When De Mattei first bought the property, the house was even smaller — 1,300 square feet, and faced the busy University Avenue. To take full advantage of the corner lot, he lifted up the house, built a new foundation and turned it to face Town Terrace.
From the outside, you appreciate that this little house retains all its charm –including original arched windows at the front. But every inch, inside and out, is maximized. The front garden, designed by Tamura Designs of San Jose, with gravel pathways in a lovely geometric pattern with pea gravel and planting beds makes me want to do the same in my yard. I love the big urn as a centerpiece in the middle with herbs and vegetables growing in the beds –in the front yard no less.
A side yard leading to the sidewalk and busy street was also put to best use with a deck right off the dining room. A
One of the tricks to making a small space seem large, De Mattei said, is to keep spaces open. From the front entryhall, you can look right through the living room, dining and kitchen to see the lovely back courtyard. Wide wooden floors run the length of the house, fooling your eye to think the floorplan goes on and on.
Instead of dividing living spaces with walls, different ceiling treatments do the trick, from a flat 8-foot-ceiling in the living room, to a higher, beamed-ceiling in the dining room.
And you can always count on Sunset to have beautiful decor, from handmade tiles in the kitchen to my favorite thing: the gray trefoil tiles in the masterbath. (Those might be lovely in my pending bath renovation!) Room and Board supplied most of the furnishings, and Anteo Home in Los Gatos brought in the dining room chairs and special pieces.
If you want to see the house for yourself, it’s well worth it. Here’s the skinny:

Friday, Saturday and Sunday
July 23 – August 15, 2010 Time:10:00 am – 5:00 pm Tickets (purchase on-site):$15 adults
$12 seniors 65+ Fridays only
$5 children 12 and under Location:100 Towne Terrace
Los Gatos, California 95032

Here’s the complete slideshow:

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:

When you’re getting your house ready for a home tour, it’s great to have a loyal crew. Into the night, homeowner Anna Pizzo, her designer Kathleen Monarch and stager Margo Leal pulled out their favorite things to create sumptuous tablescapes, indoors and out, to complement Pizzo’s updated storybook Tudor. And a home tour just isn’t complete without floral designer Jose Ibarra coming in with his finishing touches, including a dramatic spray of dogwood in the front window.

 (Don’t you just love it when homeowners make the front window look great from inside and out, instead of just leaving the back of a couch for all eyes to see? A big thank-you from Lookiloos everywhere!) Take a look at the ceiling beams. Those were added as part of an extensive remodel, but they look like they’ve been there forever. “We made the house authentic to the time period and added special architectural details that weren’t there to begin with,” Monarch said. “We plastered, stuccoed, glazed. You name it, we did it.”  Pizzo’s husband, Chris, of C. Pizzo Construction, made the vision a reality.

Pizzo has her own catering company, Zona Rosa, so half the fun was pulling out her extensive collection of china, candlesticks and other tabletop decor to create elaborate tablescapes. The vignette above is part of an “outdoor room” in Pizzo’s backyard under a grand trellis. ”Anna wanted everything to be fresh,” Monarch said. “That was the main thing and it had to feel like you were walking through Provence.” For lookiloos walking through the Willow Glen home tour in early May, they were greeted by the smells of  fresh bread and lavendar and lemons. 

As part of the house remodel, the Pizzos brought in designer Lori Kagan to update the kitchen, using Emperor Light marble for the countertops. (I wish I had succulents like that.) In the adjoining dining room, a closet was turned into a wet bar.

Monarch of Monarch Design and Studio also helped Pizzo with the master bedroom and bath. Some of Pizzo’s favorite things came from the Alameda Flea Market and other “funky vintage shops,” Monarch said.

  Monarch also helped with the interior of the Kouretas home on the tour last year. (see story below.)

How lovely is this? Check out the zebra print on the back of the blue silk. Yummy.

You might also enjoy these stories:

Design Inspiration:Big Remodel Maintains Homey Feel

Jose’s Tabletop Decor Inspired by Chinese Take-out

Here’s the complete slideshow:

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Lately, I’ve become enamored with houses that are unassuming from the front,  but have a major ‘wow’ factor on the inside.

From the front of this white-washed Willow Glen cottage, you might expect a chopped-up floorplan.  The only feature on the facade that gives you a sense of what’s to come is the bright yellow front door. Walk inside and you’re flooded with openness and light. And you can see right through to the charming backyard.

Homeowner Stephanie Angeli, an  ”empty nester” who moved from San Francisco,  first saw the house with her sister. “We did an ‘Oh my God,’ when we went through it,” she said. “Every room was perfect.”

The house had been remodeled by the previous owner who added space and lots of windows on the back of the house, looking out to the courtyard. The sisters got in their car, did a U-turn, she said, and went to the realtor’s office to put down a deposit. The house was featured on the Willow Glen Home Tour earlier this month.

The kitchen is also a gem, with white Carrarra marble counter tops and a sink in the corner looking into the family room.

