Do you struggle to use a spare bedroom as your home office? Books, computer gear, and paper piled everywhere? Difficult to make space for your guests when they arrive last-minute? I have just the solution for you! Take a look at this San Francisco home office and bedroom before-and-after for inspiration.
Design by Kimball Starr / Photo by Eric Rorer
In a contemporary urban condo, this workhorse office converts into a serene guest bedroom. Blue custom-designed cabinetry hides a convertible Murphy bed for a calm and welcoming space.
Before photo by Kimball Starr
‘Before’ photo above, showing how even the guest bed gets piled high with paperwork.
Design by Kimball Starr / Photo by Eric Rorer
‘After’ view of the home office, showing
the navy blue custom cabinetry that hides a convertible wall-bed, with the wood
and metal desk folded down, providing additional space for laying out papers,
drawing, reading, or computing.
Before photo by Kimball Starr
In another ‘before’ view, you can see the challenge of organizing and hiding all the paperwork and equipment needed for a home office. The stark walls could use some love as well.
Design by Kimball Starr / Photo by Eric Rorer
Now you see the neatly organized built-in storage, and artwork that provides a beautiful place for the eye to land. The guest bed is so easy to pull down, you can do it with one hand.
Before photo by Kimball Starr
Even the closet overflows with spare bedding in this ‘before’ photo, and the bed itself is surrounded by visible storage that looks busy and cramped.
Design by Kimball Starr / Photo by Eric Rorer
After, storage is neat and tidy while still being accessible. The fold-down bedside table is a thoughtful touch for guests, as are the pull-down blackout window shades.
Do you have a guest bedroom that needs to double as a home office, but isn’t doing the business? Kimball Starr Interior Design is an award-winning designer who creates contemporary residential spaces that both guests and owners love! Contact us today for a complimentary consultation.
San Francisco
designer Kimball Starr is featured as the interior design expert in a guest
appearance on the nationally televised series of PBS “Creative Living with
Sheryl Borden”. Kimball shows how to mix patterns, color, and texture to enrich
the look of your home’s interiors.
In this third and final 5-minute video segment, Kimball shares expert tips on how to mix fabric patterns in a contemporary bedroom. She creates a romantic space, and balances the masculine and feminine styles of a married couple through a curated selection of materials, fabric patterns, texture, and color.
In case you missed the first two installments, here are video 1 and video 2.
Video transcript
below:
♪[music]♪
[Announcer] – With your host Sheryl Borden.
[Kimball] – So now we have a dini- a bedroom area, I should say.
[Sheryl] – Bedroom, okay.
– So this was a
newlywed couple and they’re very young and they wanted something really fun and
youthful.
– Uh huh.
– So, we still wanted
to keep it romantic but not too feminine that, as you were saying,
– Right.
– the husband feels
alienated and feels like he’s living in girly-land.
– [laughs]
– So we started with
this rug that has a really geometric print, so it’s a little bit of a
masculine feel but popped it with some fun color. And I– on this I have
a grass cloth. Let me show you the other. So that’s our bed. And this is
to the right of the bed. And you can see there’s a grass cloth here.
– Oh, on the wall.
Uh-huh.
– If you were feeling
a little adventurous you could do something like this and really add a lot
of pattern and texture.
– This, this is the
grass cloth.
– This is, this is
the– yeah. This is—
– It’s so, so much
like the– I can’t believe it. – [laughs]
– How you found that!
– It’s not the same
manufacturer.
– Uh huh. – Yeah.
– That’s amazing!
– And so the drapes
were done in this fabric and this is a blackout drape so it doesn’t let
any light through and because it was so dark I really wanted to bring a splash
of color and some brightness into—
– Yeah.
– the room. So by
using this—
– a border or—
– Mm hmm, by using
this really fun—
– an accent.
– accent, this yellow accent, and our side tables are done in a lacquer, and we actually had them custom painted in this really bright yellow on the sides of the bed. Then our lamps that we purchased were just simple white lampshades, but you can take any sort of fabric and cover. And so this is the floral fabric that we took to cover the lampshades that sit on top of the nightstand.
And then that leaves us with our wall color. So, I picked kind of this mauve-y tone and then for the ceiling we just lightened it up a little. And then all that’s left– Oh, there’s also some sitting chairs to the right of that, which are white leather.
– Oh, okay.
