Photos by Margot HartfordHouse at a GlanceWho lives here: Leo Bersamina and his 13-year-old daughter, OliveLocation: Novato, CaliforniaSize: 1,260 square feet (117 square meters); three bedrooms, two bathroomsLeo Bersamina says his home looks like it was decorated by a “hippie-surf-mid-modern-Euro-Californian who has traveled a lot and likes a lot of different things.” The native San Francisco Bay Area artist, professor and surfer lives in a 1954 home in Novato, California, designed by architects Bob Anshen and Steve Allen. Its airy indoor-outdoor design, with floor-to-ceiling glass windows in the main living room, works well with his mementos from surfing trips to Latin America, Fiji, Hawaii, Australia and Europe, as well as with his original art and collected pieces from friends. Since he moved in a few years ago, Bersamina has put his practical and visual skills as an artist to use in updating the home. The house, he says, “was in less-than-average state: bad paint, carpet, old bathrooms and kitchen that really needed renovating.” Bersamina painted the interior walls and ceiling, removed the existing carpet, refinished the original concrete floors and updated the kitchen, two ba...
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