Shake It Up

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Massucco Warner’s Melissa Warner Rothblum reinvents traditional pieces, putting them to work in a modern home

The Gracie Large Captured Globe Pendants were discovered at Circa Lighting. The counter stools, found at Arteriors, are covered in Holland and Sherry’s Ziggety Zag. photo by Karyn Millet.

While interior design firm Massucco Warner has left San Francisco for Los Angeles and Seattle, working on projects across the country, the decade and half year old firm still has long, strong roots in the Bay Area. “We love being able to interact with different styles and different people in different cities,” says co-owner Melissa Warner Rothblum. The firm is known for projects that shake up traditional design with bright colors and whimsical touches. “Even in a large space, its the smallest of details that matter to make a space feel cohesive and powerful,” Rothblum counsels. 

In the game room, a Standard Tesoro swivel lounge chair sits on Stark Carpet’s Spellbind rug. The Edge table lamps are from Arteriors. Photo by Karyn Millet,

So, when San Francisco-based clients called with a new project, Rothblum jumped at the opportunity to head north. “We always enjoy the chance to work in San Francisco and immerse ourselves in what’s new and exciting,” she says. (San Francisco Design Week, happening now through June 12th, celebrates the latest and greatest of what the City has to offer). “For us, San Francisco will always be the place where we launched our dream.” 

The clients’ new home is much more modern than their previous space with large windows that embrace the lush landscape, expansive rooms, wide hallways and high ceilings that soar to double height in the Great Room. “The challenge was figuring out a way to highlight these gracious features while ensuring that the spaces felt warm and inviting rather than imposing or overwhelming,” Rothblum shares.

The clients’ original bed and ottoman is flanked by new custom Carrigan nightands from Made Goods, topped with the Marrakech table lamps in a custom glaze from Hwang Bishop. Photo by Karyn Millet.

“The clients wanted to incorporate their favorite pieces from their old home into the new space,” she notes. “The new pieces need to bridge the gap between the existing pieces, which tipped towards the more traditional, and this new, much more modern space.”

A custom Sparkle from Niba is paired with a customized Calloway console from Made Goods. The custom Lennox Mirror was also discovered at Made Goods. photo by Karyn Millet.

Vibrant art, rugs and wallpapers bring new life to the clients’ simple, traditional pieces. So too do robust lamps and light fixtures. New pieces with simple, strong lines and graphic shapes unite the old pieces with the new space. Witness the long, custom table and sturdy chairs in the dining room, the oversized pendants and stools in the kitchen, the curved lines and organic silhouette of the iron console in the entryway or the muscular frame of the Juin Ho Ottoman in the study

A custom Bright sofa found at Holly Hunt is paired with Jiun Ho’s Arica Bench in the study.
Photo by Karyn Millet.

“You wouldn’t necessarily think that these traditional pieces would work in this space but somehow by rethinking them and pairing them with modern pieces and pairing them with great art and accessories, they do,” says Rothblum. The clients, needless to say, are thrilled.


Restoration Hardware’s Nevis Daybed are paired with the Mandarine Hobnail side tables from Hwang Bishop. Photo by Karyn Millet