– And all that’s left
is the bed. So we have a headboard, which we used a really luxurious kind
of sexy velvet, which is great for honeymooners and newlyweds. And here I have
a floral print for the bedspread, but if you’re going use this sort of
grasscloth for the space I think that would just start to be too much—
– Too much.
– pattern. So
assuming you use something like that, then you tone it down and use a
solid color like this, really thin wool, and then you can accent with
pillows. And you can do some little small—
– That’s what really
pulls things together–
– Yeah.
– It seems like, when
you do the accent pillows.
– Absolutely, and
then this pulls in the colors. It’s a fun little pattern, and if you wanna
do something a little bolder, you can use something like this also as a–
– Yeah, that’s pretty
with it too.
– accent for the
pillows on the bed, and the white brings in the white leather chairs and
most of the white of the lamp shade, so you have a balance of light, medium,
and dark tones.
– And that’s
important too.
– Yeah, and then if
you want to really make it kinda more moody, then you could also bring in
something like this, which is a darker accent pillow.
– But if you want—
– Oh, for the pillow.
– Mm hmm.
– Uh huh.
– Yeah.
– Oh I love the
colors you work with. What do you do when someone wants colors you don’t
like? Is that hard to work with?
– You know what?
There’s no colors I don’t like.
– Oh okay. – So—
– [laughs]
– So that never
happens.
– Well it’s a good thing. Well, you do a wonderful job. I’ve enjoyed seeing–
– Thank you.
– what all you pulled
and put together.
– Thank you so much.
– Thank you so much, Sheryl, it was fun!
Kimball Starr is Principal of a San Francisco
award-winning interior design firm, whose residential interiors have been
featured on national television, and globally published in a series of
hardcover books. To work with her on YOUR home or project, contact
Kimball today for a complimentary consultation!
Did you know Kimball Starr is the featured interior design expert on a nationally televised series of PBS Creative Living? For this series, the San Francisco interior designer teaches how to combine color, patterns, and texture to liven up your home’s interior.
In this second video, Kimball shares how to mix fabric patterns in a traditional living and dining room by using nature as the color inspiration. She chooses mahogany dining chairs upholstered in a traditional silk pattern, and adds a burlap tablecloth for an unexpected twist of casual elegance. The traditional living room showcases leather, velvet, and linens for a timeless look.
In case you missed the first one, here is Video 1.
– [Kimball] So I have some more examples here, and this is a living area, which it’s a more traditional feel.
– [Sheryl] Uh huh.
– And I’m gonna pull some of these examples up for you. So I like to start with the rug first.
– Oh.
– Because that really…
– The bottom.
– Sets, sets the foundation. Thank you. So here our main colors are dark reds, rust colors, and greens. And the underlying concept or theme for this space was a botanical feel.
– Oh ok.
– So the homeowner really likes leaves and flowers and that outdoor nature feel. And he has skylights.
– It brings it inside.
– That’s right, and you also want to think about the, the actual light. So in this space there’s a lot of natural light.
– A lot of light.
– So you don’t want to really, want to do heavy dark colors ’cause it feels counter-intuitive to the natural architecture of the space.
– Oh okay.
– So we’d like to treat… keep things light, but still add a little punch of color here and there. So we have next to them, here’s some close-up shots. So here’s the dining area, to the right.
– Uh huh.
– And I’m going to show you a little more close-up of that.
– Oh, uh huh.
– So you can see, so we have our–
– It’s the chair cushion.
– …Beautiful dining chair fabric, and now there’s no draperies in this particular situation because the homeowner really loved the view and didn’t want to cover anything; but if you wanted to do something you could use something like a really thin linen sheer that has a really subtle…
– And it’s got that botanical look, it’s got the leaves.
– That’s right.
– You’ll be carrying that out.
– And when the sun shines through this, it’s really going to wash it out so it’s going to be a subtle, floaty color.
– Mmmm
– And the wall color that’s there on the window…
– Oh, how gorgeous.
– …Is this color right there, so you could do that, or if you’re not really a ‘sheer’ person you could use something like a woven grass shade. Notice the nice texture it gives.
– Uh huh.
– Again it gives, again it really adds a beautiful natural outdoorsy feel.
– And sometimes it nice to use this, I would think, so something doesn’t become so feminine.
– Yes.
