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Outside In – A European-inspired Home and Garden Shop in Aptos

Friday, July 17th, 2009

Outside In, a home and garden shop, is easy to miss, situated as it is in a nondescript strip mall in Aptos. But once you find it and step inside, a beautiful world of French linens, Hungarian pottery and American chandeliers opens up before you.

The shop is the passion of John and Jerri Hammond, who have traveled the globe looking for unique pieces and whimsical gifts. Along the way, “we try to support the small family businesses around the world,” Jerri said. “Small factories are closing down. You try to help save some of them.”

Their travels take them to Thailand and Cambodia, India and Paris, where they have found colorful glass torcheres for the garden (from $10.95), distinctive pottery with raised glazes of golds and rusts (from $29.95), to jeweled napkin rings (from $3.95)

They also discover unique local finds, from rooster glasses hand painted in Carmel (from $12.95), to a stunning $2,000 chandelier from New Jersey.

One alcove is filled with melamine plates, bowls and platters, each more substantial than regular plastic and embossed with Italian-style patterns. Perfect for summer parties in the backyard or poolside (or to add a bit of non-breakable sophistication to everyday family dining indoors.)

The shop is most known for its large apple-scented candles for $48 that burn for 200 hours. (Realtors buy them by the box load for open houses. The shop once sold 75 of them in one hour.)

The Hammonds also opened a children’s gift boutique a couple of doors down in the same complex, filled with everything from tutus to animal wallpaper, Chinese silk baby hats to vintage-style wind-up toys.

Outside In
7568 Soquel Drive
Aptos, CA 95003
just north of State Park Drive, which can be accessed from Highway One.

If you stop by Outside In in Aptos, you mind also enjoy visiting other antique and garden shops along Soquel Drive:
Wisteria
Center Street Antiques

Here’s the complete slideshow:

Posted in Aptos, Carmel, Decorating, Food and Drink, Home and Garden, Home Decor, Interior Design, Julia, Kitchen, Landscape, Lighting, Looki What I Found | 1 Comment »

4th of July Ideas – A Patriotic Picnic Table

Thursday, June 25th, 2009

Whether your Fourth of July picnic will take you to the beach or a tiny back yard, San Jose floral designer Jose Ibarra has set a holiday buffet table for any space on any budget. And for this All-American holiday, Ibarra is embracing the simplicity of red, white and blue. But, as always, he does it with a fanciful twist.

Here are some of his tips for setting a table for a fabulous fourth:

1. Round up your American Flags: For a patriotic backdrop (or just to hide an unattractive corner of the yard) hang the stars and stripes from strung wire behind the table. Ibarra found some of his favorite vintage flags at flea markets.

2. Paint a tablecloth blue and white: Ibarra used a sheet of linen, but a white sheet or even a roll of paper will do (get the kids involved!). For added interest, he laid it perpendicular to the table, instead of end-to-end.

3. Stripes, stripes, stripes! To dress up plain glass vases, wrap them in red, white and blue ribbons. Top with white carnations ($5.99 at Safeway) and red roses ($9.99 at Safeway) and, if you don't have blue delphiniums in your yard, splurge a little. Look through your cabinets for colored glasses and plates. Jose pulled out a red-and-white striped water pitcher.

4. Hello Jello: It took Ibarra three days of watching each layer set in his fridge, but the effect is worth it. He was ready with his blue and red Jello to layer in his large candy jar. But what about the white? He stopped at the Mexican market, and there it was, white Hazelnut gelatin. Add shredded coconut, raspberries and blueberries on top and you've got a grand old flag.

5. Salute this Cake! Ibarra ordered a sheet cake with white frosting from a Mexican market. Add blueberries for the stars and cherries for the stripes. Dig in. (But whatever you do, don't let a crumb touch the ground!)

