Interior Designers in California
Studio November is an English interior design and architectural studio based in Oxford, working with clients in California and across the United States. Founders Samin Sahabi and Christopher Cooke trained in London design houses synonymous with English craftsmanship, and bring that tradition to American homes: genuine English country house design, period detailing, bespoke joinery and a considered, layered approach that California's design market rarely offers from the source. Our completed US work includes a full project in San Francisco, delivered through the remote design and management process we've refined for international clients.
Interior Design For Californian Homes
There's a reason English interiors travel so well to California: both traditions prize houses that feel collected rather than decorated, comfortable rather than staged. What we bring that a local studio can't is the source material, a working knowledge of English period detailing, joinery traditions, antique sourcing and the specific way an English country house layers pattern, texture and time. Whether the project is a Tudor Revival house in the Bay Area, a wine country farmhouse that wants the warmth of the English original, or a contemporary home that needs depth and character, we design it the way we'd design it at home in Oxfordshire, then deliver it through Californian contractors and suppliers. Because we're an architectural studio as well as an interiors one, that includes the bones of the project: spatial planning, joinery and cabinetry design with full workshop drawings, lighting design and kitchen and bathroom layouts — documentation American contractors consistently tell us is more detailed than they're used to receiving.
Our San Francisco project is the proof of concept: a complete home designed from Oxford, procured on both sides of the Atlantic, and delivered with local trades.
Areas we cover
Our US projects have centred on San Francisco and the Bay Area, and we work with clients across the state:
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Napa and Sonoma wine country
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Los Angeles
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Santa Barbara
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Montecito — as well as elsewhere in the United States.
The common thread isn't geography; it's clients who want genuinely English design: British expatriates, American owners of homes in both countries, and Californians who've fallen for the English country house and want the real thing rather than a local approximation.
How transatlantic projects work
We've built our international process around one principle: distance should be invisible in the result. Design development happens in Oxford with regular video presentations; drawings, specifications and schedules are issued to US standards where required; and we combine in-person visits at the key stages — concept, mid-construction, installation — with structured weekly communication in between. Procurement runs on both sides of the Atlantic: English and European makers, fabrics and antiques shipped and consolidated, alongside Californian suppliers and trades we coordinate directly.
The eight-hour time difference works in our clients' favour more often than not — decisions made in a California afternoon are resolved drawings by the following morning.
