See How a Bright Victorian Apartment Got Its Collected Look

About three years ago, Daphne Steinberg and her fiancé, Andreas Nauleau, decided to start over. Nauleau was bored doing research for a hedge fund in New York City, and Steinberg was ready to move on from teaching first grade and kindergarten. They moved to San Francisco, bringing nothing but a chair, mattress and bed frame in search of new careers and an apartment to rent. Nauleau became a software engineer, while Steinberg decided to pursue her dreams of becoming an interior designer.

Houzz at a Glance
Location: San Francisco
Who lives here: Daphne Steinberg, an interior designer, and Andreas Nauleau, a software engineer
Size: About 600 square feet (55.7 square meters); 1 bedroom, 1 bathroom

The couple’s Victorian apartment, with hardwood floors, beautiful molding and a white color palette, became Steinberg’s test lab as she worked her way up through the design world at HD Buttercup and the high-end design firm Jeffers Design Group, before branching out and becoming her own boss at Daphne Steinberg Interior Design.

She and Nauleau spent months living with just the chair and mattress while Steinberg came up with a plan to furnish and decorate their new home, establishing an eclectic style that mixes passed-down art and accessories from Steinberg’s grandparents and new furniture that had to fit the less-than-600-square-foot unit. More important, everything that went into the space had to have meaning and originality. “I didn’t want to rush it and get stuff I didn’t care about,” she says. “And I don’t want to pick pieces I’ve seen before.”

Steinberg used a large yellow and black Richard Lytle painting handed down from her grandmother as the jumping-off point. That set things up to incorporate bold color. “I’m not scared of color,” she says. “Plus, the space has such great, bright light that I felt it would be easy to bring in a lot of bright colors.”

The round magazine rack is vintage. A ficus plant sits in a basket from Pier 1 Imports. “We use that as our Christmas tree, because there’s no room for a real one,” Steinberg says.



It’s a tight squeeze in the living room, so Steinberg had to plan the size of the big pieces carefully. Most sofas wouldn’t fit through the narrow entryway. She chose a low-slung, rather shallow sofa to fill the longer wall, which has pocket doors that were sealed shut and painted over by the time she moved in. A classic flokati rug grounds the space.

Steinberg picks accessories piece by piece. “I’m not going out and looking for this exact style of sofa or lamp,” she says. “I pick what speaks to me, what’s different.”

While she was walking by Out of the Closet thrift store in San Francisco, a pink leopard-print lava lamp in the window practically called out to her. “I took one look and thought, ‘I need that,’” she says. “I love it. It’s just funky and I’m super into the 1970s. I’m getting married in September, and I said I don’t care what’s there but I must have a disco ball.” The lava lamp sits on a side table near an antique lamp given to her by her mother in high school.

More leopard print shows up in the sheepskin pillows on the sofa. “I love leopard,” Steinberg says. “It’s a neutral to me. It’s just a classic pattern that’s fun.”

Steinberg’s stepmother gave her the rectangular velvet pillows by Kevin O’Brien, whom her stepmother knows through the home goods shop she owns in New York, called Paper Trail. A yellow throw blanket complements the painting, while another blanket adds a splash of cool blue to balance all the warm colors.

Sofa, coffee table and love seat: HD Buttercup; leopard-print pillows: Sheepskin USA; rectangular velvet pillows: Kevin O’Brien; blankets: West Elm


A midcentury-style TV console sits opposite the sofa. Above it hangs a gallery wall that Steinberg created by cutting prints out of a book of works by Pierre-Laurent Brenot that she bought in Paris. “That gallery wall didn’t happen until a year and a half after we moved in,” she says. “The wall didn’t have anything on it during that time as I thought about what I wanted to do.”

Frames: Ikea

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A large bay window was the ideal spot for a dining area. Steinberg chose acrylic chairs to keep the views unobstructed. The marble-topped table with a chunky wood base can seat six. When the couple isn’t entertaining or eating, this spot acts as Steinberg’s workspace. “Or you can just sit there and watch the neighborhood happening below,” she says.

Chairs: Ikea; table: CB2 (discontinued); Savoy large pendant: Arteriors



Steinberg has many books from her days as a literature major. “I have to have books with me at all times,” she says.

Bookcase: Organic Modernism

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She bought the neon lamp while driving cross-country with her best friend. “I have all these things around me all the time that are really meaningful,” she says. “It’s not decor for decor’s sake.”


A picture of her grandfather leans against books beneath a tiger head Nauleau bought in Brazil. The hourglass belonged to her grandmother.

Steinberg wrote her college thesis on Mark Twain; his books fill many spots on the shelves.



A built-in cabinet in the entryway acts as a catchall for keys and sunglasses.



A vintage Baker desk that Steinberg bought for $300 fills the apartment’s other bay window, in the bedroom. “I will keep that desk with me forever,” she says.

Chair: HD Buttercup; pillow: Kevin O’Brien


Steinberg painted the sliding closet doors herself, following a DIY malachite painting technique she found online. She began with a lighter base coat of paint, then added a layer of thinned darker green with a bit of glaze that she applied with a fan brush in a swirly pattern.



A map of Paris meant for kids to color hangs over the bed. The orange lamp belonged to Steinberg’s grandparents. The heart was part of an Ikea lamp that she disassembled and mounted to the wall. “People always ask how I describe my style, and it’s the hardest question to answer,” she says.

Side table: HD Buttercup; bedding: Pottery Barn; three small pillows: Merci (in Paris); white pillows: Bella Notte; rug: flea market

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