Northern California Estate
Over the decades since it was first built in the 1980s, many hands have touched this modern reinterpretation of a centuries-old Italian villa, set among acres of vineyards, olive groves, and unspoiled coastal land in Northern California. The original decorator was the illustrious Mark Hampton, a titan of American design. Our goal was to honor the work of our predecessors while gently crafting a new chapter in the life of this stately, art-filled home.
To temper the scale of the voluminous great room at the center of the house, and to make it a more welcoming space for family repose, we detailed the plaster walls with a waxed wainscot in an earthy tone of tobacco, painted the ceiling in a luminous ombre of blue and lavender, and installed a massive carpet that unifies the dining and sitting areas.
Certain rooms, like the green study, were barely touched, save for discreet updates to the upholstery and curtains. Other rooms, like the kitchen, were completely preserved. When something is practically perfect, the best thing to do is nothing at all.
We commissioned contemporary designs by the likes of Alma Allen, Lindsey Adelman, and Sam Orlando Miller as a foil to the homeowners’ collection of antiques and Old Master paintings. Forging aesthetic connections between the past and the present keeps the house alive.
The eminently serene master bedroom suite features a polyglot decorative mix of 1940s Italian glass lamps, an antique Venetian bed, a Gustavian console, and a monumental Serge Roche screen. Tones of buttery yellow and pale blue foster an air of blissful tranquility.
