Explore A Bold Bay Area Town House With Dramatic Interiors

Bold, plummy colors and large, curvaceous forms make a Bay Area town house extraordinary.

As designer April Sheldon watched four British craftsmen apply the 250 deep-mauve leather hides she’d hand selected to the exterior of a dramatic, curving staircase conceived by her project partner, architect Houman Sharif, she felt conflicting emotions. “It was a mixture of terror that it might fail and the feeling that, if it all worked out, this would be one of the best design moves I’d ever executed,” she remembers. But, after five days of intense work, when the crew stepped back, laid down their rollers and headed back to London, it became apparent the latter was true.

Sheldon describes the feature as a “work of art,” and, in a Bay Area residence that’s filled with grand gestures, it is undeniably the star. The rail is shaped something like a cyclone that starts with a tightly rolled newel post on the first floor and unspools in an expansive, elegant arc when it reaches the ceiling. Sharif designed the stair with a gray lacquered wood interior durable enough to use as a handrail that sits within the leather shell. The shape came to him when he initially toured the space with his clients. “When I first saw the residence, it was largely empty, just a box,” he says. “The volume was beautiful, but there was a straight run of stairs that hugged the windows. To me, the feature was improperly placed. I wanted to move the stairs away from the windows and make something completely different—the space called for flow and softness.” Later, he had his own moments of design-related stress and, ultimately, exhilaration as he watched the five-ton metal-and-wood stair craned up nine stories and then carefully placed where it stands today. The new, character-rich staircase is now at the front door, where its shape defines the entry, an expression the architect underlined with a curved wall.

Gestures that deliver high impact with a velvet touch are employed throughout the once boxlike space. For instance, the design team, which included general contractor Jeffrey Woods, divided the living area into two spaces separated by a pair of floor-to-ceiling pivot doors that flank a statement-making double-sided marble fireplace. On one side, a round rug and undulating sofa define a sophisticated, light-toned gathering space. But when the 11-foot-tall doors swing open, a cozy, color-saturated library is revealed. “Our clients are avid book people, and they wanted a place to read,” Sheldon says. “We worked to create a space where you feel enveloped. If you close the doors, you are surrounded by deep mauves and Tahitian reds.”

Beyond the living area and dining room (where another plummy shade appears on the chair upholstery) is a kitchen focused on art. The team deliberately kept all storage below the counters, making room for a biomorphic porcelain work by artist Maren Kloppmann that seems to swim across the wall like a loosely synchronized school of fish. The heavily veined marble underneath, with its almost wave-like pattern, is a supporting actor.

Near the top of the winding stair is a primary suite that draws upon the spirit of the locale for inspiration. In the homeowners’ bedroom, the neutral color palette becomes nuanced, referencing the many gray shades found in the sometimes-foggy landscape. In their bath, a verre eglomise screen—created by layering gold and silver leaf on the back of a sheet of glass—stands behind a shapely tub and is reminiscent of the urban view. “I have a library of images, and one of them is a photo showing city windows during sunset at that moment when the glass panes catch the sun’s last rays and seem to light up,” Sheldon says. “I tried to create that look in this screen, because this kind of view is just one of the many things that makes living in a place like this so enjoyable.”

In fact, the joy of city living is at the heart of this home’s experience. Located near the center of one of the area’s most charming neighborhoods, it is steps away from pleasant shops, bustling restaurants and scenic parks—yet its quietude seems to hold it gently above the cosmopolitan happenings outside the building’s door. “Being there reminds me of the Bay Area on a foggy morning,” Sheldon says. “Fog is as a part of this area as anything, and when it rolls in it brings a nature of silence and peaceful serenity.”