Soak In The Magic Of This Midcentury Palm Springs Retreat

Minneapolis-based designer Betsy Vohs of Studio BV didn’t just go West to find her dream retreat in Palm Springs. She went back into the past—both her own, in a desert landscape like the one she spent her college days in; and the neighborhood’s, for a house tucked into the Movie Colony neighborhood where Donald Wexler and Frank Sinatra once called home.

It didn’t hurt that the house had a recent history as the lush residence of landscape architects. Vohs complimented their ample planting with new ones of her own. In the front, she says, the landscape “was curated to create more intentional spaces and experiences between the front garden and the lounge under the ancient olive tree.” In the back, a renovated pool joins outdoor kitchen and living areas. “My favorite details,” she says, “can be found within the visual connections between the interior and exterior.”

That interior is a good 1,300-square-feet, divided between two bedrooms and a pair of bathrooms. “Its architecture is quiet,” she says. “The house itself melts away.” Instead, the eye travels to her vibrant contemporary art collection, including pieces both found back in Minneapolis and closer to home, around the Joshua Tree and Yucca Valley. And it travels through the windows to the work outside, too, including an eye-catching pool sculpture, a custom piece by her old Minnesota friend Merick Reed. 

Vohs has her eye on the future, as well. The house is off the grid, with new solar panels and full battery backup fueling up in the desert sunshine to run all night. That’s just another way the residence, in all its Mid-Century splendor melts into the surrounding landscape. “You almost don’t experience the facades and forms of the home as an object,” she says. “That is the magic of this home.”

Explore This Art-Filled Home In Palm Springs