Marin Home / BACKSTORY
at the entrance, and the guest bedroom is
outfitted in Chinese black-and-red silk lin-
ens, a color scheme echoed in the expansive
master suite. The guest room was something
the Besteds could not do without; because
their families are so far away, visitors often
stay for months.
But it was the two youngest family members, the couple’s four-year-old twins, who
were uppermost in their minds when they
chose a home. Claudine, an organizational
psychologist, wasn’t convinced about this
house until she saw the backyard, which has,
essentially, its own private park, with a swing
set, sandbox and trampoline — and where
Shawn and Brooke now run wild.
Just outside this playground, the peripatetic Besteds have planted an apple, a plum,
a date and a fig tree. The trees are tiny, but
the couple hopes to be around to watch
them grow. “I could see us living here a
really long time,” says Soren, sounding like
a man who has found the perfect new place
to happily grow old. M
AF TER Y EARS OF living in Australia, Singapore, Geneva and London, often in very old homes, Soren Bested and Claudine Ng Bested wanted something that
not every Marin home buyer covets: new.
“I grew up in Denmark,” says Soren, an
executive for a mobile banking app developer, “where having a 150-year-old house
is nothing special. I much prefer the convenience of something that works all day,
every day.” The Besteds, whose most recent
home was in chilly Milwaukee, found what
they were looking for in Novato. Not only
is their four-bedroom home 21st-century
ready (enough outlets to accommodate
everyone’s devices, for example); even their
neighborhood, Point Marin, is new. “It used
to be abandoned military housing before
this development in the 2000s,” says their
real estate agent, Toni Shroyer.
Specifically, the couple wanted California
new, a vision gleaned partly from their
own contemporary tastes and partly from
Holly wood. “When I first drove down this
street,” says Soren, “It reminded me of
Desperate Housewives’ Wisteria Lane. It felt
like L. A. I really liked it.” In a nod to TV fantasy, the couple has decorated their living
room in a mid-century style à la Mad Men,
with a late-’60s-type couch, a large, swooping
Arco lamp and white Barcelona chairs.
The warm and open kitchen reflects the
scope of their tastes. The cooking area, with a
Wolf range, double ovens, Sub-Zero fridge and
granite countertops, emanates a contemporary
West Coast vibe, while the breakfast nook is all
Scandinavia, furnished with a white elliptical
table designed by Danish poet and scientist Piet
Hein and chairs by Dane Arne Jacobsen.
The Singapore-born Claudine’s Asian
heritage is also felt throughout. Two silver-
painted Chinese garden stools stand sentry
Specifically, the couple wanted California new, a vision gleaned partly
from their own contemporary tastes and partly from Hollywood.
