We are delighted to see our interior design work featured in the November issue of Bon Appétit Magazine! The article “Green Room” highlights our work in sustainability and involvement in two amazing organizations that are helping drive change in our industry. Principal Designer Jennifer is a Founding Member of the Good Future Design Alliance and an Ambassador to the Sustainable Furnishings Council. The article features four of our kitchen designs from projects in Aptos, the Peninsula, Napa and Sonoma.

Jennifer shares her tips for going green in the kitchen, from using Zero-VOC paint to FSC certified cabinets and shifting away from gas to induction cooktops. Shout out to San Francisco’s own zero-waste tile manufacturer, Fireclay Tile, a fellow member of the GFDA. Click here to read the entire article or pick up a copy – on newsstands now!

Join Niche Interiors for this Healthy and Regenerative Textiles panel as part of the Good Future Design Alliance 2021 Fall Conference. Renowned design + build professionals will speak their truth about sustainability, materiality, and resource management. Network with fellow GFDA members, meet featured speakers – Chairish, Fireclay Tile, FabScrap,  and more – and connect with the greater design and build community in interactive chat rooms. Learn about the future of design sustainability and how and why to act now! Click here to Register.

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The Sustainable Furnishings Council is a coalition of manufacturers, retailers and designers dedicated to raising awareness and expanding the adoption of environmentally sustainable practices across the home furnishings industry. Our mission is to help companies reduce their environmental footprint, and to help consumers find healthier products and design services.  Our strategy for industry transformation is to increase interest in environmentally safe furnishings and promote the development of more sustainable options. SFC members take immediate steps to minimize carbon emissions, waste stream pollutants, and un-recyclable content.

An increasing number of manufacturers and retailers are joining the Sustainable Furnishings Council as members, and their focus on sustainable practices will only increase with consumers demand. Part of my role as an Ambassador is to share the amazing resources that the SFC has created to help connect consumers with sustainable products. You can easily search for specific product types from hundreds of amazing brands, from wood furniture to upholstery, fabrics and mattresses with their “Find Furniture” search feature. A few of our favorite manufacturers are highlighted in the photo above: Copeland Furniture, Libeco Fabrics, Lee Industries, and Naturepedic Mattresses.

The Wood Furniture Scorecard is another handy guide to help you make earth-friendly furniture selections. The SFC scored 94 North American furniture retailers on how they factored in the importance of forest health into their manufacturing and sourcing practices, ensuring that the company is effectively addressing, rather than adding to, the problem of deforestation and forest degradation. You can quickly see how your favorite retailers rank and make informed purchases, supporting the companies that align with your values. When in doubt, look for FSC certified wood, which is considered the gold standard for wood harvested from forests that are responsibly managed, socially beneficial and environmentally conscious. You can read more about our eco-friendly interior design services and find additional resources on our Green page.

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Our clients were excited to go bold with color and pattern in their 7,000 square foot vacation home. Since their tastes skew more cosmopolitan than country, we wanted to be sure to incorporate a familiar polished aesthetic to the interiors. Sculptural furniture is mixed with modern statement lighting and contemporary artwork for a luxe take on mountain living. We referenced the surrounding forest and skies with a palette of greens, blues and warm neutrals punctuated with walnut and oak woods.

Dramatic hand-painted walls by Caroline Lizarraga create a moody vibe in the office, which features his and hers desks, a lacquered cabinet from Hewn, and a light fixture by Lindsay Adelman. Guest suites were designed to accommodate entire families, with two custom queen beds upholstered in a geometric wool pattern.

The Niche team designed a bespoke modular sectional sofa to provide flexible seating for movie watching or lounging in the game room. The kids in the house love hanging out here! Want to see more? Take a tour of the entire house here.

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Niamh Barry

Niamh Barry was born in Dublin, Ireland, where she still works and lives. Barry creates unique light sculptures predominantly in bronze and LED. As one of only eight international artists selected to showcase innovative lighting designs in London’s Luxcraft in 2011, Barry is recognized as an early adopter and innovator in the use of LED technology. We originally encountered Niamh’s stunning, sculptural LED fixtures at the FOG Design + Art show in San Francisco and were blown away! The polished brass fixtures are the perfect jewelry for your modern home.

John Pomp Studios

With an attentive eye for beauty and an unwavering discipline for craft, John Pomp has spent over 20 years perfecting the art of making glass. Classically trained in the Murano glass tradition, but inspired by the organic imperfections found in nature, John’s furniture and lighting pieces reflect the sophistication and beauty of a true artist.

We love John’s beautiful, organically shaped modern lighting – his designs have just the right balance of wabi-sabi (perfectly imperfect) and contemporary forms. Simple, elegant and never overly-designed, his collection is one of our go-tos. All of John Pomps fixtures are designed and fabricated in his 65,000 square foot studio in Philadelphia.

