Candace Barnes Design
/Candace Barnes Design
San Francisco Bay Area
Photography by Patrik Argast
With tremendous passion for design and artistic expression—not to mention the talent to match!—it’s no surprise that Candace Barnes has made a success of her full-service interior design firm. Her studies began at Syracuse University, earning a degree in Interior Design and Architecture, then progressed to postgraduate studies in Fine Art from the Art Institute and Academy of Art in San Francisco. For a time, Candace focused on her painting, accomplishing many large Expressionist works on canvas, then returned to interior design to found Candace Barnes Design. Not only is Candace a fine artist and interior designer, but she’s been an antique dealer with a 4,000 square foot showroom and is a self-taught landscaper and gardener.
For thirty years, Candace Barnes Design has given their all to achieve their clients’ design dreams: “The goal is always to create a warm, livable environment that is also a work of art reflecting the client’s aesthetic.” Clients come to Candace for her talent to beautifully combine traditional and contemporary styles. For a penthouse inside a historic landmark building on Nob Hill, Candace and her team were the perfect match for the renovation!
The space was filled with beautiful period details, graced with high ceilings, and possessed three wood burning fireplaces. The goal was to maintain the authenticity of the building while introducing some modern-day influences. “This project was a dream for me in terms of the old-world feel and the scale and scope of the architecture,” Candace told us. “I used elements of design that I credit to iconic designers like Billy Baldwin who used chocolate colored walls with crisp white trim. I think it worked beautifully in the library with the grand fireplace.”
A highlight of the space for Candace was the “snakeskin” wall covering in the living room paired with the Solomonic columns and original Michael Taylor sofas. “For the sofas in the living room we had to crane them in through the French doors in the dining room with only an inch to spare! That’s the thing I will say about our firm: We will go the whole way to complete our vision. No holds barred!” Once the project was completed, Candace said the finished design was warm, inviting, romantic, and spacious with a textural reality that was offset by beautiful colors which enhanced the views of the Bay and Grace Cathedral that could be seen from the east side of the building. The entire project was a smashing success for Candace Barnes Design.
