Get Those Renovations Going: 30 Awesome Interior Designers in the Bay Area
2016 is upon us, and now is the time to put your New Year’s resolutions in action. Once you toss out the Christmas tree and sweep up the piles of confetti strewn on the floor, you’re left with your house, just the way you remember it.
If you’re tight on space, or you’re tired of gaudy, outdated rooms, why not make the necessary changes for a nicer space that you’re glad to come home to every day? This could also include updating your garage storage! Look at these inspirational garage remodels for ideas! And for interior design, these 30 designers in the Bay Area are happy to extend their services.
Susan Diana Harris Interior Design
With work showcased on HGTV, Houzz, Apartment Therapy, Ava Living and SFGate, clearly Susan Diana Harris is a master at her craft. If you’re a fan of contemporary designs, colorful touches that make a whole space pop and roomy spaces, then Harris is the one to call. Whether an apartment or a home, she can take a boring room and make it beautiful.
Kimball Starr Interior Design
Offering such services as green design, customized furniture, color consultations, shopping for accessories to liven up a room, space planning and design remodels for any room in the home, Kimball Starr Interior Designs even specializes in creating interiors free of chemicals that may irritate some people.
“By working with a diverse team of architects, contractors, and talented artisans, our focus is on our interior detailing, thoughtful finish selections, and custom-built furnishings to transform your space into a beautiful and intelligently planned interior,” the designer says.
Katie Anderson Interior Design Consultants
Katie Anderson Interior Design Consultants don’t necessarily mind if you’re outside of the Bay Area; you can always ask for a one-hour consultation, which is done online. Anderson and her team suggest that you try this if you have a design in mind but it’s not quite ready yet or if you have no idea where to start and you’re feeling stuck creatively. Other services include item buying, decor changes and whole-home remodeling.
Niche Interiors
Having won the Best of Houzz for service and design in 2014 and 2015, Niche Interiors and its team haven’t rested on their laurels. Some of the firm’s designers are part of accredited programs like Build It Green, which strives to be environmentally-friendly in all aspects of home design. Lynn Trinh and Jennifer Jones are the company’s main designers while Heather Loosley is its senior designer and Anna Warnken-Brill is its design assistant.
Interior Design Fair
Keep Interior Design Fair in mind if your boss ever asks for design changes at the office, as the firm also offers commercial design services. Led by executive director and founder Kassin Adelman, senior designers Jaclyn Christensen and Sara Cosgrove and design associates Desiree Sokach, Ashley Banash, Shannon Linquist and Whitney Riter (and that’s just some of the team), these talented women are available for consultations, custom furniture and cabinetry design, construction management, installation, interior architecture and design planning.
Jane Antonacci Interior Design
Jane Antonacci talks about her promise to her clients: “The mission of the firm is to use our pragmatic artistic skills to create homes that convert a living space into a living experience, containing beauty for the eye, a sanctuary for the spirit, and pure joy to live in. Each home is a celebration of its owner’s achievements, tastes and interests. It is a great honor to be given the opportunity and the trust to design such homes.”
Antonacci offers budget management and fine art purchasing, helps you balance between antiques and sustainable pieces and provides custom furnishings and interior design renovations.
April Powers Interior Design
Having been featured in Architectural Digest, Western Interiors and Design and Hospitality Design, April Powers has worked in the world of interior design for nearly 20 years. She was once employed by Backen, Gillam, & Kroeger as its senior interior designer, but now that she’s struck out on her own, she’s designed homes in such parts of California as Tahoe, Santa Monica, Pebble Beach, Carmel, Woodside, Sonoma Valley and Napa.
Tucker & Marks Design, Inc.
Timothy Marks and Suzanne Tucker of Tucker & Marks Design, Inc. created their firm in 1986. Their work spans apartments, estates, country villas, beach houses, mountain lodges, family homes and more. Working alongside senior designers Christopher Roy and Amanda Ahlgren, the firm mainly focuses on touching up “comfortable high-end residential interiors that are tailored to each individual client.
“Our design work is highly detail oriented. We attend to our clients’ every need and desire — from designing custom furnishings and sumptuous upholstery, to procuring specialized lighting, finely detailed linens and beautiful accessories, and curating exceptional art and antique collections.”
Jute
Senior designer Bekah Fletcher and principal designer Ali Davin make up the design firm Jute, which was awarded the 2014 Kitchen Design award and the 2014 Residential Design award from California Home + Design, the Designer to Watch award in 2013 from SFDC’s Designers of Distinction and the Designers to Watch award in 2012 from Elle Decor’s Bloggers’ Choice. Ask about their space planning and interior architecture services and residential home design services.