Alison Berger Glassworks

Born in Dallas, Texas, Alison Berger has been blowing glass since the age of fifteen. Berger fuses nature and architecture to create unique, iconic pieces. She received a BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design and then continued her studies at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture. Each piece is hand blown, annealed for two to three days, and then hand-finished and, in some cases, hand-etched. Her innovative work is in the permanent collection of the Corning Museum of Glass and has been shown at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. You can find Alison’s work at Holly Hunt, where her collaboration has spanned twenty years.

Bec Brittain

Bec Brittain founded her studio in Brooklyn in 2011, designing and producing the critically-acclaimed SHY light – a geometric, modern LED fixture that embraces negative space. All of her designs are made in New York using a variety of techniques and a network of local fabricators and artisans, and every piece is assembled by hand in the studio under Bec’s supervision. We recently installed a SHY fixture in the kids hangout room in our Jackson Square project – check it out here!

Jeremy Maxwell Wintrebert

Jeremy Maxwell Wintrebert is an acclaimed glassblower who creates contemporary works made of glass and brass, intended for professionals and lovers of fine handmade objects and luxury decoration, both in France and around the world. Jeremy’s creations are all freehand-blown, without the use of a mold. Elegant, sensual, often colorful and always luminous, they combine tradition and modernity. We could image these ethereal, delicate Cloud fixtures in a grand foyer or a formal dining room.

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We decided to use one of our most eco-friendly homes, the Napa Wine Country Retreat, as a case study, illustrating the green choices made in three main rooms of this home – the dining room, primary bedroom and living room. This prefab home already had a jump start on the sustainability scale, as prefab homes greatly reduce the amount of construction waste compared to traditionally built homes.

Our clients wanted a large dining table to host big gatherings of family and friends. We designed this oversized custom dining table and coordinating benches and commissioned our local San Francisco fabricator to make them. Both the table and benches are made of FSC Certified wood, which ensures that wood comes from responsibly managed forests that provide environmental, social and economic benefits. The bentwood pendants were designed and fabricated by local San Francisco studio Path Design. Sourcing furnishings locally reduces the carbon footprint of each item and helps support local designers and fabricators – win, win!

We created a wabi-sabi retreat in the primary bedroom, with a mix of natural textures and organic materials. The custom plaster wall treatment behind the bed was designed to mimic the look of shou sugi ban – the Japanese art of charred cedar. Unfortunately, using charred wood inside a home is not the healthiest choice for indoor air quality, so we enlisted our local plaster artist to create a similar aesthetic using a non-toxic plaster treatment. The nightstands are made from reclaimed wood, which is the most sustainable type of wood aside from FSC certified wood or other sustainably harvested wood. To learn more about the sustainability of wood furniture at various retailers check out the Sustainable Furnishings Council Wood Scorecard.

The custom bed contains no harmful flame retardant chemicals, which are typically found in standard poly foam. We specified natural latex foam wrapped in organic wool and used a cotton blend fabric for the upholstery. We opted for a handmade rug made from 100% wool – the most durable and easy to clean choice for rugs. Not only is this a natural product, it’s inherent durability ensures that the rug will last for many years and avoid a premature trip to a landfill. The bedding is a mix of organic cotton and linen, adding additional layers of texture and softness to the space. Organic cotton and linen are grown without the use of toxic and persistent pesticides and synthetic fertilizers. By purchasing organic textiles you can help conserve water, support biodiversity and healthy soils, and eliminate hazardous toxic pesticides from our environment.

The living room features two custom, non-toxic sofas which were fabricated locally using FSC certified wood frames and natural latex wrapped in organic wool. Zero-VOC paint was used throughout the home to ensure healthy indoor air quality. Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are emitted as gases from certain solids or liquids. VOCs include a variety of chemicals, some of which may have short and long-term adverse health effects. Most interior paints sold now are low or zero-VOC, but you should always inquire before purchasing.

Incorporating vintage furniture and accessories is one of our favorite ways to re-use products while adding personality to a home at the same time! We paired a collection of vintage ceramics on the console table with a photograph that the clients purchased from their travels abroad.

Head to our Green page for more eco-friendly home tips!

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In preparation for the interview, we also had an email discussion and Q & A, which contained some useful nuggets that I also wanted to share.

Q & A: Laura Martin Bovard and Principal Designer Jennifer Jones

Laura Martin Bovard: As an interior designer, what would you say are the superpowers that enabled you to build your business? And what challenges have you had to overcome?

Jennifer Jones: Organization and process are definitely my strong suits. At Niche, we have developed a very focused and streamlined design process that we use for all of our projects. My biggest personal challenge in running a business has been getting used to putting myself out there and asking industry colleagues for their time. I used to feel uncomfortable making cold calls or emails and I always felt like I was imposing. With a lot of practice, it’s become more natural for me and now I really enjoy catching up with friends across all sectors of the industry, from landscape architects to general contractors.