Other table decorating ideas:
Wabi Sabi: Where the Imperfect is Beautiful
Floral Chic Mother's Day
Going Green on a Budget for St. Patrick's Day
How to Make Paper Roses for Valentine's Day

Here's the complete slideshow:

Posted in Aptos, Decorating, Featured, Food and Drink, Garden, Home and Garden, Home Decor, Julia, Landscape, Q & A, Q and A, San Jose, Wall Decor, Yard | 12 Comments »

DIY – Floral Chic Mother’s Day Dining Room Decorating

Wednesday, May 6th, 2009

Jose Ibarra credits his late mother with inspiring him to become a floral designer. As a talented seamstress, she always expected her children to help with the cutting and sewing. And Jose has inherited her creative spirit, working with colors and textures — and his own two hands. So when Lookiloos asked Jose to decorate a Mother’s Day table for brunch, he set one in her honor, using things she loved, things she gave him, and things she could only dream about. And then, as always, he took it all up a notch with a trendy and surprising floral display inspired by Jeff Leatham’s designs at the Four Season’s George V Hotel in Paris.

“She always liked Paris, but she never went there,” Jose said of his mother. “So I brought Paris to her.”

Here are some of Jose’s tips for a beautiful, thoughtful and stylish Mother’s Day table:

1. Use special things your mother gave you, but have tucked away, including special china, glassware or linens.

2. Set the table in her favorite colors. Jose’s mother’s were orange and green.

3. Decorate with things your mother loves. Jose’s mother loved bugs. So he set out a collection of decoupage plates adorned with bees and beetles.

4. With a bunch of the same-colored flowers, use Jeff Leatham’s “tip to fall” style. Fill tall vases with water, tie stems together, balance the stems near the top of the water, then arch the flowers over the edge of the vase. They look like they will tip over and fall out, but they don’t. This is all the rage among the floral chic!

5. Pull out an old recipe of your mother’s and make one of her favorite dishes. Place a framed photo of your mother on the table. With all your attention to details and the things your mother loves, she will know how much you appreciate her.

Happy Mother’s Day!

You might also enjoy looking at some of Jose’s other holiday displays here:
Wabi Sabi: Where the Imperfect is Beautiful
Valentine’s Day Decorating Tips: How to Make Paper Roses
St. Patrick’s Day Table Decorating Ideas: Going Green on a Budget

Posted in Decorating, Food and Drink, Garden, Home and Garden, Home Decor, Interior Design, Julia, Modern, Q & A, Q and A, San Jose | 2 Comments »

Woodside: Home and Garden Shop Emily Joubert Holds Benefit

Sunday, April 12th, 2009

Two of Lookiloos’ favorite women whose fabulous homes have been featured on our site are teaming up Friday (April 17) for a good cause at Emily Joubert Home and Garden shop in Woodside. Judy Seiber, who owns Emily Joubert, will donate a percentage of her sales that day to the families of the Oakland police officers slain in March.

And her good friend, Lisa Rissetto, whose husband recently retired from the Oakland Police force, will donate the proceeds from her exquisite handbag collection “49 sq. mi.” based in San Francisco. Seiber’s shop is known for its collection of garden pottery as well as Arte Italica and John Derian housewares.

Local businesses, including the famed “Buck’s” restaurant where many a Silicon Valley start-up has been dreamed up, will also donate appetizers, as will Robert’s Market across the street. The Village Pub, Woodside Bakery and Draegers grocery are all helping with food and drinks to make the 2 p.m. to 8 p.m. benefit a success. Some wonderful gifts will also be raffled. The shop is located just off Highway 280, west into the hills, at 3036 Woodside Road.

Along with her home and garden shop, Seiber’s English cottage filled with treasures collected around the world was featured on Lookiloos last summer. And Risetto’s ranch-style house in Woodside that showcases vintage mid-century furnishings was also featured, along with her stylish, industrial studio in San Francisco where she designs her hand-stiched bags.

You might also enjoy reading these stories:
From Ranch to Mid-Century Modern
English Tudor Cottage in Woodside
Los Altos Contemporary
Modern Cocktail Lounge Party
Los Gatos Estate – La Estancia – A Mission Revival Kept Lively by David and Larry

Posted in Decorating, Food and Drink, Garden, Home and Garden, Home Decor, Julia, Looki What I Found, Modern, Woodside | No Comments »

Inspiration Table: Can Lookiloos Pass a Wabi Sabi Test?

Monday, April 6th, 2009

When San Jose floral designer Jose Ibarra set a stunning Easter table for Lookiloos, he promised that anyone could do it. Just pull out some old — and even broken — things from your cabinets and take some clippers into the garden and you, too, could elevate Easter brunch to a “wabi sabi” art form. That’s the Japanese way of finding beauty in imperfection.

