all the single ladies

I get asked all the time about the style of design that I make.  Is it modern? Traditional? Eclectic? Its a question I'm always hesitant to answer, mostly because I'm not really sure I have one.

I have designed homes all over the country, and each has its own particular quirks and characteristics because of the place it sits on the map. The people who inhabit those homes are much the same.  None of my clients has been entirely interested in pure modern, traditional or eclectic and everybody has their quirks. And since I like to think that I always design with the client in mind,  I'd say that my design style is as varied, as diverse, as quirky as they are.

I've been hard at work on two apartments in Los Angeles that are a perfect illustration of this point.

The first space is a uber modern loft in a new building in Mar Vista.  My client here is a woman with a busy life and a demanding career that has her traveling a lot, so it was my goal to create a comfortable, colorful space that welcomed her when she got to spend precious time at home.

Here is where we began:

Polished concrete floors, shiny steel appliances and large, white spaces. A slick, clean slate for sure, but not much warmth.

The living room was tabula rasa.

Great windows with garden views in the loft bedroom, but all of them covered with horrible plastic vertical blinds.

Now it looks like this:

A vintage credenza is paired with a mod pedestal table and red chairs with incredible hairpin legs. Perfect. I love the combo of the cow hide rug and the woven runner, too. And that's a Banksy print at the base of the stairs. 

My client had lots of beautiful, colorful things that we used everywhere we could. She also invested in vintage furniture and some bold modern art -- much of it by local artists.  This pair is perfect.

This piece. Oh man.  Such a gorgeous beast, and such a lovely contrast to the concrete floors.  

No more big white box of a living room.  So much beautiful pattern, color and texture here. And more Banksy.

The concrete floors, the luxe rug, the marble coffee table.

The super high ceiling in the living room made it the perfect spot for a vertical office. And I am totally in love with the little stool with the grey felt seat.

The loft bedroom is dreamy and calming. The graphic art above the bed  -- created with handmade greeting cards -- is some of my favorite in my client's collection.

White linen replaces those horrible plastic blinds on the windows, and the view into the garden is a bit more serene. 

Apartment number two is in a landmark 1928 building called Casa Laguna in Hollywood. It could not be more of the polar opposite of the loft at the beach.

My client works as a film producer, so this home had to become a place for her to retreat and relax after long hours on set.  Luckily, this apartment (and the beautiful building it is in) has long been considered one of the most beautiful in Los Angeles, so all I really had to do was fill it with things that complemented the architecture here.  There are lots of little reminders of my client's beloved hometown, too.

Here is before:

Andalusian details everywhere. Super-high ceilings and giant windows with views of the Hollywood hills from the living room.

Beautiful hardwood floors.  French doors to a Juliet balcony in the the dining room (and every other room).

And this is after:

I kept things sunny and bright here with cream and grey and lots of yellow. The room is warm and absurdly comfortable.

Beautiful little details.

Color, texture, pattern and sparkle.

My client was in need of the perfect a way to store her incredible shoe collection. it was too beautiful to hide in a closet,  so shoe benches were designed for the entryway.  Now her beautiful footwear is decor.

The dining room.  Red silk draperies are the star here, but there is so much more to love.  Especially those hand carved honeycomb doors.

I love this piece as much as I love the credenza in the loft.  It is incredibly tall and covered entirely in the most gorgeous grass cloth. 

And it has the most spectacular hardware.

Chicago chandelier.

See what I mean? There's no one style at play in either of these homes and definitely not just one type of client.

I don't want to choose, so I won't.

sweet and hot

The pepper onslaught is in full swing in the garden.  Overnight we went from pounds and pounds of tomatoes to a few dozen peppers each day.  And just like with the tomatoes, I've been really excited about canning and preserving anything we don't eat fresh.  It has most definitiely been a time of experimentation around here and we've had peppers in pretty much every dish, but I have to say that I'm loving the hunt for recipes to try as well as incorporating the offerings of the garden into our family classics.

As soon as we realized how large they would grow to be, we decided to roast our large, sweet peppers and preserve them in olive oil.  This was my first time canning with oil, and I'm happy to report that it is just as simple as canning with brine.

See those big (as my feet) red peppers?  Those are Giant Marconi.  This was our first season growing them and they turned out to be sweet and meaty and perfect for fire-roasting.

The Marconi and a handful of poblano chiles roasted right on the range top.  A cooling rack (we used the rack from inside a large roaster) is the perfect thing to hold the peppers over the flame until the skin is black and blistered.

