Living

Living Space

Local cabinetmaker Peter Pomerantz made the custom, white oak cabinetry and Flywheel Industrial Arts fabricated the steel hood. “It’s about lines and shadows; no hardware,” Herrmann says.

A pair of Molded Plywood lounge chairs by Charles and Ray Eames for Herman Miller sit opposite a BoConcept coffee table and a sofa of Paul’s design. For his father’s book collection, Paul created a library around the double-height staircase.

Large picture windows in the open living room frame the surrounding forest.

"The asymmetrical volume, enveloping form, chiaroscuro effect of the curved corridor, shadows, margins, thresholds, voids, and raw materials allow the unique atmosphere of the place to emerge without concealing the structural logic of the house," says Antonio Di Bacco of Atelier Barda.

In the lounge, a Theatre Two-Seater sofa joins two U-Turn Swivel Chairs, all from Design Within Reach. The rug is by Scott Group.

Open shelving between the living room and dining area maximizes light and air flow and showcases eclectic objects, which include old printing blocks found at a garage sale and bowls homeowner Kathryn Tyler’s mother bought in South Africa. For Tyler, storage is critical. "It's something that always gets overlooked but it's actually the most important thing. I calculated the linear footage of the books I own to make sure everything would fit."

On one side of the house, a white central staircase leads to a split-level landing the Robertsons call "the reading room." "We needed a place to hang out and for the kids to read," explains owner Vivi Nguyen-Robertson. Awaiting the birth of the couple's son, she relaxes in a built-in reading nook in the library.

The rumpus room on the lowest level opens out to the pool deck and features a Boyd floor lamp from Australian brand Jardan, and a Nebula Nine sofa by Diesel Creative Team for Moroso.

In the living room, the team raised the firebox, cladded the hearth in a tactile plaster finish, and installed a floating limestone bench that wraps the column. On the left (unseen) is integrated firewood storage, and a cozy reading nook sits on the right. "The bench was designed to be used as a social space/lounge, and is well-used," says Coffey. The wood beams and red brick were scraped and stripped many times to remove the silver paint and reclaim a natural state.

The double-height wall of windows in the living room looks out on the property and was a big draw on their first walk-through.

The kitchen and dining space lead to a sunken lounge anchored by a fireplace built with stone from Sydney-based provider Eco Outdoor. Art by Bobby Clark hangs above a sofa from HK Living accented with pillows from Città Design. The rugs are from Armadillo & Co.

A built-in window seat across from the kitchen gives guests a spot to sit close to the cooking action.

The sunken living room created an opportunity for a bespoke joinery unit that can be used as a bench overlooking the courtyard as well as a storage space for books and objects. Topped with the same Iranian travertine marble that is used for the flooring in the entrance, it extends the hallway along the courtyard into the living room.

Raj and Watts extended the fireplace column to the ceiling to highlight the room’s expansive scale, and had it coated in concrete plaster. It was important to retain the wood-burning fireplace—a rarity in the city—but “we wanted to re-clad it in a material that also spoke to the industrial past of the building,” says Raj.

Floor-to-ceiling shelves and storage bookend a cabinet that conceals the television.

Now, built-in sofas line the perimeter of the room and utilize the room’s shape better.