So Lookiloos photographer Desiree Northend and I took him up on the challenge. We made a slight modification — instead of an Easter brunch, we set the table for a friend’s birthday brunch in Santa Cruz. But we tried to emulate the spirit of the table in every other way. You be the judge about how we matched up. Here’s what we did:

1. Broken Can Be Beautiful: Jose took an old broken urn and said he glued it back together. I went into my backyard and found the remains of a wire plant stand (with a broken top) and pulled it out from under a bush. Jose added texture with an old linen tablecloth. Desiree pulled out a vintage white tablecloth from her cupboard and I added a sheet of burlap from my shed.

2. Vary Heights on the Table: Jose started high at the back of the table with the tall urn, then stepped downward with a shorter planter, a vintage scale for scones, upside-down cups as risers for juice glasses, and stacked plates and fruit. Desiree found a strawberry pot to replicate the texture and height of the urn. I pulled out a shorter, galvanized metal planter from my sideyard. Desiree grabbed some little metal buckets she had left over, flipped them and mounted juice glasses on them. She also had a foot-tall, cast iron birdbath from her front porch for pastries.

3. Add Flowers: Jose had a huge bunch of fresh lilacs in the urn and white orchids in the smaller planter. Not wanting to spend money on lilacs, I grabbed a pair of scissors and tiptoed through a vacant lot for purple weeds, er, wildflowers. Desiree picked up a white hydrangea at Trader Joe’s.

4. Add Whimsy: Jose placed some classic yellow chicks on the table along with a vintage chocolate bunny mold. I violated the wabi sabi code when I found a weathered-looking bunny at T.J. Maxx and bought it for $6.99. The concrete snail with the broken ear under my orange tree could have worked, but that bunny was so cute!

5. Be Thoughtful: Jose wrapped eggs in egg carton containers and tied them with pretty ribbon. We found linen cocktail napkins emblazoned with the birthday girl’s initial, wrapped them around the silverware and tied with a pretty ribbon. Unlike Jose’s table, we added champagne. It’s a girls’ weekend, right?

How close did we come? You decide. Better yet, try it yourself and let us know how close you came.

(photographs by Desiree Northend)

You might also enjoy these stories:
Wabi Sabi: Where the Imperfect is Beautiful
Aptos Beach House
Valentine’s Day Decorating Tips: How to Make Paper Roses
Los Gatos: Bianco – A Home and Garden Shop All in White
St. Patrick’s Day Table Decorating Ideas: Going Green on a Budget
Wisteria Antiques and Design – Soquel
Carmel Valley Cabin – Back to Nature

Here’s the complete slideshow:

Posted in Before and After, Decorating, Desiree, Dining Room, Food and Drink, Garden, Home and Garden, Home Decor, Julia, Q & A, Q and A, Santa Cruz, Yard | 1 Comment »

Wabi Sabi: Where the Imperfect is Beautiful

Tuesday, March 31st, 2009

Is the recession cramping your style? Wish you could afford some new home decor accessories for spring, but instead are stuck with the old stuff in the closet?

Well, San Jose floral designer Jose Ibarra says don’t sweat it. The latest trend in home decor embraces the old — and it has a hip, international name: “wabi sabi”. It’s the Japanese art of “appreciating the imperfect, the primitive, the incomplete”. And it’s a design philosophy Ibarra celebrated when he decorated his dining room table for an Easter brunch.

Wabi means humble. Sabi means beauty in the natural progression of time. And for Ibarra, it means gluing together that broken urn and setting it on the buffet table with a spray of fresh lilacs. It means turning a ceramic pot upside, instead of buying a shimmery cake stand, to act as a riser for old-fashioned juice glasses. It means pulling out a broken scale to elevate your scones. It means using a cardboard egg carton as a vessel for hostess gifts.

“I don’t like all the extra tchotchkes, all the glitter,” said Ibarra, who decorates homes for parties and holidays. “I like simple.”

And that’s what wabi sabi is all about. In the book, “The Wabi-Sabi House,” author Robyn Griggs Lawrence describes wabi-sabi as appreciating the “unaffected beauty of things as they are”.