Here's how they look after the black skin has been removed and peppers have been cut into ribbons and nestled into a jar with a clove of garlic and lots of good olive oil.  So far we've eaten these on sandwiches and they have become my favorite pizza topping with chevre and watercress.  Yum is an understatement.

I have pickled our super-spicy jalapeno and serrano peppers in a really simple brine (you can find the repice at Simply Scratch) many, many times before.  This time around I also made some jars of sweet peppers for the people don't love the hot stuff so much.

The jalapeno and serrano are really hot but still have tons of flavor.  The banana and Anaheim are mild and mellow and take really well to the brine.

The sweet peppers are great on sandwiches and pizza of course, but my favorite is diced up into potato hash.  We eat the hot peppers on tacos and all foods Mexican,  pizza (pepperoni and jalapeno is a classic at our house), and especially in scrambled eggs.  Drew dices them fine and puts them in coleslaw, too.

I was excited to give pepper jam another go this year.  I made two batches last year -- one that was pure pepper and one with tiny flecks of diced mango (inspired by the apple-mango pepper jelly from Bramble Basics).  This year I used the same ingredients, but pureed the mango instead of dicing it.  I love what the puree does to the texture of the jam.

Lavender and orange bells, sweet banana, Anaheim, golden cayenne, jalapeno and serrano peppers pre-pulverization.

Five ingredients:  the pepper mix, pectin, apple cider vinegar, sugar and pureed fresh mango.

The mango pepper jam, finished and ready to eat.  Drew eats this stuff on everything, from peanut butter sandwiches to fried chicken.  My fave way to eat it is on crostini or whole wheat crackers with goat cheese.  With cream cheese on saltines works (and is just as delicious) if you want to go white trash with it.

And there you have it.  My three favorite ways with garden peppers -- just in time for the second big harvest.  Hope it will be as sweet and hot as these last days of summer.

everything is illuminated

It is certainly the case in the dining room at the Hyde Park house.

Here's where we started:  builder's beige walls and a cheap, clunky (and SO bright -- we immediately installed a dimmer) chandelier.  The room isn't particularly large, but the gorgeous floors and the corner windows make up for that.

The first thing to do was paint, and I chose Benjamin Moore stonington gray for the walls.  The color was also used in the adjoining living room and hallway.

Pretty, right?  A little bit taupe and a little blue, too.

The furniture plan for this room was minimal, so I designed draperies to add interest and height to the space and soften the corner without taking up too much floor space.  I selected a really fancy silk in a modern, graphic botanical. 

The drapery silk has fantastic pattern and texture.  Great weight and a slight sheen, too.

A while back, I repaired and re finished six school chairs scored for $2.50 apiece at an LAUSD auction.  They are colorful and eclectic (as this room took shape, it became clear that eclectic would rule here) and absolutely the perfect size.  They also pair well with the super simple dining table planned for the room.

Dining chairs before shot.  Sturdy and comfy, but not looking so good.

Dining chair frames, mid-refurb.  I chose to use a traditional dining room color in a new way.  The wooden seats and backs got a lovely sand and refinish, too.  And we scraped off dozens of pieces of chewing gum!

Sometimes a dining room is all about the chandelier, so it took a bit of time figuring out with what sort of fixture was right here.  Something grand and traditional was considered -- after all,  there is crown molding and silk drapery in this space.  Any number of my modernism faves (like this Nelson Saucer pendant lamp) could have worked, too.  In the end, I settled on the simplest option I could find-- the Finley pendant lamp from Crate & Barrel.  It was the element necessary to get this room just right.

Here's the dining room today:  velvety wall color, dining table that comfortably seats six, refurbed school chairs, luxe draperies, perfect lighting, bold artwork.  So happy and comfortable.

The fab finish on the dining room table (from Urban Home) and Dahlias from the garden.

An heirloom bar cabinet is tucked between windows.  A trio of paintings of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz from Tomata DuPlenty's "Tomata Loves Lucy" series hang above.  The pair of vases are from West Elm.

Alright.  I think its time to bring on the dinner guests.

all over the map

Every Spring, my clients and I do the big build up.  We decide on the projects to tackle, discuss style and color, decide on furniture and art and fabrics and dozens of other details until we put everything together into a design plan.  When summer hits, my clients disappear on various vacations and holidays.  I get down to the work of putting those design plans into action while everybody is away.   Summer is always the busiest season for design, and I am in the thick of it these days.

Two projects are in progress on opposite ends of Los Angeles.
The first is a gorgeous apartment in a historic Spanish-style building in Los Feliz.  There is so much southern California charm here, and I'm doing my best to bring it out with silk and linen draperies, a luxe living room rug and grand chandelier in the dining room. There are also lots of reminders of the client's beloved hometown with some vintage Chicago poster art.  So far, I am absolutely thrilled with how this little gem of a place is turning out.