And the interior decor is lovely, from the the little vignette of green stemware in front of al painting on the kitchen counter, to a nicely-appointed front guest room and office. Carmen Grande of Willow Glen Home & Garden on Lincoln Avenue helped Stephanie with the furnishings and Steve Gilbert added charm to the courtyard.

Take a look at the slideshow and tell us what space you like the best.

Here’s the complete slideshow:

Prairie style. Tudor Revival. American Four-square. Mediterranean Revival. You name it, the Hanchett Park Historic Home Tour in one of San Jose’s most charming and eclectic neighborhoods has it. They’ll be open for your indulgent pleasure this Saturday, May 22.

Lookiloos has just given away two tickets to two of our fans. I drew names from a bowl! Barb B. and Nancy M. were the lucky winners who each get to take a friend to five fabulous homes, plus a backyard boutique.

 And I’m telling you, as a voyeur from the next neighborhood over, these homes are Lookiloos-worthy! Two in particular resonate with me: one is the one-story Mediterranean revival (pictured above) with an interior courtyard that has always been the style for my fantasy home.

The other is this Prairie style look that feeds my clean-lined-architect’s-daughter sensibility. And wouldn’t you know an architectural designer, Steve Hinderberger of Hindesign, owns it and has filled it with modern furnishings? Here are just a few of the famous pieces you’ll see: a 1928  le Corbusier lounge chair; 1925 Marcel Breuer Wassily chairs, a 1929 Eileen Gray breakfast tabl, a 1944 Noguchi coffee table  and two mid-century classics, an Eames lounge chair and ottoman and a Beroia diamond chair. The art collection is also a must-see, including an Alexander Calder.

 This is another gem — a 1920 American Four-square completely remodeled down to the studs in 2008, with new landscaping last year. The home is decorated with luxurious, contemporary furnishings. 

 This is another special home, built in 1924 for the owner of the old Pomeroy’s clothing store in downtown San Jose. Gilt wall sconces, crystal doorknobs, windows and floors are all original. Enjoy the batchelder tile fireplace and a gorgeous sun room

And if you love a storybook cottage, here’s a charming Tudor Revival owned by artist Margaret Washington and her husband, Austin. It’s loaded with original details, including exposed beams and hardware — and even the original stove!

Hanchett Park Historic Homes Tour is one day only, Saturday, May 22, from 10 to 4.  You can purchase tickets for $20 in advance at Green Design, 1341 The Alameda, and at Willow Glen Home & Garden, 1123 Lincoln Ave. On May 22 tickets are $25 and will be sold on the corner of Hanchett and Sequoia avenues.

Amazing Fretwork Iron Chair

Are you ready for a Lookiloos smackdown? We’d love you to weigh in on this good-natured competition between two Lookiloos founders, Julia Prodis Sulek and Desiree Northend, who had a Lucy-and-Ethel tug-of-war over a set of very hip, very vintage chairs. The coolest part? They each paid under $40 per chair, but spotted a nearly identical reproduction at a chic Carmel shop for $625. Using their own sense of style and bargain shopping, Julia and Desiree made their chairs their own. Which do you like best? (You won’t hurt their feelings, really.)

By Julia Prodis Sulek

When Desiree told me she had just purchased four Asian fretwork chairs, I was happy for her. Really. It didn’t matter to me — that much — that I considered myself the fretwork girl. I so adored the geometric, intersecting lines of the Asian style, whether on the back of a chair or along a balcony railing, that I made a file of fretwork photos just to gaze at longingly. Trendy interior designer Kelly Whearstler was making wallpaper with the motif. Surely, Desiree must have known my inner obsession! And now, with one grand purchase, she would luxuriate in … well … what should have been mine, mine, all mine?

My mouth went dry as she described the 1960s-era high-backed chairs. They were made of sturdy iron for the outdoors and rolled on casters. I felt faint when she told me she got them for the bargain price of $39 each at Not Too Shabby, a home and garden shop on South Bascom Avenue. It’s one of those places you just never know what treasure you might find. Desiree bought four chairs. Three were left. I desperately wanted them. But would I be breaking some friendship code by adorning my backyard with the same spectacular chairs? I flashed back to an episode of I Love Lucy, where Lucy and Ethel fell in love with the same dress to wear to their “show,” and each promised the other that neither would buy it. Well, they both did, and while singing “Friendship” in the identical dresses on stage, they began plucking each other’s dresses apart! Well, call me Ethel to Desiree’s Lucy.
In our case, with Desiree’s gracious permission, I bought the remaining three. Since one of them had lost a caster and the odd-number of three remained, I bargained with Not Too Shabby owner Vikki Graham and purchased each for $29 a piece — a $30 savings compared to Desiree’s bargain.
Not only did a Carmel shop called Partington Ridge sell a reproduction for $625 a piece, but Val Perez-Ibardolasa, who owns Retro At Home in Emeryville, a chic mid-century modern shop, figured that a vintage set like the one we bought could fetch upwards of $5,000!
The only problem with our chairs? They needed cushions, the somewhat unusual size of 19 inches square. I priced custom cushions at an upholstery shop at $100 — and that didn’t even count the fabric. Determined to find a cheaper solution, I was amazed to find fabulous, retro-style cushions in orange and brown floral at JC Penny for a sale price of $19.99 a piece! I bought a second set to keep in reserve. I kept the chairs in their bronze-green patina, set them under my orange tree and admired the scene. Perfect for a spring afternoon with a glass or lemonade or an evening glass with a glass of wine.
Well, Desiree, you’ve seen mine. Now show me yours! And let our readers decide whose they like best. Don’t worry. We can handle it. Like Lucy and Ethel, they remained great friends, no matter what.