And it is not to be confused with shabby chic, which one writer says “often fills spaces with a lot of interesting finds, which can end up with too much to care for and eye clutter”. Wabi Sabi “is a way of life that starts with simplicity”. It means wildflowers and flea markets and weathered wood.

It’s easy on the pocket book. And, well, it’s fun to say.

You might also enjoy these stories:
Wisteria: Rustic and Refined
Carmel Valley Cabin-Back to Nature
Jose Goes Green for St. Patrick’s Day
Valentine’s Day Simple Paper Flower

Here’s the complete slideshow:

Posted in Decorating, Dining Room, Food and Drink, Home and Garden, Home Decor, Julia, Q & A, Q and A | No Comments »

Valentine’s Day Decorating Tips: How to Make Paper Roses

Tuesday, February 10th, 2009

A dozen red roses for $120 might be off the table this Valentine’s Day as pocketbooks are shrinking. But that doesn’t mean you can’t have a romantic day with style — and on a budget.

Try “recessionary chic” with San Jose floral designer Jose Ibarra, who drew inspiration from Chanel’s spring collection to create whimsical red and pink flowers out of tissue and construction paper.

Add some rock salt, Kool-Aid and winter branches from your garden, and watch out Karl Lagerfeld! All it takes is a rummage through your cabinets or a quick trip to Michael’s for some inexpensive supplies, Ibarra says, and your Valentine’s Day table will be beautiful and won’t wilt in three days. It’s quick and easy and for a family dinner, the kids can help, too.

Ibarra, the son of a seamstress who learned early how to create with his hands, has decorated many Silicon Valley homes for the holidays and for special events. He offers these tips to set a gorgeous table with paper roses:

Making Tissue Paper Roses in a Vase:

1. Cut tissue paper in the shape of an “8″ or a basic butterfly.

2. Take a length of floral wire and bend in half.

3. Slide tissue cut-out between the wire “arms” to the apex of the bent wire. The flower takes shape as you repeat the process, sliding and scrunching tissue “petals” to the top of the wire.

4. When flower is made with six petals, twist the two arms of wire together, which secures the tissue petals and finishes off the “stem.”

5. Wrap wire with green floral tape.

6. Stick flowers in a clear glass vase filled with rock salt.

Making Construction Paper Roses:

1. Cut construction paper into 12-inch by 12-inch squares for large flowers that can lay on a table or rest next to a cake, or 4-inch by 4-inch squares for little rosettes that can be glued to branches.

2. With a pencil, draw a spiral nautilus, beginning at the center and emanating out to the edge.

3. With scissors, cut along the spiral line. The length of paper will curl and cascade.

4. Start rolling from the outside end of paper, and crimp or fold back and forth every so often to give extra texture to the flower.

5. When you reach the center of the spiral, add hot glue to the end spot, then push the spiral flower down to meet the glue.

6. Hot glue the little rosettes to branches. Put branches in clear glass vases filled with red Kool-Aid.

Jose likes to cover his table with white construction paper for a crisp, clear canvas, then dress it with a red velvet cake (Duncan Hines out of the box!) with a white frosting covered with shaved coconut. Stunning.

Contact Jose at Ibarrajavelez@yahoo.com.

Update:

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

Here’s the complete slideshow:

Posted in Decorating, Dining Room, Food and Drink, Home and Garden, Home Decor, Julia, Q & A, Q and A, San Jose | 4 Comments »

Thanksgiving Tabletop Tips

Tuesday, November 4th, 2008

Let’s face it. With all the panic about cooking the perfect turkey (“it won’t be juicy!“), thinking about setting the perfect table often comes a bit late.

“They pull out a funky sheet from the hallway closet and say, ‘I can iron this for the table,’” said Kren Rasmussen of Bloomsters in San Jose’s Almaden Valley. “‘Or the table expands and my tablecloth is half that size.’ At one point or another we’ve all been there.”

It’s time to plan ahead, said Rasmussen, whose floral and decor shop has been beautifying Bay Area homes for the past 20 years.

Here’s is a list of tips from Rasmussen and his staff to set a gorgeous Thanksgiving table, spending little or no money.

