In designer Antonio Martins’ house, the previous walks closely beside the present, and the new owner cautiously honors both. Martins purchased the Victorian in San Francisco’s Dogpatch neighborhood two years ago. Back then, the residence was suffering from years of neglect and the accumulation of a lifetime’s worth of stuff. What the other would-be buyers missed was the mint-situation details: moldings (unsullied by layers of paint) as crisp as the day they had been installed 100 years ago ornate, original hardware and a beautiful O’Keefe & Merritt stove, circa 1948.

Martins combined pieces he loved from about the planet to give the space a individual really feel. The chaise in the living area is inspired by 17th-century Biedermeier designs from Germany. The industrial side table is accessorized with Thai jewelry, whilst a Chinese hatbox serves as a colorful round occasional table.

Martins has an affinity for maintaining possibilities open and construction visible. This notion comes into play in the media room, where he stripped the upholstery fabric from a pair of Hans Wegner Papa Bear armchairs and left them covered in simple muslin. “I’m looking for the right fabric,” Martins says. “But till I discover it, they appear cool this way.” The chairs’ simple kind is juxtaposed against an elaborate painting done by Martins’ pal Howie Keck and featuring—you guessed it—Drew Barrymore.

Martins makes use of the oposite wall in the media room wall and straightforward West Elm cubes to display a collection of terracotta sculptures he brought back from Asia. Sculptures: antique, Chinese Han Dynasty Display cubes: West Elm.

Martins wanted to generate a separate atmosphere for the master bedroom, so he painted it an intense red. “It felt right to have 1 burst of color in the residence,” he says.

When Martins couldn’t locate the right textural wallpaper for his guest area, he created his personal. “I purchased yards of fabric and sent them to Proseal Plus, a firm in Georgia that backs fabrics and turns them into wallpaper,” he says.

The bathroom was the most run-down space in the property, and it had a lot of awkward angles. Martins solved the troubles by retaining the original moldings and painting them white, hanging a mirror from the ceiling and installing metal shelves for storage. The weathered vintage table (which has a new life as a vanity) and antique carriage lanterns add a touch of industrial chic to the space.

The narrow walkway to the backyard could be uninteresting and even grim, but Martins created it a little vertical garden by hanging his collection of Staghorn ferns and wooden machinery molds on the wall.

The kitchen was created about the O’Keefe & Merritt stove purchased by Alva Neyhart in 1948. “It had been right here so extended, I had to preserve it,” says Martins. “It didn’t work, so I had it repaired. The man who fixed it remembered functioning on it in the 1970s.”

By the time Martins arrived, the garden was overgrown and choked with weeds. He designed a space that relies on green succulents, ornamental grasses and groundcover for a far more contemporary look. “On the weekends, this is my retreat,” he says. “I enjoy to loosen up and nap on the sofa.”

By Mary Jo Bowling

Designed by Antonio Martins

Photo credit: Drew Kelly