A Modern Georgian In Forest Hill By Nanette Gordon

Author:

For a very active family of six, Nanette Gordon of Nanette Design skillfully transformed what had been a formally organized c.1917 Georgian Style home in Forest Hill into a handsome family home, while still retaining and highlighting its original proportions and details.

Forest Hill is one of San Francisco’s loveliest neighborhoods, a master planned community dating back to 1912, and full of large, handsome homes by prominent architects and exceptional landscaping, with many of the trees now over a hundred years old. There’s even an exquisite private clubhouse designed by Bernard Maybeck. But many of the homes of this period are too formal, too hierarchical in their plan to permit comfortable family life in the 21st Century. Our expectations have changed, but here, Gordon has elegantly subverted the formality.

Deep tones and a gleaming lacquered ceiling in the living room show off the grand Edwardian scale and moldings, juxtaposed with the mid-century silhouettes of the furniture. The custom pendant fixture is by Paul Ferrante; the lounge chairs are from Coup d’Etat, and the walls are papered in“Edinburgh” by Aesthetics Wallcovering.

As always, good original bones count for a lot. The main floor benefits from elegantly scaled, multi-paned windows and high ceilings, crucial to what  is perhaps the most radical (and satisfying) step the owners and designer took: seamlessly expanding the small kitchen into the original dining room and sunroom, creating an essentially casual space within a formal framework.

The Team: Under the design direction of Nanette Design; architecture by Geiszler Architects; general contractor Cairn Construction.

What We Love: The deeply considered and serene sense of scale at work here, both in furniture and color; Gordon makes everything appear effortless.

The “Twig” pendant fixture is from Jonathan Browning, as are the pendants over kitchen island.

Photo Credit: Margaret Austin Photography