Subtraction is a tricky business; it’s so much easier to practice restraint from the start. After all, it’s a slippery slope from clean and clutter-free to austerity. Before moving into their new home in San Francisco’s Pacific Heights, a busy, young professional couple with a less-is-more style shrewdly turned to designer Heather Hilliard for a cool and restful look.
“Establishing furniture plans was the first order of business,” shares Hilliard. “From there, we pulled together a mix of vintage and contemporary furnishings and soft, textured solid fabrics for each room. It is rare to find clients without a folder full of Pinterest and Instagram inspiration images. These clients were totally new to the process, but very open to letting us lead. We explained the origin of the vintage pieces, the design intent and materials of the contemporary pieces. The clients were so excited to learn about everything we brought to them.”
In the living room, Hilliard opted for an asymmetrical furniture plan, with a floating curved sofa and chairs arrayed around the coffee table. “We selected furniture in different wood finishes to ensure the room felt layered and collected over time – warm walnut on the frame of a vintage chair, ebonized oak on the coffee table and cerused oak with exposed, open grain on a contemporary chest.” The upholstered pieces are dressed in linen, bouclé, woven wool and soft alpaca in light- and dark-gray hues.
In the upstairs entertainment room — which opens to outdoor spaces on both sides – the chairs and sofa are positioned to optimize the view of the Golden Gate Bridge on one side and a city vista on the other. Shades of gray and white combine with earth tones to create a relaxing atmosphere in this sunlit space. Curvaceous Perla chairs from midcentury designer Guglielmo Veronesi contrast appealingly with the Howard V Sectional Sofa by Egg Collective. A mighty Nove Sconce by Gregorius Pineo arcs dramatically over this ensemble, which rests on an area rug from Mark Nelson Designs. The library – a primary request of her clients – is keyed to a warmer mode, with a port-colored, Organic Sisal wallpaper by Scalamandré. A vintage area rug in shades of gray links the space tonally to the palette expressed elsewhere in the home. With its slightly flared arms and substantial seat cushion, the Cocoon Armchair by Frag is the perfect place to plop down and read.
Throughout the home, accessories, art and decorative pieces appear in sympathetic proportion to the furniture. A Gaia pendant by OCHRE, with large, water-droplike forms dripping off slender stems, hangs above the table in the dining room. A large-format, black-and-white image by British photographer Richard Learoyd hangs in the living room; a Bolzano table lamp by Vaughan sits on a Jean de Merry commode nearby. In the entertainment room, a large baba basket, handwoven in Ghana, rests on the floor, and a color photograph from Alec Soth’s Niagara series hangs above the sectional.
It’s not easy hitting a happy medium. One person’s “little” is another’s “too much.” But when enough is enough, it’s magic.
Photography by David Duncan Livingston.
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