A hillside house for a Mill Valley designer and her family By Theresa Gonzalez June 3, 2016 Updated: June 6, 2016 9:53am

Photo: Suzanna Scott Photography The Mill Valley home of Elena Calabrese complements her California modern aesthetic with its big windows and dramatic fireplace. Seven years ago, Elena Calabrese and her husband, Steven Younger, traded a bay view in Sausalito for a mountain view in Mill Valley — and for good reason. Square footage, and schools for their son, who is now 8, launched their search, but what landed them at the mountain was the hillside home they discovered at the end of it.

“I saw probably a hundred homes and I knew right away this was the one,” says Calabrese, owner of Elena Calabrese Design & Decor. When you enter the home on the top floor, you can instantly see why: The 25-foot drop to the main floor offers a panoramic view of Mount Tamalpais through nearly floor-to-ceiling windows, and a dramatic reclaimed redwood wall that is original to the 1969 home and perfectly complements Elena’s signature California modern interior design. “There is something about Marin County — the outdoors, the nature, modern California — that is completely up my alley,” she says of her adopted home (she grew up outside of Philadelphia). More Interior Design

While Calabrese admits to having a thing for luxe materials, she makes sure her home doesn’t feel too precious. On one side, you’ll find the beloved showpieces: two sets of vintage Milo Baughman for Thayer Coggin club chairs, refurbished and reupholstered, and two 1970-era Gary Gutterman lucite chairs, all centered around a dramatic fireplace retiled in ledger stone. The coffee table even has a storied past — it was made from the home’s original dining table. On the other side, behind the dividing wall of new built-in shelving, is a family room where Calabrese’s son can host friends. It’s filled with pieces that wouldn’t be too badly mourned if scratched or even smashed. “We frequently have about 10 8-year-old boys running around the house, and what you can’t see is a basketball net in that lovely room of mine,” she says with a sigh. Her husband has also set up his music station there. By day, Younger is an anesthesiologist at California Pacific Medical Center and by night he’s a musician playing New Orleans funk with his band in local bars. Entertaining friends and their kids is important to the couple, so their first project was to build a new deck on the west side of the house facing Mount Tam. “We’re one house away from all the trails and wilderness, but when you are on the deck there is no sign of people around you,” she says of the privacy the deck offers. Soaked in midday sun, the outdoor space extends the whole bottom floor of the house with alfresco dining and a fireside living space, all transitioned by La Cantina bi-fold doors.

Photo: Suzanna Scott Photography Image 2 of 3 Designer Elena Calabrese and her husband Steven Younger remodeled their 1969 Mill Valley home to complement Elena’s signature California modern interior design. “I like that the beach is still 10 miles away, the city is 10 miles away and my office is 1 mile,” says Calabrese. She set up shop in downtown Mill Valley at 7 on Locust, a boutique and design studio that she shares with owner Nadine Curtis. But despite her expertly designed setup, Calabrese didn’t start out in interiors. Her first calling was jewelry design, having earned a bachelor of fine arts degree in jewelry metal arts at California College of the Arts. After 10 years in the fashion industry, including a stint as an accessory designer for DKNY in New York, she returned to California, met Younger and had her “aha” moment while designing their first home in Sausalito. “My mother is a fashion designer and my dad is a contractor,” she says. “My sister, who made the same career switch, and I joke that if you take a contractor and a fashion designer you pretty much get an interior designer.”

Photo: Suzanna Scott Photography The deck of designer Elena Calabrese’s Mill Valley home has views of Mount Tamalpaias. In a house full of boys, including two male Maine Coon cats, Calabrese has added touches from a few designing women in the area whom she now calls friends. With Curtis, she’s designed a set of leather snakeskin doorstoppers. Artist Danielle Mourning created the main art piece in Calabrese’s dining room, an enlarged photo of a diamond that she then painted in fine detail. Artist Caroline Lizarraga painted a faux crocodile print on the chrome dining table that adds another layer of texture to the space. While the main room feels finished from floor to very high ceiling, parts of the midcentury home could still use some love. One pain point for the couple: a small ’90s-era kitchen with awkwardly placed cabinets that block any potential conversation with guests. But Calabrese is reluctant to bring work home. “My only reservation when buying the house was, ‘Oh no, I’d have to remodel the kitchen,’” she remembers. “I do that all day long for clients!” Theresa Gonzalez is a San Francisco writer and author of “Sunday Sews” (Chronicle Books, 2016). Twitter: theresagonzalez Email: [email protected] Elena Calabrese’s design philosophy

Mix textures: Natural, organic textures feel at home in Calabrese’s hillside hideaway, but she makes sure to contrast those elements with harder edges to keep things interesting. Lucite and chrome furniture add high sheen to the softer side of her decor, like cat-friendly flokati and hide rugs. Strive for consistency: “Not a theme, but I find consistency to be more peaceful than visual chaos,” says Calabrese. From her living space to her dining space and into her master bed and bath, she balances modern furniture with organic materials in similar hues, which ensures everything has a visual rhythm — the same, but different. Use color sparingly: Calabrese admits that she’s not a big fan of color, but when she does incorporate color into her home, like Mourning’s piece in the dining room or the Trina Turk pillows on the deck, she uses it against neutrals to avoid overpowering the serenity of a room. Make the most of walls: Calabrese’s “secret wall”— the 12 feet of shelving between the main space and the family room — allows her to hide toys and the less eye-candy elements from guests. “You could literally have everything in that entire room — all of the Legos — and have a cocktail party in the living room and one never knows anything is going on.”

Photo: Suzanna Scott Photography One of the shelving units designed by Elena Calabrese for her family’s home in Mill Valley. Add floating cabinetry: Calabrese designed floating cabinets in walnut and white for several rooms in the house and worked with a cabinet maker in Sebastopol to build them. They function as great storage pieces while appearing equally elegant to the rest of the space.