2025 SAN FRANCISCO DECORATOR SHOWCASE
PHOTOGRAPHY BY KURT MANLEY
DESIGNER: Kathleen Navarra, Principal, Navarra Design
Bay Area designer Kathleen Navarra is known for her bold, expressive interiors that celebrate color, texture, and custom craftsmanship. Her firm creates richly detailed spaces that harmonize with a home’s architecture, transforming them into inviting sanctuaries. Her work has been featured in Architectural Digest, House Beautiful, Luxe Interiors + Design, and more.
HOME: Set in a grand 9,400-square-foot Pacific Heights home with sweeping city and bay views, the 2025 San Francisco Decorator Showcase features the work of 19 top Bay Area designers. Originally built in 1902 and redesigned in 2009 with a French limestone façade, the five-level residence was transformed with bold color, sculptural furnishings, and custom lighting. Now in its 46th year, the event supports San Francisco University High School’s financial aid program, which has raised over $19 million since 1977.
PROJECT: A Modern Library by Kathleen Navarra
Hartmann&Forbes was honored to collaborate with designer Kathleen Navarra on her bespoke windowcoverings for A Modern Library at the 2025 San Francisco Decorator Showcase. We caught up with Kathleen to discuss the story behind the space, her fearless use of texture, tone, and pattern, and how she brought subtle glamour to the windows with customized woven shades.
H&F: Your Modern Library is anything but hushed and traditional. What story did you set out to tell in this space, and how did that narrative guide your choices of saturated color, layered pattern, and tactile detail?
KN: We set out for the story of the room to be one of a space that harkens to the tradition of the architecture, we wanted the main pieces of furniture to reflect a contemporary aesthetic in warm tones. The bookcase wallpaper was the color inspiration with its accent colors in creams and greens. From there, we layered in the drapery, ceiling wallpaper, and other fabrics.
H&F: You’re celebrated for fearless combinations of texture and tone. Which material pairing in this room most surprised you as it came together, and why?
KN: The end of the room with the built-in banquette and table turned out to be my favorite part of the room — it felt interesting, architectural, and welcoming.
H&F: Were there any architectural or design surprises you discovered while working on this room?
KN: Not so much a discovery, but a surprise that the ceiling wallpaper actually added a lift to the low ceiling height!
H&F: The windows are dressed with custom Hartmann&Forbes Woven-to-Size Old Style Roman shades in LE4021 Jazz – Bridge. What drew you to this particular weave, and how does its texture, and adding a hint of gold, balance the room’s bolder elements?
KN: The subtle ground was the perfect texture for the bolder elements. It had enough substance on its own, yet subtly played with the adjacent fabrics.
H&F: You customized LE4021 Jazz – Bridge with gold warp threads, which transformed these shades into a one-of-a-kind statement. How did that metallic accent tie into your broader vision for the space?
KN: The wallpaper we used in the bookcases opposite the windows was gold leaf with a bronze wash, and we wanted something opposite to give the windows the same glamorous weight.
H&F: How did working with Hartmann&Forbes’ design and sales teams influence your decisions about fiber blend, shade construction, or finishing details?
KN: I was thrilled to learn that we had the option to customize! The H&F team’s knowledge was immeasurable in helping us select a weave that would highlight the added gold thread.
H&F: The gold warp threads subtly shimmer as daylight shifts. How does that quiet glow reinforce the room’s mood from morning through evening?
KN: The sparkle of the shades in the morning light felt crisp. However, as the light shifts into late afternoon or early evening, the shades add warmth, depth, and shimmer.
H&F: Libraries serve many roles — reading nook, refuge, creative studio — so lighting has to flex with each use. How does the woven shade’s performance and operation let you shape the natural light and amplify the glow from your fixtures to create a truly adaptable space?
KN: The light opacity of the shade material was perfect in that it blocked glare at the high point of the day, yet let in just the right amount of natural light.
H&F: Hartmann&Forbes shades are handwoven from renewable fibers. How important was the provenance and sustainability story behind the shade in the context of your design ethos?
KN: It is always top of mind to use natural materials, which is one of the reasons we always go to Hartmann&Forbes.
H&F: Every bespoke element offers a takeaway. What insight from this shade customization experience will you carry into future projects?
KN: The ease with which we were able to customize was astounding, and therefore makes me want to customize more for clients.
H&F: If a guest could remember only one sensory moment from A Modern Library, what would you hope it to be, and how do the woven shade’s color, texture, or craftsmanship contribute to that memory?
KN: Quiet luxury. Though the room’s elements were quite bold, the overall sensory impression we heard was that it was a calm, luxurious space. And that is precisely what Hartmann&Forbes woven shades are!