LMB: What would you like up-and-coming designers to learn from your experience? What advice do you want to impart to them?

1. Organization and project management are equally (if not more) important than the actual creative work! You cannot have a successful project without all three.

2. You are only as strong as your team.

I’ve slowly and intentionally grown our team from one employee to five over the years because I knew that finding the right people was more crucial to our long-term success than growing quickly. I feel so fortunate to have this amazing team of women to collaborate with every day. Shout out to Lynn and Anna, our Senior Designers who have been with Niche Interiors for 9 years and 7 years respectively!

LMB: Who have you had to become or how have you had to grow, in order to grow your company? Did you ever envision it this way — that it would become what it has become?

JJ: Letting go of second guessing myself and just taking action every day towards my goal has been a game changer. I try to break down all of the larger long-term goals into actionable items for each day, week, month — and that helped keep me going.

Having an entrepreneurial spirit has also given me the courage to try new things and be bold.

I could never have dreamt of the caliber of projects and the incredible clients that we have the honor of working with today. I’m forever grateful to a few special clients that trusted us early on with their homes and helped propel us to the next level.

LMB: What is one piece of advice that impacted you early on, that you’d like to share with newer designers?

JJ: This really comes full circle. Laura, you once told me:

“There is no perfect way to run a business.”

This one simple piece of advice has helped free me from overthinking decisions and focus on how to run the business in a way that feels right to me and my team!

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Our team is currently embracing the challenge of designing two very different homes – a casual, family-friendly vacation home in Sonoma and a sophisticated, luxe historic estate in Southern California. This is the perfect opportunity to provide a glimpse into our creative process, specifically the initial stage of conceptual design where the direction for a home really starts to take shape.

SONOMA VACATION HOME :: INITIAL GREAT ROOM CONCEPT

After finalizing furniture layouts, a customized look book for a project is created which features a mix of rooms showing various design styles. After reviewing our client’s in-depth feedback on these images, our designers will take notes and meet as a team to discuss the overall style for a home which includes furniture shapes, color schemes, textures, and material palettes. We pull together fabrics and finishes to illustrate our vision and create photo realistic renderings to help clients visualize how a room will come together. During the design presentation our client provided helpful feedback on the living room rendering and we were able to make a few minor tweaks to the design to better reflect her vision for the space.

Our latest Wine Country vacation home is located in Sonoma (pictured above); with double height ceilings and ample natural light this home is going to be the perfect place for our client to escape on weekends. We opted for a mix of contemporary furniture and lighting (No kitschy farmhouse here) and textural fabrics with pops of salmon and navy for this fun-loving modern family.

HISTORIC ESTATE :: SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA

Southern California is calling our name! Not only is this our first project over 15,000 square feet, it is also our first historic home designed by a renowned architect. This grande 1920’s estate has multiple buildings throughout the 10 acre property, with a dignified and formal main house with spacious galleries leading to incredible garden views. We have just started sinking our teeth into this incredible project, and are utilizing quick furniture vignettes in Photoshop to convey design intent for each room. It’s a very useful way to see how items in a space work together before starting on photo realistic renderings.

In the formal living room, vintage pieces sit alongside works by contemporary designers to create an elevated, collected feel. After the design concepts are refined and perfected, we will present multiple furniture options to a client and then move on to layering in pattern, color and texture with fabric and finish selections. Upholstery fabrics, rug colors, window treatment fabrics, paint colors, metal and wood finishes are reviewed together to ensure cohesiveness and to make any final adjustments before placing orders.

We look forward to sharing the progress for both of these homes over the next few months. Be sure to follow along on Instagram for the latest updates!

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Casual, Durable Fabrics for Family-friendly Spaces

Woven Cotton or Linen Blends. As eco-friendly interior designers, we try to incorporate natural fibers as much as possible into our projects. We love woven cotton or linen blend fabrics  – they are breathable, have a soft hand, and lend a casual, laid-back vibe to a space. If you have a very active household, it would be advisable to opt for a cotton and synthetic blend for durability, such as 70% cotton and 30% polyester or rayon blend. Look for heavier weight cottons for longer life spans for your sofa or sectional.

There are a wide range of synthetic fabrics used in upholstery, the most common being polyester, rayon, viscose and nylon. Synthetic fabrics were created to mimic natural fabrics, but with increased stain resistance and durability (and often with a less expensive price tag). Generally, synthetic fibers are rather durable and are a good option when blended with a natural fabric.

