designers
Boutique firm blends unique design with individualized details by Isabel Eva Bohrer “The style question is always hard for me to answer,” says April Sheldon. She has been involved in the design industry since 1987, and in 1992, established her own boutique firm, April Sheldon Design. “Because I’m such a boutique designer, I don’t have to have, and don’t want to have, a branded style,” she says. “The great pleasure of my work is that I get the opportunity to work in many styles.” Though based in San Francisco, April Sheldon Design operates on a national base. “Right now, I am working on a very large penthouse in San Francisco, a remodel of a post and beam beach house in Carmel, CA, and a loft in NYC that is in an old bank building across from the New York Stock Exchange,” says Sheldon. To Sheldon, each project is entirely unique, as is the architecture and the client. “However, what is inherent in everything I do is a clean rational approach to planning,” Sheldon says. “The function and fit of the rooms has to feel right, and un-fussed.” Specifically, she says she “love[s] to layer beautiful materials and combine colors and textures that are rich and dramatic.”
photos: john casado
An example of such a rich and dramatic project is the Shepard residence. “[The Shepard’s] are a dynamic couple,” says Sheldon. “Brad is a very successful dentist and Joni is a Realtor specializing in Marin County. They are very athletic, both bike, do Triathlons and ocean swimming. They are well traveled, lived in Europe a number of years ago and spent a year in Africa when their son Jacob was young just for the experience,” she says. Sheldon’s goal was to make the Shepard’s home vibrant and modern. “The area in which they live was built as a development in the 50's,” she says. “The house is very typical of California residential building of that era.” That is, the rooms are of a significant size, with great light and a style that Sheldon refers to as a “classic ranch style.” “But it had become dated over the years,” she says. Sheldon took charge of the modernization. “I opened the rooms to one another as much as pos-
luxuryhomequarterly.com
lHQ
135