s a house that was built to support my needs before I had a partner and a baby,” she says. “Every detail was chosen with care.”
