The Feeling of Home: Sommer in San Francisco
by Alexa Hotz
Before Sommer was a shop, it was a way of seeing. Founder Madeleine Shields had spent years working as an interior stylist before launching the project as an online shop in 2021. Following the birth of her daughter Romy, she envisioned a place built around what she calls “pieces of a home”—a thoughtful collection of furniture, clothing, jewelry, and objects by independent designers and brands.
The name reaches back even further: Shields was born in Norway before her family returned to California, spending nearly every summer visiting relatives along Norway’s southern archipelago. Those trips—and in particular the modest summer cottage her grandfather built there in the 1960s—became her earliest understanding of home. Sommer, the Norwegian word for summer, is less a reference to the season than to that feeling of return.
That vision first took physical form in a 250-square-foot shop in San Francisco’s Bernal Heights, opened in 2024 as a temporary experiment. This spring, Sommer found a more permanent home on Linden Street in Hayes Valley, in what was once a residential garage and later an auto repair shop. Working with designer Hana Mattingly of Innen Studio and woodworker David Flatow of Flatow Furniture, Shields transformed the simple industrial shell into a warm, quietly residential interior with custom cherry furnishings, polished concrete floors, and soft lighting.
Shields doesn’t see the space as complete. “I view our space like a home,” she says. “A space that will never be completely finished and will always be evolving.” The result is a jewel box of a shop that feels settled, but never static.
Photography by Eli Blanton for Sommer.
Above: Sommer is located at 327 Linden Street, an alley-like street in San Francisco’s Hayes Valley neighborhood. The Sapele wood front façade and framing was done by the building owner, Sebastian Parker, who is also a woodworker and an artist, when he first converted the space from a residential garage into commercial use.
Above: Hanging in the window is a pendant by Danish glasssmith Silje Lindrup.
Above: Shields collaborated with Hana Mattingly of Innen Studio to maximize the shop’s footprints through strategic space planning, rendering ideas, selecting paint colors, and more. Shield’s husband, Will, did all of the construction alongside a single handyman—and installed all the lighting. “It’s a familiar affair!” she says. The pendant is the Ingo Maurer Knitterling Pendant. The rug is a Nordic Knots Avenue Rug in Walnut in a custom size.
Above: Shields and Mattingly designed the key store fixtures—desk counter, center table, and entry bench—originally in a much darker wood than what they ended up with. Flatow recommended cherry for its woodgrain pattern and warmth, which is what the pieces are made in and finished in a clear hardwax oil. The back curtains are Nordic Knots Grand Curtains in pale sand. The Charlotte Perriand Applique Wall Sconces were taken from Shield’s own living room.
Above: “We tested so many shades of white,” Shields explains who ultimately went with Benjamin Moore White Dove for its not-too-cold neutrality. The main challenge Shields was up against was a lack of natural light in a space with low ceilings. “We consulted with Tucci Lighting on our lighting plan and got some helpful pointers about where to place the track lighting. Our tight budget and quick timeline were also a challenge, but ultimately I think those limitations made us more creative.”
Above: The baseboards and bathroom door are painted in Benjamin Moore Delaware Putty in a high gloss finish. Shields originally sought out a yellow accent color but after testing a few, realized a beige was more suited to the limitations of the space. “I had seen quite a few homes photographed in Scandinavia with a high gloss accent paint, which is where the high gloss concept was pulled from,” she explains.
Above: The stainless steel rack was designed by Shields and and made by local fabricator Dylan Denicke of Friendly Fabrication. The concrete floors were existing and newly poured; Shields applied a grind and seal finish which is less intensive than typical concrete polishing “but offers a very similar finished look.” She then had the control joins filled with grey epoxy.
Above: Fragrance and jewelry are housed in a vintage Danish piece sourced from Far Out Finds in Hudson Valley, New York.
Above: Shields created a kitchen-like display space for kitchen and dining pieces out of Ikea Sektion for the base cabinets and a custom stainless steel counter from a fabricator in North Carolina. “Due to budget limitations we installed a white linen cafe-style curtain instead of adding cabinet fronts and intentionally kept the design simple so it didn’t feel overly cottage-y,” she describes. The shelf brackets were sourced on Etsy and painted to match the walls.
Above: A small changing room is designed with an Isamu Noguchi Akari 45A Pendant that Shields added a black tassel too. The mirror is from Crate & Barrel, the rug is an Etsy find, and the chair—by Norwegian designer Edvin Helseth—is pulled from Shield’s own dining room. The sconce on the wall is a vintage Swedish crochet lamp sourced on Etsy, available through Sommer later this year.
For more of our favorite shop interiors, see our posts:
10 Easy Pieces: Grown-Up Guest Beds
by Alexa Hotz
I moved from New York to a one-bedroom apartment in San Francisco a while back, and the list of friends that I’ve said “come and stay!” to has been growing and growing. The problem is I don’t like sleeper sofas—and while an air mattress is perfectly fine, there’s something very dorm-like about them. It’s a sad image: Our guest—a parent or sibling or best friend—standing over me with a pillow in hand as I unfurl the plastic and start up the blower. That’s not the kind of host I strive to be. Instead, I’d rather have a grown-up guest bed: a wood daybed in the corner of the room that expands into a proper bed for the night—and gets put back together in the morning. No air blower needed.
Above: Designed by Martina Bautier, Guest Bed is a convertible daybed made of solid oak. The bed slides out from a daybed into a double bed and the top mattress flips over onto the frame; €4,950 at Bautier.
Above: The Harwood Armless Storage Sofa is $1,499 from West Elm (and, bonus, it has hidden storage beneath for guest linens).
Above: The Serena & Lily Spruce Street Track Arm Sleeper Queen is currently on sale for $6,208.
Above: The Remix Night Couch is designed by Gesa Hansen, founder of the Hansen Family. It’s handmade with a solid oak frame, comes in any textile from the Hansen Family or Kvadrat lines, and folds out flat into a platform bed. Prices start at $3,190.
Above: The Stacking Modern Bed designed by German cabinet maker Rolf Heide is $1,075 for each section at Müller.
Above: The Softline Design Team’s Duet Daybed in Pumice (shown) and Fog is currently on sale for $1,756 at Design Within Reach.
Above: The ultimate in guest beds is the Donald Judd Single Day Bed 32, still available through the Judd Foundation. It comes in a range of wood options and fits a twin mattress. Price upon request.
Above: The Frohna Upholstered Daybed folds down and opens into a queen; $849.99 at Wayfair.
Above: The Room & Board Oxford Pop-Up Platform Sleeper Daybed has a lower bed that pulls out and pops up to meet the upper making the twin size daybed into a queen; $2,499 at Room & Board.
Above: The West Elm Midcentury Daybed in white is currently $1,099.
For more daybeds and sleeper sofas see our posts:
- 10 Easy Pieces: Modern Daybeds
- 10 Easy Pieces: Best Trundle Beds for Sleepovers
- The New Guard: 8 Modern Daybeds with Character
- 10 Easy Pieces: Best Trundle Beds for Sleepovers
N.B.: This post is a rerun; the original story ran on February 20, 2019 and has been updated with new prices and information.
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