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Stunning Entry Foyers

Dec 18, 2023 | Posted in How To & Decorating Tips |

The entryway, also called the foyer, is one of the hardest-working spaces in your home, especially during the holiday season. Here are some inspirational ideas from around the web and my top tips for your consideration.

Looking into a classic entryway surrounded by blue paint on the doorframe and walls. Inside the space, black and white checkered flooring stretches to the other room. A black staircase with white balustrades extends upwards to the left. In the center is a cherry wood table supporting multiple white vases of white flowers. Just beyond that is a wide wall opening with a column-type pitched top above the doorway in white to match the walls. A chair, lamp, and desk are visible beyond, with creamy curtains and dark window frames.
Photo courtesy Mali Azima

Black and white flooring never goes out of style. This floor shows off the length of the room. Love it!

Turquoise paint on the walls and trim envelop you in this entry. A geometric frame shaped mirror is hung above a console table dressed with flowers and books, and two stools for putting shoes off and on are finished in a silver sparkly material. Four colorful artworks of The Beatles take up the entire right entry wall. You can see a dining table and chairs just beyond, through the hallway opening.
Photo courtesy Annie Schlecte

Don’t be afraid to go bold with color! Make a statement and envelop your visitor with rich tones. Consider painting the walls, ceiling, and trim in the same vibrant hue. 

A light-colored entry with a round blond wood mirror reflecting 4 woven storage boxes up on the shelf, and a pair of exposed lightbulbs hanging down, behind the viewer. A peach-colored shelf with 7 silver pegs bearing a pair of straw hats, a net bag in pink, and a sign reading "You Are Magic" hanging from a hook, while several small plants dress the shelf, and a hanging plant's green vines extend down on the right. The flooring is basic grey concrete with a pink and white rug, and a woven basket with a pink umbrella inside awaits a rainy day.
Photo courtesy Maria-Carla Atencio

In a small area, use as little décor as possible and make it useful storage.

A high-ceilinged entryway with lots of windows wrapping around and going up the stairs to the right in classic white with as dark wood bannister and matching steps. The walls are painted a light seafoam color, and the door is a dark turquoise hue. A round pedestal table in cherry wood holds a plant and books next to a cherry wood chair with sky-blue upholstery.
Photo courtesy Edward Gohlich

Communicate your theme. This coastal-feeling entry makes a subtle splash with water-inspired colors like seafoam, plenty of windows, and a high ceiling to accommodate the stairs, a classic architectural feature. What a great way to welcome people into your home.

Kimball Starr designs for stunning homes throughout the San Francisco Bay Area and Lake Tahoe. Contact her today for a remote or socially-distant in-person consultation.

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Make a White Kitchen Gorgeous with Color

Dec 04, 2023 | Posted in How To & Decorating Tips |

White walls, white marble countertops, white custom cabinetry, windows without coverings, grey-green subway tiles on backsplash and lower half of walls. Honey colored hardwood flooring.
Design by Kimball Starr / Photo by Paul Dyer

Want an update on the standard white-on-white kitchen? Read on for how I delivered a GORGEOUS space with a touch of modern color.

White walls, uncovered windows streaming in bright light, a pair of white counterseats at the white marble counter peninsula, facing into the kitchen towards the laundry room. Dark grey-green subway tiles cover the bottom half of the walls and backsplash in the kitchen. White ceilings and top half of the walls.
Design by Kimball Starr / Photo by Paul Dyer

My client wanted a kitchen that had more workable space and was beautiful to see and use. We added a beautiful moss-green subway tile to the walls and backsplash, swapped the fridge and cook surface, and let the natural light shine through the windows by removing the tall pantry.

A cramped, dark kitchen without storage space, as evidenced by multiple items stored on the countertops. The cooktop has only a narrow strip of counter next to it. The laundry room is visible at the end.
BEFORE

Here you can tell how it was before — cramped, dark, and lacking storage.

