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Mandy Cheng Gives a Hundred-Year-Old Palo Alto Home a Youthful Refresh

Living room with twin sofas flanking a series of marble coffee tables and pair of checkerboard print chair n front of arched opening to stairhall in Palo Alto Silicon Valley California Mediterranean house designed by Mandy Cheng

As interior designer Mandy Cheng sees it, the reason clients never come out and say exactly what they want their home to look like is that “no one really knows. That’s why they come to us!”

The couple who commissioned Cheng for this Silicon Valley project did very much know they wanted her, however. As the designer recalls, “One of them said, ‘Well, we’re young, let’s pick someone who likes color and fun.” And that perfectly describes the Los Angeles–based Cheng, who founded her eponymous firm in 2013, shifting careers after years spent as a Hollywood set decorator. 

Interior designer Mandy Cheng portrait in breakfast nook of Palo Alto Mediterranean house Northern California
The clients “wanted color and a little bit of adventure, while still being respectful of the style of the house itself,”  Mandy Cheng says of the remit from the owners of this 100-year-old Mediterranean home in Northern California’s Silicon Valley. Top: In the living room, a pair of JMF chairs from Forsyth sit at one end of a contemporary marble coffee table, which is flanked by sofas from Lawson-Fenning. All photos by Madeline Tolle

But although a mix of hues and whimsy do indeed characterize many, maybe even most, of Cheng’s interiors, “people aren’t hiring me because I have a look and they want that look to go into their house,” the designer insists. “It’s always going to be my interpretation of their personality reflected back into their home.”

To that end, she tries to make every project unique to its owners. And the key to doing that is answering the essential question “What are the clients trying to tell me, even though they don’t know how to tell me?”

Living room with twin sofas flanking a series of marble coffee tables in front of fireplace in Palo Alto Silicon Valley California Mediterranean house designed by Mandy Cheng
Cheng used a Zak + Fox fabric for the living room’s curtains and hung an Allied Maker pendant light from the ceiling.

In this case, the husband and wife — a cardiothoracic surgeon and an educator, respectively — shared only a few Pinterest images. But from these, and a couple of conversations, Cheng says she gleaned that they “needed the house to be comfortable for them, but they also entertain a lot, and they wanted it to look nice. It wasn’t supposed to be museum-esque, but I also didn’t shy away from higher-end, more-bespoke pieces, either.” 

Above all, she says, they “wanted color and a little bit of adventure, while still being respectful of the style of the house itself.” 

Dining room with cane-backed chairs surrounding oval wood table in Palo Alto Silicon Valley California Mediterranean house designed by Mandy Cheng
In the dining room, end chairs from Made Goods and a contemporary walnut table sit atop a Mongolian wool rug. The walls are covered with a de Gournay paper.

That house was “a really cool, classic nineteen-twenties Mediterranean and in beautiful shape,” she continues. “But it was also just a little plain,” which made it “the perfect base to insert all the fun, unique things that would reflect the style they wanted.”

Kitchen with cane-backed bar stool at island in Palo Alto Silicon Valley California Mediterranean house designed by Mandy Cheng
The kitchen island’s contemporary De la Espada bar stools borrow their aesthetic from the Art Deco movement.

The scheme Cheng created for the couple celebrates the home’s early-20th-century past while bringing it decidedly into the 21st. To accomplish this, she used “a combination of all these materials you would have found a long time ago,” she says, pointing to pieces like the living room’s pair of clean-lined, mohair-covered Lawson-Fenning sofas; the dining room’s velvet-cushioned cane chairs and dark-toned oak finishes; a guest-room headboard made from a heavy antique wooden door; and a family room ottoman upholstered in a vintage carpet. “The furniture shapes are contemporary, but the materials are very old-world.” 

Home office with botanical wallcovering and Eames executive chair at wood desk in Palo Alto Silicon Valley California Mediterranean house designed by Mandy Cheng
A Charles and Ray Eames for Herman Miller Executive chair sits at a campaign-inspired leather-wrapped Made Goods desk in the office, whose floor is covered with a Nordic Knots rug. The wallpaper is Pierre Frey.

