Style: Arts & Crafts
Building Type: Condo 2-Units
Year Built: 1907
Sq. Ft.: 1,500
Location: Inner Richmond
CLIENT GOALS
Our clients were seeking a program that would improve functionality within social areas of their flat, while creating privacy for the bedrooms. The classic San Francisco floor plan, created a division of the living room, kitchen and dining room which minimized space for large family gatherings – and with bedrooms interspersed, privacy was challenged.
The couple was keen to combine the living, dining and kitchen spaces in an open arrangement, better for entertaining, and updating their kitchen.
DESIGN SOLUTION
Team Centoni devised a new room layout, which effectively reversed the floor plan of the flat, and redesigned the kitchen, bathroom and laundry area.
When work was complete, the living room (in the front of the flat) was converted to a bedroom, two of the other bedrooms were upgraded with new lighting, electrical and weather and sound insulating windows. The space in the back of the flat was opened up for a new living room, dining room and eat-in kitchen.
The kitchen floor plan was altered by opening walls to create better flow with the dining room, and a porch that had been serving as a laundry room (a classic San Francisco situation) was converted and integrated into the kitchen. A laundry station was discreetly tucked into the kitchen.
The owners are longtime residents and business owners in San Francisco. After selling their well-known Presidio butcher shop, they kept the well-loved commercial chopping board. Centoni restored the cutting board, which is now a focal point in the kitchen.
Another design highlight in the kitchen is a custom made tile backsplash featuring an olive tree and wildlife that was created in the owner’s home country of Palestine. The scene is an important family symbol.
The flat also featured a tiny toilet room which was separate from the shower room. The two rooms were combined to create a comfortable bathroom with modern amenities, though preserving a historic aesthetic.
Centoni took care to restore and re-install any original light fixtures. Where that wasn’t possible, replicas were purchased. Centoni was also able to rehab all of the doors in the flat and restore door hardware with working mechanisms.
Care was taken to match floor patterns in any new rooms created so as to maintain the aesthetic of the original floors.
The entire project is reflective of Centoni’s approach of creating living spaces that are comfortable and practical along with touches that are meaningful to the property’s owners.
