Even though I’m continuing to put (never ending!) finishing touches on my house, I thought you might be tired of seeing my guest room for the tenth time so I have an exciting new project for you today! It’s also nice to switch up your design focus every once in awhile. And I love helping out a friend. So when the lovely Chloe Roth asked if I might help her pull together her newly purchased San Francisco bungalow, I gladly jumped in. And we thought we ought to take you along on our design journey!

Chloe snagged the cutest little two-bedroom house in San Francisco’s Outer Sunset neighborhood. Just blocks from the Pacific Ocean, the Sunset is well known for its rows upon rows of candy-colored houses built in the 1930s (check out a fascinating article about San Francisco architecture here). If you’re lucky, you can snag one of these houses with their charming period features still intact. While I’m thrilled we have some fun details like arched doorways and huge picture windows to play with, there is also plenty of late-90’s lighting, a builder-grade kitchen and really bad beige paint everywhere. It is definitely is feeling a bit drab.

As a creative director, Chloe has a very discerning eye and a clear aesthetic (her previous apartment was even featured in an interior design book), but it can be hard to look at the blank slate of an entire house and figure out where to begin. Thankfully, I’ve now had some major practice with that! We’ve been working to apply Chloe’s modern, minimalist style to this new beach setting and I love where we’re headed. With any project it’s always super helpful to create a mood board. It helps keep you focused and keep everyone on the same page. Below is our mood board for Chloe’s main living spaces (ie her living room, dining room, bedroom and office).

We’re going for a theme of soothing and serene. We’re playing with a color palette inspired by the beach: a combo of grays and natural wood tones that play homage to the color of sand and a few unexpected pops of deep saturated greens reminiscent of the cypress trees that dot the coastline. This will all sit against a bright white backdrop. There will be a mix of some yummy textures to offset minimal clean lines. Chloe is also a plant whisperer so we’re working on creative ways to incorporate living elements throughout the house. I cannot wait to share some of our best solutions!

Over the coming weeks you’ll get to see more of our inspirations, our best DIY projects, the paint color selection process and of course, the final before and afters. Be sure to follow @thechloeroth’s #thesunsetbungalow on the Instagram for all the updates. We’re going to have some fun!

For more interior design inspiration, CLICK HERE.