A contradiction in style

This wasn’t meant to be their home. Their last place, a cozy, modern English-style house that the couple built from the ground up when they first started out as a couple, was supposed to be their final home — first and last. "I asked my husband, Joy, one day," says Baby Warren, a retired VP for Leverage Systems Technologies, "‘do you think this will be our last home?’ and he said, ‘yes, I’m happy here.’"

"This was our starter home," she says referring to their last house, "and, in the end, I wanted something more."

More turned out to be a modern home built to showcase the couple’s penchant for art. Deciding on a style was a simple enough matter. "I’ve always wanted modern," she says. "I hate clutter. I’m a very neat person."

During her days as VP at the IT firm she helped found, she’d originally insisted on a clean desk policy for employees. "I’d tell the staff to keep their space clean, which meant no stuffed toys or anything of the sort." After a while she mellowed and realized the policy might have seemed a bit too harsh — but clean living is a mantra this homeowner lives by.

"I just don’t have the urge to fill space," she explains as we tour her airy, sunlit home. Instead, the couple selected a few choice pieces by local artists to bring life to the design.

Beginning with the front door, designed by artist Gabby Barredo, the Warrens decided to skip the usual wooden door and invest in something a little different.

"We didn’t want the usual narra or ornate wooden door," she says. So their architect, Edwin Gumila, suggested they pay Barredo a visit. They liked his work so much they commissioned him to design the front door. The end result is an eerie work consisting of a thick slab of opaque glass with little faces poking out from the surface. "I liked it when I first saw it," she says. "I liked the translucence, how you can only see vague shapes from the outside — when lit from the inside, you can only see a glow."

The Warrens liked Barredo so much they commissioned him to do another piece for them, this time a larger work framed by one of the home’s sweeping architectural details: the stark expanse of white wall, two-floors-high by the dining room. "I trusted him so much, I just showed him the space and let it all go from there." Barredo ended up submitting an industrial piece composed of scraps of metal intricately worked together to form a textured piece with cutouts to allow a fluorescent blue glow to shine through. "It’s ingenious," Baby says of the piece. "He makes art out of junk," she says pointing to a spiral portion decorating the lower right-hand corner. "He got scraps from old computers to make this. I can see the meticulous detail that went into the work."

"Even if I like modern," she says, "I’m not a fan of abstract art."

The Arturo Luz piece, taking center stage in the living room, is one fine example. Though it appears to be an abstract piece, upon closer inspection the painting is a rendering of three figures biking.

To counteract the sharp lines of the angular furniture, the Warrens invested in sleek curvy pieces that were modern but were far from minimal. A cocoon chair by Anne Pamintuan of Movement 8 offsets the living room’s boxy pieces — from the angular sofas to the coffee table made of square-cut glass perched on top of rectangular wooden pieces of varying heights.

The kitchen combines the same aesthetic: Oak cabinetry counteracts a modern countertop, industrial Flos lamps by Philippe Starck and steel appliances.

Her interior decorator, Jecelyn Gumila, suggested she purchase modern but classic pieces to avoid creating a home that’s bound to be outdated in five years. "So we turned to Italian furniture to warm up the space," Baby says. Beige couches, wooden accents and some wooden flooring for the second floor hallway and stairs add a warm touch to the home.

"When the architect asked me what I wanted, I said three words: modern but warm," she says.

With glass doors that allow the green from the garden to come in, open white spaces and lots of natural light, the Warrens have achieved what few modern-house lovers often fail to accomplish: they’ve created a home that is both modern and warm, cozy yet stylish.

"Modernism can be cold with all that steel and glass," she says. "The trick is to find a balance and make your home feel like a home."

From the looks of things, it seems like they’ve done it.