San Francisco’s Pacific Heights has a knack for design transformations that dates back more than a century. After the 1906 earthquake flattened the neighborhood, the city’s well-heeled—lured by the Heights’ commanding views of the bay—flocked there to build their dream neighborhood of stately Victorian, Mission Revival, and Edwardian-style homes. The enclave remains one of the most exclusive in San Francisco and counts U.S. representative Nancy Pelosi, romance novelist Danielle Steel, billionaire Peter Thiel, and even Mrs. Doubtfire as its residents.

For one young family—after years living in a rental and sitting on starter furniture—a three-story, 1915 Edwardian in the district marked the ultimate score. There was just one problem: how to bring coziness and personality to the home’s grandly scaled yet impersonal interiors.

The living room—the result of a gut overhaul—is crowned by an ethereal painted ceiling by local decorative artist Caroline Lizarraga.

Nicole Franzen

“It was just fine,” says designer Susan Work, who runs the local design studio Homework with her husband, architect Ben Work. “Like, it wasn’t hideous. Just blah.”

The homeowners, after hearing about the Works’ elegant-yet-playful projects, decided to dip their toe into the home renovation waters for yet another Pacific Heights transformation, albeit significantly more modest in scale: a powder-room renovation. But after Homework worked its magic—via an ombré Calico wallpaper—the clients were hooked. Next came the breakfast room. Then a living room. “She wanted the spaces to spark joy and be something that she’d never seen before,” says Ben, referencing the wife’s brief. Before the clients and designer knew it, they had a substantial renovation on their hands. “They wanted to do this [renovation] in a way that allowed them to really redefine what it meant to be at home,” Susan says.

Tour the Rest of This San Francisco Edwardian

Room by room, the designers began tempering the home’s classical—albeit sedate—grandeur with energetic bursts of color and eye-catching shapes. Visitors first enter into a neutral entry, where a black crystalline chandelier by Gabriel Scot hangs above a small, round entry table “to bring in a little pizzazz,” says Susan. The space serves as a “breathing moment,” per the designers, but, make no mistake, it’s the only fully neutral room you’ll encounter in the house. In fact, the further you go, the bolder and more sweeping the design gestures. The sitting room—which was gutted to make way for additional storage—is crowned by an ethereal painted ceiling by local decorative artist Caroline Lizarraga. The feathery strokes, coupled with a mirror by Sabine Marcelis above the fireplace and softly curved Pierre Augustin Rose sofas, lend the feeling of floating in the clouds. “We like to juxtapose things at different ages; masculine and feminine,” says Ben. “Anything that creates contrast and surprise.”

This small, third-floor powder room, which is covered in a burnt-orange metallic wallpaper from Calico, practically radiates energy with its Yves Klein–blue custom sink, Frank Stella–inspired sconce by Rosie Li, and jet-black herringbone floors.

Nicole Franzen

While the living room, with its 2020s answer to the Sistine ceiling, evokes the heavens, the home’s third-floor powder room (an aesthetic cousin to the original powder room the designers were tasked with redesigning) is a trip to the center of the earth—and the home’s most no-holds-barred moment. The small space, which is covered in a burnt-orange metallic grᴀsscloth, practically radiates energy with its Yves Klein–blue custom sink, Frank Stella–inspired sconce, and jet-black herringbone floors. “It was like a trust fall; she just kind of fell into our arms,” says Susan of working with one of the clients. “Every room just evolved [to be] deeper, punchier, more saturated, more fun, more artful.”

The primary suite—which was reconfigured to occupy a sizable portion of the third floor—is calmer, but no less immersive. Here, the walls and area rug are in inky blue tones, plus the addition of floor-length black-out curtains produces the sensation of entering a soft cave. “It’s darker than most of the house,” Ben explains, “[It allows you] to sort of remove yourself from the energy of the rest of the house.”

In the primary bedroom, the abstract nightstand is by DeMuro Das, and the lamp is by Lisette Rützou.

Nicole Franzen

Once again, the duo enlisted the services of Lizarraga to add a dose of drama. Here she painted a fireplace breast in smoky gradation, not unlike the finish of a Raku vase. The custom bed, in the designers’ words, is “gargantuan” and is backed by a floor-to-ceiling, channel-tufted headboard covered in an “incredible yummy brown mohair by Pierre Frey,” Susan explains. “We wanted to bring in the ultimate cozy factor here.”

Now all settled in, the clients will text the Works updates of their new life in the house—drinks in the atmospheric lounge or of the kids playing on the curved mohair sofas. “It’s so rewarding. They’ve gotten rid of all that starter furniture, and now they’re growing into it,” says Susan. “They’re like, ‘I can’t believe this is our house.’”

Anna Fixsen

Deputy Digital Editor

Anna Fixsen, Deputy Digital Editor at ELLE DECOR, focuses on how to share the best of the design world through in-depth reportage and online storytelling. Prior to joining the staff, she has held positions at Architectural Digest, Metropolis, and Architectural Record magazines. elledecor.com