Lifestyles magazine showcases Studio One
An exceptionally colorful kitchen that was planned by the Ramona firm Studio One, Inc. Interior Design was highlighted in the July issue of San Diego Home/Garden Lifestyles magazine.
Although the article only mentions the kitchen, the firm redid the entire Scripps Ranch home of Steve and Lee Booth, former owners of Poway Glass & Screen.
“The whole house was gutted, and the owners moved out for two and a half years so that we could totally remodel the home,” said Studio One President Marlene Holmquist, a Ramona resident. “A lot of talented artisans worked on it to create such incredible detail.”
What makes this house really stand out is the use of very bright colors.
“The Booths have an unusual love of color and collect big colorful sculptures,” Holmquist said. “This house is very different with detail that rivals anything you’ll see in Rancho Santa Fe.”
Holmquist points to an interior fire pit with multicolor glass tiles all around it that vents through into a second-story loft.
The magazine was impressed enough by the home to hold a preview party there on May 8 attended by about 80 people, including designers, advertisers and others in the industry.
Holmquist has a background that’s quite a bit different from most interior designers. She earned a degree in graphic design from Cal Poly with the intention of becoming a graphic artist, a career she pursued for 10 years until she was rear-ended in a car accident. After that, she was unable to sit at a drafting table for hours on end, so she looked around for a new occupation.
“And I found one that I really love,” she said, noting that sometimes she can still use her graphic arts skills. “For example, if clients want to incorporate a stained-glass design, I can work on that. In fact, the various design disciplines of graphic design, illustration, color theory and interior design have brought that extra something to our projects over the years. We definitely like to think ‘out of the box’ here at the studio.”
Holmquist also has a degree in illustration from the prestigious Art Center College of Design in Pasadena and is a professional member of the American Society of Interior Designers. She started Marlene Holmquist Design in 1986 in Camarillo and brought the business to Ramona when she and her husband, Tom, moved here in 1995. She changed the name of the business to Studio One, Inc. Interior Design about five years ago.
Despite her first-rate credentials, Holmquist said that most people in town know her for a totally different, and perhaps unexpected, reason. For about 12 years, she has been strutting her stuff as a member of the award-winning Rainbow Riders equestrian drill team.
“I’ve had horses my whole life,” she said. “That’s why we live in Ramona, and we love it.”
A slide show of the colorful house designed by Holmquist’s firm is online at www.studio-oneinc.com. Click on Projects>Contemporary>Residence 1.