There are ways you can travel without going anywhere at all, or at least that was the hypothesis Arthur’s had for the design of this mid-century home in the hills of Oakland, California. Our clients, both avid travelers with a penchant for distant locales, had lived in the space for several years without doing much to it, and it was time for them to remedy a drab renovation from the early aughts while also making their mark.

Arthur’s started the design process by weaving together a narrative of commonalities found across objects from their travels—both the spaces they inhabit and the many figures tangential to them. How do the shapes of Meso-American pottery echo the modernist sculptures of a Barbara-Hepworth-feeling vase? In what ways are works in the Hollywood Regency style evocative of traditional Moroccan brass detailing? 

We clad a bland white floor-to-ceiling fireplace in a dark tile evocative of lava rock and then fill the living room with a slew of far-flung items - a sky blue Anfibio sofa, Rres rugs hand-crafted in Oaxaca, a Noguchi floor lamp, Jeanneret’s chairs for Chandigarh in India. We hang &Tradition’s Filigrana lamps over a Regency-inspired dining banquette to transport us to Venice’s murano factories. For the kitchen we choose a graphic cork floor and a quartzite countertop that feel like they would be at home in the jungles of South America. In the new bathroom we swap out an unsightly overflow drain with a custom one by Jordan McDonald. When it comes and is installed, its duo of blue birds complete the space nicely. It’s a room that’s made for flying away.