Interior Designer Sarah Rosenhaus Brings Organic Whimsy to a Modern Santa Monica Residence
Photos by Marcia Prentice
Santa Monica native Sarah Rosenhaus has known from a young age that she was made for a career in design. Naturally creative, she honed her design talents as a Junior Designer with Stephen Woolley and Associates. It was the beginning of a very beautiful relationship between Rosenhaus and her career. Working with families, entertainment industry professionals, and businesses, she has worked her magic touch on a myriad of projects such as VIP lounge spaces at Sundance Film Festival to family residence renovations. In 2003, Sarah Rosenhaus struck out on her own to forge her own path with Sarah Rosenhaus Interior Design, growing her own business into an independent full-time career.
It is her personal belief that even the smallest of projects should be designed meticulously to create a visual narrative to reflect the client themselves. Collaborating with her clientele, Rosenhaus injects her personal passion for residential design into each project. Working on indoor and outdoor spaces, versatility also comes alongside these. Most importantly, it is more than sterile floor plans and collections of furniture in Sarah Rosenhaus’s eyes. For her, interior design is true artistry, and we see that love in every space she creates.
In one of her most recent projects, Sarah Rosenhaus worked to bring new life into a renovated family residence in Santa Monica, California. With the clients craving whimsy and organic elements, Rosenhaus utilized her many experiences and best intuition to create a truly one-of-a-kind space. This five-bedroom house is set amongst a lush garden of grasses and other greenery where the stairs leading to the front entrance blend in naturally to the world around them.
Inside, modern aesthetic takes shape without any stuffiness or pretension. This house had to serve children, animals, and generally be more than ornamental beauty. This renovated space had to become a home. Rosenhaus captured this necessity through the integration of those rustic and organic elements into the residence while having moments of playfulness as well.
In the open and airy living area, sunlight floods down from the ceiling into the room where hard steel beams are softened next to the wooden elements in the structure and the furniture. The wide plank French oak floors flow throughout the house and lead us through a variety of rooms that continue to balance levity and modernity.
For instance, we love the practicality of the home office. The main wall is fabric covering a cork board wall to give the family a large space to create and inspire, and the two massive doors allow for the office to be open to the kitchen to make it more of an open layout. And we cannot fail to mention the kitchen wall background of Marimekko wallpaper in a white-on-white pattern (that was one of Rosenhaus’s clever suggestions). The paper’s pattern glistens beautifully in the changing light giving a sense of natural movement to an otherwise blank wall. It is just one facet of the completely custom work done in this enviable kitchen adding life and whimsy to this residence.
The open beauty of the room is breathless, and that feeling continues as we move away from the kitchen and head to the other parts of the house. Heading to the master bedroom, we can see more of the elements of nature brought into the house. The shower floor is like the bed of a river with stones composing the surface. The sink in the guest bath brings more element of stone, and it impresses us to say that it was carved out of a single piece of rock.
This residence will forever be an eclectic space that cannot be duplicated thanks to the custom work and Sarah Rosenhaus’s ingenuity. Much of the furniture was even created just for this Santa Monica home, including the living room sofa and master bedroom pieces. Collaborating with local California full-service millwork company, Rowla Studio, the custom millwork provides wood finishings throughout the home that offer yet another layer of individuality to the residence. It is safe to say that we will forever be just a little jealous of this amazing family home, and will always respect Sarah Rosenhaus for her unmistakable talent for interior design.
dIf this inspires you, we suggest starting with this plank chair for sale.