Pacific Heights home showcases timeless design
Discover how a Pacific Heights home blends timeless interior design with personal style, creating a refined yet lived-in space.
The apartment sits on the third floor of a Pacific Heights walk-up, where a woman in her early thirties has lived for five years. She decided her home should reflect her current life rather than her past.
Interior designer Kate DeWitt was hired to guide the process. “From the moment I walked in, I could see she had a strong sense of style,” DeWitt said. “But much of it still reflected her younger years.” The plan wasn’t to start over—just to refine what was already there.
Pacific Heights as inspiration
The neighborhood influenced the design. Pacific Heights is one of San Francisco’s oldest residential areas, with long-standing design shops along Sacramento Street. “We took cues from those stores,” DeWitt said. The client already owned vintage furniture and had gathered standout pieces over time. The task wasn’t discovering new items—it was arranging them in a way that felt cohesive.
She preferred shopping on secondhand platforms like Facebook Marketplace, 1stDibs, and Chairish. There was no deadline. “The focus was on finding the right pieces, no matter how long it took,” DeWitt said. Waiting became the biggest challenge.
A bold color choice unlocked the design
The dining room became the project’s turning point. The client had been unsure about color, but after seeing the walls in Benjamin Moore’s Dry Sage, she approved the change. “She loved it and let me introduce color to the rest of the space,” DeWitt recalled.
The room already had a Spanish baroque table from Facebook Marketplace. Its compact size made matching chairs difficult, so DeWitt created custom linen slipcovers in a soft Pindler fabric. The result was a space that felt both classic and personal—showing how one decision could redefine a home.
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That confidence extended to the office, where Sag Harbor Grey provided a calm background. A desk from Chairish, shipped from the UK, became the centerpiece. But the most meaningful detail was a small silver tray on the ottoman—an heirloom from the client’s late grandmother.
The client had collected tennis rackets for years, a tribute to her love of the sport. “She’d never displayed them before,” DeWitt said. They added a few more to complete the set and mounted them on the wall. What had been a private interest became the room’s most eye-catching element.
Most renovations follow a set pattern: plan, execute, finish. This one didn’t. The living room kept its existing sectional and white lounge chair. A carved Spanish console from 1stDibs and an antiqued floor mirror from Facebook Marketplace were added. But the coffee table took eight to nine months to find. “We saw many good options,” DeWitt said. “None felt exactly right.” When the perfect piece arrived, it became her favorite part of the project.
That level of patience isn’t easy. It’s simpler to choose something that’s good enough. But a room that feels curated rather than decorated often depends on waiting—even if it takes months.
The project ended with a few empty spaces. The client had enjoyed the process so much she wasn’t ready to stop. “She said she’d learned to trust her instincts more,” DeWitt said. “To take risks instead of playing it safe.” The apartment wasn’t just a redesign. It marked a change in how she viewed her own style—and the courage to keep evolving it.
Similar transformations can be seen in other home renovations that balance old character with new function.