Antonio Martins Interior Design
Before starting his own design firm, Antonio Martins spent time in Switzerland learning about hotel management. His hard work paid off, and he transitioned easily into a career in hotels, a path he followed for more than a decade before moving from Asia to San Francisco to start a new career in design. Browsing through his portfolio, Martins’ refined sense of style and love for the arts bleeds through in the majority of his designs, which are clean, utilitarian and yet still homey.
Green Couch
Don’t be fooled — Green Couch isn’t a furniture store. It’s an interior design firm, and one that took home awards from the 2011 and 2012 San Francisco Decorator Showcase. Tray Schlarb and Jeff Schlarb co-founded the company in 2002; both are lead designers. The rest of the team includes Jon-Ivan Weaver, Darren Ankenhauer, JoAn Ramos and Lorri Hicks. The Schlarbs and company plan on growing their business more in Southern California after successfully establishing clients in Southern Marin County and San Francisco.
Labexperiment
Leslie Bamburg is the founder of Labexperiment, another design firm with a unique name. Uniting with Interior Design Fair (covered above), the two companies have become a major powerhouse in Bay Area interior design. It’s no wonder that Labexperiment has received accolades from SF Chronicle, Casa Sugar, SFLuxe and California Home & Design.
Jill Cordner Interior Design
If you’ve read Apartment Therapy, Design*Sponge or Houzz, then perhaps you’re familiar with Jill Cordner’s work. Just as a refresher, her designs are comfortable and classy with fun accessories. She excels in color consultation, space planning, accessorizing and redoing rooms and to make them extraordinary.
Anyon Interior Design
Sarah Freihofer and Lindsay Brier are the principal leaders of Anyon Interior Design; Brier established the company in 2006. The two women, along with third team member Marea Clark, have amassed an impressive portfolio that has netted them features in publications like Luxe, San Francisco Chronicle, Women’s Day and Rue Magazine and work with major brands like HGTV, Benjamin Moore Paints and TLC. Make sure to stop by the design store, Anyon Atelier, to check out furniture, art and accessories to further brighten up your space.
Nicole Hollis Interior Design
With such clients as Calafia Cafe, Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants, Joie de Vivre Hotels and Hall Wines, Nicole Hollis Interior Design is quite a renowned firm. With hospitality and residential services, homeowners and apartment renters can expect rooms with wide ceilings that open up the space, intuitive art that matches the overall scheme of the place and refined touches that are a Hollis trademark.
Artistic Design for Living
Tineke Triggs is the founder of Artistic Design for Living, a firm that has been a Bay Area staple for more than a decade. Together with principal designers Jeff Morter and Marla Schrank and designers Noelle Nixon, Colleen Church, Halley Box, Elizabeth Hardy Corner and Susan Zavertnik, the team provides services such as project management (scheduling, status updates and budget preparation), buying custom fixtures and furniture, color consulting, space plan development and coordination with electrical engineers, mechanical engineers, contractors, architects.
Kristina Wolf Design
As an HGTV Pro Network Designer who won the 2015 Best of Houzz for design and service, Kristina Wolf has also had her work featured in The Luxury Home Quarterly, Houzz and Luxury Homes. Book a consultation by the hour, request customized furniture that fits your specifications or let Wolf pick the materials, fabrics and colors for items in the home while selecting the perfect accessories for each refurbished room. Wolf’s work is clean yet vibrant, an ideal balance.
The Wiseman Group Interior Design, Inc.
Established in 1980 by Paul Vincent Wiseman, The Wiseman Group has grown to include team members Mauricio Munoz, Brenda Mickel and James Hunter, all of them principal designers. If you’re interested in creating a greener house, these designers will work with you to draft up a more environmentally-friendly space. Make sure to pick up the firm’s book, Paul Vincent Wiseman & The Wiseman Group: Inner Spaces by Brian D. Coleman.
Insite Antiques & Design
Part antiques shop and part design studio, Insite is quite a unique Bay Area fixture. The shop “represents a fresh approach to contemporary design with a sophisticated and elegant mix of Asian art, antiques, tribal art from around the world, contemporary works by prominent California artists, and the best of modern, vintage, and custom-designed furniture.” Founder Ina Nouel, who has worked in design for over 20 years, can assist with shorter projects or whole-house work.
