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Inside Story

Oakland Hills: Mid-Century Modern “Sky House” Restored

Friday, March 27th, 2009

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:

Posted in Architecture, Art, Eichler, Garden, Home and Garden, Inside Stories, Inside Story, Julia, Kitchen, Landscape, San Francisco | No Comments »

Collecting Art: A Passionate Art Collector Turns Home into Gallery

Saturday, March 21st, 2009

David Sussman started his art collection 45 years ago. He was a student at Boston University and picked up a Miro print for $15. He’s come a long way from the east coast to San Jose’s Rose Garden neighborhood, where his home — inside and out — has become a gallery of local art. And with the help of a noted painter who challenged him along the way, he developed a more daring collection.

The house itself is a handsome, two-story Georgian built in the 1930s, with gray stucco and a red front door — a house that some might say lends itself to a traditional approach. But step inside, and you realize there is nothing predictable about it. Walk into the living room and a great white skull emanating spokes of graffiti stops you cold. An L.A. city street scene over the mantel pulls you into an edgy neighborhood. And filling the dining room wall hangs a figure of a contemplative, graying woman named Theta — a work that marked a turning point for him.

“Buying art is like buying ties,” said Sussman, a family lawyer. “If you buy just what you like right now, all the ties in your collection will look the same.”

Sussman began appreciating more challenging works when he met Katherine Levin Lau at an open studio event more than a decade ago. He was drawn to the large painting of Theta. He had favored abstract works before, but found himself drawn to this figure.

“He said it was unlike anything he owned,” said Levin Lau, a former San Jose State lecturer who shows her work internationally. Still, he bargained with her.

“I’ll give you 20 percent off,” she conceded.

“Let this be your lesson,” Sussman told her. “I would have paid full price.”

And so began a long friendship, from which both have learned and benefitted.

And they started together at the De Anza Flea Market in Cupertino, where more than 800 vendors show their wares the first Saturday of every month.

“The joy of going with her — you get to see how she saw everything,” he said. “Her eyes moved in ways yours didn’t. You realize you weren’t challenging your own eye.”

They started by collecting balls. That’s right. Just balls. Bocce balls, pool balls, ceramic balls.

“How about this one?” he would ask.

“No,” she would say. “You have to get balls that have integrity, David. They can’t be brand new, out of a decorator’s showcase. They have to be something real.”

Levin Lau made him a rubber band ball. He built a rectangular, plexiglass box for them and hangs it over a doorway.

As much as Levin Lau showed him how to look at things in new ways, Sussman always had his own strong sense of style.

“I love lines,” he said. “I love an Armani suit — not a lot of ruffles.”

And the artwork he was drawn to had a similar sensibility. Sussman became a regular at the annual auctions of the San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art — for 25 years running he bought at least one piece a year. And he also enjoyed the art sales of San Jose State University art students. He commissioned a whole set of ceramic plates from student Una Mjurka.

At one such art sale, he met art professor David Middlebrook and commissioned from him a double sculpture of bronze and stone for Sussman’s backyard, a piece that represents the organic versus the intellectual. It incorporates Sussman’s own thumb print.

Even his kitchen has a strong, artistic flair. With the help of Neal Bunce from Coyote Valley Cabinets –”whose attention to detail and quest for perfection made the project a success” — the space incorporates angled glass on the bar counter, with roughly textured granite counters.

“The point is,” Sussman said, “everything looks old quickly if you don’t press yourself to try something out of your range.”

It’s an attitude Levin Lau is thrilled to hear.

“He’s just a wonderful, enthusiastic, curious collector,” she said. “He loves to learn and explore. He truly loves his art.”

Update:
Katherine Levin Lau is showing her work at a mid-April exhibit at the San Jose architecture firm of Bill Gould. She may be contacted through him at www.bgdesign.com.
Coyote Valley Cabinets can be reached at (408) 561-0989.

Update 2:

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

Here’s the complete slideshow:

Posted in Art, Decorating, Dining Room, Garden, Georgian, Home Decor, Inside Stories, Inside Story, Interior Design, Julia, Kitchen, Landscape, Modern, Painting, Rose Garden, San Jose, Wall Decor, Yard | No Comments »

Small House Renovation Maintains Charm

Saturday, March 7th, 2009

Judy Stanley has a recurring dream. In it, her husband announces, “I sold the house. We’re moving.” And in every dream, Judy cries over and over.

“I love this house,” she said.

She loved it when it was a two-bedroom, one-bath home she bought in 1994 with her husband, Guy, and his young son. And she loves it now, 15 years and two more children later after a gentle remodel in 2006 that added another bedroom and two bathrooms — plus a just-the-right-size craft room for her decorative belt buckle business.

