July 20, 2025Palm Springs’ iconic modern architecture — whose clean-lined glamour fits exquisitely into the desert landscape — is as embedded in the culture of Southern California as the surfboard. Yet living in a Palm Springs mid-century gem doesn’t meaning having interiors with a retro vibe, especially when the decor is executed by Nina Freudenberger. This Los Angeles–based rising star has a polished aesthetic that melds Californian ease with Scandinavian élan.
The owners of the low-slung, glass-walled Palm Springs residence in question — built in 1968 as part of a 254-home complex by architect Charles Du Bois, a key player in the Desert Modernism movement — had lived in the 3,600-square-foot, three-bedroom house for a decade, imbuing it with the same eclectic style they’ve deployed for the chic local hotels and hot-spot boîtes they own and operate.
During the pandemic, when the desire for comfort and simplicity swept the country, they commissioned Freudenberger to give some of the rooms a fresh look. “They didn’t want anything to feel fussy,” she recalls.
Rather than follow a stereotypical Palm Springs mid-century template, she pursued a postmodern look, she says, “channeling San Francisco in the nineteen eighties and keeping spaces light and white, with a subtle play between textures and colors.”
Freudenberger wanted the interior arrangements to be flexible, with furniture that could be easily moved around and a plan for hanging art that left room for changes in and expansion of the clients’ cohesive, largely black-and-white contemporary collection. “Having neutrals flow through the house allows for artwork to really be at the forefront,” she notes.
Here, Freudenberger takes Introspective on a tour.
FOYER
The neutral-toned, white-oak paneled-entry exemplifies Freudenberger’s smart eye for mixing warm, inviting materials, which make the shapely furnishings pop with energy the way bright colors otherwise might. She plopped a custom-made tufted stool upholstered in a coppery velvet beneath the homeowners’ long-legged Alberto Giacometti–like Holly Hunt console, which holds a lamp and ceramic objects. She illuminated the space with a blackened-metal pendant by Lawson-Fenning. “I wanted that whole front area to feel like coming upon little discoveries,” she says.
LIVING ROOM
The living room is a chic study in black and white infused with soft, earthy tones that recall the landscape on the drive between Palm Springs and L.A. Freudenberger clad the walls in plaster the color of desert sand — “it looks like suede,” she says — and designed much of the furniture herself, scaling it so that nothing felt too overwhelming in the relatively low-ceilinged space.
She paired custom-made half-moon sofas and circular dark-wood cocktail tables with curvy velvet-upholstered lounge chairs by space Copenhagen for Fredericia. And she conceived a handsome wall-length oak console to display a chunky vintage plaster lamp and books beneath two paintings by Richard Serra from the his “Backstop” series. A simple Isamu Noguchi Akari paper pendant floats from the ceiling.
DINING ROOM
An oasis of calm, the oak-paneled dining room features an intriguing play of shapes and angles, from the circular glass-and-iron Ralph Lauren Home ceiling pendant and crisp-white dome-shaded vintage table lamps on the sideboard to the striped and block-patterned earth-hued rug designed by Freudenberger. Woven leather chairs surround an oak table, also of Freudenberger’s design. “This is the spot where they dine, have meetings and work,” she explains. “This room had to be really comfortable.”
POWDER ROOM
Designers often like to let loose in powder rooms, and this one is no exception. Freudenberger installed a heavily veined marble sink counter and lined the walls with a Phillip Jeffries wallpaper that looks like carved-wood veneer. A quirky hanging sculpture resembling maracas looks surprisingly at home. “There’s got to be something in every house that’s ugly and strange and wacky,” she says.
PRIMARY BEDROOM
With its oak accents and simple yet pitch-perfect decor, the primary bedroom epitomizes the fresh, unfussy look the couple desired. A tufted bed flanked by bedside tables, all from Lawson-Fenning, a blue-brushstroke painting by James Nares and oversize-check bed linens evoke the tranquility of a yacht’s stateroom. The bedside lamp is from FLOS. “The room was originally very minimal and lacked texture,” says Freudenberg, explaining that the goal of her redecoration “was to create a space that felt serene, effortless and intentionally pared back.”
DEN
A few more-saturated colors make their way into the spare yet cozy den, which is anchored by more works by Serra and a portrait of Philip Glass by Chuck Close. In one corner, Freudenberger created a striking minimalist vignette by grouping a slender chair by Faye Toogood with a globe sconce by Allied Maker and a work by Ed Ruscha.
Elsewhere in the space, a marble-top cocktail table by Lawson-Fenning and a maroon side table join a comfortable sectional sofa with pillows in hues that lean toward amber, sienna and mustard. “My colors can read like neutrals,” Freudenberger says. “I trained as an architect, so I try not to overwhelm a room. If you asked me to design a pillow with trim, I couldn’t do it.”
In fact, one of Freudenberger’s great strengths is her restraint when it comes to decorating. The yin-yang of her Scandi-Cali sensibility would surely have pleased Du Bois. She has fun placing interesting objects among sleek furnishings but always leaves room for the future. She calls it decorating to the 92nd percent.
“It’s so important in design that you can still add something, like books and pottery. This last bit of negative space is key to making people feel like the inhabitants of their own personal space.”