Everywhere, she creatively incorporated, replicated or reimagined existing interior architectural elements that align with the Mediterranean style. She integrated an original brass wall grate into a newly installed custom cabinet in the foyer, for example, and used a Scalamandré wallpaper with a pine-bough design to give a treehouse feel to a guest room with an ornate built-in wooden bed.

Artisanal wallcoverings like that, found throughout the house — including on some ceilings — go a long way toward establishing a sense of whimsy grounded in history. 

In the study, a Pierre Frey traditional Japanese Momijigari–style maple-tree print climbs the walls, forming a sylvan backdrop for a campaign-inspired leather-wrapped Made Goods desk at which sits a Charles and Ray Eames for Herman Miller Executive chair, both resting on a Nordic Knots rug.

The breakfast nook’s terracotta-hued, turquoise-accented Arabian-inspired geometric wallcovering pairs with an Urban Electric Co. antiqued-bronze pendant that Cheng had fitted with a custom shade made from a Schumacher fabric printed with verdant ferns.

Family room with light teal sofa and slouchy leather chair in Palo Alto Silicon Valley California Mediterranean house designed by Mandy Cheng
The family room’s contemporary velvet-upholstered sofa faces a slouchy button-tufted chair across an ottoman upholstered in a vintage carpet.

“Everything is a slightly cheeky nod to what would, or could, authentically have been in the house from the beginning,” Cheng says. She is referring to her wallpaper choices, but she might just as easily be speaking about her entire scheme. 

The clients, who are now parents to a young child, are supremely pleased with Cheng’s interpretation of their personalities, tastes and desires, as well as the house’s past.

Pergola covered dining terrace in garden of Palo Alto Silicon Valley California Mediterranean house designed by Mandy Cheng
“This particular property,” Cheng says, “had great greenery, really well executed, and we wanted to celebrate that, to really bring those outdoor colors in and make everything feel harmonious colorwise.” On the dining terrace, she covered a contemporary trestle table with a hand-block-printed textile.

Cheng, too, is pleased with their working relationship.

“These clients were very much like, ‘We know what we like. We don’t know how to do it. But we assume you’re coming up with the best options for the space, so why shouldn’t we just do those?’ ” Cheng recalls.

They asked for virtually no changes to the room-by-room options she presented in an initial round of mood boards — something the designer says almost never happens. 

“They kind of gave me carte blanche,” she marvels, “and just let me go with it.”

Get the Look with Mandy Cheng

FORSYTH JMF Chair, New
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FORSYTH JMF Chair, New
Illums Bolighus Candelabras, Late 1950s, offered by Sella Studio
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Illums Bolighus Candelabras, Late 1950s, offered by Sella Studio
FORSYTH Mushroom Pouf, New
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FORSYTH Mushroom Pouf, New
Persian Heriz Rug, 1960, offered by Shahbanu Rugs
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Persian Heriz Rug, 1960, offered by Shahbanu Rugs
Josef Hoffmann–Style Armchairs, 20th Century, offered by FORSYTH
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Josef Hoffmann–Style Armchairs, 20th Century, offered by FORSYTH
Brass Kitchen Canisters, early 20th century, offered by ORNAMENTUM
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Brass Kitchen Canisters, early 20th century, offered by ORNAMENTUM
Lostine Sophia Wall Mirror, New
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Lostine Sophia Wall Mirror, New
Berber Water Jug, 19th Century, offered by Fireside Antiques
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Berber Water Jug, 19th Century, offered by Fireside Antiques
Karen Gayle Tinney Ceramic Vase #800, New
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Karen Gayle Tinney Ceramic Vase #800, New
Bakhtiari Rug, 1950, offered by Victor Gallery
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Bakhtiari Rug, 1950, offered by Victor Gallery

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