Tour the Traditional 1920s Oakland Dwelling of Just one Modernist Designer

“I have a extremely present day flavor,” states Susie Novak, founder of Susie Novak Interiors. “I’ve generally loved the charm of old houses but was not specifically intrigued in standard design and style.” That meant purchasing a 1920s home was a obstacle for the inside designer, who now lives in her transformed abode with her husband, Matt, a real estate non-public fairness skilled, and their two daughters. The practical and charming site, nevertheless, certain her to take the plunge.

“In Oakland, the Trestle Glen community is a particular blend of urban and suburban,” Novak says. “It is near to downtown restaurants, the freeway to San Francisco, and the hills for hikes.”

The 3,000-sq.-foot, two-story house essential sizeable do the job to make it useful for a modern day life-style. Amid the major changes: The basis necessary to be fixed, which associated lifting the residence. The kitchen area was also opened up by getting out an adjacent bedroom, and the staircase was relocated and widened. In other places, a 220-sq.-foot accessory dwelling unit, which was at first a garage, was transformed into a fantastically habitable space–home office environment. All of this, of program, took a important amount of time.

“We obtained the property in 2011 and have been in several phases of rework since then,” states Novak, who became her personal most demanding shopper, and only just lately accomplished the undertaking. “I like doing the job with folks on their houses and becoming presented type and spending budget parameters—it reins possibilities in and you are presented a timeline. When you really do not have a established deadline, it can change into a under no circumstances-ending remodel, which can be fun, but is surely costly and exhausting.”

Soon after living in a modern day warehouse loft in West Oakland, the designer seized this possibility to widen her horizons in renovating this new residence. “It took me time to adapt my design and style,” she confesses. “But I have learned so significantly about standard interiors and what is so heat, whimsical, and quirky about them.” 1 of Novak’s favorite aspects is the windows in the entrance of the household. “We truly experienced to replace them, but we did so in a way exactly where we preserved the search,” she claims. “We requested personalized wooden windows and made use of antique glass to get that aged property feel.”

In the eating home, Novak additional wainscoting to provide even a lot more visual desire to the household. But thanks to its bathroom and walk-in closet, the key suite is a haven that Novak specially enjoys. “If you have the room, it is so crucial to generate a massive [primary room] within the house,” the inside designer states. “It’s like getting your own small pied-à-terre—a sanctuary the place you can escape the young children but also a area for them to use that is inviting.”

Different products, these types of as stucco, plaster, and marble, have been used in the course of. Several blue factors, including tiles, paint shades, and carpets, mirror a person of Novak’s personal affinities. “I seriously preferred the residence to come to feel gathered, curated, eclectic, and own,” she notes. The remaining result, which brims with character, traces its inspiration from the California coast to interiors of Great Britain and houses of the French countryside. “In several strategies, this is my aspiration dwelling,” Novak demonstrates. “But I glimpse at interiors so significantly that it is hard to pin down all my desires in a person location.”