Compounding the challenge of the entire endeavor was the fact that the family toured the house on March 6, 2020, days before the world descended into COVID-19 chaos. “You don’t get to choose the timing,” says Chaffetz, who, as owner of the real-estate investment firm Timberlane Partners, is well acquainted with the ways of the market. “If you find one that speaks to you, you have to go [and] get it.” They found a buyer for their Silver Lake pad and did just that.
While Chaffetz and Sperling were taken with the home’s charming original details and the verdant wonderland in which it was situated, Treehaven was as rundown as 100-year-old houses often can be. The couple managed to update the plumbing and electrical infrastructure, as well as overhaul the kitchen before they were, as Sperling puts it, “tapped out.” Enter Eisenberg, who had both the bandwidth to do the house justice and proper respect for the structure’s historic status—meaning lots of rules and regulations on what had to remain untouched.
The quaint but modest dining room was appropriate for a Craftsman, but not the perfect fit for the family’s desire to comfortably seat upwards of 16 guests. Sperling considers hosting to be “central to how John and I live; it’s one of the motivating forces of our life and our identity.” Eisenberg saw an opportunity for a dining space on the porch that honored the home’s original structure and maneuvered around renovation restrictions.
“You’re not allowed to put anything permanent on a property like that, so we added a structure that is completely removable, including the new flooring,” Eisenberg says. The original roof, pillars, and beams provided a frame to screen the space in, resulting in a mosquito-free dining area where a custom table can seat up to 18. “That front porch changed the way we live in the house the most,” Sperling says. “It’s beautiful during the day, it’s beautiful at night, and after a dinner party we retire to that little nook.”