– If there’s a couple living there you want to bring in some elements so that he sort of feels like he supposed to be there…[laugh].
– That’s right, that’s right you’re not gonna make it all pink…[laugh].
– Right…[laugh].
– So, then we have our table that I put with the burlap covering because it’s mahogany and I felt with all that dark mahogany that the chairs and the dining table was a little too heavy for the space.
– Lightened it up, uh huh.
– Right, ’cause we had talked about how it was a lighter space, and then moving over to our sofa… We have a close-up of the sofa area.
– Oh is that a leather or….
– Yeah.
– …Suede or something.
– So the sofa is actually wrapped in leather.
– Umm.
– And then there’s…
– Oh it’s got the green. I just now see the cushions, uh huh.
– Yeah and then the actual cushions here.
– Uh huh.
– It’s done in a linen velvet and a linen velvet is a really durable fabric. It’s gonna wear…
– Wears well.
– Yes and it still has a really elegant feel to it.
– Uh huh, all these colors are just looking wonderful together.
– Oh thanks. Green is my favorite color.
– Well I kinda like it too. [laugh] So you’re starting with the floor and you’re building up from there.
– That’s right.
– Uh huh.
– So we have this color and then the color behind on the wall there is here, so we have this soft green with a creme color and then we have the sofa with the leather. And then we have our drapery with our…
– Uh huh.
– …Dining chair fabric, the burlap and then now all that’s left is to add some fun accents.
– Oh.
– And we also have our swivel chair here, which is–
– Oh there it is.
– Right here.
– Uh huh.
– This kind of tan color, and I like to bring in again… we have kinda a more light, airy feel with botanicals and it’s a linen.
– Now what would you use these for?
– These you could do for your throw pillows.
– Oh okay I was thinking, how is this going… I see now.
– Yeah, so this would accent on top of the swivel chair. These would be your throw pillows and then for your sofa, because it’s a bigger, bulkier sofa, you can afford to do fabric that feels a little heavier. And you can either choose to go more in this tone for an accent which picks up the red…
– Uh huh, I like that one.
– Or there is a little bit of blue in there or you could even do both.
– Yeah, it really pulls the blue out. I didn’t see any blue in there, but I do…
– Yeah, it’s really subtle…
– Now that you put that with it, uh huh.
– And if you like little tassels and fringe this could go on the burlap tablecloth.
– Which it also softens that up a little bit.
– It does it adds a little interest to in movement, instead of it just being a sharp edge.
– And then for one last item in the space, something most people don’t think about for texture, which is not necessarily a fabric, is using plants.
– Oh yeah, uh huh. I just think that every room almost needs a plant.
– Yeah.
– It just, it just maybe it is because it brings the outdoors in.
– Yeah it really does.
– It just looks nice.
– And they’re wall mounted and you never have to take it off and they just grow right on the wall.
– I see, very good.
– So then we have, so that’s our living area.
Kimball Starr is Principal of a San Francisco award-winning interior design firm, whose residential interiors have been featured on national television, and globally published in a series of hardcover books. To work with her on YOUR home or project, contact Kimball today for a complimentary consultation!
Confused how to mix fabric patterns in your home? Not sure when to use natural materials vs. synthetic materials? In this nationally televised series of PBS Creative Living with Sheryl Borden, Kimball Starr is the featured expert, showing how to mix patterns, color, and texture to liven up your interiors.
During this first of 3 segments, just 4 minutes and 26 seconds long, Kimball teaches how to mix fabric patterns in a contemporary San Francisco dining room. By mixing different upholstery fabrics on the dining chairs, the interior décor can be either formal or casual, and either colorful or subdued.
Here are Video 2 and Video 3 of this 3-part televised segment on How to Style Your Home With Pattern, Color and Texture!
Video transcript below:
♪[music]♪
— [Announcer] With your host Sheryl Borden.
— [Sheryl] Kimball, thank you so much for being with us today. I know when I have quilters on they’ll always say– the question they always get asked the most is, how do they combine textures and colors and stripes and patterns and everything in a quilt? And I guess you work with a lot of same situations when you’re doing interior designing, don’t you?
— [Kimball] Absolutely. It’s just in a bigger space.
— Uh huh. And probably a bit more expensive, too.
— Yes.
— So, you wanna think this all out ahead of time. So, how do you go about it? How do you work with someone?
