Before designer Amr Samaha laid eyes on the 4-bedroom Beverly Hills property now known as Shadybrook, the home had lost its sense of self. Years of neglect had layered chaos over charm, creating a structure that felt more burdened than lived-in. But beneath the clutter, Samaha saw not ruin, but rhythm—a grounded architectural pulse waiting to be refined, not rewritten.
“Restoration isn’t about nostalgia,” he explains. “It’s about clarity. The goal was never to impose a new identity, but to reveal the one it already had.” And so began a meticulous transformation, turning what was once a forgotten structure into a home that celebrates time, texture, and restraint.

Rethinking the Ranchette
Samaha calls the result a modern ranchette—a contemporary evolution of the classic ranch-style home, distinct from the farmhouse aesthetic that’s become synonymous with every open-concept renovation on Instagram. “It’s grounded and elongated,” he says, “but it doesn’t lean on pastiche or nostalg...