Perfect Chicago poster art.

High ceilings call for a grand chandelier in the dining room.

Great color in the living room rug.  Perfect with the leather armchairs, too.

Over in Mar Vista, my client has a clean, ultra-modern loft space as her new home.  We are filling it with design classics, great color, quirky vintage finds and modern art.

How can you beat dining chairs with red hairpin legs?  They are from West Elm.  The pedestal table is from CB2.

I've often spoken of my undying love for FLOR carpet tiles -- this mod cow pattern was made for space like this one.

Lots and lots of big white walls in the loft.  This Banksy piece will find a home (and add lots of color) in the living room.

This one is Banksy, too.  For the bedroom.

At the project in Las Vegas, work this year began with furnishings for the patios and poolside.

There are pairs of these Chatham armchairs from Pottery Barn in a few spots around the property.  I love the clean lines and the crisp green of the cushions with all of the desert colors. 

For lounging around the pool,  I designed portable (they have the cutest little handles) cushions in a vibrant Sunbrella stripe that references all of the colors of the pool and garden.  There's also a pretty spectacular view of the The Strip when you're sitting on them.

The patio near the barbeque and bar is shaded with one of the simple umbrellas dotted around the backyard.  These outdoor poufs from Crate & Barrel are super durable, comfy and colorful seating.  A metal basket weave table found on Overstock.com is topped with a glass top from Pier 1.

Inside the house, the design process has just begun to transform a spacious but terribly dated (think gold chrome, glass blocks and terra cotta tile) master bathroom into a super luxe retreat.  I'm sure a handful of things will change before all is said and done, but I'm really excited about what we have so far.

Tile and fixtures and cabinetry, a spectacular bathtub, a glam chandelier and fabulous art.  The things that master bath nirvana is made of.

In June, I took my first trip to Bend, Oregon to visit a family who were among my very first clients when they lived here in Los Angeles.  Bend is a wonderful little city with great energy and my clients have chosen to live in a spot surrounded by so much natural beauty.  It has been great fun designing in a new and inspiring place, and I really love helping my clients settle into their new home. 

The view from the front patio of the Bend house.  Peaceful and beautiful.  And quite a departure from Los Angeles.

All of this travel -- both within my city and without -- has me feeling like I need a serious vacation.  It'll have to be when summer is over and the after photos are posted.

This is Why

Most of the time I love where I live.   Everyone is curious about Los Angeles, especially if they’ve never been here, but the curiosity is usually tempered with a little bit of distaste.  “Why do you live there?”  is something I get asked quite often. “Isn’t L.A. crowded?  Expensive?  Dangerous?  Don’t you get sick of the pace, the competitive energy, the plastic people?  Isn’t the artifice and excess of the entertainment industry too much?”

Yes.

Sometimes this city is completely exhausting.  I get sick of driving everywhere.  I wait in line almost everywhere I go.  There is crime and violence here.  The very rich live perilously close to the very poor and nobody blinks an eye.  A numbing barrage of advertising and imagery and noise and smells dominate the everyday.  Everyone is hustling for their little bit, and people can be pretty mean.

I often need a reminder.

It is overwhelming. The bigness, messiness, craziness of L.A. begins to take over, and suddenly I find myself thinking that anywhere is better than here.  Why do I live here?

I used to think that I felt this way because I am an introvert or a misanthrope, but now I don’t think that’s why.  I think that what really happens is that I stop seeing what’s all around me.  It is exactly that – all around me -- and I begin to take this place for granted because I DO live here. 

Hope she finds a good home when the building is finished. 

 Nearly a decade has gone by since I first began my life as an Angelino, and some days I forget that not everyone has almost endless sunshine.  I forget that there are places where there are little or no opportunities to do and be whatever or whomever.   I forget that the diversity here, the seemingly infinite combination of cultures, is a challenge (in the best way) and a comfort every day.  I forget how beautiful this place is - the murals and architecture and palm trees and flowers that are endlessly stimulating.  I forget that the  Pacific ocean is a quick bike ride from where I live and work.  I forget that there are people here who live and love and create the way that I do.  I forget.

Then I take a walk around my neighborhood, and I am reminded.  I am inspired.  

I ride my bicycle past this one several times a week.  Its hard not to smile when I see it.

Yes please.

In the alley outside Glencrest Bar-B-Que.  What artists manage to create with spray paint is astonishing.

This is why I live here.  This is why.