Goodbye, chocolate brown, hello, gray: Inside fashion designer David Meister’s house

Siegel bought the Los Angeles house, set above the Sunset Strip, in 1996 for its view, though not everyone initially appreciated the panorama. “I remember taking Estelle Getty, who was my client, to see it and she said, ‘What a view … of everyone else’s rooftops,’ ” says Siegel, pictured above entering the house.  (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

On the first floor, the rooms are painted in no fewer than five Benjamin Moore Classic grays (Nos. 859 and 995 to 998) with two different silvery tones for the trim. The ceiling is done in two cool grays, Whirlpool and Violet Mist. Throughout the house, rugs, sofas, chairs, pillows and bedding are in colors best described as smoke, stone, taupe, gray, beige or greige. “I work with color and pattern all day long,” says Meister, who is known for his splashy, fitted, red-carpet gowns. “We have such hectic lives, when I come home and shut the door, I don’t want to see any color or print.”  (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

The couple wanted the house to be neutral and contemporary – polished but not fussy. “It’s simple, it’s clean and it’s modern,” Meister says. “To me, it’s about all these great luxurious finishes and textures playing off one tonality.” A leather wing chair and a fabric-covered armchair from Donghia flank the fireplace, which was streamlined and clad in lagos azul, a fossilized limestone, also used for kitchen counters. The black lacquer table is by Christian Liaigre.  (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

Siegel and Meister worked with interior designer Tim Guetzlaff of TMG Associates in Palm Springs, pictured here on a Christian Liaigre chaise. Because Meister is a believer in formal dining and living rooms for entertaining, the original floor plan was preserved, with articulated rooms circling the central staircase.  (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

In the dining room, a Luca Pignatelli painting hangs on the wall; headwear from Afghanistan and Turkey sits on a sideboard of Guetzlaff’s design. Throughout the home, Guetzlaff designed furniture using blackened steel and upholstery in shades of oyster, pearl and pewter. Black lacquer and dark-stained natural wood pieces serve as accents. In such a setting, paintings, sculpture, flowers and even artfully arranged coffee table books command attention.  (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

Baja Dunes, a Benjamin Moore color that looks gray in morning light and tan in lamp light, takes on a silvery sheen in the late afternoon sun. The contemporary chairs with upholstered legs are by Donghia, and the dining table is reproduction Empire design by DessinFournir. That’s Meister in the background, in the kitchen.  (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

The Gaggenau- and Sub-Zero-equipped kitchen is the least-used room in the house. “Neither of them are big cooks,” Guetzlaff says. The Boffi kitchen includes pull-down tambour metal doors to hide small appliances. The Saarinen table and chairs sit on a floor of 5-inch-wide oak planks.  (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

Guetzlaff descends the spiral staircase leading up to the master suite.  (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

Art packs a colorful punch at the top of the stairs, where Meister carries puppy Petey. The glass wall to Meister’s right looks into bathroom. The point is to provide views from both sides of the shower: The Getty Center is visible through glass on one side, the Hollywood Hills through the other.  (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

The gray palette continues in the master bathroom, enriching the clean lines of the home. Although some homeowners crave the layered, lived-in look, Siegel and Meister desire the opposite. “Everything is put away,” Siegel says. “You don’t see any signs of life. It’s very peaceful, and there is solitude.” The way paint colors shift in light make the grays more complex than one might expect; though the wall above the sinks appears to be darker than the opposite wall, both are painted the same color.  (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

Even the bathroom toiletries drawer is finished in a pale gray oak veneer.  (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

Siegel’s socks and belts are neatly arranged in the bedroom’s built-in dresser. “For Alan, everything has to have a perfect sense of order and purpose and place,” Meister says. “He’s a control freak.”  (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

Siegel stands by his built-in dresser. The master bedroom is a study in symmetry, with windows on both sides of the bed and matching nightstands with identical reading lamps, telephones and alarm clocks. Baja Dunes, the same Benjamin Moore gray used in the dining room, appears light tan with an overhead light turned on.  (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

Fashion designer Meister stacks his shoes on shelves with one facing in and the other out, he says, “so you can see what kind of heel height and toe shape you’re working with.”  (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

Meister, pictured this month at the Woman’s Day Red Dress Awards in New York.  (Mike Coppola / Getty Images)

Viola Davis, wearing a David Meister design at the 2009 Screen Actors Guild Award show in Los Angeles.  (Gary Friedman / Los Angeles Times)

Siegel, left, and Meister walk down steps in back of their home. Going gray, they say, served an important purpose. “Houses should really be the background,” Meister says. “If you have red rooms with orange furniture and lime green carpet, that becomes the focus, not the people in it.” Siegel puts it another way: “Our personalities are colorful enough.”

More: 100 California homes in pictures  (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)