Designing for How You Actually Live
Designing for How You Actually Live
We love interior design that reflects your real life
Walk into most design showrooms and you'll see spaces that look incredible in photos but would stress you out to actually live in. White everything when you have kids. Precious surfaces that can't handle a coffee spill. Living rooms arranged for conversation with people you don't actually know. Those spaces photograph beautifully but can you actually relax in them? Can your dog claim their favorite spot on the sofa? Can you toss your keys on the counter without ruining the styling?
When we design for a family, we approach things differently. We start by asking how you actually move through your days. Not how you think you should live, or how design magazines say you should live, but how you really live. Because the most beautiful homes are the ones where you can breathe deeply and be completely yourself.
Real Life: The California Cool Project
Our California Cool project taught us this lesson perfectly. Our client is a rock-star mom to young kids, married to a surfer, living in Encinitas where entertaining happens constantly. She moved into a cookie cutter home that fit her family's practical needs but completely failed to reflect who they are. The old kitchen had all the right appliances, sure. But did it feel like her? Could it handle the reality of homework happening while dinner prep is underway? Unlikely.
We redesigned her kitchen to be the heart of her home by adding a custom island where kids can do art projects and adults can gather, creating a dry bar so the beverage station doesn't compete with cooking space. We tackled the living area with custom built-ins that hide toys but display the art and objects she loves. Every choice supported how this family actually functions. Beautiful? Absolutely. But more importantly it works for their real life.
The transformation gave the space new life while accommodating young kids, a busy family schedule, and constant flow of guests. That's functional luxury. Not making you protect the design from your actual life.
Another Lesson: Embracing Imperfection
When we designed Another Salon, we leaned hard into wabi-sabi - that Japanese philosophy of embracing imperfection and transience. The imperfect plaster walls, the handmade zellige tiles with their slight variations,. the rough chiseled edges on the marble weren't unfinished were intentional choices that created a space where people could relax.
Think about it. When every surface is pristine and perfect, you're constantly worried about messing it up. A fingerprint on the mirror becomes a problem. A water spot on the counter feels like a failure. That's exhausting. But when materials are chosen specifically because they age beautifully, because they show character, because slight imperfection is built into their nature you can finally exhale.
Those rough concrete floors we discovered when we ripped out the existing flooring? They became the perfect foundation. Unexpected, authentic, real. The custom leather styling chairs will develop patina over years of use, getting more beautiful with time rather than looking worn out. Every material in that space was chosen to invite people in, not make them nervous about touching things.
What Functional Luxury Actually Means
Luxury design should be accessible. It doesn’t have to be precious, untouchable or formal. Like you're living in a museum where you can't touch anything. That's not luxury to us, that's stressful.
Real luxury is a beautiful home where you can completely relax. It's high-quality materials chosen specifically because they're durable and age well. It's a gorgeous white sectional that's also stain-resistant because you have kids who spill. It's custom built-ins that solve your actual storage problems while looking stunning. It's perfect lighting over the kitchen island where homework happens and meals get prepped and friends gather.
Luxury means your home works beautifully for your actual life. It makes daily rituals easier and more pleasurable. Not making you stressed about protecting the furniture from real life. We design spaces to absorb life, not resist it.
Your Home Should Feel Like You
There's a moment in every project where clients walk into their finished space for the first time. What we're listening for isn't "it's so beautiful" (though we hope they think that). What we're listening for is a deep exhale. That moment when someone's shoulders drop because they can finally relax in their own home.
That's when we know we got it right. Not because we followed trends or matched some aspirational ideal. But because we created a space that honors who they really are and how they really live.
Your home should make your life easier and more beautiful. It should reflect your personality, accommodate your quirks, support your routines, and grow with you as life changes. It should be the place where you're most completely yourself.
That's the kind of design worth doing.