Inside Ken Fulk’s Fantastical Makeover of a California Ranch Home
The celebrated showman transforms a farmhouse near Carmel into a theatrical fantasy filled with couture finishes and a few Mad Hatter–worthy surprises
In the rolling hills of the Santa Lucia Preserve, a storied enclave tucked above Carmel’s misty coastline, a low-slung farmhouse opens like a storybook into another world. At first glance, the exterior reads as a crisply composed California ranch, all low eaves and wide horizontals, set against the raw splendor of oak-studded hills and chaparral. Inside, the weekend retreat unfolds in dramatic fashion as kaleidoscopic patterns bloom across surfaces and sumptuous furniture animates even the most intimate nooks. Ken Fulk calls it “Alice in Wonderland meets Alexander McQueen”—a glimpse into the San Francisco designer’s finely tuned fantasy realm, at once cinematic and meticulously composed. Indeed, an illusory tale awaits.
The journey began with a client whose polished appearance belies a flamboyant sensibility and deep devotion to fashion. “She’s this delightfully proper-looking and -sounding English woman but the first to dance on tables, a fashionista who lives out loud in a wonderful way,” Fulk says, noting their mutual belief that private spaces needn’t succumb to homogeneity. As such, a couture sensibility governs even the subtlest flourishes, making each turn feel like a tumble down the rabbit hole. He credits “the idea of wanting to live in a singular environment. It’s unexpected in this humbling California landscape, which is very much a wonderland.”
The structure underwent a fairy-tale makeover owing to Fulk’s ambitious architectural interventions and artisanal know-how. Fortunately, the clients weren’t only along for the ride, “they were helping push,” he notes. “We never took our foot off the gas.” The kitchen’s clean-lined marble island rises like a landform at the center of a cathedral-like volume, where hand-painted floral tiles by Linda Fahey cascade nearly 18 feet up the backsplash, hood, and walls to seafoam green fir beams. Bursts of cut stone floor detonate outward before dissolving into wide-plank oak—a treatment executed with muscular bravado. Cabinetry fitted with leather straps tempers the room’s grandeur with irreverent wit, exemplifying Fulk’s longtime motto: “Fear is the enemy of good design.”
The home’s most evocative moments dial into William Morris’s belief that beauty rooted in the natural world elevates daily life—often in the most unexpected places. The guest bedroom’s headboard, fashioned by Natasha Hulse, blooms with tangled vines, lilies, and butterflies—an embroidered oasis set against a vivid Osborne & Little wall covering of tropical foliage and exotic birds flashing plumes of electric color.
Metallic flowers fashioned by Kirk Maxson frame the powder room’s ceiling above hand-painted botanical wallpaper concealing mushrooms, keys, and timepieces like hidden Easter eggs. The dining room, alternatively, evokes jungle glamour, with tiger-stripe velvet casino chairs encircling a glossy red table beneath a tasseled French chandelier festooned with flowers painted by Rafael Arana, bathing an antique kilim rug and Holland & Sherry drapery in joyous flecks of light.
Art flows through the home with the same conviction as Fulk’s boldest gestures. Nowhere does it come into sharper focus than on the staircase, where a spellbinding art wall conjures an enchanted fantasia. “We wanted something that felt engaging, collected, and super inspired by our surroundings,” Fulk says, referencing a verdigris-finished railing that sprouts metal blooms while a gridded Stark runner plays against a Timorous Beasties wallpaper with trellis motifs.
His in-house advisory worked closely with the clients to assemble a vivid tableau: botanist Giorgio Gallesio’s 19th-century fig studies, a set of Chinese watercolors of insects on pith paper, and a Salvador Dalí lithograph, each selected for their uncanny beauty and transportive charge. A hand-embroidered vintage regency chair completes the scene.
Even in a home this enchanted, Fulk—an unabashed dog lover—doesn’t miss a beat when asked to choose a favorite detail. In the primary bedroom, four-legged royalty lounges in a custom bed upholstered in Clarence House tiger velvet, perched beneath a Venetian glass butterfly chandelier. “It was built as a bed for a supermodel dog,” he muses. “It’s the most fabulous dog bed we’ve ever made.”
The couple and their two children retreat here for a change of pace and atmosphere. A brisk 40 minutes from their main residence, it feels worlds apart. “You can’t be here and have a bad day,” Fulk says. “It’s joy, and we all need more joy in our lives.” The idyllic landscape deepens the sense of escape—sun-dappled trails, wind-worn grasses, and endless sky imbue the home with a reverie that lingers long after you leave. Turns out, falling down the rabbit hole never felt so good.
