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Designer Caitlin Flemming found the Petaluma home’s original sconces in a dusty basement box, restored them and returned them to the living room. The discovery helped guide a renovation that emphasized the home’s existing character, vintage pieces and furnishings with personal histories.
Designer Caitlin Flemming found a pair of the home’s original sconces in a dusty basement box while renovating a 2,300-square-foot Petaluma, California, home for the parents of a longtime family friend. She restored the fixtures, fitted them with custom Les Indiennes fabric shades and placed them in the living room, where the discovery helped set the tone for a project focused on uncovering rather than replacing the home’s character, according to a House Beautiful report.
The home has three bedrooms and two bathrooms. Flemming’s project was not a wholesale redesign: she sought to make the house a comfortable retreat while drawing attention to existing features and incorporating the owners’ belongings. The sconces, which had been stored out of sight, offered a tangible piece of the building’s history and a solution to the designer’s search for vintage lighting.
Before the decorative work, the interiors needed substantial attention. Flemming told House Beautiful that every wall had a heavy textured finish she called “elephant spackling.” Smoothing the walls took three attempts, while refinishing the dark wood floors to a lighter original tone changed how the rooms felt. The report also describes the house as crooked, a condition that required careful work to level the kitchen cabinetry and countertops.
After that work, Flemming layered vintage rugs and furnishings with wallpaper and textiles, including pieces from Rose Tarlow, Lisa Fine and Sister Parish. Custom cabinetry by Chopwood Co. was installed in the kitchen and primary bathroom. The original breakfast nook table was retained in part: its base was paired with a new ash tabletop made from wood sourced in the Marin Headlands, the report said.
A Renovation Built Around Existing Character
The sconces illustrate the project’s central design choice: preserve and reuse what the house already had, rather than make it feel entirely new. Their return to the living room linked a practical lighting update to the home’s history, while the retained breakfast nook table and refinished floors applied the same approach elsewhere.
For readers, the project also shows how an older home’s condition can shape renovation work beyond its visible finishes. The uneven structure made kitchen installation a precision task, and the limited kitchen footprint meant the layout had to be planned carefully rather than expanded. The report presents the finished interiors as a result of those constraints, the homeowners’ existing possessions and a mix of vintage and custom pieces—not simply a change in decoration.
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From Basement Find to Living Room
Flemming was looking for vintage lighting when she came across the fixtures in the basement. She told House Beautiful: “It felt like we had found a little piece of the home’s history that had been waiting for us.” After refurbishment and the addition of custom shades, the sconces were installed in the living room, where the original fireplace also remains a feature.
The wider renovation followed a similar pattern of retaining, repairing and adapting. In the kitchen, adding more floor area was not an option, so the designer focused on storage and making the existing space work. The breakfast nook kept its original table base, while new surfaces, paint and soft furnishings refreshed the room without removing its established form.
““It felt like we had found a little piece of the home’s history that had been waiting for us.””
— Caitlin Flemming, designer, quoted by House Beautiful
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Project Details Not Reported
The House Beautiful report does not give the renovation’s completion date, the home’s construction year, or the sconces’ age and maker. It also does not specify what restoration work the fixtures needed beyond being refurbished, or provide a project budget. The available account is a design home tour, not a technical renovation record, so it does not establish whether any work involved additional structural or building-code changes.
The article describes the home as a wine-country property in its headline, but does not provide details about a vineyard, winery or the owners’ connection to wine production. The sconces’ role is documented as part of the home’s design, not as a feature of a wine business.
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No Further Milestone Announced
The supplied report presents the home as a completed renovation and does not identify a planned next phase, opening date or other follow-up milestone. The development for readers is the published account of Flemming’s design process and the restored fixtures’ place in the finished living room. No additional project announcements are included in the source material.
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Key Questions
Where were the antique sconces found?
Designer Caitlin Flemming found them in a dusty box in the basement of the home she was renovating in Petaluma, California, according to House Beautiful.
Where did the sconces go after restoration?
Flemming refurbished the pair, added custom shades made with Les Indiennes fabric and installed them in the living room.
What was the renovation’s design approach?
The project emphasized working with the home’s existing character and the owners’ belongings. It combined restored and retained features with vintage furnishings, patterned textiles and custom cabinetry.
What challenges did the house present?
The walls had a heavy textured finish that took three attempts to smooth, and the older house was crooked, making it difficult to level the kitchen cabinetry and countertops. The kitchen could not be expanded, so its storage and layout required careful planning.
Is a completion date or renovation budget available?
The source report does not state when the renovation was completed or how much it cost.
Source: rss
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