summer readin' happenned so fast

sometimes books come along that are so great you must pass them along to friends....so i hope you'll enjoy some of these suggestions along with me this summer!

first up, my dear friend scott brizel's book is almost out on the shelves: audrey hepburn, international cover girl. he has an amazing collection of vintage audrey memorabilia and he is a live-encycolpedia of audrey info, so i'm thrilled to announce his accomplishment is ready to buy. go here to pre-order! mine is already on the way. yes!

next up, are 3 incredible design lover's must-haves:
villa by the extraordinary john saladino, interior design hall of fame member. saladino came across the ruins of a 1920's italianate stone villa overlooking the pacific in santa barbara, california. divided into four sections {architecture, interiors, landscape, and entertaining ~ this last part including dinner menus and recipes} the book is beautifully illustrated. i so want to visit here!a dream of mine is to buy rundown property and turn it into fabulous living space that uplifts the new owners and the neighborhood. robert & cortney novogratz have not only done this with amazing style but they've written a book about it to share their best ideas. downtown chic is one of my newest faves ~ from wreck to ravishing? hell yeah! it doesn't get much more inspiring than that.
and then there's green design which brings a new perspective on showing how the design world is coping with the environmental challenges of the 21st-century. written by london-based marcus fairs, a lecturer, entrepreneur, curator and award-winning journalist, formerly founding editor of icon magazine, is now editor of online design magazine dezeen.
last but not least, my former employer's book is out on the shelves as of last month and although i haven't purchased it yet, i plan to with my next gov't bonus check. ;o) orlando diaz-azcuy as seen through the words of that knower of all things design, diane dorrans saeks. i think it's a MUST!

sf decorator's showcase house 2009

this year is the first since moving to san francisco that i won't be going to the decorator's showcase house. boo! not only is this showcase a fabulous way to see what some local designers can do when put to the test, but it's also one of the only ways to see some incredible old-school san francisco residential architecture. so i have always enjoyed seeing these homes from the inside as much as seeing what the designers do within each of their choosen rooms. this year the house is 2830 pacific avenue ~ built in 1910 by architect nathaniel baisdell, it is a four-story 10,000 square foot mansion in pacific heights with gorgeous views and beautiful georgian-style brick exterior architecture.
alas, instead of forming my own opinions through my own eyes, i've had to dive into the blogs of others to get a sneak peak through some one else's lense. even still, there are some interesting and inspiring interiors worth sharing with you:

first up is the entry foyer by nicole hollis


obviously "collections" is a theme nicole chose, shown on the stairwell above and in the unfortunate taxidermy case below:


orlando diaz-azcuy designed the formal dining room {yes, he's my former employer}. i really like the color palette but wouldn't feel comfortable dining underneath a bladed fixture like that and it could be awkward to speak to the person sitting directly across from you with all those vases blocking your view:


the breakfast nook and family room were designed by matthew leverone. i love his choices for both spaces ~ fresh, chic, surprising and yet simple enough to be very liveable and enjoyable for every day use.




the teenager's bedroom by palmer weiss ~ the perfect blend of hip and traditional with a young-at-heart theme:

the master suite by cecil starin ~ masculine and soothing with a neutral palette:

"her study" was designed by benjamin dhong ~ gorgeous & very creative:

if you'd like to attend, the decorator's showcase house is open until may 25th. please let me know if you visit it and what you think!

if you're unable to attend here's a link to the video tour on the california home + design website. enjoy!

{thanks to anh minh , the sunset blog and california home + design for the photos!}

