When a couple asked Alice Benjamin, principal at Alice Benjamin Interiors, for an introductory meeting to look at their condominium, Benjamin already knew a lot about the space. Oddly enough, she had looked at it as a potential home 11 years earlier, when she and her family moved to Chicago from Canada. “It was so […]
“We’re water people, that’s what brought us to Belvedere,” says designer Eugenia Jesberg. “We always wanted to live here on the lagoon.” When Jesberg and her husband, who is an avid sailor, started looking in Belvedere, they lived in Mill Valley, where the designer has had her firm, EJ Interior Design, since 1993. Her professional […]
“I never thought I would live in a dome,” says the wife, who, with her husband, purchased a house in Sonoma in 2018—a house that included a geodesic dome. The couple were based in San Francisco and wanted a respite from the city. “We fell in love with the view,” she recalls, and that ultimately […]
A modest 1950s-era Kentfield ranch—not far from the waterfront and abutting a lush, protected estuary—seemed like a great investment for a young couple looking to start a life in Marin. They planned to upgrade to a larger abode a few years later. But they quickly found themselves smitten with their charming block, where neighbors talk […]
A couple raised four children in the home they lived in for 21 years, and after their youngest child launched, the couple sold the family home, moved to San Francisco and began looking for property in the tiny coastal community of Point Reyes. “I had a file of architects in the area, and I noticed […]
Sometimes a roadblock leads to an interesting route, as was the case when a North Shore couple discovered an obstacle to building their smaller, chicer, empty-nest abode on a lush one-acre ravine-front lot in Highland Park — the existing house on the site. “This area is a historic district, so we couldn’t tear it down,” […]
After a six-year stint in L.A., Harry and Patti Cocciolo returned to Marin in search of a new family home. They had one mandate: “We wanted a place surrounded by nature,” Harry says. “Our L.A. neighborhood felt very urban, lots of freeway noise. Part of the appeal of moving back was the opportunity for more […]
On a tucked-away street in Malibu that’s known only among locals, there’s a Mediterranean villa-style home that was built in the seventies. Its name appears on the front gate and in a mosaic on the front steps: “Villa di Vita Bella.” “That means beautiful life in Italian,” says owner Susan B. Noyes, the founder of […]
After their Wilmette home of three decades suffered significant smoke and water damage from an attic fire, John and Pam McCambridge turned to architect Mike Shively and interior designer Marshall Erb to revitalize the house for their next chapter in life. Shively had just redesigned their garage and swimming-pool patio, creating a chic area with […]
In 2006 Emilia and Tad Buchanan moved their family of five into a spacious, south-facing home in Mill Valley. It had a fabulous floor plan and epic views, to boot. But, after a dozen or so years of nesting, the finishes began to feel dated. “It had that late nineties feel,” says Emilia, “Dark cabinets, […]