A galley-style kitchen in white cabinetry with silver hood and convection cooktop, double ovens, L-shaped counters with seating, and a grey-green dining room just visible at the far end.
Design by Kimball Starr / Photo by Paul Dyer

Repeating the green subway tiles on the opposite wall brings a lovely sense of rhythm and harmony to the kitchen. The view into the dining room at the far end reveals our gorgeous grey-green paint color on the walls.

Dark grey-green dining room walls stand out against the white molding and ceilings. 4 glass pendants with exposed bulbs hang above a cypress wood dining table with a green stripe running up the middle, surrounded by 6 modern dining chairs. The white and grey-green kitchen is visible through the doorway, with a peek of the counter seating and windows showing through.
Design by Kimball Starr / Photo by Paul Dyer

Now you can see how our beautiful green color really makes the space sing. My client had the slab of cypress wood stored in their garage but didn’t know how to use it. I turned it into their dining table; the color ties in perfectly.

Dark grey-green custom cabinetry fill a wall in the laundry room, with veined white marble backsplash and countertops to match the kitchen. Silver drawer and door pulls shine with the undercabinet lighting. Two bottles of sparking water dress the counter.
Design by Kimball Starr / Photo by Paul Dyer

Repeating the grey-green on the cabinetry in the laundry area creates a space unified by gorgeous color throughout, with a beautiful veined white marble backsplash that matches the kitchen counters to complete the look.

Kimball Starr designs for gorgeous homes throughout the San Francisco Bay Area and Lake Tahoe. Contact her today for a remote or socially-distant in-person consultation.

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Leather Furniture is Beautiful

Nov 20, 2023 | Posted in Inspirations |

I just love leather furniture: The texture, the feeling, the look of something aged by use, loved by a family. Here we look back at some of my favorite projects that include leather furniture, in time for the holidays!

A dark brown leather arm chair with patina nail heads on the arm's end is countered with an American flag pillow over a yellow and white patterned throw blanket.
Design by Kimball Starr / Photo by Marija Vidal

Love the cracks in this well-worn armchair.

A hair-on-hide ottoman pairs with leather armchairs in this gentleman's living room.
Design by Kimball Starr / Photo by Marija Vidal

Leather chairs pair nicely with a hair-on-hide ottoman, here used as a coffee table.

Design by Kimball Starr / Photo by Marija Vidal

The look of the bed’s leather headboard with nail-head details in this same gentleman’s modern classic condo makes my heart sing.

White leather Barcelona chairs with silver legs and button-tufting on the seats and backs, in front of a floor-to-ceiling window and a dark curtain.
Design by Kimball Starr / Photo by Eric Rorer

Barcelona leather chairs are timeless.

Light-colored walls and ceiling, to the front and right showing patterned upholstered chair with metal frame and a hot pink throw blanket covering the back, a round wooden coffee table dressed with a vase and several different shaped sky-blue shiny containers. Behind the chair is a set of stairs with black metal railings and warm wood top rails. to the right is the living room with a light colored corner sofa with chaise, covered in colorful throw pillows, and a contemporary light-colored chair with metal legs that match the corner sofa. In the center is a Noguchi-style coffee table with warm wooden support and glass top, dressed with multiple vases filled with flowers, and books. A dog sits upon the corner sofa chaise.
Design by Kimball Starr / Photo by Eric Rorer

Even the family dog loves the leather sectional sofa in this hillside retreat.

Kimball Starr designs custom leather furniture for homes throughout the San Francisco Bay Area and Lake Tahoe. Contact her today for a remote or socially-distant in-person consultation.

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Custom Cabinetry for Entertainment

Nov 06, 2023 | Posted in How To & Decorating Tips |

One of the common issues we have in a modern world is entertainment equipment and collections – your wifi router, streaming devices, books, magazines, and Blu-rays take space to store and can look cluttered. I have an elegant solution: Custom cabinetry!