First Impressions Interior Design
Carol Christensen founded First Impressions Interior Design more than 25 years ago. She can help with project management to make sure that all elements of the redesign are going smoothly, add hardware to windows, get your home in tip-top shape for home staging, create a space planning blueprint, review paint and room colors and come out for in-home consultations.
Kendall Wilkinson Design & Home
Kendall Wilkinson, with her 20-plus years of experience in interior design, has appeared in the Elle Decor Showhouse and the San Francisco Decorator Showhouse an astounding six different occasions. She has done designs for brands like Thoma Bravo, Farallon Capital Management, LLC, Goldman Sachs, Dropbox, Apple, Stella & Dot and Google, and her work has appeared in Town & Country, San Francisco Chronicle, InStyle, House Beautiful and Elle Decor.
She’ll work alone or with relocation specialists, professional organizers, art consultants and others to assist you with green design, custom furniture, matching fabrics and colors, window treatments, space planning and budget development.
Design Blitz
A team of young up-and-comers, Design Blitz consists of creative and principal designer Seth Hanley, CEO and principal designer Melissa Hanley, interior designers Elizabeth Evoy and Emily Burchill, senior designer Zach Meade, architect Abby Lubniewski and more. Collaboration is key at this firm, which also designs buildings from the ground up.
EJ Interior Design
The “EJ” In EJ Interior Design is short for Eugenia Jesberg, the founder of this firm. She founded her company in 1993 and has since had her work featured in Better Homes & Gardens, California Homes, Marin Extraordinary Living, the San Francisco Chronicle and Traditional Homes.
Michael Trahan Interior Design
With an eye for both residential and commercial design, Michael Trahan Interior Design brings life to drab spaces with modern wall art, light fixtures and other decor. Their services include furniture design, room or whole-home renovations, development and construction of new rooms, event and real estate staging, exterior living space development, room rearrangement, construction administration, floor plans, lighting design, layouts for designs and consultations.
Castle Comforts Interior Design
Led by the husband and wife team of Jim and Susan Duthie, Castle Comforts Interior Design has a simple design philosophy: “When your home feels good, you feel good.” You can buy your own custom drapery and mattresses from the firm, or you can receive services like re-upholstery, paint consultations or in-home consultations for any other work you might want done.
Heidi Mortensen Design
Heidi Mortensen opened her own design firm in 1999 and hasn’t looked back. She prefers “contemporary interior design that encompasses color, warmth, and an eclectic, artistic sensibility.” A color consultation can help you plan rooms according to hue while space planning opens up rooms that were cluttered. You can also have customized furniture made and get help with room lighting, rugs, fabrics, windows and more.
Denise Maloney Interior Design
The National Council for Interior Design Qualification is one of the best certifications an interior designer can have, and Denise Maloney is a part of this elite class. “Denise’s approach to design is sensible, yet playful; perceptive and discerning, studied yet creative,” her team writes. “She embodies a profoundly astute sense of scale and color, resulting in interiors that are timeless and classic, but without sacrificing her clients’ very unique style and taste.”
Spectrum Interior Design, Inc.
Founder Amy Fischer grew up in Silicon Valley, and her interior design firm Spectrum Interior Design, Inc. serves the whole Bay Area. The company is known for its turn-key home installations, furnishings procurement, project management, construction specifications and interior architectural detailing. Fischer only takes what time is necessary during consultations to move work along so that your home looks better faster.
Jay Jeffers
With both an eponymous store and a studio, Jay Jeffers himself has been ranked as an A-list designer by Elle Decor. His work has expanded beyond San Francisco to Los Angeles, New York and beyond. Besides running a store and personally working with clients for their design needs, Jeffers also wrote a book called Collected Cool. He’ll redesign any room, including the home office, library, children’s bedrooms, the nursery, bedrooms, the family room, the kitchen, the dining room, the living room and even outdoor spaces.
Philpotts Interiors
No two homes are alike, and that’s something that the Philpotts Interiors team understands innately. “We look at the social, site and geographic aspects of each project when working with our clients,” the team writes. “The end product comes from a collaboration of a team, including local resource people. Philpotts designers take the lessons learned in Hawaii about integrating design, culture and community and apply those same lessons to each project we take on.”
The design team is led by principal interior designer Marion Philpotts-Miller and founder Mary Philpotts McGrath. Other key members include principal designers Holly Boling Ruiz, Lowell Tom and Jonathan Staub; senior designer Joe Kim; associate interior designer Kristie Kiggins; and interior designers Dawn Ching and Anne Tanaka.
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