Be My Valentine: At Home with an SF Design Duo - Remodelista
Photography by Mimi Giboin for Remodelista. With their aesthetics aligned and a tight budget to keep them in check, graphic designer Jennifer Morla (of Morla Design) and her architect husband... ...Nilus de Matran (of Nilus Designs), turned a small 1906 Victorian into a contemporary structure, a process that not only took eight months but was, as Morla explains "absolutely painless." They got the best of both worlds with a reverse layout, which features an open plan living room at street level with bedrooms on the lower level of their double hillside lot. Morla created the wall installation using silk flowers left over from a photo shoot. On the mantle are Grecian vases that Morla inherited from her grandfather. The cast concrete fireplace and mantle adds a bit of grandeur; de Matran designed the unit to be flush to the wall. The floor-to-ceiling windows take advantage of the east facing views of the Bay Bridge. The rug beneath the coffee table is one of Morla's designs, which she created when she was a visiting artist at the Workshop Residence in San Francisco. Morla, who is a fan of ottomans, designed this pair of leather ones with aluminum legs. The couple incorporated a concrete countertop in the kitchen area to tie in with the concrete mantelpiece. The egg tempera painting above the sink is by de Matran. The fluted glass cabinets add a note of formality to the kitchen; the cabinets are taller than standard, taking advantage of the ceiling height in the open floor plan setting. A wall of photographs by John Priola from the Fraenkel Gallery. There is no hallway; instead the staircase is incorporated into the design of the open living space. De Matran allowed the metal pole support structures to be exposed. Closets line one wall, while the children's bedrooms sit on the other side. The master bedroom features cast concrete walls and floors. A whimsical side table in the bedroom. Towels hang from large bolts embedded in the concrete, which function as hooks. Morla got the idea when she was given two bolts after doing some work for SFMOMA during its construction. A door in the shower leads to a hot tub on the deck. Aluminum framed floor-to-ceiling windows and door lead to a deck outside. The couple used Blomberg windows throughout the house. A tall slatted wood wall designed by de Matran shades a deck area. The outdoor dining table sits below the hot tub. Morla's art studio is housed beneath the deck off the children's bedrooms and doubles as a hangout for her teen children and their friends.