Built in the 1930s, this traditional San Francisco home is nestled in Presidio Heights—one of the city’s most coveted neighborhoods. Interior designer Regan Baker was tapped to reimagine the charming property, which features a French-style exterior and many traditional details throughout the interior. While Regan’s clients had a strong appreciation for the architecture and requested that many be preserved, it was important to also ensure the home would function for modern day family life.
The property had been through a series of “light touch” renovations over the years. The clients—a young family of four relocating from London—were drawn to the home’s original layout, spanning three floors of the home, and loved the idea that they didn’t have to expand the footprint of the house to meet their space requirements and functional needs.
Regan Baker Design updated all of the systems in the home—lighting, plumbing, electrical, and heating—and crafted up a floor plan that would better suit their needs. “The primary structural piece of work that we took on was opening up the original kitchen and formal dining room into an open plan kitchen / family room / breakfast nook, that extends into the back south facing garden,” Regan shares. “For their young family, this made a lot of sense with regards to where they were realistically going to be spending a lot of their time in the home.”
The second floor boasts three bedrooms, and the clients loved that all the family’s bedrooms (primary suite and two for the children) were situated on the same floor, which can often be a challenge to find in city homes. The design team reconfigured the primary suite vestibule to allow room for a makeup vanity in the bathroom, and additional space for the primary his and her closets.
The third floor features a separate guest suite which was ideal for their visiting friends and family to have a quiet, separated space. An additional living area on this floor lent itself well to a home office—which proved to be essential during the “work from home” months of the pandemic.
Back downstairs, Regan and her team wanted to ensure the house would be entertaining-ready—the dining area needed to seat a party of 8-10 people with ease, and this space is within the dining room. “Multi-use rooms can be challenging, but combining a formal living room and formal dining room while maintaining the elegance of both created an interesting design opportunity for us,” Regan shares. “Millwork and open shelving were our solution to create an additional layer of storied texture. The dining table was anchored on this integrated open shelf and was an amazing place to share our clients serveware collection within an arm’s reach.” The left bookcase displays collected treasures for the living room, while the right displays beautiful serveware pieces. “It’s a great representation of our clients love of antiques and decorative objects and is a perfect place to continuously swap out items with her love of shopping.”
Construction began in late spring of 2019 and the house was completed in September 2020. “Most of the design, planning, and purchasing had been completed prior to COVID hitting in the spring of 2020 so we didn’t really experience the subsequent construction and lead time delays that followed,” Regan admits. “This was a full scope renovation, furnishing, and styling project so we were able to deliver a full reveal once the project was complete. It’s always so exciting to witness clients’ seeing the design of their home come to life in person for the first time.”
