My Houzz: See How a Garden Author Brings Nature to the City
Garden designer and author Baylor Chapman shows her love of nature in her San Francisco apartment and deck
Designer Baylor Chapman is an expert when it comes to both decorating and plants. Her San Francisco apartment, in a converted box factory, is a testament to her taste and understanding of design principles, while her deck showcases her love of plants and their relationship to her home. “Bringing nature to the city is essential to what I do,” Chapman says. “Every day I am inspired by the raw beauty of it and constantly think about ways of how to bring it into my home.”
“Many of the antique pieces I own, such as the dining room chairs and white lamp, come from my grandmother and my great-grandmother, whom I named my company after, both also named Lila,” Chapman says. For the occasional overnight guest, the chairs fold out into a twin or double bed.
Sculpture: Lawrence LaBianca
Sculpture: Lawrence LaBianca
Each area of the apartment is tastefully arranged with a mix of colors and textures. Chapman uses a simple silver cachepot to hold an aloe plant.
Rug: Peace Industry; painting: Joan Waltemath
Rug: Peace Industry; painting: Joan Waltemath
An otherwise forgotten corner of the apartment is the perfect spot for a vignette made from found objects, including a gramophone horn, botanical books and an antique glove form. The Mexican farm table serves as both a dining area and a home-office desk.
Gramophone: Lawrence LaBianca; painting: Rex Ray
Gramophone: Lawrence LaBianca; painting: Rex Ray
The large open loft is divided into three sections separated by the kitchen. “Adding the kitchen island allowed me to put seats at the counter and open up the space,” Chapman says.
Floor stain: Monocoat
Floor stain: Monocoat
The supporting post in the kitchen is a structural requirement. Chapman hopes to someday renovate the space and better integrate the beam into the kitchen’s plan. The walls were painted the same gray as the side of the refrigerator in an effort to minimize its bulkiness.
Metal countertop: NuStar Metal Supply; hanging fruit basket: Lila B. Design; cabinet paint: Paris Grey, Annie Sloan
Metal countertop: NuStar Metal Supply; hanging fruit basket: Lila B. Design; cabinet paint: Paris Grey, Annie Sloan
“The original cupboards felt outdated to me. Instead of buying new ones, I painted them gray and removed the upper doors,” Chapman says. “By keeping them open, it adds character and color to the kitchen. It also forces me to keep only what I need.
“The mirror once hung as a window in a church in Georgia,” Chapman says of the piece that sits opposite the kitchen. “I purchased it from a local store on the same day I signed the final papers for the apartment.” In addition to a fiddleleaf fig tree, other small touches of nature are sprinkled throughout her home, including a dried artichoke flower and a glass sculpture of a tree branch.
Friend and interior designer Gil Mendez rearranged the furniture to create useful areas within each section of the loft. The centrally placed bed allows for a private dressing nook behind it and a welcoming sitting area in front of it.
The half wall that separates the kitchen from the bedroom serves as a place to display plants and books. The wall features art from some of Chapman’s neighbors. “I feel lucky to live here because there is a community of friendly, creative people,” she says.
Collage panels: Rex Ray, black-framed work on paper: Melinda Stickney-Gibson; white-framed print: Katrina Lasko
Collage panels: Rex Ray, black-framed work on paper: Melinda Stickney-Gibson; white-framed print: Katrina Lasko
A “room” was created in the entryway opposite the bed by placing a rug as the center and then purposefully arranging furniture around it.
“The showy medinilla plant’s fabulous pink blooms pick up on the entry table and the nearby bedroom accent colors,” Chapman says. “An extra-large seedpod rests next to the vintage copper pot because it all comes back to the idea that even if you have a really small space, you can bring a little bit of green inside.”
Artwork: Denis Lonergan
“The showy medinilla plant’s fabulous pink blooms pick up on the entry table and the nearby bedroom accent colors,” Chapman says. “An extra-large seedpod rests next to the vintage copper pot because it all comes back to the idea that even if you have a really small space, you can bring a little bit of green inside.”
