{"id":408669,"date":"2026-07-22T23:39:34","date_gmt":"2026-07-22T23:39:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/408669\/"},"modified":"2026-07-22T23:39:34","modified_gmt":"2026-07-22T23:39:34","slug":"inside-a-1910-san-francisco-craftsman-by-studio-cabida","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/408669\/","title":{"rendered":"Inside a 1910 San Francisco Craftsman by Studio Cabida"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\t\tWe may earn revenue from the products available on this page and participate in affiliate programs.\t<\/p>\n

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\"redSofa, BBDW<\/a>; Trim Color, Blue Gray by Farrow & Ball<\/a>; Wallpaper, Phillip Jeffries<\/a> <\/p>\n

Late one Friday night, Sarah Holahan was checking her email when she saw an intake form from a San Francisco-based couple sitting in her inbox. (Holahan, the co-founder of the firm Studio Cabida<\/a>, and her partner Cecily Mendell like to kick off their projects with a fun questionnaire to learn more about their clients\u2019 general likes and dislikes). An absolute must-have design element? Taxidermy, one of the homeowners wrote. What\u2019s a hotel that inspires you? Best Western, he answered. \u201cI texted Cecily: \u2018Did you see this? Is this real?\u2019 And she was like, \u2018I\u2019m pretty sure it\u2019s a joke,\u2019\u201d says Holahan.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The whole point of the form is to get a better understanding of their clients\u2019 vibe. Mission accomplished. Their humorous responses set the tone for the project: Along the way, Studio Cabida played off the couple\u2019s vibrant personalities with a turquoise pantry, whimsical chandeliers, and checkerboard flooring.<\/p>\n

More laughs were had as the designers toured the house for the first time. While a quintessential Craftsman built in 1910, parts of the interior were stuck in the 1970s. Exhibit A: the sunken hot tub in what\u2019s now the office. \u201cWe were like, \u2018Gosh if these walls could talk\u2026\u2019\u201d recalls Mendell. To kick off the meeting, the couple handed Holahan and Mendell a book on Deyrolle, the famously taxidermy-filled boutique in Paris. Bits aside, it was up to Studio Cabida to turn the place into the pair\u2019s forever home.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"greenFloor tile, Tilebar<\/a>.\u00a0 <\/p>\n

How did you translate this couple\u2019s fun-loving character to the design of the home?\u00a0<\/p>\n

Holahan: We asked them, \u2018Can we go for it with color?\u2019 And they were like, \u2018Absolutely.\u2019<\/p>\n

Mendell: The mosaic tile in the entry started the story for the entire house, because there\u2019s no consistency in the colors throughout the home. This was a nice baseline to say, \u2018Welcome. Here we go.\u2019 They had no interest in a white kitchen, which gives you a lot of information right away.<\/p>\n

\"view<\/p>\n

Is \u201cno white kitchen\u201d a request you\u2019re hearing from other clients, too?\u00a0<\/p>\n

Mendell: I think people are more open to that now. (We\u2019re actually doing a pink kitchen in Pacific Heights right now). There\u2019s a trend toward not being super safe. I kept saying, \u2018I think this red is going to read like a neutral,\u2019 and it does. It\u2019s not bright. It feels a part of the story of the architecture.<\/p>\n

\"redCounter Stools, Le Mae<\/a>; Range, Lacanche<\/a>; Cabinet color custom matched to the Lacanche range; Nero Marquina and White Marble flooring, Battaglia Stile<\/a>; Pendants, Abate Studio<\/a>; Cabinet Hardware, Tradition Hardware<\/a>; Outlets, Prado<\/a>.\u00a0 <\/p>\n

Were there any other challenges in this space you had to wrap your heads around?\u00a0<\/p>\n

Holahan: The kitchen has black and white marble [flooring] and then there\u2019s a transition right after the island. So in the same room, you have hardwood and stone. There was a lot of communication and coordination with the builder to get the grout lines right, because we didn\u2019t want a Schluter [trim] or any kind of interruption. We wanted grout against wood, and straight lines are very hard to achieve in old homes.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Mendell: We even had to think about how far the counter stools would pull out so they stayed on the marble.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"paneledWalls and Ceiling color, Linen White by Benjamin Moore;<\/a> Trim and Wainscot color, Simply White by Benjamin Moore<\/a>; Chairs, Soho Home<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Was the wall paneling in the dining room inspired by the home\u2019s Craftsman roots?<\/p>\n

Holahan: It\u2019s funny because we took away a lot of the Craftsman [details] and then we added it back in. We wanted this space to be light and bright, because the two spaces that it\u2019s connected to (the kitchen and living room) have really big color moments. This room needed something\u2026but color was not the thing it needed.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Are you team rug in a dining room or no rug?\u00a0<\/p>\n

Mendell: It depends on how you\u2019re using it. My dining room is our game room where we do LEGOs and play poker, so there\u2019s a rug. But if it\u2019s a space you\u2019re eating in every day, I would do a really thin pile or no rug at all.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"attic<\/p>\n

