Houzz Tour: Water and Openness Inspire a San Francisco Remodel
Past and the present exist side by side in this San Francisco home. The house was built in a Craftsman-influenced style during the dawn of the 20th century. A lot can happen in 100 years, and this house saw its share of changes — including the obscuring and removal of original details and the installation of a new kitchen whose style owed more to French country houses than the Arts and Crafts movement.
Architect Stephen Sutro was asked to preserve and replicate original details in the house to unify the rooms. He was also charged with enlarging and redesigning the kitchen, adding spaces for family gathering and creating a master bedroom suite. Playing off the family’s love of the ocean, interior designer Lauren Nelson used the colors and forms of water to make a casual interiors that incorporated a collection of art and midcentury modern furniture.
Houzz at a Glance
Who lives here: A family of 5
Location: San Francisco
Size: 5 bedrooms, 3½ bathrooms
Before the remodel two bookshelves hid the original leaded glass windows and bench seats in the living room. “The bookshelves had been added at some point. On one side, when you removed a nail and fiddled with it a bit, the shelf swung out on hinges to reveal the window and a bench seat,” says Sutro. “It was a surprising discovery.”
The architect redesigned the fireplace, adding bookshelves on the sides of the chimney and restoring the built-in seating and long-hidden windows.
The original home was constructed with molding in the public spaces and no ornamentation in private rooms —a customary practice at that time. Over the years and through remodels large and small, trim had been added and deleted, resulting in an eclectic array. “We edited the molding in some rooms and added matching molding in others,” says Sutro. “We created a consistency throughout the house.”
Technically, this is the formal living room, although Nelson notes, “It is the least formal living room you can imagine.” Two sofas flank the fireplace, but they are anything but a matching set. Both are covered with linen treated to resist stains, but one has a blue-gray fabric and the other has off-white. Occasional tables and floor lamps are mostly absent to allow children to run easily around the furniture. “What you can’t see in this photo is the toy box tucked behind the sofa,” says Nelson. “This is a room that’s meant to be inviting to everyone in the family.”
The symmetrical lines of the architecture are challenged and enlivened by asymmetrical moves — such as the diverse grouping of framed art the interior designer installed over the fireplace.
The unexpected continues on the wall across from the fireplace, where art by Jane Hambleton hangs over an antique console (a family heirloom) and two midcentury modern chairs. Look twice at the art, and you’ll see that the perspective of the back dive is slightly off, with the athlete leaping up into a water-filled sky. To Nelson, it’s these elements that are the spice of design. “Mixing modern pieces with more traditional architecture and antiques gives the home a bohemian feeling that’s inviting and not fussy,” she says. “The dichotomy makes it interesting.”
More of Houzz Tour: Water and Openness Inspire a San Francisco Remodel
Houzz Tour: Water and Openness Inspire a San Francisco Remodel
