Bold Thinking

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With doses of color and creativity, a once-drab dwelling lives up to its potential

In the dining room, a custom bench and dry bar are joined by Nuevo’s Montana table, Olivya Stone’s Kibo chairs and Arteriors’ Leighton chandelier. Photos by Christopher Stark.

When it came to paint colors, these homeowners in Piedmont didn’t shy away from bold choices. “Most clients might waffle on an avocado-green bathroom,” says Clara Jung of Banner Day Interiors, “but they were game.” In addition to the soft green in the primary bathroom—Farrow & Ball’s Vert de Terre—the adjacent bedroom is enveloped in Benjamin Moore’s Newburyport Blue, and the trim and door of a guest bathroom features Farrow & Ball’s Brinjal.

The kitchen was overhauled with white oak cabinetry, Midnight Crystal polished quartzite from IRG and an Iron Abode floating shelf to store and display favorite pieces. Photos by Christopher Stark.
In the kitchen—like the dining room—interior designer Clara Jung contrasted white oak with cabinetry painted in Farrow & Ball’s Off-Black. Photos by Christopher Stark.

“She definitely is not into neutrals,” Jung continues, describing the wife. When the client and her husband purchased the 2,100-square-foot four-bedroom house, however, it was awash in beige. Now, upon entering the residence, the living room sofa, upholstered in a deep mustard performance velvet, hints at the clients’ affinity for color, especially jewel tones. The primary suite in particular stands out. “If you’re going dark on the walls,” Jung explains of the couple’s sleeping quarters, “you have to make an intentional design decision on whether to leave the trim on have multiple functions.”

A door and trim painted in Farrow & Ball’s Brinjal, combined with House of Hackney’s Trematonia wallpaper and CB2’s bone-inlay Caraway mirror, yield a whimsical guest bathroom. Photos by Christopher Stark.

In the dining room she replaced the existing fireplace—“a monolith in the middle,” Jung recalls—and constructed a half-wall around the new one for better delineation from the neighboring living room. With the clients’ penchant for entertaining in mind she made the most of the space along a wall of the dining room with built-in millwork: a white oak bench and a dry bar painted in Farrow & Ball’s Off-Black.

The primary bedroom is painted in Benjamin Moore’s Newburyport Blue and furnished with RH’s Cayden canopy bed and Soho Home’s Warwick dressers. Photos by Christopher Stark.
The primary bathroom leans toward the traditional with Arbus Grand marble mosaic floor tiles from New Ravenna, a tub surrounded by Breccia Capraia from IRG and Farrow & Ball’s Vert de Terre for the walls and molding.
Photos by Christopher Stark.
Visual Comfort’s Selecta sconces, in bronze and antique brass, illuminate the custom vanity fabricated by Dimensions Unlimited and burnished brass ceiling-mounted mirrors from Mirror Home. Photos by Christopher Stark.

The portfolio for Jung’s Berkeley-based firm is populated with projects where color and pattern abound—and this one is no exception. Still, she says, “these clients were amazing. They ran with all of our suggestions. They were very decisive and trusted the process—and it shows in how well the house turned out.”