What\u2019s your favorite paint color you used in this house?<\/p>\n

Mendell: This might seem boring given that this is such a colorful house, but the Simply White<\/a> walls throughout marry everything. It doesn\u2019t feel stark against all the other colors. <\/p>\n

It looks like there are some good antique scores throughout the house\u2014any special finds?\u00a0<\/p>\n

Holahan: They have a very collected taste. There\u2019s a console in the dining room that they found in Sonoma. The light in the solarium off the kitchen is vintage. A lot of the art came from one of the client\u2019s moms. Sometimes, he would slip something in from Wayfair and be like, \u2018It\u2019s good, right?\u2019 Then he\u2019d return it\u2026<\/p>\n

\"green<\/p>\n

This green living room is so soothing. Did you test a lot of paint colors to find this shade?<\/p>\n

Holahan: We wanted to color-drench this room because of how heavy the millwork was. We wanted to make it quieter. I found the tile for the fireplace surround and then we just ran with it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"greenSofas, BBDW<\/a>; Paint Color, Blue Gray by Farrow & Ball<\/a>; Fireplace Tile, Fireclay<\/a>; Chandelier, Soho Home<\/a>. <\/p>\n

You have two different sofas in very similar shades. Did you reupholster those or was it just luck that you found them?\u00a0<\/p>\n

M: Good luck! Our clients love the hunt as much as we do. We turned them on to BBDW\u2019s auctions, and these fell in our lap.\u00a0<\/p>\n

I love how low you hung the art in the corner.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Mendell: It\u2019s fun to hang art in an unexpected place. There was a lot of conversation in the beginning about whether that was going to be a built-in below it. I drew it seven different times for seven different purposes (record storage, a bar, etc.). But sometimes built-ins just feel generic.<\/p>\n

\"blueWall Color, Simply White by Benjamin Moore<\/a>; Trim and Ceiling Color, Skylight by Farrow & Ball<\/a>. <\/p>\n

How did you picture your clients using this nook off the kitchen?\u00a0<\/p>\n

Holahan: The solarium or garden lounge, as we call it, was original to the house\u2014we just painted it. We envisioned them having their morning coffee in here. It\u2019s also the space you walk through to get to a little outdoor sitting area with a hot tub.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

What purchase felt like a good save?<\/p>\n

Holahan: They\u2019re not inexpensive, but the light fixtures in the kitchen. We went back and forth looking at a big light, but we ended up going with these ones that are actually a little under-scale. The client was reticent about the size, he felt like they needed to have a larger diameter, but going small worked.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"bedroomWallpaper, Bobbi Beck<\/a>; Bed<\/a> and Rug<\/a>, Lulu and Georgia; Bench, West Elm<\/a>; Sconces, Soho Home<\/a>. <\/p>\n

What\u2019s the story behind the mural in the primary bedroom?<\/p>\n

Holahan: We have a really excellent wallpaper installer. There was a very slight color discrepancy between the panels and she was like, \u2018I can\u2019t put this up.\u2019 We had to have it all reprinted before we could hang them. There was a lot of perfectionism!\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"viewWall, Ceiling, Trim, and Cabinetry Color, Brick House Tan by Benjamin Moore<\/a>; Sconces, RH<\/a>; Calacatta Viola Floor Tile, Battaglia Stile<\/a>; Knobs, Emtek<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Was installing their bathroom sink a feat? <\/p>\n

Holahan: The bathroom sink was like 600 or 800 pounds. It\u2019s fully carved Nero Marquina. When it was delivered, the company dropped it in the driveway. Eventually, the clients had it craned into the house. We had to change the base of the vanity to be more structural and supportive because it was so heavy that it was tipping forward on the original legs.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"black<\/p>\n

It looks like there\u2019s a ton of great storage in this bathroom.<\/p>\n

Holahan: There\u2019s not really a linen closet [in the house]. There\u2019s the laundry room, there\u2019s their closet, which is pretty small, and then there\u2019s those cabinets. All their extra towels, toothbrushes, toilet paper\u2014everything\u2014goes in there. The vibe we were referencing was \u201cLondon hotel.\u201d<\/p>\n

So, not a Best Western?<\/p>\n

Holahan: It turns\u2026not Best Western.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Lydia Geisel has been on the editorial team at Domino since 2017. Today, she writes and edits home and renovation stories, including house tours, before and afters, and DIYs, and leads our design news coverage. She lives in New York City.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"We may earn revenue from the products available on this page and participate in affiliate programs. Sign Up…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":408670,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[18019,101,103,102,104,106,105],"class_list":["post-408669","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-francisco","tag-core-home","tag-san-francisco","tag-san-francisco-headlines","tag-san-francisco-news","tag-sf","tag-sf-headlines","tag-sf-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/408669","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=408669"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/408669\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/408670"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=408669"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=408669"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=408669"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}