Project Description
San Rafael Residence
New entrance doors were designed to look like Shoji screens with glass sandblasted for privacy. The doors are made of cherrywood and the adjoining woodwork was faux grained to look like cherry. The door hardware is hand forged. Light fixtures were existing.
The foyer leads into the family room, with the original walls removed. This remodel opened up the tight entrance to the family room.
At our first meeting, my clients said they wanted their home to look tropical and he was raised in Hawaii. So, I showed them tropical prints. No, no, not that they said. At our next meeting she showed me a picture of this chair and said that is what they liked. So, then I knew that when they said tropical, they meant Asian, but with a European traditional twist, and very sophisticated. The cocktail table base is made of black bamboo. The window shades are woven with reeds. Accessories are Asian antiques. The cocktail table is named the Doge table, the design taken from the Doge Palace in Venice.
The dining room follows the theme of the living room. The benches are Chinese antiques. The host and hostess chairs are traditional Euro/Asian. The alter table is new and stained in the traditional Chinese cinnabar red. The table has a twisted rattan base. The modern light fixtures are imported from Italy.
This was a very inexpensive redo. The clients wanted to keep their dinette table, chairs, & light fixture. I had the cabinets repainted in a glowing gold with the trim faux painted to look like rosewood, changed the cabinet knobs and painted the walls. The room now has a real wow factor.
The only decor changes to this room were to install wood veneer wallpaper and do a faux bois finish on the shutters in a walnut finish. The wood veneer wallpaper was stained to match the cherry floors. Their collection of Hawaiian prints were framed and installed. The wood box on the counter was added to hold extra soap and hand towels.
My client needed a table type desk for 2 computer screens. We removed the existing closet to create a work alcove for her. The walls were originally upholstered in Dupioni silk. It wouldn’t be possible to match the silk to upholster the walls in the alcove. So, the alcove walls were wallpapered to resemble cinnabar lacquer, repeating the finish on the trunk in front of the sofa. We faux grained the woodwork in walnut to match the existing shutters.
My clients owned the bamboo bed. I added the Asian furnishings to complement the bed. The bedside chests are Korean, lacquered black, with inlays of Mother of Pearl. The walls are glazed in two tones of red, a good luck color in China, and is also the most romantic color. The crown moldings and baseboards were painted black to repeat the black of the Korean cabinets.
The 5 ft. diameter round mirror is framed in polished brass and is the traditional Chinese moon window shape.
The detail shows the room reflected in the “moon window” mirror. In China, a moon window is a symbol for peace and calm. The armoire is a Chinese antique. The two tone of the wall glazing shows more in this photo.