Stacia and Edwin Williams, the owners of Cairdean, a newly opened 58-acre winery just north of St. Helena, California, named their venture after the Scottish Gaelic word for "friends." So when the couple asked SF-based designer Nicole Hollis to design the interiors, she referenced their Scottish heritage in her design.
Her first order of business was to unify the collection of buildings (the property was formerly a shopping outlet), creating a restaurant, bakery, tasting room, and marketplace. Basing her design on the classic Scottish Highland estate concept, which traditionally included multiple structures on one property, Hollis came up with a design scheme—from Old World clubby in the tasting rooms and restaurant to New World rustic in the bakery and market—for each building, using a moody palette and natural materials such as rustic reclaimed wood, leather, and brass to create a unified look. For more information, go to Cairdean Estate.
Photography by Laure Joliet.
Above: The restaurant at Cairdean, The Farmer & the Fox, is a modern take on the traditional British gastropub.
Above: The custom oversize brass bell pendants suspended above the table are inspired by historic Gaelic bells and are updated with leather trim.
Above: Vintage plates adorn the walls.
Above: White oak paneled walls are juxtaposed with dark leather banquettes upholstered in traditional Welsh blankets, providing color and warmth. The black pulley lighting was custom designed by Hollis.
Above: Hollis relied on rich elemental materials for the moody look of The Farmer & the Fox, including this brass-topped bar and the black-and-white checkered, honed marble floor.
Above: Custom banquette dining tables with leather banquettes.
Above: The Scottish theme continues in the bathroom, which is papered in thistle-pattern wallpaper from Timorous Beasties.
Above: Seating on the terrace outside the restaurant.
Above: Butterscots bakery and sandwich shop features salvaged brick flooring with copper-topped tables. Dione Carston of Steed Fine Hoarding and Tack stocked the bakery and market with goods for the home. You can now find a wide selection of cookery books, select food items, and other kitchen tools, including Japanese FD Style Kitchenware and linens from Raw Materials. A larger retail store is scheduled to open later in the year.
Above: Oak shelving and white Carrara marble walls give the bakery a modern rustic look.
Above: In the main tasting room, Hollis designed the custom, multicolored ceramic tile and countertop by Concreteworks.
Above: Hollis sourced the brass sconces above the custom shelving from Urban Archaeology.
Above: The private tasting room with French leather chairs and an alcove window seat.
Above: Lighting strung across the grass lawn at Cairdean, with Butterscots in the distance.
For more work by Nicole Hollis, see her Sonoma Retreat, and for more on Dione Carston, see Steed Fine Hoarding and Tack. You can also check out our post on Carston's house: Tough Glamour: At Home with a Napa Valley Designer. And for another Napa Valley wine destination, visit The Sip Shoppe.
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