Living Rooms

Fronting Alamo Square Park, the living room’s pitched ceiling creates an expansive space for socializing and relaxing. The space is accented by a custom sofa and window seat by Franciscan Interiors, rocking chairs from B&B Italia, a Lake low credenza by BDDW. The fireplace-adjacent bench seating is upholstered in William Yeoward Alverdia fabric in Ocean, complementing the teal accents in the adjoining dining room and kitchen.

The angled fireplace is clad in Grove Brickworks field tile from Waterworks – laid vertically with no grout in between.

Building Lab's renovation of the home used the kitchen as the hub around which the home's public spaces were organized. Photo by: Scott Hargis

The kitchen features eggshell blue cabinetry and an island topped with stainless steel.

great room

Wood is used throughout the home, as in a sculptural staircase designed by TACT.

The living room TV cabinet is by Muti Kitchen & Bath. It's surrounded by a sofa and chairs from ELTE and side tables from Kantelberg + Co. Matte-finish Chantilly Lace paint from Benjamin Moore provides a bright backdrop.

To satisfy the couple’s desire to combine the kitchen, living, and dining spaces into one large area, they removed the barriers and installed walnut vanities and cabinets for storage. They preserved the original brick fireplace.

Schicketanz whitewashed the living room’s wood walls and replaced the carpet with teak flooring reclaimed from elsewhere on site. Workers also dismantled the dark stone fireplace to widen the view, installing an efficient, compact fireplace on the southern wall. “From sunrise to sundown, you have light in the house,” Schicketanz says. “It’s bright even on gloomy days.”

One corner holds a chair and table designed by Verheyden.

Designed to capture the character of traditional wooden cabins within a contemporary framework, this family residence in Fairplay, Colorado, is comprised of two volumes linked by an outdoor deck.

With four children under the age of six, the Ruells have learned not to be overprotective of their collection of contemporary and vintage furniture. In the living room, an Eames lounge chair and ottoman sit on a Moroccan rug from M.Montague, while the family’s eldest child, Mirene, surveys the indoor/outdoor view. Throughout the house, Kolbe windows and fixed glass (in existing jambs) were added to increase energy efficiency.

In the office, existing track lighting illuminates cabinetry covered in Lemon Bar by Miller Paint.

Atlas shelving provides the framework for Farnham’s entertainment center. Almost 100 square feet of Patricia Urquiola’s Tufty-Time sofa for B&B Italia provides ample space to stretch out.

San Francisco’s modernists were faced with the issue of building within a firmly established stylistic tradition—think bay windows and gingerbread. Henry Hill’s 1947 renovation of a 1908 Victorian tucked away on an alley in historic Russian Hill provides a remarkable response to the dilemma.