Well, Stephanie Peters did when she invited Linda Marx, an independent-minded bargain-hunting maven, to have at it.

“I wanted the challenge to do it as inexpensively as I could,” said Marx, who loves nothing better than finding a cast-off sofa here or discarded end table there. “They’re little orphans. I like giving them a home.”

Peters, a Sunnyvale marketing consultant, wanted a home makeover that “shows my personality,” emphasizes comfort and reflects her penchant for all things Asian.

She lives in an Eichler, the 1950s-era, one-story homes with open floor plans, atriums and courtyards. Mid-century modern furnishings are experiencing a resurgence of popularity these days, but Marx was reluctant to shop in that direction: “I lived through that” era of design, Marx said, “and I didn’t particularly like it then.”

And with popularity often comes a big price tag, and that simply is not Marx’s style. Marx promised she could completely swap the decor of the living, dining and family rooms for a grand total of $4,000, which included everything from furniture delivery to moving lighting fixtures. (That would buy mid-century purists one Eames lounge chair and ottoman, thank you very much.)

The last time the house had a makeover was in the early 1990s, a few years after Peters bought it. As was the style at the time, she decorated with a palette of black, white and chrome, including white marble flooring in the living and dining rooms. But over the years, the space had grown tired and cold. And Peters had little time to pay attention to it. She made brief attempts at repainting the interior, but when her artwork came down, including her collection of Asian masks, she never put it back up. In her entry hall, all she had was a plant.

“All right, enough,” Peters told herself. “I entertain a lot. I’m sick and tired of people coming over and I’m embarrassed.”

She called Marx, who calls her fledgling redecorating business “Shoestring Design.” The women became friends through Marx’s son, who worked with Peters years ago. Peters had been to parties at Marx’s house and while there, couldn’t help but admire her home. She asked for help on hers.

“I said I wanted modern and Asian,” Peters said.

“I wanted the house to feel warm and nice,” Marx said.

“I wanted chrome bar stools,” Peters said.

“I didn’t bother with it,” Marx said.

“Never mind,” Peters conceded. “Do it.”

With that, Peters cleared out the entire living, dining and family rooms of furniture, handed Marx the key to the front door, and took off for three weeks.

“I had never done Asian before,” Marx confessed.

She began her thrift store circuit up and down the Peninsula, stopping in the Salvation Army on Winchester Boulevard in San Jose, where she found a dining room table and chairs for $149; to the Consignment Store in Westgate Mall in Saratoga, where she landed a living room sofa, and the Goodwill on Almaden Expressway in San Jose for the Asian bar for $89. She bought a bamboo wall hanging at Cost Plus World Market for $49, Asian coin wall hooks for $3 from Savers in Redwood City for the entryway, a coffee table from Not Too Shabby in San Jose for $49. A large Persian rug ($120) that covers the cold marble floor came from D.G.W. Auctioneers and Appraisers in Sunnyvale.

Marx mined Peters’ garage for lost treasures, pulling out her old trunk and a collection of masks. She hung Peters’ prints and some Chinese silk panels she had bought at auction and arranged everything just so. For finishing touches, she displayed martini glasses on the bar and filled a glass vase in the kitchen with fortune cookies.

Then she waited. “I was sweating bullets when she came home,” Marx said.

“I stood in awe in the entryway for 30 seconds,” Peters said. She barely recognized the place. “I walked back in three or four times. There was so much and it had changed so drastically.”

Peters loves her new decor and “everyone who comes to my house is flabbergasted. I’ve had wonderful feedback.”

Now on to the bedrooms! As soon as Peters leaves town, Marx will be ready.

If you like bargains and didn’t see the story Desiree and I wrote about the Asian fretwork chairs we bought for a bargain price at Not Too Shabby, read this:

Smackdown:Lookiloos-style

Here’s the complete slideshow:

6 Bedrooms

3 Bathrooms

3225 Sq Feet

Asking $1,399,000

Check out the rest of the virtual tour here.