Small scale patterns. Nothing hides stains better than a little pattern! Our general rule of thumb is that the smaller the pattern the more easily a fabric can be used as a neutral, mixing seamlessly with other fabrics and patterns in a room. Some of our favorite patterns include herringbone and geometric prints such as hexagons. Patterns come in a range of fabric types, our preferred construction is a woven pattern rather than a printed pattern. These fabrics are more durable and will hold up better over the long run.

Textural Wool Bouclé.  This nubby textile derived from the French word meaning “curled” or “ringed,” bouclé refers to a fabric made from a series of looped fibers. Wool is the most common fiber used in bouclés, which are very textural and typically have a high pile and a cozy vibe. Bouclés are fantastic at hiding sticky kids fingerprints and generally do not show wear as much due to their inherit variation and uneven texture. We love using a bouclé on armchairs, but you can also use this fabric on a sofa or ottoman.

Sophisticated Fabrics for Formal Spaces

Cotton, Linen or Silk Velvets. If you want a fabric that feels as luxurious as it looks, velvet is for you! The depth of the pile shows off dye really well, resulting in intense, rich tones. Blue velvet will have a much deeper color than a similarly-dyed piece of flat-weave cotton or linen. We opt for velvet when we want to create a statement with a bold, saturated color – it’s a great choice for armchairs, settees, beds and benches. Keep in mind that velvet does crush easily, even a highly durable velvet may be susceptible to marking as the pile flattens from normal use and wear. The tendency of velvet to crush is not a defect, and can even lend charm to your space as a piece gets more use.

Mohair is a soft wool that comes from the hair of the Angora goat, and is characterized by a distinct luster and sheen. Mohair has a thicker pile height and a very sophisticated appearance. It is also durable and highly resilient to crushing and creases, and may be a better choice than velvet if you prefer a uniform fabric that won’t change over time. Given it’s versatility, we tend to use this fabric on all types of furniture pieces – from sofas to upholstered beds.

Wool. A natural fiber that comes from animal hair, wool is a durable choice for upholstery fabric. We love using wool for understated, luxe spaces where we prefer a matte finish and no sheen. Wool comes in a variety of colors and is typically blended with other fibers to avoid a scratchy feel. Look for wools with a finer, tighter weave for a more elevated appearance.

Head over to our Custom Furniture page to explore more photos of custom upholstery designed by Niche Interiors!

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A curved Vladimir Kagan sofa takes center stage in the formal living room, which features a carved wool rug and mid-century inspired velvet armchairs. The oversized artwork by Melissa Dickenson is from K Imperial Fine Art.

We hope you enjoy a peek inside this colorful home! The Niche team is wishing you all a wonderful holiday season and hope that you are able to safely share your spaces with family during these uncertain times.

We transformed the formal living room niches into a bar with custom mirrors and cabinets perfect for storing bottles and glassware. Our playful color story continues in these niches with custom geometric mirrors in blue, grey, and copper tones. We styled this space with smoked glass barware and brass accents to tie in with the coffee table.

The kids “hangout room” is right off of the living room – perfectly situated for easy parental check-ins!  A custom modular sofa can be separated to provide flexible seating arrangements for board games, watching movies or to make way for dance parties! A custom geometric silk and wool rug grounds the space and adds an unexpected pop of blush.

Another modern hangout downstairs offers a more private space for the kids and their friends to jam out to their favorite music. Custom built-ins span the back wall which also feature a small-scale patterned wallpaper. The white oak built-ins provide ample storage space for board games, music equipment and a record collection. Artwork by Martin Javier Palottini adds a graphic, playful punch. Be sure to check out this entire San Francisco home on our Work page!

CLIENT TESTIMONIAL

“I loved working with Jennifer, Lynn and the entire Niche team. Goes without saying that they are highly talented, top-notch designers. Our place has been transformed! In addition to their design expertise, they excel at project management and execution. They made the entire process super easy, transparent and efficient. I had complete trust in them to stay on top of all the details and keep me updated throughout the project. Great listeners, professional, always responsive and fun to work with. Couldn’t be happier!”

– Ranee L., San Francisco Client

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The Sustainable Furnishings Council is a coalition of manufacturers, retailers and designers dedicated to raising awareness and expanding the adoption of environmentally sustainable practices across the home furnishings industry. Jennifer’s efforts to bring awareness to this important movement include speaking on a recent virtual panel for High Point Market highlighting some of her favorite sustainable products.

Another incredible organization that we are thrilled to be involved with is The Good Future Design Alliance created by San Francisco designer Katie Storey in 2019. Niche Interiors was honored to become a Founding Member of this local movement, alongside other like-minded industry friends in the architecture, construction, and landscape architecture fields. The GFDA’s customized toolkits offer resources for how to reduce waste to professionals in all facets of the design/build industry. Together we can make a change and help our industry move towards a more sustainable future. Read more about our commitment to eco-friendly design on our Green Interior Design page.

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