My Favorite Rooms at the 2026 San Francisco Decorator Showcase

There are beautiful rooms… and then there are rooms that follow you home. Needless to say, I had a few that did in this year’s San Francisco decorator showcase.

That’s how I felt walking through the 2026 San Francisco Decorator Showcase this year. I made it over on the last day of the show, and I am so glad that I did.

Maybe it was the magic of the house itself, a grand Victorian perched above Pacific Heights with the sort of architectural bones that make design lovers weak in the knees. Or maybe it was the fact that in an era where most interiors are consumed through tiny glowing rectangles and Pinterest boards, Showcase reminds us what design feels like in person – how light moves across plaster, how scale changes everything, and how materials tell stories you simply cannot understand through a screen alone. It was a breath of fresh air.

And while there were many memorable spaces, a few lingered with me long after I left.

These were my favorites.

Jeffrey Neve’s Bedroom Proved That Collected Always Wins

Designer: Jeffrey Neve Interior Design
Rooms: Double Standard Bedroom + Jack & Jill Bathroom

There are rooms that feel designed.

And then there are rooms that feel discovered.

Jeffrey Neve’s Double Standard bedroom landed firmly in the second category.

The moment I stepped inside, I found myself audibly gasping – and then slowing down.

The patterned linen ceiling immediately caught my attention, not in a flashy way, but in the way a beautiful old European hotel might surprise you when you finally glance upward. It set the tone for everything else happening in the room.

But what I loved most was the layering and the willingness to embrace a bit of oddity.

That, to me, is where great rooms live.

The space resisted the overly polished showroom feeling that so many luxury interiors fall into and instead leaned unapologetically into personality. I found myself drawn to the unexpected moments: the wonderfully curious portrait artwork, the sort of painting that makes you pause and invent a story around it, and that leather-textured wall sconce that felt tactile, sculptural, and slightly rebellious all at once.

Those details mattered.

They gave the room tension.

And tension is often what separates a memorable interior from a merely pretty one.

I’m always saying that rooms should feel collected rather than purchased in a single afternoon, and Neve’s bedroom captured that beautifully. The ceiling, layered materials, antique references, and unconventional choices created a room that felt deeply personal.

Not perfect.

Interesting. Unapologetically layered.

And I’ll take unapologetically interesting every single time.

What I admired most was how the room invited curiosity. My eye kept moving from the ceiling to the artwork to the lighting, discovering new details instead of taking in the room in a single glance.

That’s incredibly hard to achieve, and I loved it. Take an in-person look.

The adjoining Jack & Jill bathroom carried that same thoughtfulness. I often think secondary bathrooms are some of the biggest missed opportunities in residential design. Designers pour energy into kitchens and primary suites while these connecting spaces become purely functional.

Not here.

Neve approached the bathroom with the same care and authorship as the bedroom, and I loved that continuity. The materials felt considered, and the transition between rooms created a stronger overall experience. The Dulcet floor tile reads more like a textured weave than traditional bathroom tile, and I’m still thinking about it. Like really.

It reminded me that (again), a good design should never abruptly stop at the doorway.

Stephanie Fillbrandt’s Dining Room Felt Like a Warm Embrace

Designer: Stephanie Fillbrandt, Marsh & Clark
Room: A Gated Space Dining Room

I’ll admit it.

I have grown a little weary of the endless open-concept conversation.

Not because openness is inherently bad, but because somewhere along the way, we confused open with better. Stephanie Fillbrandt’s dining room reminded me that intimacy still matters.

Her room, appropriately titled A Gated Space, felt less like a formal dining room and more like an emotional refuge.

Rather than leaving the Victorian shell as a simple rectangle, Fillbrandt created something far more enveloping, an octagonal feeling wrapped in wood paneling, texture, and softly layered surfaces that transformed the room into something deeply human.

What I loved most about this room was how unapologetically contained it felt.

As someone who gravitates toward layered interiors and spaces that create atmosphere rather than simply perform for photographs, this room immediately resonated with me. The woodwork, enclosure, and softly enveloping geometry created something I rarely feel in modern homes: protection.

It reminded me that dining rooms are not meant to feel transient.

They should invite you to stay.

There was a richness to the room that felt quietly European to me, almost as though it belonged in an old London townhouse or tucked into a historic San Francisco home (with amazing SF views) where candlelight and conversation matter more than square footage.

And perhaps that is why I kept circling back to it.

The room felt intentional in a way many contemporary interiors do not. Every surface and architectural gesture felt considered. Nothing appeared added for novelty or shock value. Instead, the room had confidence.

I especially loved how the architecture became the decoration.

So often we rely on furniture or styling to create impact, but here the room itself carried the emotional weight. That is incredibly difficult to pull off and something I deeply admire as someone constantly thinking about how architecture and interiors should work together.

If I’m being honest, it made me want to host a dinner party immediately.

AubreyMaxwell’s San Francisco Decorator Showcase took me to Church

The Chapel Was Less a Room and More a Feeling

Designer: AubreyMaxwell + Perez Construction
Rooms: The Chapel Den + Hall Bath

Some rooms impress you.

Others quietly rearrange your imagination.

AubreyMaxwell’s The Chapel belonged to the latter. Let us pray.

Even the name hints at what unfolds inside.

The space carried a reverence that felt increasingly rare, not religious necessarily, but kinda. It was emotional. It reminded me that great interiors are not merely decorative exercises. They shape the atmosphere. They alter pace. They invite reflection.

That is much harder to achieve than selecting beautiful furniture.

What captivated me immediately was the stained glass.

And not just any stained glass, this beautiful Art Deco-inspired interpretation from Lennox Stained Glass that felt both historic and unexpectedly modern. I could not stop thinking about it.

In fact, it is almost exactly what I want to create in our own cabin bathroom.

That moment felt incredibly validating as someone constantly collecting references and dreaming up future spaces. Seeing an idea you’ve carried in your head suddenly realized in front of you is a special feeling.

The stained glass introduced this extraordinary softness to the room. Light filtered through with warmth and atmosphere rather than brightness alone, creating a mood that felt intimate and cinematic.

I lingered there longer than I expected.

What I loved about The Chapel overall was its restraint. Clearly, years of talent at their best.

The room trusted atmosphere over excess.

It embraced shadow, emotion, and quiet confidence rather than relying on visual noise to make an impression. As someone drawn to moody interiors and layered materials at the cabin, this room felt deeply aligned with the kind of spaces I’m always chasing myself, rooms with soul, mystery, and a little magic.

There was also a confidence in allowing mystery to exist.

Not every room needs to explain itself immediately, and I appreciated how The Chapel trusted the visitor to slow down and absorb it.

The accompanying bath extended that story beautifully. Rather than feeling detached, it carried the same emotional language and made the overall experience feel complete and transportive.

Some rooms photograph beautifully.

This one felt unforgettable.

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Final Thoughts on a Breathtaking San Francisco Decorator Showcase 2026

One of the things I love most about the San Francisco Decorator Showcase is that it reminds us design is still wonderfully alive.

Not static.

Not algorithmic.

Not reduced to trend forecasts and identical furniture grids.

This year’s house celebrated contrast beautifully, historic architecture meeting contemporary ideas, intimacy replacing excess, and storytelling taking precedence over perfection.

And for me, these three spaces stood out because they weren’t literal.

They were emotional.

The best rooms usually are. – xoxo ant