Indeed, there is a lot to love about this 1,600-square-foot, one-story house in Los Gatos that was built around 1950 with only 1,225 square feet. A little old lady had been the only owner of the house. And when they bought it, the 10,000 square-foot lot was huge, but overgrown. The best feature, she said, was the sprawling brick patio off the back, which — even with the extra 440-square-foot addition — remained mostly intact.

On a late winter morning, a white gate and big magnolia beckon visitors to the front door. Once inside, a stunning, original white marble fireplace mantle grabs your attention.

The couple hired San Jose designer Greg Ybarra of ADG Design to reconfigure the bedrooms, hallway and bathroom wing of the house. An original bedroom was converted to a master bath and Judy’s craft room. And the children’s bedrooms were added on the back of the house.

“They have a beautiful lot, nice open space,” Ybarra said. “We didn’t want to spoil that.”

Judy spends a lot of time in her backyard, entertaining, watching the kids play and planting her huge vegetable garden. On the patio, there is room for a big table and chairs, two chaise lounges and three fountains. She also uses the space to glue pearls, beads and other decorations to belt buckles that she sells at Bella Rosa Boutique in Los Gatos and European Jewelers in Carmel.

The couple had done a kitchen remodel 10 years ago, with white cabinets and tile counters. During that renovation, she penned a note and slipped it into the wall. It was written with love and said something like, “If you’re reading this, we’re dead and gone. Hope you enjoy this house as much as we did.”

It’s hard to imagine anyone wouldn’t.

Here’s the complete slideshow:

Posted in Architecture, Bathroom, Bedroom, Bungalow, Carmel, Decorating, Dining Room, Garden, Home and Garden, Home Decor, Inside Stories, Inside Story, Julia, Kitchen, Landscape, Remodel, Yard | 9 Comments »

Restored Italianate Victorian Home Revives Neighborhood

Saturday, February 28th, 2009

When Manuel Lima was a teen-ager in the 1960s and worked at a motel on Beach Hill in Santa Cruz, he admired an old Italianate Victorian house next door so much that he sketched it — white ink on black paper. So when he came to work one day and found the Victorian had been demolished, he was devastated. That powerful emotion led to a lifelong passion when he bought his own Italianate Victorian home in 1973 in downtown San Jose. And as he worked to restore his own Victorian, he saved the rest of his neighborhood as well. “A house doesn’t make it without a neighborhood,” he said. “I wasn’t going to move the house, so I had to make the neighborhood better.”

Along with Lenore Porcella and a core group of other neighbors, Lima helped establish the Hensley Historic District. So instead of a sea of high-density housing that would have razed 200 historic homes, much of the neighborhood is still old Victorians being restored one-by-one.

“The neighborhood still has an edge to it,” Lima said,”but it’s coming along.”

When he first bought the house, though, “everyone I knew said, ‘what are you doing?’”

The house was situated between a rescue mission, the Salvation Army and railroad tracks. Broken bottles and trash littered the streets and railroad tracks. The 1879 house was old and dirty, but had maintained most of its character. And so Lima set out on a never-ending quest to bring the Victorian back to its former glory — and he’s essentially done it all himself, including putting on a new roof.

“I wanted something that I could not finish,” said Lima, 63. “I painted the outside of this four times myself. I’ve done most of the rooms at least twice.”

He knew it was wonderful when he bought it, “but I didn’t know how wonderful” until he worked on it and uncovered some of its secrets, including the tongue and groove walls in the kitchen hidden behind a 1950s remodel.

“No one did anything that wasn’t reversible,” he said. He was able to restore an old gas lamp in the kitchen.

One of the most dramatic features of the home is the wallpaper _ from Bradbury & Bradbury Art Wallpapers’ famed studio in Benicia. The company reproduces historic wallpaper designs from Victorians through Arts and Crafts, Deco and Modern. And owner Bruce Bradbury, anxious to have a show-house in the south bay, gave it to Lima at cost, Lima said. And, of course, Lima installed it himself.

“I would wallpaper from 1 a.m. to 6 a.m. when no one could distract me,” said Lima, a landscaper by trade. “I needed to be left alone so I could do it as correctly as possible.”

It’s one of the first features you notice when you enter the home, from the entry hall and the “Turkish corner” with a lantern and fainting couch under the stairway, to the formal parlour and dining room. Delicate fields of color and pattern are interrupted by giant medallion flowers. Lima’s crocheted white window panels handmade by his mother and grandmother are graceful counterpoints to the paper.

This year marks the 36th anniversary of his ownership of the house, and there’s still more work to do.

“People marry other people,” Lima said. “This house is my wife.”