— Well, the first thing, I think it’s important to have some sort of underlying theme or concept for your space; whether it’s a botanical theme, or you want a really romantic, rich color kind of mood, just so that everything that you pick ties together. And then you should think about the activities you’re doing in the space; are you gonna be watching football, are the dogs going to be running all over the furniture, are kids gonna be throwing up on it. [laughs]
— You know, everything.
— Right. So then you need really hard-wearing fabrics. Or you would like to entertain and have really fine fabrics and really fancy cocktail parties, then you could use something like silks.
— I see. Okay. So, those are all questions you would ask the homeowner, or they would tell you when they’re ready to decide.
— That’s right. And in general, for me, I like… linens are great. They can be used in a relaxed environment, and they can also be dressed up for a formal environment.
— Oh… So some work multiple tasks.
— Absolutely. Velvets are beautiful for their very classic look to them. And if you do need things that are really hard-wearing then that would be synthetics, polyester or something like an ultrasuede, which is a polyester. And then for a lot of sun exposure, solution-dyed acrylics are excellent for outdoor fabrics.
— Oh, yeah. ‘Cause you don’t want something that’s gonna fade in the first 30 minutes it’s out there.
— That’s right. And silks are beautiful but they are very delicate. And if they’re exposed to direct sunlight they will rot and will start to disintegrate.
— Yes, just like with clothing.
— That’s right, that’s right. So, here I have a dining room where I use multiple colors for the chairs. And this is just to show–
— It’s kind of fun.
— Yeah, it is. And it’s just to show you don’t have to do everything the same color, and it’s okay. With the rug, what we have a brown, a chocolate brown with a light blue stripe, and then teals and blues, and then a pattern. So, just to kind of show you that example, I brought some fun colors, and this is very fun to look at. So, here we have a stripe with a teal color and a brown. And we have more of a curvilinear pattern, and then a solid. So, this is something with a dining area, you could mix these three. And the reason that these work is if you look at the ground color here, the background color, which is kind of a taupe-y brown, it’s the same color in here. So, that’s why these colors–
— They work.
— That’s right. And the patterns work together.
— So, you repeat a portion of it?
— If you find fabrics that have a common color, that’s very helpful. And they’re the same scale. They feel like they’re about the same proportion in the size.
— One’s not a big floral or something and then a tiny little print.
— That’s right. And that can work in a room; like if you have a pillow, and then you have the sofa for the large-scale pattern and the small scale pattern. But because in this case dining chairs that are right next to each other, and it’s the same piece of furniture, I like to keep them similar scale.
— I see. That makes sense.
— So, you could do this, you could do it like have two chairs like this, you could have your head of your chairs and the side chairs of this color. And then here is just one other example illustrating the same thing. This is a really– There’s so many amazing, there’s so many amazing fabrics that are coming out now, this cut velvet and viscose. And if you want– If this is little flashy for you, you could just do this for your arm chairs at the head of the table, and then you could accent it with–
— More subtle.
— A really beautiful beige linen.
— Oh, I love those.
— And it’ll be very elegant. Now, if you’re somebody like me who likes a lot of color…
— I like it too. That’s beautiful.
— You can do your side chairs in something like this beautiful green velvet. And you can even mix. Or if you’re not a fan of color then you can just do two colors in that.
— Oh… These are gorgeous.
— Aren’t they?
— So, you’re repeating colors that’s, and that’s sort of what they talk about in quilting too. It works if you repeat some of those.
— Yeah.
Parts 2 & 3 will be posted next, so stay tuned!
Kimball Starr is an award-winning San Francisco interior designer, whose residential interiors have been featured on national television and globally published in a series of hardcover books. Diverse spaces spanning contemporary to traditional interiors show her abilities. Contact Kimball today for a complimentary consultation!
There is some really cool tech for the residential market these days! And I’ll admit, I’m not the most technically-minded person, so when I come across something good, I’ll take a note. Here are a few of the gadgets I think are worth a look.
Simplisafe
Courtesy Simplisafe.com
We all want to feel more secure in our homes, especially when we’re away. The Simplisafe home security system offers 4 ways to stop intruders: Entry and motion sensors, glassbreak detection, and video security. If an alarm goes off, they give you a call, and contact police, fire, ambulance or 911 on your behalf. Smoke detection, gas leaks, freeze and flood sensors are a few of the other reasons you might want this. It also has a cellular backup, in case your wifi goes out, and a backup battery that lasts a full 24 hours, in case your power goes out. I watched someone installing it. There’s no wiring needed and it actually took just a few seconds, then a simple tap on your smartphone to turn it on or off – very appealing.
