Inside a young San Francisco architect's dream Mission apartment

The home’s showstopper is the street-facing double parlor that holds the living and dining rooms. A deep, molten red covers the walls just past halfway. A second hue takes your eyes up to the 11-foot ceilings. In the dining room, it’s a smoky navy, while the sitting room gets a brighter off-white. A custom daybed in the deep bay window is where you’re most likely to find Sheth, cuddled with his dog, Gilligan, a custom ashtray-cum-cupholder perched alongside. 

Taking pride of place on a coffee table is a striking and slightly sinister-looking vase filled with serpentine lotus pods, articulated carved-wood snakes forming the vessel’s ribs. Sheth’s art collection isn’t of the sort that fades into the background or complements the rug.

Tracing back to his days at CCA, he is part of an ever-expanding hive of local artists, and in addition to collecting for himself and clients, he recently started curating buzzy, nontraditional art shows in San Francisco and L.A. The snake vase, “Heads and Tails” by Caleb Ferris, was part of Sheth’s latest group show, “Vessel.” It featured 27 artists with Bay Area roots and will be revived through September, when a selection of the pieces are exhibited in small businesses and galleries around the Bay, including The Sidewalk Flowers in Cole Valley, the concept shop Strip Mall in Lower Nob Hill, LNB Atelier in China Basin, and Verso, a studio warehouse in West Oakland.