Here’s the complete slideshow:

Posted in Architecture, Decorating, Dining Room, Historic, Home and Garden, Inside Stories, Inside Story, Interior Design, Julia, Kitchen, San Jose, Victorian | 10 Comments »

Downsizing and Restyling: From French Country to Modern Neutral

Saturday, February 21st, 2009

Step into this townhouse and the cool serenity washes over you. It’s exactly the feeling the homeowner wanted as she begins her knew life in a home half the size of her 4,200 square-foot home in the east San Jose hills.

Instead of the brightly-colored French country look that once suited her and her old house, the homeowner wanted a modern hotel look and a calming spa feel in her new three-story townhouse.

“I wanted a different look and part of that was that this is a new beginning,” she said, “and I wanted it to be tranquil.”

So she turned to interior designer Kathi Fanelli Mann to help her start a new chapter with a new pallette.

Where the old house had “lots of prints and patterns,” Kathi suggested “very tone on tone” with ivories and caramels, aquas and limestone greys.

The project was also budget conscious, so instead of starting over, they used mostly what the homeowner already had — and that was all high-quality custom furniture.

“You want to incorporate things that have meaning — things purchased 15 years ago that were custom and that are beautiful,” Kathi said. “You make it work with the new look.”

And that meant saving half the furniture from the old house and restyling and reupholstering with a “modern sensibility and a clean-lined look,” Kathi said.

In the case of the living room couch, that meant off with the fringe and the broad, rolled arms, and in with simple welding on the cushions and a more-tapered silhouette. What had been blue club chairs became creamy.

A few new things were added, including drapes from Restoration Hardware and a sleek bar cart from Willow Glen Home and Garden.

A retreat room was what the homeowner was looking for in her master bedroom. The walls are soothing aqua and the bedding is crisp white. At the foot of the bed is a recovered loveseat that has the look and feel of a hotel’s plush white bathrobe.

“I love it,” the homeowner said. “My life is simpler. Everything happens for a reason and I’m thoroughly enjoying this.”

Kathi can be reached at kathi@fanelli-mann.com.

Here’s the complete slideshow:

Posted in Decorating, Inside Stories, Inside Story, Interior Design, Julia, Willow Glen | No Comments »

Renovating and Decorating to Inspire Home and Business

Saturday, February 14th, 2009

When Jamie Lentzner first laid eyes on the five-bedroom, two bath house in Foster City, it was the ugliest house on the street. The 1966 tract home had been a rental for 20 years and vacant for the last 12 months. It was a wreck of a place when they saw it in 2001 and it didn't look much different than a foreclosure of 2009 does now.

Weeds grew waist-high in the front yard and shingles were curling off the roof. Inside was worse: ceilings were painted black to match the awful driftwood mantle, dead rodents were in the attic, and who would even want to imagine what that brown shag rug had seen?

"It was the house people didn't let their kids walk by," Jamie said. "But I knew there was more to this place than the bad shag rug."

And just like struggling homeowners are doing in these tough times, Jamie began a remodel on a budget.

With her husband, Darin, giving a reluctant okay, Jamie started to transform the bedraggled house into a warm and welcoming family home. Along the way, she found her true calling as an artist and businesswoman.

It was that extra special, homemade touch she added to her children's rooms – hand-painted decorative tiles – that launched her career. What started with oohs and ahhs from her friends in 2002, turned into a business that now sells painted tiles to some of the fanciest children's shops in the country and hang in the homes of such celebrities as Oprah and Nicole Kidman. She has been featured on the pages of Better Homes and Gardens and Celebrity Living, and her tiles have been seen on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" and "CBS Saturday Morning Early Show."

After a career as an animator, she traded it all to become a stay at home mom in 1999& and took on the task of remodeling their home with a little bit of money and a lot of elbow grease. Immediately, she and her husband replaced the roof, painted the black ceilings white and removed the brown shag revealing oak floors. DIY project, anyone? In the bathroom, they ripped out flooring, added a new granite sink and painted. Crown molding was added throughout the house.

In the kitchen/family room, she replaced the counter tops and four layers of linoleum flooring. They kept the maple cabinets, but updated them with a coat of paint and hardware. But it was the kids' rooms Jamie looked forward to redoing the most.

Jamie was drawn to green and pink for her daughters' room and found many affordable treasures at Target and Pottery Barn bedding. "I wanted everything to look simple and fun, not old or too sophisticated," said Jamie. One of her favorite pieces is the antique vanity her mother had found when her daughter was just born.

But still, something was missing, something that said – quite literally – that this was "Abigail's room." After searching without luck in catalogs and stores, Jamie decided to make Name Tiles for her daughter on individual tiles. With brush in hand, she painted each letter of her daughter's name intertwined with flowers and polka dots.

She did the same thing for the room of her 6-year-old son, Grant, who loved airplanes. After painting clouds and planes on his walls and ceiling, she made name tiles for him as well using whimsical airplane details.