She was born in 1970 with a name that means “earth” in Czech on a commune in Palo Alto called “The Land.”
Zem Joaquin was a dark-haired pixie with patchwork pants who played with chickens, danced in the central longhouse and sang with Joan Baez in the squatters camp off Page Mill Road.
The darling of the draft resisters back then, she became the subject of their illustrated fairy tale about  “Zem, the little queen” who unites a strife-torn world. Even Baez, who founded the commune and lived there for a time, included “Zem Zem” in her 1975 song, “Children and All That Jazz.”
Perhaps it should come as no surprise, then, that she was destined to make a name for herself in the environmental movement. Unlike her parents’ generation that reveled in the counterculture fringe, though, she is helping create a modern movement in the mainstream.
And she’s doing so with her own sense of rebellion: She’s making green glamorous.
Founder of Ecofabulous, she created a Web site that gives readers eco-friendly lifestyle options, from modular furniture made from recycled paper to chic throws made of hemp and flax. Going green needs to be less about sacrifice, she realized, and more about motivation. (The site’s motto: “sexy.sustainable.style.”) After all, she muses, “People weren’t too interested when organic cotton looked like oatmeal and felt like a burlap sack.”
Step inside the 1960s-era home in Marin County that she remodeled for her family and you’ll see what she means.
At 39 years old and just 5 feet tall, she opens the front door with bare feet and a big smile. Behind her, vintage black-and-white curtains she found at the Alameda Point Antiques Faire frame a pair of chairs she recovered in remnant lime green silk. Sleek kitchen counters are made from newspaper wood pulp and fly ash. Her vintage Laszlo dining room chairs are refilled with natural rubber.
“Being fabulous is feeling like you’re getting what you really want,” she says. “At the same time, you’re not taking more than you need and you’re giving back.”
So how did this commune kid become such a design diva?
She may have been raised on granola, but she came of age living in London for two-and-a-half years in her early 20s with her godmother – a stylish critic for the Evening Standard who took her to theaters, boutiques and Paris for weekends and “taught me everything I know about design.” Joaquin (then Spire, her maiden name) finished her degree in organizational communications at Pepperdine, where she started a recycling program. And after a stint managing male models in Italy (she followed a boyfriend there), she returned to San Francisco in the late 1990s to help her best friend, Gina Pell, start Pell’s fledgling fashion and beauty Web site, Splendora.
“She was my VP of business development because she’s so good with people. She has a way of developing and nurturing connections,” Pell says. “I always told her that if she was a superhero, that would be her superpower – the ultimate connector.”
It was Pell, though, who connected Zem with her husband, tech entrepreneur James Joaquin.
They met at a cocktail party in 1999 in San Francisco, married and had two children. She was volunteering for homeless causes and political campaigns when her children were diagnosed with severe asthma. The family was living in an old Craftsman in San Francisco at the time, spending many a night in the emergency room when she decided she had to “save my children and create a healthy home.”
The Marin County house, tucked among blackberry bushes and towering trees, became her eco-incubator. Old painted beams were stripped with beeswax, wall-to-wall carpeting was replaced with recycled wine-cork flooring and solar panels were added to the roof.
But finding sustainable products, and stylish ones at that, wasn’t easy. “I realized there was this enormous gap,” she says. “There were no resources for eco-design and people interested in design.”
It was her husband who handed her a copy of “Cradle to Cradle,” the environmental manifesto of architect William McDonough, whom James Joaquin had heard speak at the 2004 TED conference for technology, entertainment and design in Monterey.
“This is what you’ve been talking about,” he said at the time to his wife, “what you’ve been spiraling in towards.”
She was so enthralled by the book, which professes ecologically intelligent design, that she invited McDonough to lunch with “some of my friends that I think can change the world.”
The guest list included her husband’s good friend, eBay founder Pierre Omidyar; Segway inventor Dean Kamen, whom she had met at a dinner party; and inventor, entrepreneur and Disney “imagineer” Danny Hillis.
This time, it was McDonough’s turn to be impressed. He invited her to attend his annual eco-summit in Iceland the following year with some 20 “thought leaders” and activists.
Unlike some in the environmental movement who preach doom and gloom, he says, Joaquin takes a positive approach.
“It’s a big dark world out there, and we need brightness,” he says in a phone interview from Abu Dhabi where he was talking to real estate developers about green design. “Zem is a sparkle.”
And she knows how to throw a party. Over the past several years, she has raised nearly $1 million dollars for Global Green, an L.A.-based nonprofit that activates its Hollywood base to bring attention to green issues, including the sustainable rebuilding of New Orleans and Haiti. At her first party she threw at the Clift Hotel in San Francisco several years ago, Leonardo DiCaprio showed up. Salma Hayek and Orlando Bloom came to the second.
“She actually seduces people into doing the right thing,” Ariana Huffington of the Huffington Post said when she presented Joaquin with Global Green’s Founder’s Award last year. “She always makes people feel that the right thing is the fun thing.”
Plus, she added, “she’s adorable.”
While Joaquin founded Ecofabulous in 2006 to chronicle her environmentally friendly remodeling resources, she has since expanded it to include organic beauty, fashion and lifestyle choices. She consults with such companies as eBay and Safeway and has been a frequent “green” guest on radio and TV shows. She raises chickens in her side yard, grows tomatoes and herbs, and even has her 6-year-old daughter weighing in with her opinion about kids’ green products. And over the past few years, she’s convinced every one of her closest friends to drive a hybrid.
So what’s next?
“I never thought in a million years I would want to have a commune,” she says.
But lately, she’s thinking about it, maybe bringing her closest friends together, living sustainably off the grid. She doesn’t have the details worked out yet, but one thing is certain: Unlike the A-frames and outhouses she grew up with, she says, “this commune would be stylized.”

