Home Design Roundup: Making Home Your Own

Montecito has long had its eye on style and recently Summerland is becoming a hotbed for finding the design, décor, and items that adorn your bed and interior spaces. Here is a roundup of the designers and stores in the area that help make our homes feel like home. 

Marc Normand Gelinas Interior Design

Marc Normand Gelinas, based in Montecito with a Rhode Island office as well, has consulted on projects since 1987 in New York, Santa Barbara, Aspen, and Rhode Island. Having spent considerable time in New York and Paris, he has an eye for art and aesthetics, with his work spanning classic styles like mid-century modern and Spanish colonial style to more modern furnishings, and having been featured in House Beautiful and Traditional Home, among others. Visit marcnormandgelinas.com.

Ann James Interior Design

Having worked in Southern California and the 805 region for 37 years, Ann James has developed a “squadron” of vendors and contractors that are time-tested relationships, with them trusting fully in each other’s skills and work. Her designs are “custom residential,” meaning she is not looking to pull furniture from a showroom, but rather to design a space that is based off what they desire, noting that sometimes it is almost as important to look for “what they don’t like,” as what they do, to craft a space that will feel comfortable for the years to come. Visit annjamesinteriors.com.

Kathryne Designs Inc. 

With over 20 years of experience in the industry, Kathryne Dahlman is a dynamic designer that has worked on both private residences and commercial spaces. Her work has been showcased in Architectural Digest, Town & Country, Santa Barbara Magazine, C Magazine, Elle Decor, Dwell, and many other prominent publications on interior design. Her Montecito Boutique & Design Studio on Coast Village Road lets guests peruse local art and home items with many lines exclusively available to them in the area, such as Simon Pearce. Of course, they also offer full-design services to help integrate any ideas or items that catch the eye. Visit kdmontecito.com.

Margarita Bravo Interior Designs

Margarita Bravo has offices in Denver, Miami, and Montecito, and her group features a mostly female design team. They have a client-centric approach with their staff taking clients through every step of the design process, including budgeting, designing, procuring, and installation. With a summer home in Barcelona and pulling from European and Latin American inspirations, Margarita’s travels help inspire the vision and style that she and her team bring to both their residential and commercial clients. As they approach a project, Margarita sparkles in her own creativity, informed by her education and world travels, to give a unique look that helps the clients actualize what they have in mind. Visit margaritabravo.com.

Home Crush

Home Crush embraces the indoor-outdoor lifestyle that accompanies this area and has both a Santa Barbara and a new Summerland location that captures their design approach. These boutiques offer a range of curated and exclusive items on display so that visitors can sit in the furniture, feel the materials, and experience what it’d be like to have that item in their home. As a full design studio, one of their specialties is the integration of electronics and smart-home technologies into a single seamless system that can be customized and operated with ease. These systems are programmable for different times of the day, moods, and conditions, letting your home take on a character that goes beyond just the aesthetics, providing a responsive functionality that sets everything to exactly how one wants their home to feel. Visit home-crush.com.

John De Bastiani Interiors

Functioning out of both Los Angeles and Montecito, John De Bastiani has additionally completed projects in locations as diverse as Boston, Palm Beach, Miami, Santa Barbara, San Francisco, Maine, Vermont, Cape Cod, and North Carolina. A full design studio, his style has been described as “elegant, sophisticated, and understated” with a color palette that he describes as “rich, muted colors.” Whether it is updating an old ranch house from the ‘40s or just renovating a single living room, John looks to highlight the nature of the area and bring out the livability inherent to the space, with work that has been featured in a variety of national publications including Traditional Home, House Beautiful, and Luxe. Visit johndd.com.

Birgit Klein Interiors

Hailing from Germany and opening her first design office in London in 2006, Birgit Klein brings her global background to each design. Now with offices in both Los Angeles and Santa Barbara/Montecito, the full-service interior architecture and design studio has an eye towards modern, European style while keeping it local. Her local showroom is set in the heart of San Ysidro Village and is a one-stop shop for international design. Guests can browse and shop European textiles, lighting, and accessories that haven’t yet been offered in Santa Barbara. Visit birgitklein.com.

botanik

Offering everything from pillows and blankets to handmade baskets, picture frames, and small accents for around the room, botanik specializes in home, garden, and style items in a home-garden style. They are praised for their succulent arrangements, as well as the accompanying peaceful interior and calm garden space, self-described as: “A lifestyle boutique where beautiful goods for the home and garden paint a lush, colorful palette for the eye.” Visit botanikinc.com.

William Laman Furniture.Garden.Antiques

This quaint cottage setting suits William Laman’s selection of furniture and antiques, while capturing their design philosophy of “Form, Function and Simplicity.” With an understated elegance, their selection of furniture, garden adornments, and antiques has been drawing in tourists and locals alike since 1995. William Laman, along with design Hall of Famer (1987) and internationally-renowned Bruce Gregga, make sure to stock an always-evolving selection of offerings from their global buying trips, as well as unique pieces of their own design. Visit williamlaman.com.

The Well

In a charming, yet expansive, outdoor Summerland setting, The Well has become a popular spot for both locals looking for something to add to their home, as well as designers looking to source an item for a client. Their curated selection of vintage and antique wares are embellished by custom fountains and fire features, and one-of-a-kind “upcycled” pieces from re-imagined items they’ve sourced over the years and from around the world. The sweeping space also allows for other vendors, like Dominique Cohen, to be nestled into the nooks and crannies of the property, meaning there is a lot for guests to discover. Visit instagram.com/thewellsummerland.

Jenni Kayne Home

With stores spread throughout the U.S., their newest location is just steps from their original apparel-focused Montecito store in the Upper Village. The freshly-opened Jenni Kayne Home is an equally inviting space designed with the best of coastal California in mind. Featuring a welcoming palette of timeless neutrals and grounded earth tones, it’s a must-visit for any interiors enthusiast. Just minutes from the idyllic grounds of the San Ysidro Ranch, there’s all the more excuse to stop in and discover the elevated essentials designed for your dream home. Visit jennikayne.com

Montecito Country Mart

Located on Coast Village Road, the Montecito Country Mart is a frequent spot for Montecitans getting their morning coffee or stopping in for some groceries. Their range of stores and boutiques cover fashion, beauty, and of course, home furnishings. With stores like the chic Clic, the eclectic and colorful Hudson Grace, and James Perse, which now also has a location in the Rosewood Miramar, the Montecito Country Mart offers plenty of options for home shopping as one does their normal shopping. Visit montecitocountrymart.com.