The Art of Home: She’s one designing woman

Anne Michaelsen Yahn was destined to end up in the world of design. The only question was in what capacity.

Michaelsen Yahn grew up in Newport Beach, and when she and friends would head to the beach, she’d find quiet time to sit. And in those moments, she would find herself sketching floor plans.

Three decades after she founded Anne Michaelsen Design in Newport Beach, the interior designer is still drafting her own plans.

“Some things never change,” she said, sitting in her cozy studio off Dover Drive and 16th Street. In front of her was a drawing desk, and behind her were photographs showcasing her designs for a Balboa Island home’s contemporary kitchen and family room.

For the last 30 years, Michaelsen Yahn has combined the old with the new, indulging her love for the merging of traditional and contemporary.

She was among the Best of Houzz 2015 winners for Design by House, an online platform for home remodeling and design. The site, which has more than 25 million viewers and spotlights more than 500,000 design professionals, gives awards to those who garner the most social-media clicks.

Such an achievement, she said, is enabled by her classical training and art history education.

“I’m very passionate about interior design, and my expertise is in understanding the true essence of all styles and reinventing them,” Michaelsen Yahn said.

Her interest in paintings, architecture and style has roots in her studies at Scripps College, where she majored in art history. While in college, she met Aaron Michaelsen, a student at Claremont Men’s College who was studying economics. After graduation, the two married, and Aaron was accepted to UCLA’s Anderson School of Management as he worked to obtain a master’s degree in finance.

Michaelsen Yahn said UCLA’s renowned Interior and Environmental Design program piqued her curiosity, so she enrolled in courses. After a year of schooling, she was able to renovate a 1920s Los Angeles home, and that job led to subsequent work.

“I’d do jobs, go to school, and then I had a baby,” she said. Through the years, she had three more children, and, while raising the four with her husband, she bought and redid Los Angeles bungalows.

The family moved back to Newport Beach 17 years ago, and Michaelsen Yahn continued her business. But her family’s foundation was shaken in 2002, when Aaron, her husband of 16 years, suffered a massive heart attack and died two days shy of his 41st birthday.

Michaelsen Yahn found herself having to adjust her interior design business so she could plan a schedule around her children.

“Interior design is very customer-service based, and I couldn’t be as service-based, helping in emergencies,” she said.

So she began flipping homes.

While working on a house, Michaelsen Yahn attended a friend’s birthday party and met Donald Yahn, a commercial and industrial broker. The two married and blended his three children with her four.

The youngest of the brood attends Newport Harbor High School and the other six are either in college or graduates making their way in the world. The family bought a Newport Beach home, and Michaelsen Yahn redid it eight years ago.

Michaelsen Yahn carried on with her interior design services and is currently balancing 10 projects — including three complete houses. She has served as the architectural designer for two of them.

Michaelsen Yahn, who has designed homes in Newport Beach, San Francisco and Sacramento, said she furthered her education by studying Renaissance art in Florence, Italy, through Syracuse University and attending the English Country House study program at the Royal College of Art in London.

She has designed two Pasadena Showcase houses and one for the Orange County Philharmonic House of Design. The Philharmonic Society gathers top designers from throughout Orange County to design one home and then holds an open house. Proceeds from the open house go to youth music programs in the area.

When Michaelsen Yahn was asked to design the theater in the 2014 Philharmonic House at the Strand at Headlands in Dana Point, she said it was an opportunity for her to combine technology and design in a unique way.

“I wanted it to feel more like a family room, a casual space where everyone could meet,” she said.

Because the home had a luxury ocean view, she installed lighted panels made of sea glass so the room would have a beach feel.

Experience is key when hiring a professional to style surroundings.

“Today, anybody can buy pieces, but it’s more important to be knowledgeable and have expertise in space planning, measuring, color and details,” Michaelsen Yahn said. “You don’t want to make mistakes, because there’s so much” to consider.

She has seen styles come and go.

“Eight years ago, things were nautical, very blue and white,” she said. “Now industrial is taking over. You’ll see more traditional-style ranches being renovated into a modern home.... It’s really amazing to watch the transition in what people want.”

That is not to say Michaelsen Yahn doesn’t bring her own ideas and inspirations to the client.

“I’m always seeing different ways to design rooms,” she said. “Even when I’m in a restaurant, I unfortunately cannot stop looking. I’ll say, ‘Take a picture of that.’ I really love what I do.”

For more information, visit annemichaelsendesign.com