Here’s the complete slideshow:

The 1920s Craftsman bungalow was 1,450 square feet when the family of three moved into the house. And after a significant remodel and another baby, it hasn’t grown a square foot. But with creativity and style, it works beautifully for this young family.

The biggest change Jamey Graham and his wife Sharon Kojima made was converting a family room and laundry room that spanned the back of the house into a master bedroom on one side and a master bathroom and closet on the other. With a central hallway dividing the two spaces, plus a glass door leading to the back yard at the end, visitors walking in the front door can see clear through to the back yard. For a small house, the light at the end of the tunnel goes miles in making the bungalow feel larger.

The only problem? “We violated Feng Shui” principles by being able to see through the house, Jamey said. But the couple installed a door to close off the master suite from the rest of the house — and keep the good spirits inside.

They installed hardwood floors into the two children’s rooms in the bedroom wing, and in the main living area, they tore down a wall that separated the kitchen from the dining and living rooms. Walk in, and you feel one big open, inviting, living, dining and kitchen space, plus a peek to the back yard. All were put together with quality and care by “Paradise Art and Garden” on Park Avenue in San Jose and J.P. Novotny Construction.

The San Jose house was the smallest on the Hanchett Park Home tour in late May. But it made a big impact.

Related stories:
Watch the Favorite Spots Regaled at Hanchett Park Home Tour
More Hanchett Homes on the Tour
Front Porch, River Rock Sells this Craftsman Home
New Craftsman Home, Just the Right Size
Craftsman in Los Gatos

Here’s the complete slideshow:

Maybe it’s because Bennett Hall grew up in a mid-century Eichler tract home. Or maybe it’s because his wife, Helen, immediately felt the feng shui of the house. Or maybe it was the view.

But within five minutes of setting eyes on this 1960 modern house perched on an Oakland hillside with a wall of windows overlooking the San Francisco Bay, the couple knew they had to have it.

Cantilevered from the hillside on steel beams and concrete pillars, the house reminded Bennett of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Falling Water house that is perched over a waterfall. The Oakland hills house also had the feeling of floating in air (and also had its own waterfall). The Halls called it “Sky House,” and began a faithful restoration.

The house had been owned by the same family since it was built. They heard from neighbors it had been quite a party house, with music and laughter coming from the expansive deck. (Bennett found a full, unopened bottle of Crystal buried in the yard while relandscaping. One can only imagine how it got there. It will remain a mystery since the label rubbed off, leaving no proof of a date.)

One of the first projects for the Halls was restoring the huge waterfall next to the entrance. It had deteriorated into little more than a mud puddle against the house. Not only did it create a grand entrance from the outside, but it remained a focal point once inside the living room. With the waterfall to the left, the living room fireplace in the middle and the expansive deck to the right, the feng shui principle of water, fire and air lay before them in all its glory.