**********

By Desiree Northend

The gauntlet has been thrown–a challenge.  Well, this girl never backs down from a challenge.  Slightly competitive–you betcha! (Please no Sarah Palin references). It’s a family trait I’ve passed down for better or worse. Just ask any kid of mine.
Now, Julia — my wonderful partner in crime at Looikiloos — seems to think she is the only one who can appreciate fretwork.  I didn’t realize I had broken the cardinal rule “Thou shalt not admire fretwork, if your Lookiloos partner has already claimed it.”  That was my faux pas. Besides, as you can see, there was plenty of fretwork to go around and I was only too happy to share in the bounty. Take a deep cleansing breath, Julia.
As soon as I saw the chairs, I knew I had to have them.  I have wanted outdoor iron furniture since my boys were in their fort-building phase and demolished those old, nylon folding lawn chairs. I wanted something substantial, something that could really take a beating and still look fabulous when not in use as the corners of a castle. What really drew me to these particular chairs was the high wing back shape as well as that fretwork. But I wasn’t wild about the color — a muddy bronze. And they needed cushions. I consider myself a crafty type, so to complement the wrought iron fence in my backyard, I pulled out a can of gloss black spray paint and went for it. I first considered sewing my own cushions, top and bottom, with fabric I purchased years ago from reprodepot.com. But when Julia told me she found the perfect size bottom cushions in a variety of colors at JC Penny, that was too good to pass up. I bought the last four poppy-colored ones. (I hated to tell her that when I went,  the cushions were on close-out and I got them for 40 percent less than what she paid. But, she did get the chairs at a cheaper price, so we’re even right?) I made my own top cushions with my own favorite fabric, fluffed them up a bit, and now admire the whole set from my kitchen window.  At the end of the day, I think we both did pretty darn well. Don’t you? Please leave a comment and let us know your opinion.

Here’s the complete slideshow:

"Meat" sign for sale at Briarwood Antiques. Who wants it?

When one of our readers snapped a picture of this “MEAT” sign in the window of Briarwood Antiques and Collectibles on W. San Carlos in San Jose, I knew I had to use it as a centerpiece.  As our gracious reader put it, “Things are getting interesting at the local antique store.”  I’ll say.  If I owned a nightclub, this would be my welcome sign. It’s priced, we think, at about $900. I’ll try to get more info later, including about the gun-wielding guy in the background. Tell me: where would you put the MEAT sign?

Charming cottage on Willow Glen Home Tour

The annual Willow Glen Home Tour on May 1st and 2nd promises six  beautiful homes this year — and UPDATE — we just gave away two pairs of tickets — one to Jackee and one to Beth. Still, it is a not-to-be-missed tour and proceeds go to a good cause.  Grab a few girlfriends and enjoy a day meandering through a remodeled craftsman with a fabulous outside living area, a storybook cottage of stone and wood, a chic bungalow and a traditional Willow Glen home filled with antiques and collectibles. 

Thanks fof leaving comments explaining why you should win a pair (are you a lookiloo extraordinaire?).

The tour supports the San Jose Day Nursery that provides subsidized early care and education to low-income families.

Tickets, at the pre-tour price of $30, are available at the following San Jose businesses: 

• Domus, 1395 Lincoln Avenue, on the corner with Minnesota Avenue;
• Eclectic Touch, 1171 Lincoln Avenue;
• Willow Glen Home and Garden, 1123 Lincoln Avenue; and
• Able Printing, 1595 Meridian Avenue at Hamilton Avenue. 

 Tickets, the dates of the tour, may be purchased for $35 on the corner of Lincoln and Minnesota Avenues, in front of Chase Bank.

After: Here's my new Asian bamboo motif end table: Can you spot the other changes I've made in the living room?

Before: This retro bar cart was deemed too lightweight for the space. What else is different in this room from the top photo?

It took three tries, but I finally found an end table that’s a keeper. I was drawn to it the minute I saw it at Move It Elsewhere in San Jose: gold metal frame with a bamboo motif and glass topped.  It replaced the retro bar cart that I loved but seemed too flimsy on plastic wheels for the heavy lamp. The nesting tables still have a lightness in my smaller living room with the heavy leather sofa. And I’m a sucker for the bamboo look. Thanks for all your comments and suggestions on my dilemma. I hope you like it. There is actually a third, smaller nesting table I put in my den. (and that’s another upcoming story once that is complete!) Just for fun, take a close look at my before and after photos. Can you spot the changes I’ve made in the living room since I had the bar cart as an end table?

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: