In a home on a tree-lined, Sylvan lane in Ross, familiarity breeds contentment. “I’ve created four interiors for this family,” says designer Kelly Hohla, “and the trust and friend- ship we’ve built gives me the freedom to work intuitively.” That translates to her fulfilling the owners’ request for “elegance, practi- cality and comfort.” Architect Shay Zak has a similar rapport with the clients; having collaborated on two projects with them, here he created a new, minimalist take on traditional shingle style. On the exterior, cedar shingles envelop the facades and steeply pitched roofs of the main and guest houses, while cedar planks line dormers and porch ceilings and steel casement windows add a cool touch. Throughout the 4,800-square-foot interior, Zak’s detailing is meticulous: Oak cabinetry, quarter-sawn oak floors, pocket doors, flush trims on the baseboards and cur- tain tracks recessed into ceilings form an understated backdrop. “The more I practice, the more committed I am to minimalistic detailing,” notes Zak. Hohla, who was assisted by designer Celeste Barnes-Bremer, is known for her spirited use of color, but here painted most of the ground floor’s walls with Farrow & Ball Wimborne White. The spare backdrop complements the textures of her thoughtful object choices and her pairings of tactile vel- vets, bouclés, cashmeres and linens with bronze, antiqued brass and black iron. “I never think about matching,” Hohla explains. “I aim to coordinate and highlight all the nuances.” There’s a sophisticated calm to the predominantly neutral ground floor, where a sitting room and dine-in kitchen open onto a backyard and pool. Hohla’s choices here are sculptural: she placed curvy, retro armchairs along- side low-slung sofas. “Comfort was paramount, so I evaluated the perfect foot resting height for each custom ottoman and the optimum lounging depth for each sofa,” says Hohla. In the dining room, she chose a cloudlike Ted Abramczyk pendant and customized an industrial-style Ted Boerner metal buffet to achieve a stylish setting for entertaining. A five-and-a-half-foot square Liza Lou woven assemblage of glass beads in the dining room came from the John Berggruen Gallery, as did most of the art in the house.
Photography by John Merkl