Looking into a living room with an L-shaped sofa, glass side table, white coffee table, and a beautiful geometrically-shaped chandelier above. A fireplace adorns the far wall near the open hallways. On the back wall, there's custom cabinetry in white oak with closed cabinets and single bar metal handles, plus open shelving in narrow widths on either side of the tv opening, and a wider set of shelves to the right. Four cabinet drawers are underneath the television, providing a surface for books, photos, and collectibles. A grey armchair sits in front of the cabinets to the right, with a grey, white, and yellow striped lumbar pillow. A geometrically patterned rug in white, grey, and pale pinkish-tan that matches the cabinetry creates a zone for the furniture.
Design by Kimball Starr / Photo by Steph Dewey

Look how many cabinets and drawers we can fit in this light, bright, contemporary family living room by creating a custom wall of storage.

A closeup view of the custom cabinetry in white oak cabinets and single bar metal handles. Open shelving in a narrow width goes up the right side, next to a larger and wider open shelf. One of the drawers underneath the television is visible, creating a surface for books, photos, and collectibles. Honey-colored wood planks in a chevron pattern make up the flooring.
Design by Kimball Starr / Photo by Steph Dewey

Books, photos, and collectibles are easily accessible and displayed with open storage.

Closer view of the white oak wall of custom cabinetry with closed cabinets and single bar metal handles. Open shelving in a narrow width goes up the left side, next to larger and wider closed cabinets. One of the drawers underneath the television is visible, creating a surface for books, photos, and collectibles.
Design by Kimball Starr / Photo by Steph Dewey

Closed storage keeps the messier things like wifi equipment, magazines and personal papers out of sight.

The row of cabinets underneath the television are specially designed to open out of the way, so nothing prevents you from looking in to see the contents without having to bend over. Thoughtful design like this makes such a difference to how you enjoy the space.

A white oak wall of custom cabinetry with closed cabinets and single bar metal handles, plus open shelving in narrow widths on either side of the tv opening, and a wider set of shelves to the right. Four cabinet drawers are underneath the television, providing a surface for books, photos, and collectibles. A grey armchair sits in front to the right, with a grey, white, and yellow striped lumbar pillow. A round white table is in the center bottom, cut off partially by the framing. A geometrically patterned rug in white, grey, and pale pinkish-tan that matches the cabinetry ties the space together.
Design by Kimball Starr / Photo by Steph Dewey

What’s on display is the beauty of this light oak wood cabinetry, which is trending right now. I can create something like this for you, too!

Kimball Starr designs custom storage for homes throughout the San Francisco Bay Area and Lake Tahoe. Contact her today for a remote or socially-distant in-person consultation.

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Powder Room Wow

Oct 23, 2023 | Posted in Starr Spotlight |

Have you ever been in a powder room that really made you say, Wow? Was it a single detail that bowled you over, or the coordination of multiple materials in such a small space? Let’s look at some of my work on powder rooms to learn more.

A blue-grey powder room showing a portrait mirror above a single-spigot silver tap from the wall over a white one-piece quartzite counter and undermount sink. Glass and silver drawer pulls bring a touch of bling, while geometric square patterns in black and white on a field of powder grey-blue create excitement for flooring.
Design by Kimball Starr / Photo by Steph Dewey

A mix of patterns and shapes adds energy to this small-but-mighty powder room in a transitional home. From the vertical backsplash wall tiling with a wall-mounted single spigot to the geometrically-patterned flooring, joined by grey-blue cabinetry with clear acrylic handles, this little room is smartly appointed, if I do say so myself!

A petite powder room featuring a white toilet, white marble flooring with large grey veins, night-sky-blue subway tiles, contrasting tiny mosaic tiles inside the inset, with a repetition of the white marble on the ceiling of the inset above a white basin sink atop a two-drawer cabinet with silver horizontal metal drawer pulls, and an oval wood-framed mirror above the sink.
Design by Kimball Starr / Photo by David Duncan Livingston

The many colors, patterns, and textures in my Sunnyside client’s powder room are unified by the color scheme of blues and blue-greys. Notice the marble continued on the ceiling inset in a different scale from the marble floor tile, repeating but not copying each other. Repetition is one of the hallmarks of good design.

