COURTING CHARACTER

A homeowner and interior designer bond over a shared love of vintage style. The result is a kitchen renovated to reflect the home’s classic 1900s roots and a family’s modern lifestyle.

- Jody Garlock,

The reconfigured layout moved the cooking area to where the sink was. The arched door leads to a pantry, formerly part of a den. The dark blue cabinet recesses into the wall. Urban Electric's "Mac" pendants layer on another shade of white.

It was a love story of the home design kind. When Chicago-area interior designer Rebekah Zaveloff met online with a California couple planning to renovate their home, little did she know she was already the chosen one.

"The woman researches like nobody's business," Zaveloff says. "She said she wasn't going to take no for an answer." Turns out, Zaveloff felt a connection too. "It was one of those things where you meet someone who's a kindred spirit in terms of a shared love for vintage homes, architecture, and attention to detail," Zaveloff says. "She wanted to add all the details the home never had but might have if it had been born in a different life." A portion of the 1910 Victorian house was essentially built into the side of Mount Tamalpais north of San Francisco.