Arriving to Stinson Beach after the short but windy drive from San Francisco is a feeling akin to taking a deep breath. Interior designer Chloe Redmond Warner knows the feeling well. After renting a house there during the pandemic, she quickly fell in love with the close-knit community and has since designed interiors for several homes in the area, including this new vacation home by architect Eric Davies.
“The clients wanted the house to feel happy for their three young kids,” recalls Warner, whose new debut book, This Must Be the Place (Abrams), dedicates a chapter to this little slice of paradise. “And not pretentious or overly elegant.” The designer’s solution was to lean into the laid-back, indoor-outdoor living that makes the locale so special. The house frames an open deck with views to the ocean, and when the glass sliders are open, the living area flows seamlessly from inside to out.
Beach-house friendly polished concrete floors balance the rift-sawn oak paneling on the interior walls, which evoke a midcentury California coastal cabin feel. To allow the beachy views to be the star, Warner layered the interior with rich, neutral colors and warm, organic textures. Antique rugs, chairs in leather and wood, and accents of bronze throughout keep the open living area feeling grounded and connected to the outside. Kitchen cabinets in a terra-cotta hue offer personality while still acting as a neutral complement to the wood walls.
Whether working on a puzzle in the dining area with the windows open or cozying into the built-in banquette next to the fireplace on a cold evening, the house offers the perfect beach refuge. “There’s a glow and a hush to the house,” says Warner. “When the doors open, you smell the very Stinson scent of salt water, fog and sage. It’s amazing.”
Warner’s new book, This Must Be the Place, elucidates the designer’s intuitive, layered approach to crafting interior atmospheres.
In a Stinson Beach home designed by Chloe Redmond Warner, the sounds and smells of the ocean loom large courtesy of massive Fleetwood Windows & Doors sliders. A slatted oak dining set by Horne blends with the exterior wood siding, allowing the ocean views to be the focal point. Styling by Yedda Morrison.
A Lawson-Fenning game table and De La Espada dining table anchor the main living space. Styling by Yedda Morrison.
In the kitchen, cabinets painted Red Earth by Farrow & Ball complement Calacatta Viola marble countertops from IRG Stone, as do leather-and-wood bar chairs by Thomas Hayes Studio. Styling by Yedda Morrison.