Putting Down Roots

Author:Anh-Minh Le

With their forever house realized, a couple trades the big city for wine country

It’s not unusual for homeowners in Sonoma Valley to cite the area’s agrarian legacy as a source of architectural and design inspiration. Becky Carter’s clients, however, “brought more of a city sensibility,” says the interior designer. Indeed, the wife shared that rustic was not the desired look. “It was an interesting prompt to play with,” Carter continues, “flying in the face of what’s more typical in Sonoma.”

The founder of Studio Becky Carter was introduced to the clients by their architect, Jeff Zimmerman, the founding principal of Zimmerman+Associates. At the time, the couple was living in New York City; both were winding down their careers as lawyers. With an eye toward retirement, they had purchased property in Sonoma to build a forever home, for which Anooshey Rahim of landscape architecture studio Dune Hai was also brought on board.

Since Carter had launched her firm in the Bay Area in 2016 and taken up residence in New York City after the Covid pandemic hit, she was “uniquely positioned to be of benefit to them,” she explains. “We had our resources in the Bay Area since we cut our teeth there. But we were located in New York, so we were able to have our material meetings here and take them to the showrooms here.”

While the home, of course, had to function for their day-to-day needs and wants—indoor/outdoor living was a priority—their visiting young adult children factored into the programming too. Hence, the main house has two bedrooms, and an existing barn on the site was converted into a guesthouse. There are nods to the natural landscape throughout the interiors. Take the living room, whose ceiling soars nearly 15 feet. The clean-lined architecture—including multiple windows and doors—is tempered by furniture with “round forms that speak to the rolling hills and curvature of plant life,” Carter says, pointing to the sloping silhouette of the Sandrine chaise by Shine by S.H.O and the dramatic curved back of the Mazo TMBO lounge chair by Magnus Læssøe Stephensen.

The floor-to-ceiling fireplace surround, sheathed in 2Stone concrete panels, is a prominent feature. According to Carter, since it was practically impossible to source “a firebox that would be proportionally appropriate within the monumental scale of the surround,” she got creative—adding a decorative surround, recessed into the concrete. A metal frame and Heath Ceramics textured tiles “give the fireplace more visual grace and balance,” she says.

Although the living room flows into the dining room, Carter chose a distinct material palette for the latter, which also includes a bar. “Since [the wife] is a Francophile and loves French decorative arts, I wanted to pepper in that aesthetic, amid the modern,” Carter says of the herringbone-patterned flooring that is a shift from the living room’s linear flooring. The transition between the two wood surfaces is marked by a sliver of inlaid stainless steel that she likens to jewelry in the space. The ceiling, which is several feet lower than in the living room, is lined with wood slats—a concept devised by Zimmerman that carries over in the adjoining outdoor areas.

The exquisitely appointed bar reflects that the clients are “cocktail people,” as Carter puts it. The bar counter she designed—fabricated by Jonathan Davis of Quake City Metal—comprises a nickel front, plus a brass top with a wing on each side that can be flipped down or folded out. Walls clad in limestone and a ceiling painted in a PPG semigloss gray with green undertones further distinguish the bar.

Carter approached another relatively diminutive spot, the powder room, as a “jewel box—a true departure from the rest of the house,” she says. The jumping-off point was the custom wallcovering that has “an astral feeling.” Strips of oak that were stained blue grace the walls and ceiling as well for a birdcage-like effect. An oil-rubbed brass element—also Davis’s handiwork—cascades from the wall onto the vanity, holding the mirror and concrete sink. The finishing touches are the Allied Maker pendants with alabaster orbs that resemble little moons when aglow.

The wife’s affinity for the decorative arts is expressed once more in the primary bedroom. After admiring Carter’s design scheme for The Beacon, a cocktail bar in Sonoma, the clients were keen to have a mural in their sleeping quarters. Decorative artist Caroline Lizarraga was enlisted for the motif, which evokes the eucalyptus trees on the grounds. The painted branches are accented with silver seed pods that change color depending on the light.

Thinking back to her first site visit, Carter recalls that it was “truly just a hill. I stood there and envisioned the sight lines, how it felt to look out.” The house now allows its occupants to experience the land in utmost comfort. “Their kids call the house ‘Aman Sonoma,’” Carter says, referring to the luxury hospitality brand known for immersing guests in the surrounding natural beauty. “So I feel like I did my job.”