Presidio Heights II
Heather Hilliard Design, an interior design firm in San Francisco, CA was enlisted to help a young family design and furnish their classic revival home built in 1915 in the Presidio Heights neighborhood of San Francisco. The clients hired Sutro Architects to renovate the home in order to make it more suitable for a growing family, while maintaining its architectural integrity. The architect envisioned a new floor plan and designed a gorgeous stair in the entry as well a new lower level. The initial brainstorming session yielded a style direction toward classic minimalism. Against the backdrop of ornate plaster moldings original to the home, we worked with the clients to develop a serene, cool-neutral palette for the paint and furnishings. A primarily white interior envelope let the architecture shine, punctuated by deep, moody colors in the dining room, the husband’s office, and the gym. The design intent was to create interiors that were understated and timeless. We selected and designed clean-lined furniture custom-built by master artisans. Our client developed an interest in collecting mid-century modern furniture over the course of our design process. We incorporated a few stand-out pieces into the design in the dining room and living room. Another highlight was the custom-designed family room bookcase constructed of iron, walnut, and antique brass.
2019 SF Decorator Showcase
Our design honors the historic details of this room set in the important San Francisco Landmark, “Le Petit Trianon,” while incorporating new modern elements. We envisioned a multigenerational French family who had been patrons of great French design over the last 250 years and this room being a mélange of their phenomenal antique family heirlooms, iconic French vintage pieces, and pieces from the new vanguard of contemporary French designers. These elements together create a chic little family haven viewed through a California lens.
A large and stunning Louis XIV Verdure tapestry serves as the focal point of the room balanced by the organic shaped Jean RoyeÌre Polar Bear sofa and a vintage pair of Reneì Gabriel armchairs. A contemporary India Mahdavi cocktail table is juxtaposed with an 18th Century French Louis XV Chinoiserie Commode and a Heather Hilliard designed custom bookshelf. Current pieces from Christian Liaigre, Démiurge, Eric Schmitt, India Mahdavi, and Christophe Côme represent the next vanguard of French design icons.
The stunning art above the marble mantle is by local artist Rosana Castrillo Diaz courtesy of Anthony Meier Fine Arts. The greige of the wall plaster and painted window casings perfectly sets off the brilliant rose and coral San Francisco sunsets visible through the large South and West-facing windows at sunset. Wood herringbone floors with a reclaimed feel appear original to the architecture of the home. A new monolithic mantelpiece in Bardiglio serves as a contemporary counterpoint to the classical elements throughout the house. Ready to learn more about Heather Hilliard, an interior designer in San Francisco, CA? Contact her today!
Los Altos Hills II
Design Principal Heather Hilliard, and interior designer in San Francisco, and her team designed a contemporary new home for a young family of four immersed in the Silicon Valley scene in Los Altos Hills. Working closely with the contractor, Hilliard, and her team were responsible for the design of the house including the great room, kitchen, bathrooms, fireplace, stair detailing, media room, home office, bedrooms, dressing rooms, custom millwork, finish selections and installation details, in addition to the furnishings, fixtures and decorative lighting.
Settled on an acre of land, the four-level house, two of which are subterranean, boasts a squash court and generous spaces for entertaining. To reflect the client’s Japanese heritage and love for color, we implemented a palette inspired by Japanese indigo and black found in the client’s series of traditional woodblock prints. As a counterpoint, we installed contemporary art by Japanese artist Kohei Nawa. Dark bronze metal finishes are found throughout the home on various scales, from the gunmetal plumbing fixtures and door hardware to the expansive darkened steel fireplace mantel and shou sugi ban charred wood cabinet in the great room. Various hierarchies of formality, family friendly spaces, and privacy are created through furnishing placements, materials and finish selections.
A dramatic all-black kitchen with a deep inky blue French lava stone island, custom twelve-foot-long walnut dining table and sculptural cocktail tables from France are a few elements that mark the great room as a sophisticated entertaining space. Bold reds and whimsical fabric patterns define the media room and other kid-friendly spaces. Furniture selections are a compilation of modern and custom pieces, whimsical forms, and unique one-of-a kind pieces by notable designers. After three years of planning, the result is a modern but warm home specially crafted for this family to enjoy for many years to come.
