Room of the Day: Sealed With a Kiss

When Heather Brock and Jennifer Wundrow of Nest Design applied to decorate a room in the San Francisco Decorator Showcase (a charity event for which more than two dozen designers have overhauled as many rooms), they requested a small powder room on the first floor. However, when the owners of the home got a look at the plans, they fell in love with the design duo’s bold wallpaper choice and requested that Brock and Wundrow revamp their daughter’s bathroom instead. The designers had to expand their plans, but they hung on to the wallpaper that gave them the go-ahead kiss.

Photos by Christopher Stark

Room at a Glance
Who will use this room: A girl
Location: Presidio Heights neighborhood of San Francisco
Size: 115 square feet (10 square meters)
Designers: Heather Brock and Jennifer Wundrow of Nest Design
Tip: If something doesn’t work as planned, you can often make it work by trying it a different way.

The wall covering is sealed with an untold number of lipstick kisses, and it was the inspiration for the entire space. “We love wallpaper,” Brock says. “We are always urging our clients to use it in their homes, although this one is bolder than what we usually suggest.”

For this room the designers layered bold on bold. That choice is embodied in the shiny brass backsplash. It’s a glam material with surprising DIY roots. “We bought the brass panels from a commercial sheeting company, epoxied them on waterproof drywall and hammered in brass tacks,” Brock says. “Then we shined them up with Maas brass polish.”

Brock says that to maintain the golden glow, brass polish would have to be used regularly, but adds that there’s a beauty to patinated metal as well.

Lips wallpaper: Voutsa; light fixture: Lindsay Adelman Studio


A custom Lucite tray that spans the tub has proved so popular with visitors that the designers plan to sell it on their website in the future.


A marble shelf on top of the brass panels holds a display of art from the John Berggruen Gallery. Art consultant Tatem Read helped the designers select pieces from Brice Marden and Frank Stella. The display of Yves Saint Laurent lipsticks is the designers’ own flourish. “I myself rarely wear red lipstick,” Brock says. “I’m more of a Cherry ChapStick person.”


Art by Wayne Thiebaud (“Eight Lipsticks”) mimics life.

The floor has its own striking pattern. It’s laid so the veins make a chevron pattern, and brass Schluter strips (metal transition strips) act as dividers.


One of the original concepts was to give the room an “XO” theme, the traditional symbols for a kiss and a hug. But the difficulty in laying X-shaped tiles led to a change in plans.

The O pattern in the custom cabinet remains. “Originally, we had the center circle shelf filled with rolled-up towels,” Brock says. “But another designer came by and said, ‘I knew you would do that!’ So we decided to switch gears.”

Instead, the designers hung a spiky, urchin-like accessory in the circular cubby and used the spines to hold necklaces.


The designers converted a dresser into a bathroom vanity. “We like to use something black in a room to anchor it,” Brock says. “This dresser has dark horn panels, and it was perfect.” She notes that the manufacturers say no animals were harmed to make the piece.

The curvy, bright red mirror stands up to the background of kisses.

“Adding so much texture and pattern creates interest and depth,” says the designer. “We are always asking our clients to push themselves, and it was fun to push ourselves for this project.”

See more of the 2015 Decorator Showcase house and learn how to visit it here.

Bone Burst Chest: Emporium Home; Easton Mirror: Oomph

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URL: Room of the Day: Sealed With a Kiss http://www.decor-ideas.org/cases-view-id-26053.html