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The three Cs of interior designer Jon de la Cruz—creativity, craftsmanship and comfort—are on full display in this reimagining of a classic San Francisco Edwardian home

The vintage horse prints are from the clients’ collection. The lantern was found at Vaughan Designs. The center table was discovered at Obsolete. Photos by Douglas Friedman.

Having successfully worked together on a half-dozen Bay Area restaurants, it was only natural that the clients turned to interior designer Jon de la Cruz of DLC-ID for help with their own home. “It felt very easy for me to jump in,” de la Cruz shares. While the six-bedroom, five-and-a-half-bath, 4,200-square- foot Edwardian-style home they’d purchased was beautiful, the interior was a dark old-fashioned maze that would need a good reshuffling to bring it in line with the needs of a modern family of four. “The husband and wife both come from extended families and love to entertain, and the house needed to support that,” de la Cruz says.

The kitchen’s bespoke two-level island is topped with Calacatta Bella. The countertops were honed from black soapstone, both discovered at Da Vinci Marble. Photos by Douglas Friedman.
The formality of an antique dining table and chairs is upended by Fabio’s Galattico Sputnik light, walls lacquered in Farrow & Ball’s Dead Salmon and a piece of contemporary art. Photos by Douglas Friedman.

That meant opening up the main floor to accommodate a large kitchen, a dining room, a comfortable family room, and a butler’s pantry and bar. It meant incorporating the clients’ collection of heirlooms, offsetting their traditional lines with contemporary pieces and custom upholstery. “We were trying to avoid anything that felt dark, dated or too period,” de la Cruz explains.

The bar is washed in Farrow & Ball’s Minster Green. The antique mirrored backsplash is from Artistic Tile. The counters are topped with Verde Alpi, purchased at Da Vinci Marble. The faux-bamboo handles are from The Golden Lion.
Photos by Douglas Friedman.
The bathroom’s wallcovering is from Timorous Beasties. A bespoke mirror hangs above a custom sink, carved from Verde Alpi from Da Vinci Marble. Photos by Douglas Friedman.

Functionality and comfort are the cornerstones of de la Cruz’s work. “And then I always want to add something delightful and unexpected.” Witness the living room’s sofas, hand-me-downs from the wife’s family. “They just needed a bit of freshening up,” he says; he had them reupholstered in a dinosaur print. “They feel very traditional but when you look closely, it’s very Jurassic,” he points out. Coupled with the room’s dark lacquered olive walls and a fish and ships print over the fireplace, the effect is at once soothing and surprising. In the dining room, that effect is achieved by balancing a Sputnik chandelier, a painting by a local California artist, an inherited dining set and walls whose color spirals through the spectrum of pinks and milk chocolate as the light changes throughout the day. Elegance and restraint ensure that de la Cruz’s most buoyant leaps land flawlessly: the powder room’s exuberant color scheme, which nods to San Francisco’s history as the centerpiece of the California Gold Rush, stops just short of excessive. “It’s fun without going full-on gold toilet,” de la Cruz laughs.

The son’s room is papered in Marthe Armitage’s Tiger Moth in blue, a block print that captures a rural landscape seen from a plane. A four-poster bed from West Elm sits on a carpet from Stark Carpet. Photos by Douglas Friedman.
A Jenny Lind four-poster bed, discovered at Crate & Barrel, is draped in a pink toile from Pindler and Samuel & Sons. The cheetah-print carpet is from Stark Carpet. The Bestlite sconces are from Gubi. Photos by Douglas Friedman.

A keen sense of balance keeps these rooms inviting. The dark green butler’s pantry and bar emanates mystery and sex appeal due to the way light—courtesy of lacquered walls, antiqued mirrors, green marble countertops and the glint of faux-bamboo brass pulls—bounces around the room. The softness of lime-washed walls, alabaster lamps and plush bed curtains mitigate the primary bedroom’s harsh southern exposure, transforming the space into a sanctuary of calm.

Draperies and window coverings created from fabrics by Brunschwig & Fils and Coraggio, an alabaster chandelier from Charles Edwards and a bespoke bed covered in leather settle calm over the primary bedroom. Photos by Douglas Friedman.
Vibrant art pops against the primary bathroom’s elegant Waterworks fixtures, Pottery Barn bathtub, Vogue UK towel warmer, Calacatta Gold marble tiles discovered at Carmel Stone and custom cabinetry. Photos by Douglas Friedman.

The preponderance of pink in the daughter’s room is tempered by the use of brown. A vibrant artwork turns the primary bathroom, with its impeccable cabinetry and well-chosen fixtures, from practical to playful. A collection of horse prints becomes a statement when hung together in the foyer. The kitchen’s bilevel island reimagines the expected anchor piece by virtue of its deft yet subtle separation of prep area and snack space. “We were able to incorporate the idea of an eat-in kitchen into the open floor plan in a way that enables the kids to be close enough to keep an eye on but out of the way of the action,” de la Cruz explains.

The wall mural, hand-drawn by de la Cruz based on his interior elevations for one of the clients’ restaurants, as well as the prints he chose to recover the vintage Roche Bobois Mah Jong sofa—denim, red checked and handkerchief— conjure up a pizza parlor.
Photos by Douglas Friedman.

It’s the top floor’s playroom that indubitably confirms de la Cruz’s mastery of the sweet spot between saucy and sophisticated. A custom upholstered sofa and a wall mural hand-drawn by de la Cruz and inspired by the interior elevations he’d drawn for one of the husband’s restaurants conjures up an old- fashioned pizza parlor. “It has to be comfortable, welcoming and has to function. If I get those three things right, it’s always going to look good.” And it does.