Looking Back, Moving Forward
January 23, 2025 | ballonSTUDIO
New Year Reflections: Artful Interiors
As we step into the new year here in the Bay Area, there's a crispness in the air that feels just right for fresh beginnings. This past year has been one to remember for our studio, especially with our participation in the 45th Annual San Francisco Decorator Showcase.
I knew I had to be a part of this particular showcase when they revealed that the selected home was the same one I had toured as a student at 20 years old, with my mother and grandmother as our annual Mother’s Day tradition. Sometimes, you have to embrace the full-circle moments life provides you!
Furniture as Art
The furniture in your home occupies space much like sculptures do, and leaves negative space around it - you can influence movement utilizing their volumes, and cultivate moments of connection through thoughtful vignettes. Furniture placement shapes the way you live your life and the way you move throughout your space.
Creatives like Gary Hutton take this literally – creating functional art to live beside. We gathered several of these iconic statement pieces in “Peggy’s Art Atelier.” This table literally reflects the image of this Lonnie Holley painting, bringing his family and ancestors off the wall, and into the room with us. It also repeats the zebra and details in the rug, juxtaposing these elements for us in a new way.
Telling Stories Through Art
Art is an engine for evoking emotion – it can be shorthand for the things that you value, for your memories. For example, these clients are a couple who met at Columbia University, and acquired this photograph of Central Park to remind them of their early days in Manhattan. Because they selected this piece for their home, they begin each day reminded of the sweet history they share.
This photo provides the basis for the room’s serene color scheme; the blue of the evening sky, the trees in stark contrast, and the glow of the setting sun on the water, mimicked by the metallic sheen of the shelves. The textures and materiality in the room help bring some of the peace captured in the photo into the home.
About ballonSTUDIO
Founded in 2003 by Sabra Ballon, ballonSTUDIO is a San Francisco luxury interior design firm specializing in high-end residential design, interior architecture, renovations, new construction, and boutique commercial and hospitality spaces. Known for its earthy modernism, fine art integration, and architecture-led approach, the studio creates timeless, highly personalized interiors for private homeowners, families, and estate clients. Serving San Francisco, Marin County, Palo Alto, Napa Valley, Sonoma, Santa Lucia Preserve, Carmel and Lake Tahoe, ballonSTUDIO combines more than 20 years of design expertise with discreet, highly collaborative, full-service project management from concept through installation.