Cow Hollow
Heather Hilliard Design, an interior design firm in San Francisco, CA, in collaboration with Sutro Architects completed an extensive interior and exterior renovation and decoration of a historic house in San Francisco’s Cow Hollow neighborhood.
The clients, a tech couple with an ever evolving and busy lifestyle, wanted the house to be a place to unwind, reflect and enjoy time together. The clients’ love of contemporary but warm interiors was considered when the team designed the interior elements. To provide warmth to the minimal envelope, Heather Hilliard Design specified rich materials including wide bleached white oak floors, hand applied smooth plaster at the fireplace, large warm honed stone slabs for all floors and walls in the bathrooms, suede textured granite on the kitchen island, large white veiny slabs of Calcutta on the kitchen counters, rift oak custom millwork throughout and fabric upholstery at the master bed wall. A notable feature in the house is the light reveal between the stair treads and wall all the way up the staircase. The indirect light creates a warm glow that guides the eye up the stairs.
Originally from the east coast and Germany, the clients embraced their new California lifestyle and requested a plan to bring the outside inside wherever possible. In the kitchen, large steel frame and glass doors open all the way up to the patio and living green wall and BBQ. The open doors blur the lines of inside and outside. New wide picture windows in the master bedroom frame the view of the San Francisco Bay, Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz. A large sliding glass skylight slides open at the top of the stairs to reveal a roof deck where the couple sit at the fire pit and take in the expansive views of the bay. New large steel frame doors and windows were installed in the home office and off the media room to maximize views and access to the new lush and green back yard.
To reflect the clients’ informal and immensely warm family dynamic, HHD suggested a neutral palette with pops of blue to keep the house feeling young and fresh. To unify the spaces, blue was used sparingly throughout from the front door to the kitchen island to the adjacent patio cabinets to the lower level kitchenette and art in the office.
Every inch of this house was customized to suit the clients’ needs. The furnishings throughout the home are a mix of custom and high-end pieces by master furniture makers. Bathroom walls were clad in stone slabs, LED lights were added to highlight architectural elements including the staircase and fossil niche in the powder room and a rooftop was added to maximize views of the golden gate bridge. The result is a house that reflects the clients’ aesthetic and lifestyle. The clients are thrilled to call the house their home.
Ready to start your interior design project in Cow Hollow, contact Heather Hilliard Design today.
Hillsborough I
This contemporary home in Hillsborough, a Northern California town, features a clean, contemporary design aesthetic softened by the layering of textures and a neutral palette with pops of color. We created bright and open spaces throughout conducive to family living and entertaining.
Hillsborough II
Transitional Contemporary Interior Design in Hillsborough.
We designed this home for a family who relocated from NYC to Hillsborough, California. The couple has sophisticated tastes that they wanted to apply to a more traditional home. We replaced the outdated interiors with a clean and contemporary style while keeping some of the home’s classic details. The walls were washed in white to serve as a backdrop to a treasured art collection including works by Robert Motherwell, Mark Humphrey, and Sherie Franssen. We chose a palette of blues throughout the home giving it a cohesive feel and creating a serene environment. We wanted the home to flow and feel like one space while providing the clients with an abundance of comfort.
To learn more about Heather Hilliard Design, an interior design firm in San Francisco, California, please visit our about us page.
Upper East Side
In a city where space is at a premium, we wanted this home to feel open and airy while reflecting our client’s particular brand of chic. We paired studded grasscloth, hand-painted wallpaper, vivid blue lacquered walls, and marble floors to add glamour to this Upper East Side prewar apartment. We mixed family heirlooms with lush fabrics in beiges and blues along with custom furniture and contemporary lighting fixtures to complete the design.
