DREAM WEAVER
Elle Decor US|October 2022
For a Silicon Valley couple who craved a home with soul— and space for their four young children—Frances Merrill delivers warmth and whimsy.
STACIE STUKIN
DREAM WEAVER

Frances Merrill likes a challenge. So when her clients, a couple with four children, purchased a three-bedroom, 1929 Tudor-style home in the Silicon Valley enclave of Woodside, California, that sorely needed an overhaul, she couldn't resist. For Merrill-the Los Angeles-based founder of Reath Design who is known for her predilection for vibrant colors and for mixing patterns-it helped that her clients' purchase had charming, redwood-beamed ceilings and an enchanting cedar shake roof, among other details, and wasn't one of the soulless, newly built McMansions endemic to the area.

"I love the idea that they bought something impractical that had an innate history because they found it more interesting," says Merrill. The family wanted a house with authentic character and quirks that reflected the joyful chaos of their family life. Merrill compares her work to cooking, and for a project that required lots of reconfigurations, she went about gathering the ingredients for a family-friendly recipe with an elegant, muted palette inspired by the lovingly tended garden left behind by the previous owners. Merrill set out to bring that magic inside: "The blues, watery greens, and pale purples of the garden felt fresh, especially with all the browns of the wood in the house."

Diese Geschichte stammt aus der October 2022-Ausgabe von Elle Decor US.

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Diese Geschichte stammt aus der October 2022-Ausgabe von Elle Decor US.

Starten Sie Ihre 7-tägige kostenlose Testversion von Magzter GOLD, um auf Tausende kuratierte Premium-Storys sowie über 8.000 Zeitschriften und Zeitungen zuzugreifen.

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