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Houzz Tour: A Home’s Spanish Colonial Style Gets a Rich Refresh

A designer gives this Northern California house a cohesive flow and enhances its historic charm

Becky Harris June 4, 2018

Houzz Contributor. Hi there! I live in a 1940s cottage in Atlanta that I'll describe as "collected." I got into design via Landscape Architecture, which I studied at the University of Virginia.

Houzz Contributor. Hi there! I live in a 1940s cottage in Atlanta that I'll describe... More

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Jute Interior Design

Photos by Lisa Romerein

House at a Glance
Who lives here: A couple and their two teenage sons
Location: Hillsborough, California
Size: 4,000 square feet (372 square meters); four bedrooms, five bathrooms
Designer: Alison Davin of Jute Interior Design

This 1920s Spanish Colonial home outside San Francisco had become a hodgepodge of disjointed additions over the years. While it had great bones and fantastic original details such as ceiling beams, archways and large Gothic arched windows, the style and flow were muddled. Interior designer Alison Davin created a comfortable, style-appropriate scheme using walnut, cement tile, iron, white walls, glass and dark bronze to tie the house to its roots and provide comfort for the family of four that lives here.

Scope of work. The job was done in phases. Phase one was the complete remodeling of the kitchen and bathrooms; phase two covered the remainder of the living spaces, reconfiguring the second floor; and phase three was the refreshing of the home’s exterior, now wrapping up.

Style. The design is a fresh take on Spanish Colonial.

Front porch. At the main entry, a custom walnut door with iron trimmings, a Spanish Revival-style lantern, dark rafters and an archway offer clues to what’s inside.

Door hardware: Rocky Mountain Hardware; lantern: DLG Lighting

Jute Interior Design

Entry. In the front entry, encaustic cement tiles on the stair risers and an iron railing catch the eye and set the tone for the house. “The immediate entry has a very low ceiling, so I wanted to draw the eye up the stairs and down the hallway,” Davin says. She designed the railing to fit in with the home’s original Spanish Colonial style.

“One of my clients likes antique rugs but for the most part prefers new pieces. That’s just her thing,” Davin says. So instead of buying an antique bench, Davin designed one herself that looks like it’s from the era and fits the space to a T. She topped it with cushions in a Katie Leede textile. The herringbone oak floor is original. Davin scattered vintage Oushak rugs like the one seen here throughout the house to add pattern and touches of age.

Wall paint: Simply White, Benjamin Moore; vintage rug: Tony Kitz Gallery; stair riser tile: Tabarka Studio; check out more cement tile

Jute Interior Design

Eat-in kitchen. The entry also provides a view through an arched opening into this eat-in kitchen area with a built-in banquette. “The old kitchen was an addition off the back of the house and its style was not Mediterranean at all,” Davin says. The floors were existing; she had them refinished throughout the house to match.

Davin designed the table, which has a walnut top and a blackened steel base to fit in with the walnut cabinetry and window trim and the iron elements in the house. The chairs combine rushing, walnut and custom cushions. The clients collect photography, and Davin found this photo, taken outside a house in Venice Beach, California, for them.

Photograph: Maia Flore; chairs: How to Marry a Millionaire, Hollywood at Home, with cushions in a Quadrille fabric; sconces: Urban Electric

Jute Interior Design

The kitchen’s materials palette is a mix of warm white painted wood and walnut, Calacatta marble countertops, glass and bronze. “I really like the way the dark bronze develops a patina,” Davin says. She designed the cabinetry, which was built by Knotty Hole Woodworks. Another vintage rug adds warmth, softness and pattern to the floor.

Hardware: Sun Valley Bronze; vintage runner: Tony Kitz; sink and faucet: Waterworks; countertops: IRG

Jute Interior Design

The vent hood and extended marble range backsplash create a focal point between the windows. “My client was hesitant about using walnut on all the cabinets and window trim because, before the renovation, the house was dark. We struck a good compromise that balances walnut and white,” Davin says. She added routed X-shaped details to the ends of the island base and repeated them on the pantry doors.

Bar stools: BDDW; pendant lights: Remains Lighting; see more bronze and glass pendant lights

Jute Interior Design

Pantry. Here we see the doors of the recessed pantry. The refrigerator is just out of frame to the right. The antique ladder-back chair in the hallway sat in Davin’s own office for years and finally found its way to just the right home.

