To Frances Merrill, there’s nothing quite as charming as a historic house in Los Angeles.

When Ms. Merrill, the founder of the interiors firm Reath Design, was house hunting for her family of four in 2022, her only criteria were that the property had to have been lived in for at least 40 years and have nice windows. So when she found an 1887 Victorian in Echo Park that had been occupied by a hoarder since 1970, Ms. Merrill felt right at home. Though she’d have to deal with the deferred maintenance, she was convinced that the 3,100-square-foot space had a good vibe.

Ms. Merrill’s favorite room is the kitchen, which has a funky L shape because of its peculiar location at the back of the house. The French doors leading to the backyard suggest that it might have been a service porch at some point, she said, but she’s not certain. She initially thought the kitchen was “not how anyone would design something to really function,” but the odd layout grew on her as she settled in. Ms. Merrill especially loved the way that natural light poured through the windows and cultivated a hospitable atmosphere.

In terms of the home makeover, there were a few spots that couldn’t be overlooked. The floor was completely rotted, so Ms. Merrill replaced it with a checkerboard vinyl that she said is “very satisfying” to clean. The designer also upgraded the countertops with a burgundy marble and worked with a carpenter on open shelving for the walls. A retro Smeg refrigerator cranks up the charm along with a stainless steel bar sink dressed in a floral skirt.

The house is still a work in progress, but Ms. Merrill said that this project has been a good lesson in “not overthinking everything” and embracing the beauty of imperfections. Ms. Merrill shared some of the staples that bring her kooky kitchen to life.

Easy Upgrade

Window curtains made from vintage tablecloths, $42 from Etsy

Ms. Merrill has been sourcing vintage tablecloths from Etsy for years, turning them into window curtains by using tension rods and straight pins. The process usually takes her about 45 minutes to complete by hand. The designer also made a skirt for her stainless steel sink from Home Depot out of a vintage Ukrainian textile that had been a bed skirt. Creating the curtains on the lower cabinets, which conceal plates, bowls, pans and appliances, was a family affair.

“My mother, daughter and I sewed all the lower-cabinet curtains over Mother’s Day last year,” she said. “They sewed at facing sewing machines and I ironed and pinned.”

Splurge

Cavolo wall light, £660 ($828) from Jess Wheeler

Ms. Merrill adores vegetable-themed art and décor. She wouldn’t consider herself a collector, but she has a few notable pieces in the house like an oil painting of a head of lettuce by John Ulbricht in the living room that she won at auction. She became a fan of Jess Wheeler, an English multidisciplinary artist, after discovering her line of furniture, lighting and decorative objects made out of brass, bronze and plaster cast over foliage and vegetables that grow in her garden.

Ms. Merrill couldn’t resist purchasing one of her cavolo nero, or black kale, sconces for the home because “we’re a big kale family.” The sconce is mounted above the sink, casting a warm glow in the evenings after the sun sets.

“My son went through a very heavy kale-eating phase so the sconce was perfect for us,” she said.

One of a Kind

Set of china from Live Auctioneers, $110 from Live Auctioneers

Ms. Merrill spends a few hours a day searching for treasures on all corners of the internet for both her clients and herself. One of her saved searches back in 2023, for example, was for “soft paste,” an artificial porcelain made of white clay mixed with glassy materials from 17th- and 18th-century Europe, which led her to an auction of a set of china. She won the lot for $110 without having to experience a bidding war.

“I feel like I practically built those shelves just so that I can put those up there, or any of my other little finds,” she said. “I will put them out with nuts and things in them, but I’m always like, don’t put them in the dishwasher.”

Even though these are rare antiques, Ms. Merrill said that she is pretty hands-off about her belongings. The decorative cups and saucers share shelf space with her grandmother’s silver martini shaker, an heirloom that her husband uses quite often — Ms. Merrill doesn’t understand how it functions with a spout, but she doesn’t question his methods.