Earthy adobe-colored walls form a corner for this stone basin sink niche with a single waterfall spigot in solver, a teardrop-shaped wall-mount mirror with a hand-beaten metal frame. A wall sconce in off-white art glass and metal frame sits just at the right edge of the view. The basin sink is set atop a chunky wooden wall-mounted shelf in the corner.
Design by Kimball Starr / Photo by Eric Rorer

This is a detail view with bold impact. The above-counter stone basin is the star here, with a single waterfall spigot, while the teardrop mirror is a simple, usable, and stylish addition.

A veiny marble wall in off-white, grey, and tan counterpoints the wood-look floor tiling planks, custom white cabinet under a trough-style white ceramic sink with a brass single spigot to control water temperature. Slightly behind and partially hidden is the wall-mounted white modern toilet that appears to float above the floor.
Design by Kimball Starr / Photo by Eric Rorer

This one isn’t solely a powder room, but we’re looking at just a portion of the space. Here the wall mount toilet is a space savings, leaving more open floor. Wood-look plank floor tiles keep the space easy to clean. Using a small amount of veining in the marble wall tiling maintains interest while not overwhelming the space.

A toilet room has a warm, yellow light coming down from above, across some varied-height raised square tiles, creating shadow and highlights.
Design and photo by Kimball Starr

Here we made a toilet niche interesting with textural stone. While not technically a full powder room, this stand-alone toilet room has the same project goal of providing interest with the textural stone tiles while maintaining usability in a very small space. Do you think we achieved that goal?

Kimball Starr designs for trendy and classic homes throughout the San Francisco Bay Area and Lake Tahoe. Contact her today for a remote or socially-distant in-person consultation.

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Stairways to Heavenly Places

Oct 09, 2023 | Posted in Inspirations |

More than just a way to get from one floor to another, staircase designs can truly uplift your spirit. Here are three of my own designs and an image from the web.

Underneath the ceiling in a loft apartment, a black metal circular staircase with silver curving metal rails has a moveable bookshelf filled with collectibles, books, and pillows. The interior of the shelving is painted orange, to match the wall niche displaying a Buddha head statue.
Design by Kimball Starr / Photo by Joe Fletcher

A stunning circular staircase is surrounded by a moveable bookcase –- one of my favorite project solutions for a San Francisco condo. Subtle pattern keeps the exterior from looking too industrial, while the interior is painted a warm orange to match the statue wall inset.

Design by Kimball Starr / Photo by Eric Rorer

This elegant traditional staircase lives happily alongside midcentury modern furnishings in another of my projects in San Francisco. Notice how the end is curled and finished neatly without a fussy finial.

Knotty pine wood shiplap runs horizontally across the back wall of this San Francisco home. In front of that sits a white oak handrail with blue metal balustrades with an oblong circle accents repeated 3 times.
Design by Kimball Starr / Photo by Eric Rorer

My Belmont client’s home has a cabin feel that’s uplifted by modern balustrades and glass pendant lighting. We kept the natural oak color in contrast with the knotty pine-clad walls, so it doesn’t get lost in the existing wood paneling, which the client wanted to keep. Specifying the balusters in blue ties it in with the kitchen, from which this staircase is visible.

A mostly-white home with a stone wall has an open beechwood staircase with black metal framing and handrails that has a twist and a landing partway up. Light streams in from multiple open windows without curtains or blinds, above and by the front door.
Photo courtesy Viewrail

Here’s a beautiful example from the web: I just adore a wooden floating staircase with metal accents, especially when it has a little twist and landing partway up. So modern and clean.

Kimball Starr designs staircases for stylish homes throughout the San Francisco Bay Area and Lake Tahoe. Contact her today for a remote or socially-distant in-person consultation.

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