Jute Interior Design

Dining room. “I kept the dining room minimalist because this original part of the house has low ceilings and it’s not that big,” Davin says. “I designed a walnut table with antique proportions. It’s only 32 inches wide instead of today’s much wider tables.” Another vintage Oushak rug grounds the dining area, while draperies soften the windows and tie into the blue chair upholstery via their trim. A simple classic chandelier lends age and suits the curved ceiling’s proportions.

Chairs: Oly Studio, with fabric by Katie Leede; chandelier: Remains Lighting; drapery fabric: Romo, with trim by Holland & Sherry; rug: Tony Kitz; plates: WRF Lab

Jute Interior Design

Living room. A pair of fantastic original Gothic arched windows bookend the long living room. The fireplace, angled ceilings and beams are also original. Davin designed two comfortable sofas upholstered in soft green linen and a leather-topped ottoman-coffee table in earth tones to create a calm and inviting feel. A leaning bookcase next to the window makes it easy to grab something to read while relaxing in here.

Sofa fabric: Romo; cocktail trim fabric: Holland & Sherry; leaning bookcase: Sabin LA; nesting tables: Rose Tarlow; rug: Tony Kitz; antique chair: Garden Court Antiques

Jute Interior Design

Laundry room. Davin rearranged and repurposed the upstairs rooms to create better closets and bathrooms. This space was an office the family decided to ditch so it could have a laundry room upstairs. (The washer and dryer used to be in the garage.) Casement windows let fresh air in to help with air-drying. The front-loading machines tuck under a counter used for folding. The cabinets serve as the linen closet. “My clients are pretty minimalist with their stuff. They don’t keep lots of extra sheets and towels, so these cabinets sufficed,” the designer says.

Cabinetry: custom byJute Interiors, built by Knotty Hole Woodworks; cabinet paint: Inchyra Blue, Farrow & Ball; lighting: Atelier de Troupe; hardware: Sun Valley Bronze; vintage runner: Tony Kitz; sink and faucet: Waterworks; countertops: IRG

Jute Interior Design

Master bathroom. “We sacrificed a tub to make a closet bigger, which left a bit of a void in here, so the floor needed to really bring something,” Davin says. She found a lively black-and-white Moroccan-patterned encaustic cement tile.

Her woodworkers brought Davin’s vanity and mirror designs to life, again in walnut. “There wasn’t that much space in this nook, so we made it feel bigger by extending the vanity all the way to the walls and using the largest pair of mirrors possible,” she says. “This meant there wasn’t enough wall space for sconces, so instead we used glass hanging lights.” The countertop is Carrara marble.

Takeaways

To create a cohesive look, repeat elements and materials throughout the house. Here it was dark beams and window trim, white walls, iron accents, walnut cabinetry and bronze lighting and hardware.
Freshen up a historic home with a mix of new pieces and antiques. Vintage rugs are a good way to lend a sense of age to a space.
Artwork is another way to create cohesion; in this house, it’s done mostly with photographs.
Laundry room cabinets can be a good alternative to a linen closet. This is something to consider if you want to take over a linen closet to expand another room.
If you’re short on wall space in a bathroom, consider lights that hang from the ceiling.

Vanity and mirrors: custom by Jute Interiors, built by Knotty Hole Woodworks; floor tile: Snowbank, Mosaic House; sink and faucet: Waterworks; pendants: Magni; hardware: Sun Valley Bronze; counters: IRG

More
Roots of Style: Spanish Colonial
Read more about Mediterranean style

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Comments (77)

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Barb Dixon

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><md>This home is not my style, color or anything YET I LOVE IT

2 Likes October 2, 2019 at 9:13AM

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suzannejohnson77

I’m with you Becky. I’ve always leaned towards more contemporary, and modern spaces; but, have fallen for these warm Spanish houses. I love the rustic charm. Oh....if only, I could have one of each style. A Spanish, a contemporary, a modern, a craftsman, a classic.....I’m not greedy!

1 Like June 21, 2020 at 9:07PM

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paularhodes

Echoing other posts......

I keep going back to this house evrytime it pops up!!

I just luv it.

Like March 14, 2023 at 10:06AM