Houzz Tour: Unboxing a San Francisco Condo

There’s a reason the words “cookie cutter” and “condo” are often found in the same sentence. Even the most luxurious of units often has a boxy, sterile feel. When a client approached San Francisco designer Eche Martinez about making her newly purchased home in the city’s Millennium Towers an art-filled, feminine retreat, he quickly realized her needs went beyond new furniture and finishes. He brought on Peter Englander of The Englander Building Company to help him create something outside the box.

Houzz at a Glance
Who lives here: A single woman
Location: San Francisco
Size: 2,000 square feet; 2 bedrooms, 2½ bathrooms

Photography by Angie Silvy

Martinez quickly figured out that he and his client shared the same taste. “She showed me a portfolio of her newly purchased art, and I couldn’t believe it,” he says. “We had both been at Art Basel in Miami at the same time, and she had purchased many of the pieces I fell in love with.” They determined that her new home would be designed around the budding collection.

Club chair: cotton velvet, custom, Coup d’Etat; art: Cassandria Blackmore


From the start the owner made it clear she wanted a space designed in her distinctive feminine style. “She had been living in the suburbs with her husband and, sadly, he died,” says Martinez. “She wanted a place to start over, a place of her own.” He developed a palette of purples, pinks and soft grays. “But when she kept pushing me for more, asking for structural changes, I called in Peter Englander,” says Martinez.

Rug: custom, Mansour Rugs; oval table: Layla Grace



The fireplace is one of the prime examples of out-of-the-box-thinking. The client wanted one, but fireplaces are not allowed in the building. The designer found an LED-electric fireplace with amazingly realistic “flames.” The contractor built a surround that adds to the effect, while Martinez applied a reflective, crystal-studded wallpaper.

Wallpaper: Elitis


One of the first orders of business was to drop the ceiling to accommodate art lighting. “She wanted to illuminate the art and call it out,” says Englander. “The ceiling was painted concrete slab, so the only way to make way for the electrical work was to lower the ceiling a bit — we dropped it by less than 2 inches.”

Sofa: Donghia


Timing was another challenge. “She had sold her previous home, so we had to hurry to finish the job,” says Martinez. “We met on a Friday and picked out everything. The next Monday we went around to the stores and showrooms and ordered everything. We said, ‘We have to have this in 12 weeks — can you do it?’ Surprisingly, most of them could work within our time frame.”


Many elements in the home have a reflective quality: the mirrored coffee table, the silk rug, the chrome lamps on the console. “The client is young, smart and glamorous,” says Martinez. “I wanted to give her a home that reflected her personality.”

Art above console: Paule Marrot


The bursts of strong color are meant to build character. “Her main issue with the condo was that it was too beige, too generic,” says Martinez. “Elements like the bright art and hot-pink chair give the space an identity.”


The dining room table, custom made to fit the tight space, is completely covered in pieces of mirrored glass. The white chairs with thin chrome legs and the effervescent bubble chandelier give the area an almost ethereal feel.

Table: custom, Coup d’Etat; light fixture: Anthropologie


At the advice of her designer, the owner chose more masculine trappings for the office. “I told her, ‘You can’t make it a femme castle. You might meet someone someday, and he will need a place to be,’” Martinez says. For a luxe feel, the wall is upholstered in a wool fabric with a herringbone pattern.

Desk, pendant lighting: Room & Board; chair: Design Within Reach; cabinetry: California Closets; rug: Jonathan Adler; wall covering: Philip Jeffries; art: Greg Haberny


But the hot-pink goat-skin runner leading to the master bedroom is a more Carrie-Bradshaw-before-she-married-Mr.-Big move. For an extra hit of sexy, Martinez had it trimmed in metallic leather.

Carpet: custom, Stark Carpet


In the bedroom all is quiet. “She is a yoga instructor,” says Martinez. “She wanted a peaceful space.” The name of the paint color — Mouse’s Back — says it all. To position the bed so the client could wake up every morning to a view of the Bay Bridge, Englander had to reposition all of the electrical work.

Slipper chairs: Donghia; wool curtain, velvet headboard fabric: Holland & Sherry; nightstands: Coup d’Etat; large painting: Katina Huston; bolster fabric: Sandra Jordan; headboard lighting: Artemide; paint: Mouse’s Back, Farrow & Ball


By positioning the bed just so, the design team gave their client a room with a view.


The nightstand is covered with parchment dyed in an ombré effect. The curtains are made of alpaca wool. “Texture and pattern were very important to her,” says Martinez. “She cares about how everything feels.”

Nightstand: Coup d’Etat


Martinez introduced his client to the Dolby Chadwick gallery, where she discovered artist Gonzalo Fuenmayor, who created the artwork above the bed in the guest bedroom. Although the piece is done in black and white, Martinez picked up its flamboyant nature with bright punches of turquoise.

Bed: Room & Board; lamp: vintage, Coup d’Etat




A small desk gives visitors a place to work at or set their belongings on.

Desk: Jonathan Adler; chair: Room & Board with Christopher Hyland fabric


Englander calls the remodel of the master bath a complete gut job. Now it’s outfitted with marble tile and a voluptuous tub topped by a bubble-like light fixture designed by Martinez and built by Englander. “Code makes it tough to put any kind of light fixture over a tub,” the contractor says. “It required a lot of engineering.”

Tub, fixtures: Waterworks; tile: Ann Sacks; marble: Integrated Resources; side table: Donghia; art: Bill Armstrong



Englander had to create a box to house the new plumbing, making the perfect opportunity for a tub on a platform.


The client needed more storage, so Englander converted one of the showers to a closet, transforming a full bathroom into a powder room. “I kept an eye to the future,” he says. “I made it so that if she ever decides to sell it, the closet can be easily reconverted to a shower.”

URL: Houzz Tour: Unboxing a San Francisco Condo http://www.decor-ideas.org/cases-view-id-22304.html