1. Don’t have fancy chargers to put your plates on? Take a walk and gather colorful fall leaves, arrange in a wreath-like shape, and voila! Arrange a few days ahead and _here’s Kren’s secret _ spray the leaves with Mop and Glow floor cleaner so they don’t curl. Make a long arrangement as a runner through the table.

2. Need to dress up a drab white tablecloth? Gather up your silk scarves and puddle down the center of the table as a runner. Or if you have one, a beautiful sari, obi or shawl. (One of Kren’s staff members is weaving together men’s ties from thrift shops as a colorful runner.) Three yards of fabric will do nicely.

3. Want Uncle Leo and Aunt Marilyn to sit on opposite ends of the table? Instead of place cards, buy little pumpkins and either write their names on the pumpkin with a black Sharpie, or put the name on a leaf and tie to the pumpkin stem with dental floss or bailing wire.

4. Never liked your chandelier? Weave delicate leafy branches from Japanese maples or other trees, then with bailing wire circling the glass, hang votive candles.

5. Use martini glasses for the soup course. Use soup tureen for a floral centerpiece.

6. Use terracotta saucers as plate chargers filled with seeds or legumes.

7. Use three smaller centerpieces spread across the table instead of one. (Sometimes florals should be on the buffet rather than the table.)

8. Are you chairs mismatched? Pull the look together by picking up pretty pillow cases at a discount store, slip over the back of the chairs, and finish off with a ribbon tie.

9. Take your own containers to your favorite florist for a custom look.

10. Consider moving your dining room into your living room, and moving some living room furniture into the dining room. Store the rest in the garage.

Here’s the complete slideshow:

Posted in Decorating, Dining Room, Food and Drink, Home Decor, Interior Design, Peek of the Week, San Jose | 1 Comment »

Camping With Style

Thursday, August 28th, 2008

As summer winds down, before the pencils are sharpened and textbooks covered, one last trip must be taken. Our destination — the Yosemite High Sierra Camps. This is one of Yosemite’s best-kept secrets. Yosemite’s High Sierra Camps are a truly unique experience. A 53-mile loop connects 5 different camps.

The only way to get to these camps is by foot or mule pack. Trekking through Yosemite High Sierra Camps takes backpacking to a whole new level. In fact, the term “glamping” isn’t quite right. It’s more like “glam-packing”. While on the loop you can take your time, which I did. Stop as often as you like, did that too.
It’s not easy hiking 8 plus miles with a 30 lb pack and making elevation gains of almost 2 thousand feet. But, there is a reward at the end. You can see it off in the distance. It is an oasis. Perfectly white-canvas tent cabins lined up and you know one of them is yours. It comes complete with a bed; plenty of warm blankets and a wood-burning stove to keep you cozy at night.

The staff at each of the camps is really great. Our first night was at Glen Aulin where our cabin was right next to a gorgeous waterfall on the Tuolumne River. It was unbelievable.
We enjoyed the wine he hiked in_ trying to lighten our load for the next day. But then we panicked. We lightened too much.

What would we consume the next night? We heard a rumor that some entrepreneuring college students could help us out.
They said they could hike out (they knew a short cut) buy your beverage of choice and then hike back. People lined up to place their orders. Our group ordered a six-pack of Coors light (they’re lighter right?) and a bottle of ($5) red wine. The cost to us was only 50 bucks. We were happy to contribute the advancement of academia.

The next day’s hike to May Lake was equally as beautiful. I pictured the granite I was hiking on in some gourmet kitchen. It was gorgeous.
The views were spectacular as well. Every time we came to the top of a switchback I thought WOW it can’t get any better than this, and then you come around the next switchback and you are in awe all over again. One of the hikers making the journey said “I really felt my age on that last hill”. We had learned earlier that Barbara was 77. I said to myself “I’m feeling your age too, Barbara”.

May Lake was my favorite destination and not only because I survived the hike. Our camp host Brian was so welcoming. Brian’s wife Jen was our chef, responsible for the best meal we had. We started with a vegetable soup and salad of mixed greens. The main dish, steak with a blue cheese crumble, served with sweet potato wedges and sautéed summer squash and zucchini. We finished it off with (yes there is more) a large fudge brownie.

The way to get reservations for this amazing trip is through a lottery. Last year there were 2000 applications for 800 spots and I can say I’m glad I won this lottery; although I hope it’s not the last lottery I ever win.