Standing inside Austin Carrier and Alex Mutter-Rottmayer’s warm, inviting 1,200-square-foot Sonoma home, it’s hard to imagine its former life as a derelict, 1970s-era car barn with two dingy upstairs apartments. The couple completely gutted and re-envisioned the structure, combining the two upstairs apartments and transforming the lower level into an office and showroom for their businesses, Hommeboys Interiors, HOH Builders and furniture brand Haus of Hommeboys.
The barn — set back on a rural property surrounded by olive groves — is part of a family compound purchased by Mutter-Rottmayer’s parents in 2012. The couple moved in a little over 10 years ago when Mutter-Rottmayer’s father invited them join his design-build firm, and they finally embarked on a major overhaul about two years ago as their own businesses expanded.
“The barn was like forgotten architecture with no character, but from our point of view, it was a blank slate,” Mutter-Rottmayer recalls. “We also loved the idea that it fit the vernacular of the architecture in Sonoma.”
On the exterior, the duo leaned into “Sonoma style” with white board-and-batten siding and black steel windows, but inside, the aesthetic is entirely different. “We wanted to showcase who we are as designers and what we love — an interconnection of natural materials and an earthy California vibe,” Carrier says.
Illuminated by sunlight streaming through 20-foot-tall windows, a grand, curvaceous staircase clad in Marmorino plaster makes a bold statement the moment guests arrive. “Alex’s father suggested we put in a staircase to access the apartment, because originally you had to walk up an exterior stairway to get into the upper floor, and we said, ‘that’s a great idea, but we’re going to take it 100 times further,’” Carrier laughs.
Upstairs, the plaster finish transitions to Roman clay, used on both the walls and ceiling. Natural materials meant to evolve over time feature prominently throughout, including limestone, wood, marble and quartzite, while the color palette ranges from sandy taupe to chocolate brown, punctuated by pops of color. “We like to joke in our firm about how much we love brown,” Carrier says.
A vaulted ceiling with exposed trusses and skylights shelters the kitchen and dining area, where ebony-stained white oak cabinetry is complemented by quartzite surfaces. The curved-edge peninsula and range hood are clad in wood that the firm’s in-house workshop hand-carved with a motif reminiscent of Sonoma’s ubiquitous stacked-stone walls. A wide archway — a Mediterranean-inspired element repeated throughout the home — separates the kitchen from the intimate living room, where the lowered ceiling is embellished with wood beams.
The primary suite, meanwhile, is awash in color. Mossy green Roman clay walls contrast with the electric tangerine crushed-velvet upholstery on the custom wall-to-wall bed, and the primary bath is decked out in pale blue zellige tile from Zia Tile.
Outdoors, a restored 1972 airstream stands ready to host overnight guests; a limestone patio is outfitted for alfresco dining; and a Japanese soaking tub and outdoor shower overlook a vineyard and the surrounding mountains — the epitome of outdoor living in Sonoma.
Lotus Abrams has covered everything from beauty to business to tech in her editorial career, but it might be writing about her native Bay Area that inspires her most. She lives with her husband and two daughters in the San Francisco Peninsula, where they enjoy spending time outdoors at the area’s many open spaces protected and preserved by her favorite local nonprofit, the Peninsula Open Space Trust.