Google Home
Courtesy store.google.com
A friend got one of these, for hands-free lights. But Google Home does so much more! You can ask it for help with researching directions, buying plane tickets, ordering groceries, or even reading jokes and stories! The Google Assistant can also tell you about your appointments, set reminders, alert you about weather conditions, and make phone calls. Google Home works with many additional partners, to provide remote access to your thermostat, entertainment system, home security, even your appliances. Pretty good for a simple-looking speaker!
Eero
Courtesy Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge
You know how there’s that spot in your apartment where you just can’t sit there because the wifi won’t work? Well, Eero figured out a way to fix that. It’s called a mesh network – basically a bunch of wifi spots around your home, instead of just one. It extends your wifi across multiple floors, around corners, to places you haven’t thought of yet. And, if you’re a fan of Alexa, then you’ll be interested to know that Eero was just bought by Amazon, so it should be even easier to pair very soon.
GE Wifi Connect
Courtesy GEappliances.com
I used to make fun of the idea of having your appliances connected to the internet, but no longer! It’s not just about having your fridge re-stock itself. Think about, if your hands are full and the clothes are going to wrinkle in the dryer, just enable Extend Tumble. If you’re running late to start the Thanksgiving turkey, pre-heat your oven on the way home. What if you’re worried you left that oven on? Check by connecting with your Nest thermostat, then use GE’s Kitchen app to turn it off. Smart appliances can also remind you to change filters and provide essential maintenance, extending the life of your investments. We seriously are living in the world of tomorrow, today.
If you’d like help making the most of YOUR home, contact Kimball Starr today! She’s been a professional interior designer in the San Francisco Bay Area and Lake Tahoe for more than 15 years.
The bathroom really is the hardest working room in the house. That’s why a bathroom makeover can be so pivotal to household happiness. Today I’m sharing a really dramatic renovation that took a couple’s bathroom from blah to beautiful!
‘Before’ photo by homeowner
In the before photo above, it’s clear this bathroom’s layout just did not function well, wasting a lot of space by creating multiple small rooms within rooms. The light fixtures were outdated, and the dark wood felt very heavy.
Now the layout works as a cohesive whole, feeling open and roomy, as seen in the top introductory photo. Contemporary sconces either side of the mirror not only create a nice balance, they are better for applying makeup evenly and shaving.
‘Before’ photo by homeowner
In another before image, the window is useful and well-placed, so we kept that. But the black-finish fixtures had to go, along with the tan old-world faux marble tiling. You can see there was a need for storage as well.
Design by Kimball Starr / Photo by Paul Dyer
Now the blue, white, and grey tile colors relate to this bathroom’s foggy Bay Area location, and the silver finish tones in. A niche puts storage at the right height, and we still have that great operable window for fresh air and natural light.
‘Before’ photo by homeowner
The old shower only gave one option for use: standing directly underneath it. While it’s convenient to hang towels on hooks, they often don’t dry completely, and can smell.
Design by Kimball Starr / Photo by Paul Dyer
The new hand-held showerhead option is great for getting all those hard-to-reach areas, and showering with a partner, under the rainhead. Now there’s plenty of room! The feeling of space is incredibly relaxing and luxurious.
‘Before’ photo by homeowner
Before, the vanity was hidden around a corner, with blah wall color, and that dark cabinetry.
Design by Kimball Starr / Photo by Paul Dyer
Now the vanity has pride of place, the warm wood counterpointing the cool wall tiles. Towels are stored out of sight or hung neatly, with plenty of storage for beauty supplies. A bowfront toe-kick lightens the feeling of the unit, so it’s gently resting on the sandy floor tiles.
Design by Kimball Starr / Photo by Paul Dyer
Finally, a single-piece countertop anchors the vanity with elegant transitional design, and provides a clever shower seat, tying the whole space together by bridging the wall between. It’s those little details that finish the room perfectly.
If you’d like a beautiful before & after in YOUR home, call Kimball Starr today! She’s experienced with San Francisco Bay Area and Lake Tahoe homes of all sizes.