The original owners seemed to understand this ethos and carried the Asian influence throughout the house. Shoji screens pull out from within the walls to separate the dining room from the kitchen. The Halls leave the screens open most of the time so they can see from the kitchen sink over the dining room table and out to the expansive view.

And what a view it is: on even a hazy day they can see the Golden Gate and the high rises of downtown San Francisco. They overlook Oakland and Berkeley below and off to San Mateo to the south and Mount Tamalpais to the north.

The couple has spent the last two years reworking the landscape. They repoured the concrete switchback ramp leading from the street to the front door, decorating it with interesting textures and lines, as well as pieces of “found art”.

Bennett considers Sky House a piece of art in itself. They still have projects left to do and “we’d like to share the property as a way to preserve it.” The couple rents Sky House for special occasions and executive retreats.

You might also enjoy these stories:

Rose Garden Mid-Century Modern
Mid-Century Modern from California Ranch: A Town and Country Life
Los Altos Contemporary
Modern Cocktail Lounge Party

(Photos by Desiree Northend)

Here’s the complete slideshow:

This past week I was thrilled to photograph this wonderful Eichler home in Palo Alto. It is a mid-century modern designed to bring the outdoors right in to your living room, dining room, well every room.  This home has been completely remodeled.  The stone floor is gorgeous. 

The color variations of the floor have a warm tone.  Every light fixture has a unique modern flair.  The homeowners took their time in choosing every detail and it shows.  

This house will be on the market soon. If your interested you can contact the realtor Karen Lemcke at 650.387.4856.

Oh and by the way, Sunset Magazine just named Palo Alto one of the top small cities to live in and it said Palo Alto is also eco-friendly as well.

You might also enjoy these stories:
Rose Garden Mid-Century Modern
Mid-Century Modern from California Ranch: A Town and Country Life
Los Altos Contemporary
Modern Cocktail Lounge Party

With art pieces named "Sax in the City", "Issues:Blue Stiletto" and "Pouring it Out on the Green", this lookiloo knew that Sonya Paz was something special.  Her use of bright colors and shapes is what drew me in and has propelled her nationally as a leader in the new "pop art" movement.  A regular on the local art and wine festival circuit, one would be hard pressed in Santa Clara county to find someone who does not know Sonya Paz or has not seen her lively work.   With a cubist and modern art perspective, Sonya breathes life into everyday objects, from wine glasses to the Golden Gate Bridge adding a touch of whimsy and the unexpected into your home or office.

To push the unexpected even further, Sonya has also created a line of wearable art, so you can take her vibrant perspective with you wherever you go.   Last year her watches were part of the much coveted "VIP Goodie Bags" at the Academy Awards and Sundance Film Festivals. One could catch Samuel Jackson and Quentin Tarantino in one of her fashionable watches ($85.00), or buying ceramics and clocks.  In addition, she recently created pendants ($40.00) and silver jewelry ($55.00) that carry her images. 

According to Paz, "my art reflects my life", which is apparent in the range of her subjects.  For example, her love of her dog Sami has inspired her to get involved with animal charities.  Her art is often a fundraising vehicle for these local causes for example, she moved both art and animal lovers to become new donors to the Santa Clara County Humane Society at the recent "Fur Ball". 

This week Sonya and five other artists kick off a new exhibit this weekend, Cosmic Art of Robots and Space. With artists from California to Arizona, this eclectic group will highlight various pieces that were inspired by robots and the cosmos.   Sonya remarked that what sets this apart from other exhibits is that "you get to meet and talk with all the artists in one space" and that one can actually buy space age style art and add it immediately to their home collection.

"I grew up in an Eichler home, and was inspired by that sense of style.  Some of the pieces available will be like Eames meets Herman Miller.  Come to the show and you can ‘atomically’ decorate your home,"  encourages Paz.  With artists including Christine Benjamin, Tracy Cox, Doug Horne, Paul Loughridge, Sonya Paz and Shaunna Peterson, the show is sure to be out of this world!

Opening reception:
Saturday, October 4, 2008, 5:00-9:00 p.m. 
Open to the public. This exhibit runs through October 17th.

Sonya Paz Fine Art Gallery
1793 Lafayette Street, Suite 100 
Santa Clara, CA 95050

Photos courtesy of Sonya Paz.

Update:

This post is featured in the San Jose Mercury News Home and Garden section here.