FRANCES SCHULTZ: Now, you fellas aren't the standard-issue-type designers we usually talk to. You are...

PATRICK WADE: I'm senior v.p. of creative for West Elm and Williams-Sonoma Home. My partner Dave DeMattei is group president for Williams-Sonoma overall, which includes Williams-Sonoma, Williams-Sonoma Home, and West Elm.

Talk about bringing your work home.

I feel like the luckiest person because I get to live with it and do it. We have two houses and they have completely different looks. What we have at home and what we love inspires our work, and the other way around.

This is your "city house," in San Francisco, and the other?

In Napa, and it's very modern rustic.

Prince of merchandising that you are, you know the importance of constantly having new looks, new displays, fresh takes. Do you find yourself rearranging the rooms of your house every other day?

No. Well, a little bit. Little things. But this house is kinda done. I don't like it constantly changing. The dining room will probably always look like it does, but maybe the living room won't be chocolate forever.

But ooh, I'm loving that chocolate!

It's called classic brown. I wanted something a little more city-like, elegant and formal. We'd never really had a living room like that. So it's more dramatic, and I love how the white pops against it. The whole palette of chocolate and ivories and whites, and nickel -- it's pretty.

Of course neutrals are colors too. Your crisp contrasts and well-chosen accessories keep it a long way from bland.

And if you want to pop a color in there with flowers, or pillows, it's easy to do. I could see adding a brighter orange, or a yellow, or even a bright green -- and that may be a way to make it look fresh for spring. I love color. I think it's how everything starts -- picking a palette and going from there.

And that's how you approached this house?

Yes. There's a neutral base for each room and then some color to give it life. Shots of red and vermilion in the living room, blues and creams in the dining room, and the kitchen has golds and black and silver. So there's kind of an idea for every room.

Thanks to companies like West Elm, there's a lot of good design out there that's accessible and affordable, but as with every silver lining, there's a cloud.

Because it becomes formulaic. People need to bring their own personality and possessions and life to things. Otherwise it's boring....

The living room is crisp and tailored, yet comfy and inviting at the same time. How do you achieve that kind of successful mix?

The sofas are low and comfortable, and the coffee table is low, so it's easy to come in and plop down and not feel like it's a serious room. And having other little tables around so there's a place to set a drink and a place to hang out. It doesn't seem super-formal.

And yet you have a fancy chandelier.

That was actually an inspiration for the room. We'd said we wanted it a little more formal and elegant, so we started with the chandelier.

This buttery color on the bedroom walls is beautiful. Yellow has sort of faded from favor, and unfairly in my opinion.

I love yellow. If ever there was a color that was happy, it's yellow. But I have to tell you, in real life this room doesn't really read as yellow. It reads as this warm, creamy color.

Honestly, I wouldn't have looked at those itty-bitty lamps on the bedside tables and thought they'd go here, but they do.

Well they're on Saarinen tables, which suit the modern look of the lamps, and I just think it's nicer when you're down in bed not to have some gigantic lamp by you. I didn't want some big fancy lamp.

Ginger jars and Staffordshire dogs have been banned from rooms of the hip and groovy for some time now. So the pieces on the bedroom mantel -- are you being ironic or revivalist or what?

They're a little funky, but I think they're really cool. I also like the room being masculine and then having a couple of old lady things in there. It's about not being afraid to mix it up.

Tell me about the kitchen and all that open shelving.

We took out almost all the cabinets above the counters. I don't understand cupboards all closed up where all your things are put away. What do people put in those cupboards? How do they ever remember what's there?

Do you really use all your different plates and antique silver and things?

Yes, and I make a point of it because it seems silly to have all this stuff just to be on display. Why not use the fanciest bowl for your cereal? I mean, what's it for?

I love the kitchen sink in the corner like that. And what's the lattice I see just outside the window?

It's the fence between our neighbors and us. Lattice is an inexpensive way to get a really cool look.

And a fair amount of privacy, while also letting in the light. The dining room is another great illustration of a neutral base punctuated by color -- your art, and all the blue and white.

Like the rest of the house, there's a mix. A big masculine table has a little different feel surrounded by those hand-carved Irish chairs with the rush seats. Then the comfy chairs and the upholstery kind of cut the fussier traditional elements

Do you use the room much?

A lot. It's right off the kitchen. It's not that big a house, but we really do live in all of it. Why have a room if you're not gonna be there?

And what about the chairs in the stair landing?

Okay, we're probably never going to sit there, but it's pretty when you're looking down, or coming up. It's just a nice moment.