Daniel Joseph Chenin, FAIA, on the Private Beverly Hills Residence That Proves Luxury Has Nothing to Prove
There are homes that impress, and then there are homes that hold you. Palm, a private Beverly Hills residence conceived by architect and designer Daniel Joseph Chenin, FAIA, belongs emphatically to the latter. It is a home that breathes — one that absorbs the energy of a room full of guests with the same ease with which it enfolds a single figure in quiet contemplation. To cross its threshold is to understand, perhaps for the first time, what it truly means for a space to feel alive.
Chenin’s design philosophy has long resisted the seductions of spectacle for its own sake. Where lesser hands might reach for theatrical excess — the oversized chandelier, the marble surface stretched to its limit, the palette that announces itself before you’ve crossed the room — Chenin operates with surgical intention. At Palm, every decision carries weight. Every material, every proportion, every threshold between rooms has been considered not only for what it offers in isolation, but for what it contributes to the whole.
AN INVITATION TO GATHER
The living room at Palm does not announce itself. It receives you. Anchored by a stone-clad fireplace and warmed by an acrylic-on-canvas work by Jeff Peters, the space establishes an immediate sense of groundedness — a room that knows precisely what it is. A custom back bar, once a standalone feature, has been fully absorbed into the architecture: its presence now structural rather than decorative, purposeful rather than performative.
The furnishings operate in deliberate conversation. Swivel lounge chairs by Axis Furniture and tailored sofas by Bright Chair Company introduce a rhythmic interplay between softness and structure — the kind of pairing that makes a room feel simultaneously dressed and approachable. Jean De Merry coffee tables punctuate the arrangement with sculptural confidence, while a Scott Group area rug pulls the dialogue earthward, its subtle grid pattern echoing the surrounding geometry in a quiet, almost subliminal register. Nothing here is accidental. Everything hums.
Beyond, the dining spaces unfold with the material-driven narrative that marks Chenin’s work at its most assured. A round Randolph & Hein table paired with Minotti Fil Noir chairs creates an intimate zone — refined in its proportions, unhurried in its mood, the right setting for a dinner that lingers. The formal dining room makes a bolder declaration: a substantial wood table flanked by Minotti Mills chairs upholstered in chartreuse velvet, a moment of chromatic daring calibrated to land with precision against the room’s deeper tones. A custom bronze foot rail grounds the composition with quiet material weight. Above it all, the Luna Kaleido Chandelier by Gabriel Scott delivers the room’s defining gesture — sculptural, luminous, fluid in a way that gently disrupts the formality below. It is the visual exhale after a long, considered breath.
A CINEMATIC DESCENT
The home’s lower level operates in an entirely different register — and it is in this transition that Chenin’s command of tonal range becomes fully visible. Where the floors above pulse with the energy of gathering, the lower level retreats into something darker, more enveloping, more deliberately cinematic. Designed for late evenings and film screenings, it is a space that asks nothing of the day left behind.
A carefully composed palette of deep hues and layered textures establishes the mood from the first step. A custom stone-patterned rug mirrors the veining of backlit onyx wall panels — a material echo that lends the space a visual coherence as rich as anything above, expressed in an entirely different key. Plush seating by Allan Knight, Linteloo, Una Malan, and José Martinez Medina builds an environment of textural density, each piece contributing to an atmosphere that feels less decorated than inhabited. Low, sculptural tables in stone, wood, and metal punctuate the floor plane, holding the balance between function and artistry without conceding either.
At its center, a linear fireplace set within dark millwork is crowned by an Andy Warhol silkscreen print. The pairing is deliberate and knowing — the warm pulse of flame against the cool, flat confidence of pop art; the intimate comfort of a hearth against the bold irreverence of Warhol’s gaze. It is exactly the right note of play in a space that might otherwise tip into solemnity. Where the rooms above operate in the grammar of structure and symmetry, this level leans into asymmetry, into the lounge, into the beautifully unresolved.