Artwork: Denis Lonergan
For easy access, the bathroom has two entries, one from the living room for guests and the other from the bedroom.
Since the bathroom is well-ventilated, Chapman hung framed artwork here as well.
While the interior of her home is monochromatic and quiet, the outdoor plants add vibrancy to the exterior space, especially when viewed from the inside. “The couch was a free street find,” Chapman says. “Neighbors helped me make it look better and feel more comfortable with new cushions.
“In an attempt to keep my own garden as low maintenance as possible, I add a lot of low-water succulents and no-water terrariums,” she says.
Wall planter: Potted Store
Wall planter: Potted Store
In small gardens, growing plants on a wall serves the space well. Succulents, which can grow almost anywhere, find a home in this set of repurposed shutters leaning against the wall.
Shutters: Building Resources
Shutters: Building Resources
In The Plant Recipe Book, Baylor suggests starting an arrangement with a favorite vessel. “Even a salad bowl will do,” she says. This arrangement, in a weathered copper cooking pot, was left over from a recent demonstration lecture she gave at the Macy’s Flower Show.
“The cast-aluminum table legs came from my former home in New Mexico. When I bought my first home there, I had no furniture, and, lucky for me, the owner was selling a lot of his things, which made the move a lot easier for us both,” Chapman says.
Outdoor rug: Therapy
Outdoor rug: Therapy
“I love flea market finds like this vintage metal drum barrel,” she says. “I often have leftover plants from classes and clients. An easy way to use them in shady areas is to tuck them into containers and cover them with moss.”
Container: Alameda Points Antiques Faire
Container: Alameda Points Antiques Faire
Even a clunky outdoor barbecue is softened by the addition of pots and flowers. The square planter is a repurposed copper sink.
Copper planter: Pseudo Studio; striped pot: Esther Pottery
Copper planter: Pseudo Studio; striped pot: Esther Pottery
Small gardens require hardworking pieces of furniture. “A used truck-bed toolbox does double duty as a bench and waterproof storage for garden supplies,” Chapman says.
As Chapman points out in her book, “anything can become a container.” On her deck, a wooden crate, ceiling tins, copper sinks and a copper panel from a scrap metal yard turn into homes for plants.
Wooden crate: Old & Board; ceiling tins: Building Resources
Wooden crate: Old & Board; ceiling tins: Building Resources
“The lush view from inside out is really important to me. Upon entering the front door, and in almost any place in my apartment, one’s eyes are led outside to the greenery of the planted landscape on the deck,” says Chapman, seen here demonstrating how to make a DIY moss terrarium in a feature for Houzz.
Botanical photograph: Ian Green
Botanical photograph: Ian Green
The building, which was originally the Allied Box and Excelsior Factory, was built in 1907. It was converted into live-work spaces for artists and designers in 1999.
My Houzz is a series in which we visit and photograph creative, personality-filled homes and the people who inhabit them. Share your home with us and see more projects.
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My Houzz is a series in which we visit and photograph creative, personality-filled homes and the people who inhabit them. Share your home with us and see more projects.
Browse more homes by style:
Apartments | Barn Homes | Colorful Homes | Contemporary Homes | Eclectic Homes | Farmhouses | Floating Homes | Guesthouses | Homes Around the World | Lofts | Midcentury Homes | Modern Homes | Ranch Homes | Small Homes | Townhouses | Traditional Homes | Transitional Homes | Vacation Homes
Who lives here: Baylor Chapman of Lila B. Design
Location: Mission District of San Francisco
Size: Studio apartment is 850 square feet (79 square meters) and deck is 500 square feet (46.5 square meters); one bathroom
As owner of Lila B. Design, Chapman is an avid collector of plants, unusual furniture and accessories. The Houzz contributor also collects original art, especially the works of her friends and neighbors. Her first how-to title, The Plant Recipe Book, features more than 100 beautiful photographs of arrangements similar to those she makes for her San Francisco green-certified flower and plant design firm.
Sofa: West Elm; botanical photograph: Ian Green