Who: Sebastian and Celine Parker
Where: Noe Valley, San Francisco, California
Style: Modern Zen minimalism
With a blank canvas, you can create your own environment, says Sebastian Parker. That's what drew the San Francisco native, now a custom furniture designer and woodworker, to this terraced property in a secluded nook of Noe Valley, with its single family home situated above a petite cottage on the street, and various gardens and patios rising up the hill.
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When Sebastian and his wife Celine, a contemporary dancer and educator, first purchased the property, five and a half years ago, the cottage was, he claims, "in a total different state." It was a full remodel. Parker envisioned creating something open and clean, filled with beautiful things he built himself. They removed a few walls and turned a closet into a bed nook, but kept the general architecture, with the high ceilings and octagonal windows intact. The bulk of the two-year renovation was comprised of furniture and custom work that Parker crafted from scratch.
Although the family's primary home on the property, with its faint traces of Victorian living and views of downtown San Francisco and Marin, is also outfitted with Parker's custom woodwork, it's in the cottage (a space they currently rent on Airbnb, or lend to visiting friends) where his handiwork truly sings. The bed frame, seating, armoires (affectionately known as Laurel and Hardy, given their disparate sizes), kitchenette, and cedar bathroom were all hand-crafted for the space, in Parker's shop in nearby Bernal Heights. Often, as the cottage slowly came together, Parker would sit in a room after putting his son, now 3-years-old, to bed, and quietly figure out exactly what was needed. "Living in the space and making changes as we felt inspired or pressed to do has been our approach," he explains.
The space is small — just 460 square feet — yet feels expansive because the furnishings are so thoughtfully placed and scaled. The high ceilings and natural light that pours in through the clerestory windows help. As does the overall minimalist design approach. "I'm very influenced by a Japanese aesthetic," Parker explains, who practices Zen meditation himself. It's a sensibility that's imbued throughout the cottage, which, Parker says, will continue to evolve.
"It is an on going project of building out the space one piece at a time that will surely take me at least another five years or more," Parker shares. "But it is very gratifying."
