Toy Factory loft with the ‘wow’ factor

A rustic 18th century wood monastery dining table, outfitted with modern lightweight cement benches and metal and wood chairs, is stationed next to the all-stainless kitchen.

Andrea Michaelson originally designed the loft as a downtown pied-à-terre for her brother-in-law, who lives in Riverside. She then sold to Denise, pictured, and Ron Meraz.

One wall has a nearly full-length closet system set behind blackened aluminum and textured-glass bifold doors and transoms.

Designer Andrea Michaelson used the same aluminum and glass panel system to create an open-top enclosure for the single bedroom.

“I love, love the bathroom,” owner Denise Meraz says. It is completely clad in a ridged cement porcelain tile that echoes the loft’s original tilt-up cement ceiling that still shows the grain of the wood planks.

The bathroom has a stainless steel soaking tub and heated automatic toilet.

Denise and Ron Meraz moved from a 7,000-square-foot home in Murrieta for the 1,450-square-foot loft in the repurposed 1924 Toy Factory building.

A worn, antique Turkish silk rug in the living room sits under a modular collection of movable coffee- table blocks, Michaelson’s own design, rendered in wood, several metals and acrylic.

Daughter Stephanie sits in the cashmere-soft, custom high-back sofa piled with velvet pillows, which would feel at home in a European palazzo, while Denise Meraz sits adjacent on one of the two sleek, contemporary Italian leather chairs.

EDA pendant round black light fixture by Rich Brilliant Willing hangs over a sitting area next to the bedroom behind blackened aluminum and textured-glass.

“Altogether, it’s a combination of rich elements,” architect Andrea Michaelson says of the loft’s design. “I do feel a lot of good design is nourished in the past. Things that have souls appeal to me.”

The Merazes are in love with their new home, even as their four adult children “are all standing in line,” says Denise. “They would all love to live here” should their parents eventually buy a more traditional house.