THE WHISPER OF RETREAT
If the lower level is Palm at its most seductive, the upper floor is Palm at its most tender. The primary suite represents a studied withdrawal from spectacle — every decision in service of a single purpose: restoration. Upholstered wall accents absorb sound and soften light in equal measure. A Holly Hunt bed anchors the room with quiet authority. A black stone fireplace introduces just enough contrast to keep the palette from dissolving into mere softness.
A painting by François Bonnel completes the room the way only the right work of art can — not by dominating, but by deepening. Its soft curves and tonal shifts speak to the body’s need for rest rather than the eye’s appetite for stimulation. Here, refinement and ease are no longer opposing forces to be managed. They are, at last, the same thing.
A LIVING EXPRESSION OF BALANCE
Palm is more than a beautifully appointed residence. It is a deeply felt argument about what luxury can mean when approached not as accumulation but as curation. Light and shadow, structure and fluidity, grandeur and intimacy coexist throughout — not in spite of one another, but because of one another. Each quality sharpens its opposite. Each space makes the next one possible.
Chenin has crafted a home that is immersive, intentional, and deeply connected to the rhythms of those who live within it. Palm does not impose a vision of living — it serves one. It grows quiet when quiet is needed and rises to meet the room when the moment calls for it. A home in the fullest sense: one that holds an entire life with grace, with warmth, and with the unhurried confidence of design that knows exactly what it is.
Palm is a private residence, Beverly Hills, California. Interior architecture and design: Daniel Joseph Chenin, FAIA. Photography and full project credits available through the studio upon request.
Project Credits
Palm Beverly Hills, California Completed November 2023 · 13,000 sq. ft.
Interior Design: Daniel Joseph Chenin, Ltd. Lead Designer: Daniel Joseph Chenin, FAIA Design Team: Eric Weeks, Grace Ko Art Consultant: Daniel Fine Art Photography: Douglas Friedman
Materials & Suppliers
Foyer Custom Console: Daniel Joseph Chenin · Chairs: Gallotti & Radice · Art: Pierre-Francois
Main Level Lounge Rug: Scott Group · Coffee Table w/ Benches: Jean De Merry · Side Table (Green): Arteriors · Side Table (Black): Holly Hunt · Console Table: Studio Van Den Akker · Custom Sofa: Bright Chair Company · Custom Lounge Chair: Axis Furniture · Bench: DeMuro Das · Arm Chairs: Studio Van Den Akker · Side Table: Gregorius Pineo · Barstools: Giorgetti · Art: Mel Bochner, François Bonnel, Jeff Peters, Victor Hugo Zayas
Dining Room Rug: Stark Carpet · Custom Dining Table: Randolph & Hein · Chairs: Minotti · Pendant: Gabriel Scott · Art: Milano Liberi, Jeff Peters
Kitchen Dining Table: Randolph & Hein · Chairs: Minotti · Pendant: Trueing Studio · Art: Jeff Peters
Primary Suite Rug: The Rug Company · Coffee Table: Konekt Studio · Side Table: Allan Knight Associates · Sofa: A. Rudin · Lounge Chair: Holly Hunt · Bed: Holly Hunt · Cabinet: Ringvide · Nightstands: Anees Furniture · Pendants: Apparatus Studio · Art: François Bonnel, Jeff Peters, Mark Garry, Thomas Junghans
Playroom Rug: Stark Carpet · Wall Sconce: Volker Haug · Art: Jeff Peters
Office Desk: MDD · Desk Chair: Bright Chair Company · Guest Chairs: Giorgetti · Task Light: Juniper Design · Art: Jeff Peters
Lower Level Lounge Rug: The Rug Company · Stone Top Coffee Tables: DeMuro Das · Stone Side Table: Twentieth · Custom Coffee Table: Daniel Joseph Chenin · Custom Sofas: Allan Knight · Metal Side Table: Konekt Studio · Custom Sofa: Bright Chair Company · Custom Lounge Chair: Axis Furniture · Bench: DeMuro Das · Arm Chairs: Studio Van Den Akker · Lounge Chair (Metal Arms): JMM · Lounge Chair (Leather): Linteloo · Lounge Chair (Swivel): Una Malan · Daybed: Tacchini · Art: Andy Warhol
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