This Vibrant Bay Space Retreat Is a Riot of Coloration, Sample—and Alpacas
“Otherworldly” is no doubt one of many best phrase designer Ken Fulk can give you to elucidate a sprawling western hilltop compound he and his intrepid group of designers have envisioned in Woodside, California. Not surprisingly, even with the best context for time and place—whether or not or not or not you’ve visited the property earlier than or not—it evokes an intense feeling of being transported someplace far-flung an identical to the terraced southern area of South America, and for good set off.
That tingling pleasure of sudden journey is strictly the response Fulk’s purchasers, Wences and Belle Casares, hope to elicit from individuals who descend on the 6.7-acre retreat perched excessive among the many many many redwoods contained in the San Francisco Peninsula metropolis. “There’s a childlike sense of shock about this place and, frankly, about them too,” says the ELLE DECOR A-Pointers designer. Figuring out this, it shortly turns into evident that wanderlust has frequently carried out a job contained in the Casareses’ lives: In 2004, the couple, accompanied by their youthful son, Dio, launched proper right into a three-year crusing journey all world wide on their 47-foot catamaran, Good, all by way of which they welcomed their second son, Teo.
The upholstered wall inside the principle mattress room is by Pamela Lee Wiley, the mattress and facet tables are custom-made, the pendants are by Blackman Cruz, the stool is by Arno Declerq, and the rug is by Stark.
Translating that very same joie de vivre into one issue tangible, like this terribly layered, multistructure residence, was an journey unto itself for Fulk, significantly given his purchasers’ distinctive backgrounds and life-style. Wences, a monetary know-how entrepreneur, is from Patagonia and is the cofounder of Xapo Financial institution (he furthermore launched Argentina’s first web service supplier 30 years before now); his accomplice, Belle, is a Vassar-educated East Coast expat descended from an extended line of creatives. Her father, retired actor Dennis Holahan, portrayed Jerry the Banker in Brian De Palma’s 1983 movie Scarface, and her maternal grand-father was the novelist John O’Hara, who wrote Butterfield 8.
See Additional of This Ken Fulk–Designed Showcase
“California feels barely bit like Patagonia at occasions, and there’s a rusticity—nonetheless good modernity—to the quite a few dwellings,” Fulk says concerning the expansive dwelling house home windows and heat and ruggedness of the picket. “You may need this concept that you simply simply’re at a resort.”
All through the 5,800-square-foot, four-bedroom, three-and-a-half-bathroom fundamental dwelling, Fulk devised an open-concept good room the place the household—together with teenage daughter Isadora—spends principally in all probability probably the most time collectively. “It’s an lovely, hovering area that’s actually the center of the home,” Fulk says. This welcoming expanse features a centrally situated curvaceous seven-piece custom-made sectional upholstered in pink velvet from Holly Hunt, an Oggetti-designed Showtime Orgo cocktail desk, Pierre Frey–coated Gregorius Pineo stools, and a custom-made pink chandelier contained in the methodology of Jean Royère. “It’s an architectural model that, in a number of palms, would probably have acquired an additional restrained inside design idea. Instead, we deliberately wished it to replicate the vibrancy of the individuals who inhabit it,” Fulk offers.
Elsewhere, the inside’s connection to nature can usually appear wildly surreal. Throughout the midst of the first mattress room, Fulk positioned a custom-made white oak and lacquer mattress so the couple could hold watch over their menagerie of animals, which incorporates alpacas, goats, canines, and chickens. “They’re normally mendacity in mattress, and an alpaca may stroll up and put its head right by means of the large open window,” he says.
All through the examine, the daybed and curtains are in a Pierre Frey materials, and the wallpaper is by Designers Guild. The lacquered desk is from the Fifties, the chair is by Jonathan Adler, the desk lamp is fundamental, and the fish wall artwork work is by Ruth Asawa.
On the selection facet of a spherical drive sits a six-mattress room, four-bathroom guesthouse that nearly rivals its companion—not in measurement, however in styling. “Your whole guesthouse is a riot of shade and sample,” Fulk says. “It’s a bit like Alice in Wonderland in among the finest methods we’ve magnified the decor.” All through the bedrooms, vibrantly graphic wallpapers by Christian Lacroix, Pierre Frey, and Osborne & Little truly actually really feel as if that that they had been hand-selected by Lewis Carroll himself. To not be outdone, a consuming area and bar, full with an Argentinean-style barbecue, have been extensively outfitted for a household that likes to entertain and spend time open air.
The wallpaper contained in the guesthouse’s fundamental mattress room is by Osborne & Little, the mattress is custom-made, the pendants are by Women & Gents Studio, and the facet tables are by Lawson-Fenning.
Admired as reasonably loads for romancing interiors as he’s for conceiving unbelievably cinematic life, Fulk explains that for people who uncover themselves lucky sufficient to dwell in a setting like this, it’s not about an accumulation of factors however what takes place there. “It’s frequently full of meals, music, and pleasure, and it’s truly intoxicating,” he says. “Not merely the design, however in among the finest methods their lives unfurl on the property.”
This story initially appeared contained in the September 2024 challenge of ELLE DECOR. SUBSCRIBE
