Design Sponge

kate lydon is an architectural designer at IDEO who also works as a graphic designer and creates silkscreened goods as saturate. anton willis is an architect who also designs furniture and products. together the two run civil twilight, an award-winning design-build studio with a focus on thoughtful, sustainable design. today’s sneak peek is another great collaboration between the two – their sunny oakland, ca apartment where they’ve surrounded themselves with pieces they’ve made, collected and inherited. much of the furniture is from kate’s grandmother and i love how it comes to life in a new context. enjoy the full peek below and click here for additional images!

The living room flows directly into the dining area; one end is anchored by a charcoal Danish sofa. The coffee table, made of reclaimed douglas fir, is a favorite Christmas present; Anton made it for me, and it’s the perfect merger of bench and table. The chairs, from my grandmother, are covered in Ikea fabric. The poster I found on the street in Chicago years ago.

Overflowing bookshelves are a constant source of inspiration, and provide color and texture. The pillow and lamp are two of my favorite things from Ikea.

We love utilitarian design—like the orange c-clamps that hold our bookshelves square. A box of Saturate goods sits atop the shelves, where books are mixed in with random stuff like a cool package of Greek nougat. The credenza and bullet planters are from my grandmother.

The photograph, of Kyoto, is by our good friend Christina Seely and is one in her incredible series called Lux. We inherited the dining room set; the tablecloth is fabric from Britex.