Buying anything with an “as is” sticker is a big gamble. Furniture might have a small dent or scratch, and clothing could be slightly damaged—if you’re lucky, it might be repairable. But what happens when the item with the condition warning is a house? Do you jump in with two feet and hope for no major surprises, or skip the risk and keep searching?
For one LA-based entertainment-industry couple with two daughters, buying a fixer-upper weekend home in Palm Springs had long been a dream. So when they saw the listing for a 1950s home designed by noted architect William Krisel, they immediately emailed Ashley Drost and Marie Trohman—close friends and the founders of interiors firm and AD PRO Directory member Proem Studio—to ask for an opinion. Could the house, chock-full of rundown interiors with dated finishes, be revived?
“When we first saw the home online, we were incredibly excited,” says the wife. “It was the exact style we had been searching for in our preferred neighborhood, but the dreaded words ‘selling as-is’ accompanied by the interior photos of a home left us feeling a bit nervous.”
Structurally, the home was in good shape with details worth saving, such as the original windows and ceiling beams. Some minor renovations had happened over the years—it was covered in gray porcelain floor tiles and worn carpet, and the kitchen and bathrooms had outmoded appliances, cabinetry, and fixtures—but it wasn’t anything that a good interior designer couldn’t refresh. “The clients bought the house at the end and asked us if we could help them bring it back to its original glory,” says Trohman, who notes that this was the firm’s first Palm Springs project.
Shop out the look of the house here⤵