Los Altos Hills I
Heather Hilliard Design, an interior design firm in San Francisco, CA, was enlisted to design a colorful and light-hearted home in Los Altos Hills for a young family of three. Prior to buying the new home in Los Altos Hills, the clients had moved seven times and lived in three countries. Given the client’s frequent relocations, they were excited to purchase their first home and set down roots. The clients were drawn to this property due to its large lot situated on a beautiful tree-lined street in Los Altos Hills.
The clients are stylish, a bit edgy, bold and colorful in their dress. We wanted the interior to reflect their chic style as well as her experience growing up in a home loaded with 18th-century French antiques. To channel the clients’ informal, eclectic, and immensely warm family dynamic, we suggested a colorful and textured palette throughout the house. Furniture selection favored custom pieces, unique antiques and unexpected contemporary. We tied the house together with refreshing tones of blue and green interspersed with a few floral and small woven patterns. The living room features a traditional black and cream printed linen floral pattern on the sofa, a shocking neon green acrylic coffee table by Alexandra von Fürstenberg; a pair of French bergères in bright green hair on hide; textured grasscloth wallcovering, a traditional linen skirted console table, and pair of antique silver leaf chests flanking the fireplace dressed with a Mari Suri steel and bronze fire screen. The living room color palette is extended into the dining room with the same grasscloth wall covering and blue linen curtain and shade fabrics. There is a nod to tradition in the style of the dining table, chairs upholstered in plum horsehair and antique chest and gilt mirror. The pendant creates a warm sparkle in the evenings.
We turned up the intensity of color in the family room with the Pierre Frey intense green chevron fabric on the custom sofas and Soane leather chairs. HHD combined large and small-scale patterns in the bold Quadrille printed wallpaper and the small floral on the linen curtains. The green breakfast tabletop adds durability for the family and another layer of color in the room. The library features a contemporary tall back sofa covered in soft and luxurious mohair in blue, a swivel chair, leather-wrapped pendant, vintage chinoiserie coffee table and antique secretary with a bright figurative still life painting.
The highlight in the master bedroom is the blue and green traditional Les Touches Brunschwig & Fils pattern linen wallpaper installed on all walls and the ceiling, creating a cocoon of color and pattern. The custom bed is upholstered in a periwinkle color fabric; and dressed in custom Matouk sheeting and an antique suzani textile. The chunky loop rug is cashmere and the chairs and custom settee are covered in luxurious silk velvets. Whimsy is found in the boldly designed “HOT” fire screen and massive figurative contemporary abstract painting.
Carefully curated, the result is fresh and effortless, and always comfortable for a relaxed lifestyle embracing family and the beloved pet dog. The doors of this home are always open to family and friends, and the home is a warm centerpiece of a joyful life.
Nob Hill I
Transitional Interior Design Project in Nob Hill.
Our clients relocated from NYC to their new home in the Brockerlbank Building, a historic landmark building at the top of Nob Hill in San Francisco. They wanted us to create a sophisticated and comfortable living space for their boys and pets. We used decorative finishes and custom detailing to layer the rooms throughout the apartment as seen in the hand-painted faux-bois wall paneling in the dining room; a painted stripe finish in the master bedroom and brightly colored wallpapers. We designed custom window treatments in luxurious fabrics and mixed new upholstered furnishings with antiques. The colors of bright watermelon and blues were used throughout the apartment complementing the client’s own collection of gorgeous antique mirrors. To learn more about Heather Hilliard Design, and interior design firm in San Francisco, please visit our about us page.
SF Showcase Master Bedroom
The room was inspired by a quote by a French designer, “Sometimes the beauty of a space is the empty space.” We edited the room down to the basics and used luxurious materials to create a serene environment with accents of color and a focus on contemporary art. Decorative stripe paint finish, white oak floors, a Vladimir Kagan sofa, and custom furniture complete the look. The bed is custom with upholstery to match the stripe colors of the painted walls. A wood sculpture by David Nash and brass fire screen by John Lyle and a custom wool felt rug with saddle stitching add warmth and texture to the space. This room references the mixing of chic contemporary furnishings within classically detailed rooms, similar to Haussmann flats in Paris.