Inside the Stunning Palm Springs Home of Designers to the Stars Brian McGrory and James Houston (Exclusive)

The married beauty photographer and designer-restaurateur open up about how they combined their talents to create a decorating dream team

Brian McGrory and James Houston are never without a creative project on their plates. McGrory is a renowned restaurateur, designer and a veteran of the hospitality industry; and Houston is a famed beauty photographer, who has captured the likes of Jennifer Lopez, Julianne Moore and Cate Blanchett. But the couple create some of their best work when they're together.

The partners, who share daughter Dylan Geraldine, 4, (pictured above with her dads) founded Studio JBD a Los Angeles-based interior and landscape design firm whose projects have been featured in Architectural Digest and Elle Décor, and which boasts high-profile and celeb clients including Connie Britton, who fell in love with their laid-back-yet-luxurious visual language.

The trio are neighbors in Los Feliz, and met through the former owner of Houston and McGrory's place, a TV exec and friend of Britton's.

"[Connie] came into [our] house and said, 'Oh my God, who did this?' We said, 'Well, we did.' Then she said, 'Would you come and look at my house?'" recalls Houston. They paid Britton a visit, shared their design ideas for her home and she was immediately impressed. "She said, 'Write me a proposal.' So she really became our first client as a design company."

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“Brian and James are first and foremost the most imaginative, honest, collaborative design/build team I have ever worked with," Britton tells PEOPLE exclusively. "Every step of our project reimagining my landscape and exterior space was a joy."

"They brought vision and insight that maintained the historic integrity of my home and honored how I wanted to create the space," she adds. "And they did so in the most time effective and cost efficient manner, kindly and transparently at every step,"

For the couple, Britton is a dream client for another reason: they share a creative M.O. "If they like what you do, they're more open to what you think is going to work," says Houston. "We've been very fortunate in that respect to be able to have clients that really appreciate and respect our vision and just want us to be a part of it."

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In October, McGrory and Houston opened up to PEOPLE about their latest passion project: a complete gut renovation of a down-on-its-luck Midcentury house in Palm Springs, Calif.

They had their hearts set on a place in the iconic desert town. "It's a very special place, especially when you live in L.A. You can drive two hours, and it's like a completely different world," says Houston.

"It's got this beautiful serene energy. When you go there, you really do relax and unplug," adds McGrory. And the city has seen a shift since the pandemic, when many decamped from larger cities, he notes. "During COVID, it completely flipped. It became this really cool destination slash new place to live, where a lot of new people discovered it and all these amazing restaurants opened up," says the one-time London restaurateur.

They bought their house, a 1950s post-and-beam, after a FaceTime with their realtor without ever seeing it in person, but their real estate instincts were on point. The site, with a majestic view of the surrounding mountains was perfect and all of the house's aesthetic and structural issues were no match for the duo.

Over a year and a half, they overhauled and expanded the footprint of the property to include every modern comfort, while maintaining its trademark Midcentury shapes. "We put a lot of pride into not just the actual structure and the finishes but also the way that we furnish it, the art, the landscaping," says Houston. "It's like a bit of a Slim Aarons throwback in terms of just the way it feels and the way it looks."

Now that it's completed, the home's fate is open ended. They've toyed with keeping it, selling it or renting it out. "Ideally, we created it as a high-end rental, which is the reason why we also called it Mountain View Lodge," says Houston.

And while they name the newly raised ceilings, reworked fireplace and the addition of a romantic outdoor tub as favorite features, McGrory says, the view is still the best part, "100 precent. It really is captivating. It's very magnetic."

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The desert oasis was far from the first major home renovation the pair executed. They previously overhauled their primary residence in L.A.'s Los Feliz neighborhood, an understated Brooklyn townhouse and a cabin in Upstate New York.

Britton also referred them to some famous friends, who they're now designing homes for across L.A. Asked about their dream celeb client, Houston jokes he'd like to have a go at Britney Spears's home, before adding, "I know Brian would probably like to do Taylor Swift's house. . . I'd like to work with Gwyneth Paltrow. She's got great taste."

And their projects aren't limited to domestic creations. Houston is also writing a book, a thriller based on his life as a model in the '80s and '90s, and they tease they have a few more celebrity projects up their sleeves, But for now at least, those clients are under wraps. "It's not Taylor Swift. That's all I'm going to say," says Houston.

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