#NopaReno: A Playful Renewal

San Francisco is bursting at the seams with beautiful Victorian and Edwardian architecture. Buying and fixing one up isn’t as pretty as its lovely exterior. Our clients definitely took on a challenge when they decided to bring this Edwardian back to life and into the 21st century.

Stripping back years of miss guided design choices and DIY attempts took time — and a lot of the work was done with the Client’s own hands. You never know what issues will crop up once you start peeling back the layers of an old house, but luckily this reno was surprise-free with the exception of some sloping floors and removal of oddly placed doors.

The design goals for the project were to modernize, open closed off spaces, and infuse with the Client’s playful personalities. They leaned towards modern silhouettes and bold color contrasts against crisp white. The challenge was blending these style preferences without stripping away the history and character of the home.

Kitchen
The kitchen desperately needed more counter space and storage, but wasn’t big enough for a proper island. We made the decision to remove an original window (near the stove) and replace it with a smaller one to make use of the space underneath for added counter space. This transformed the kitchen, inspired the rest of the design and, as they say, the rest was history.

Master
For a small room, it has incredibly high ceilings. We knew we wanted to add a splash of color, but we didn’t want to make the room feel smaller or exaggerate the ceiling. A horizontal stripe (carried through to the baseboards) ended up being the perfect amount of ‘punch’ that defined the entire space.

Powder
Tiniest powder of all time. The client actually removed the door so our phenomenal photography Molly Goodman could attempt to capture it. I firmly believe if you’re going to have fun, do it in a powder and so we did with a deep, rich wallpaper with a whimsical organic pattern. We used large custom sized mirrors to help the small space feel larger.