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From the pages of
Decorating™ magazine
Tailored Neutrality
 Designer Carole Katleman and the owner of this house have a history. They met some 20 years ago when Katleman designed a relative's house in Florida, and they have stayed in touch ever since. "He said back then that he felt comfortable in his cousin's house and someday wanted me to design his," Katleman says. That opportunity arose several years ago when he commissioned Katleman, who'd moved to Beverly Hills, California, to renovate his apartment on San Francisco's storied Nob Hill.
Their next project together was this home. The client had relocated to Rancho Santa Fe, near San Diego, and he asked Katleman to be involved in the decorating from the beginning. With her encouragement, he settled on a sprawling, one-story house reminiscent of a Mediterranean-style villa. Encompassing 10,000 square feet, the 10-year-old house was eminently suited for the new owner's requirements, which include working at home and occasionally hosting large parties.
The homeowner, sure of Katleman's skills and taste, asked for just two things: an appropriate setting for his extensive art collection and a high degree of personal comfort and serenity. "He likes a peaceful environment without a lot of color and patterns or fussy fabrics," Katleman says. "Otherwise, he didn't have a lot of restrictions." Though his new home was imbued with a Mediterranean spirit, the saltillo tile floors, arched doorways, bulky Southwestern-style fireplaces, and roughly textured plaster walls were far too rustic for what Katleman had in mind.
Like a skilled tailor, the designer made architectural nips and tucks throughout. She substituted ebony-stained, random-width oak flooring for the tile. Doorways were squared off and raised from 8 to 10 feet high. For additional light, she oversaw the installation of unobtrusive downlight fixtures and skylights, including some in the master suite closets.
Katleman infused the house with the design influences of Spain, France, and Italy. Stucco fireplace mantels and surrounds in the living room, family room, and master bedroom gave way to limestone ones designed along curved, French-inspired lines. Wainscoting in the dining room and family room was removed, and the walls throughout were given a smooth coat of plaster. A blank wall in the breakfast area was fitted with French doors to frame a view of the adjacent pool and terrace.
The centerpiece of the house is a family room measuring approximately 20X25 feet. Katleman cut it down to a more manageable size by dividing it into two spaces: one a home entertainment area, the other a sitting area around a fireplace. "A room that large really cries out to be divided into two conversation groupings," she says. A stand-up bar to the side facilitates serving guests during parties.
To visually separate the two seating areas without diminishing the impact of the room, two sofas, separated by a library table, are arranged back-to-back. Here, the dark ceiling, downlighting, tall lamps, and high doorways enhance the sense of intimacy.
For the dining room, Katleman chose an antique Swedish table that seats 10. However, she decided that many matching chairs "would be boring and redundant." So she settled on a mix of slipcovered and leather-upholstered seating.
Recycling furnishings from her client's former apartment, Katleman fashioned an eclectic mix in the living room that spans time and geography. Beside the fireplace, a sleek grouping of cube chairs and a sofa from the modern movement forms the main sitting area. A second sun-splashed sitting area, in front of the windows, combines a modern sofa, a pair of 18th-century Italian armchairs accessorized with antique Flemish tapestry pillows, a bronze Indonesian drum table, and an African stool.
Uniting the many disparate elements is a serene, yet ever-shifting color scheme firmly rooted in gray and white. The scheme, however, goes through a series of subtle transformations from room to room. The breakfast area and family room lean toward brown and charcoal, for example, while the living and dining rooms are more beige and taupe.
Though elegance and sophistication are the hallmarks of this extensive decorating project, Katleman emphasizes that there was never any sacrifice of comfort for purposes of good design. And, above all, her client is pleased with the results.
"Working on creating a home is a very personal relationship," Katleman says. "My client's design sensibility became more refined during our first collaboration, and with that history, we were more simpatico when we embarked on this project—and that made it all the more joyful. Hopefully, we'll get to do it again."
Credits
Text: Jim Kemp
Photography: Ed Gohlich
Field Editor: Andrea Caughey
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