See Restoration Hardware exec's San Anselmo house that sold off-market
October 9, 2019 | SFGate.com
Danielle Hansmeyer certainly didn't plan on renovating her San Anselmo home for longer than she actually lived in it. Over the course of about four years the former Restoration Hardware Chief Merchandising Officer brought the original house down to the studs and put her heart and soul into the choice and placement of every fixture, stone and tile. She also transformed the overgrown 2.5 acre property into a manicured garden with a 75-foot infinity pool.
But about a year after moving in to the home, Hansmeyer decided to leave RH. She had spent 16 years at the upscale furniture and fixtures company and wanted to have more time with her family. Shortly after making that decision, she and her husband decided the time might be right to leave the Bay Area behind. In early 2019, less than three years after moving into her beautifully reimagined modern farmhouse, the family decided to move to Sun Valley, Idaho, in pursuit of a more laid-back lifestyle.
"As much as I loved, loved, loved our house—I still look at pictures of it—it was an opportunity to just do something completely different and have a different experience for our kids," she said. And the only way to fund that move was to sell her passion project.
Because of the length of the renovation and the fact that there's nothing else like it in their Sleepy Hollow neighborhood, Hansmeyer and her husband were loathe to put the home on the Multiple Listing Service (MLS). People were already fascinated with the property and she didn't want a bunch of neighbors nosing around her home.