PLASTIC, concrete tile, grasscloth, glass, wood, brick-a great variety of materials-are combined pleasingly in the contemporary home of Albert A. Innocentis, designed by John Preston Travis.
The varied materials, both inside and out, provide the chief decorative features of the house, with the addition of Oriental objects collected by the Innocentis while living in Japan.
Concrete grillwork screens the garage from the front entrance and is repeated in a small fence outside the guest room glass window wall.
Mosaic tile decorates the wall adjoining the double walnut front door. This mosaic is in several colors: blue, aqua, orange and white. Inside the front entry is a wall area and built-in corner pool in aqua blue mosaic.
The wall to the right of the entry and continuing into the kitchen area is paneled in walnut, as are the kitchen cabinets. Around the corner from the pool the wall leading to the guest bedrooms is papered in an iridescent blue-green grasscloth.
Lighting Highly Efficient
LIGHTING, DRAMATICALLY decorative and highly efficient, is one of the keynotes of the Innocenti house. More than 22,000 feet of wiring was used by Mr. Innocenti, who wired it.
The sunken living room has a solid ceiling of light, recessed behind white architectural bamboo squares, similar squares are used, spaced apart, over the bathroom dressing tables. Solid plastic rectangles hold kitchen lights and walnut panels provide reflected light in the bedrooms.
Spotlights, a pole lamp in one corner of the informal living area and a drop light over the dining table provide other inside lighting for a dramatic effect.
Glass walls of the living area are curtained in woven white plastic panels, which reflect both natural and electrical light. This wall opens to a terrace which drops to a creek lined with trees in the back.
Fenced patios are built outside two of the bedrooms and the master bath. The fence around the latter is painted bright blue, to blend with the decor of the bath.
Tubs in both baths are built in the corners, of pink terrazzo. The same material is used on the floor.
Bright Colors in Furnishings
BRIGHT COLOR IS USED lavishly in furnishing the house. The sofa in the sunken living room is golf, styled with round bumper ends. Two contemporary sofas are used in the informal living area, foam rubber covered in bright turquoise on walnut frames. The wall behind one of these is painted coral pink, picking up the stripe of the kitchen floor opposite. Deeper tones of coral are used for the rattan chaise and the table in this area also.
One of the guest rooms is painted pale blue, and has a violet carpet and spread.
A luxury feature of the extensive electrical wiring is a switch in the master bedroom which turns on the coffee pot in the kitchen! All lights may be operated from a master panel in the walnut wall. An FM radio is built into this wall, too, and music from it piped throughout the house.