about that vampire house in twilight

unlike just about everybody these days, i didn't read the twilight books. but i did have a lovely afternoon with my best diva friend watching the movie {dvd}, in pj's and chillaxin'. although i thought it was a mediocre film {gasp! how could i say such a thing & risk the sneers of teen vampire admirers everywhere??}, the main thing that stood-out as fantastic to me was the cullen house ~ the house where the vampire family lived, supposedly in the woods near forks, washington. this house is a beautiful architectural and design marvel of modern styling made to fit elegantly well in the woods; and i'm ready to move in! it's been a nice little quest to figure out where this house is truly located and who designed it. how can i live in it if i don't even know where it is??
low and behold, this beauty is actually located near portland, oregon and was designed by a star-studded pacific northwest team: skylab architecture. originally set as a spec home it was quickly purchased up by one of the owners of nike. darn! i'll keep my eyes out for it to go on the market again. ;o)
in real life it's called the hoke house and the genius behind it is named jeff kovel. this guy pretty much rocks every project he's ever done. . . . maybe he's looking for a design assistant? i am so impressed with his vision and style, and this hoke house is one great example of just what jeff can do. to learn more about jeff and his portfolio, and more about the hoke/cullen house, check out this fabulous interview on design tavern.

and to continue with the house tour, do ya wanna peek inside?? ah, yeah, of course you do:gorgeous, gorgeous, and more gorgeous!
it occurred to me after doing the research for this post that maybe it's already been blogged to death? i have been so out of the blog-loop the last several months. . . .so my apologies if this is so yesterday. i am truly inspired by skylab's incredible work in this house and the photos all make me smile, so i'm blogging it no matter how many others have done so before me. ;o)
{photos found on skylab's website & on design-tavern}

the green home center

i finally got a chance to visit the green home center on polk street and am so glad i did! this is a very inspiring place for me because ever since i did a school project on designing a green design center i've been dreaming about being able to own one. it was fabulous to see one up and running and doing really well. the green home center is a co-op of many different green-oriented businesses from contractors & interior designers to home-related products & other services. there are cabinet makers, upholstery & rug makers, solar engineers, tile & countertop farbicators, flooring manufacturers, led lighting, and so much more. really if you're at all interested in anything sustainable for your home or office you must stop in and check them out. what's more, the people working there are extremely knowledgeable and helpful ~ not pretentious in the least, which is a relief after spending so much time at the sf design center where i'm perpetually unimpressed with the sales people's attitudes. but that is a tangent not worth digging in to.... anyway, i'm just on the cusp of starting my own green design business {admitting it here is kind of intimidating, but i'll just take the leap and say it anyway!} and spending time at the green home center was thoroughly uplifting and encouraging. i hope you'll stop in and visit them soon too. if you do please tell them studio wellspring sent you and then let me know what you think!

the selby

todd selby brings quirky creative fun & startling awareness of his subjects into the art of photography. he shows vibrant moods of interesting artist folk in their creative spaces. . . .and the inspiration that springs forth is insatiable.

his site is here

and here are just a few of my faves from it:

show & tell time ~ cpw apartment

i'm so excited to share this with you! a large apartment remodel & redesign project that i was fortunate enough to work on has come to completion, and the project manager has sent over some nice site photos. this is the icing on the cake of a lot of hard work from a lot of talented people. there's really nothing like the satisfaction of seeing a project complete and the clients happily moving in.

this project had a lot of special challenges. . . . . for one, our design office is in san francisco and the project is at central park west in new york. so there was a lot of back-&-forth travel for our team & the clients. another massive challenge is depicted here:

many of the client's art pieces were too large to fit into the building's freight elevator so we had to close off streets, bring in a crane, remove the outer windows of the living room, and lift the art pieces all the way up to the apartment. i'm so glad our project manager was there with camera in hand so we could all share in the marvel of it.

here are a few more of my favorite shots:

{main hallway ~ highlighting the zebra wood floors found throughout the apartment}

{the living room and the grand curving staircase}

{the game table with the piano in the background}

{the den/study with red acrylic backed niches and shelving}

{the kitchen ~ this in particular was my baby of the project. lots of detailing went into it, which can't be seen from a photo, but i suppose that's the mark of good design right? :o) }

{the bar ~ leather paneled walls, resin bar top, patent leather built in sofa and some very chic bar stools}

{the yoga room has cherry wood paneled walls with a dark red/brown stain and a gorgeous antique lotus mandala panel from thailand}

{the design detailing that went into this apartment is staggering ~ these two photos show a nice example: the ceiling coffers in the dining room echo the skylight pattern in the stairwell}

{a lovely view from the deck on a gorgeous new york afternoon}