"My friends all loved them and wanted them for themselves," Jamie said. Pretty soon, she was taking orders and a new venture was launched. "My husband and I used to work at night when the children went to bed, and I would work when they slept during the day. I would send out emails at night to prospective stores and I would paint in between feedings and baths. Sometimes they would sit on my lap as I tried to ship out products. We would make constant trips to deliver my products to local stores," she said.

Within months, she hired staff and temporarily moved the team of eight into the garage. Jamie's Painting & Design became so successful, however, that she moved the operation into a warehouse five minutes from her home in 2006. The garage has been transformed into the kids playroom complete with foosball, the ever-popular Lego table and art supplies.

"I don't think you need to have expensive furniture and artwork to have a beautiful home," she said. "I love that people enjoy my home and that they feel welcome in my home." It is hard to imagine that seven years ago this house was the worst on the block, or that this stay-at-home mom would turn her talent into her livelihood.

Here's the complete slideshow:

Posted in Bungalow, Decorating, Home Decor, Inside Stories, Inside Story, Sheila | 2 Comments »

Updating from Girl Room to Tween Room

Saturday, January 24th, 2009

The precious things started piling up outside my daughter’s bedroom door weeks ago. They weren’t the worn-out shoes or the outgrown clothes. They were my grandmother’s framed embroidery samples that Claire unhooked from her wall, the bedside lampshades with little pink pompoms I had glued around the rims, the grand Victorian picture of frolicking children that had moved from my childhood bedroom to hers.

“I don’t want to hurt your feelings, Mom,” said Claire, who just turned 11. “But it’s just not me.”

I had been hearing this refrain for more than a year. When I first decorated her bedroom almost a decade ago, I thought it looked classic, timeless. But to Claire, it was “old-fashioned.” She wanted it to be “cool.” Night after night, bedside chats we would flip between planning her birthday party to sketching her “tween” dream room. And every layout included a shag rug. (Did I mention that the antique Persian rug on her floor belonged to my grandfather?)

I knew the time would come when sentimental heirlooms would be stowed away, when her room would need to grow up with her. I just didn’t realize it would come this soon – or that the first symbol of her independent style would be a “Text Messaging Glossary” poster taped to her closet door (just to be ready for the day she actually gets a cell phone.)

When we moved into our home in San Jose’s Rose Garden neighborhood, just five blocks from where I grew up, Claire was just a toddler, but her room was one of the first to get real attention. We actually — gulp — hired a decorator. I remember Linda McFalone of Lulu Pom in Los Gatos saying the custom-made, dusty pink, raw silk bed skirt would “look like a ball gown.” While my husband, Chris, complained that our master bedroom looked like a dorm room, without even a headboard for our bed, Claire’s room had become a “temple to Girldom.” Through my eyes, though, it was the perfect setting for the years of charming tea parties to come. Claire would sit on a little green rocking chair (that was mine as a child) and invite Chris and me to sit on the floor with our teacups in hand and pinkies in the air.

Claire outgrew the rocking chair years ago. But when she recently gathered up her assorted tea sets and dispassionately announced she was giving them to our 5-year-old neighbor, Kiley, I knew we had closed a chapter for good.

It was time for (sigh) a trip to Ikea. My mother joined us — as if her presence would somehow sanctify this right of passage and perhaps diminish the pain of the embroidery samples so unceremoniously discarded. I laid down some rules first, of course. We were not repainting the room (our entry hall needed it more). And we were keeping the rug and the old iron bed frame I brought back from Wyoming and, yes, the expensive pink ball-gown dust ruffle.

Unlike the last time, this was going to be a redo on a budget. Nothing lasts forever, as I had painfully discovered in the heap outside the door, and I didn’t expect this next bedroom incarnation to endure half as long.

As we did the first time we decorated the room, we used the Persian rug as an inspiration for the palette. But instead of sticking with just pink, we pulled out the black and the ochre green — colors I had seen paired in trendy shelter magazines.

At Ikea, Claire picked out a white shag rug for $50 — a throw rug to layer on top of the Persian. She chose two green pillows for $12.99, plus a matching fleece blanket. Since Claire had dismissed her flower-shaped ceiling light fixture as “weird,” she gravitated to Ikea’s white artichoke-shaped pendant lamp. The $24.99 lamp was inspired by the Le Klindt light that sells for $435. That stylish update was easy for me to swallow.

At the Alameda Antique Market, I found an old shop sign, black with silver writing, that said, “Claire’s Fashion Salon.” For my daughter who loves to sew tops and purses for her friends, it was a perfect gift. The wicker love seat survived the transition, but a black-and-white fabric remnant covered the pink flowers. We pulled in the round, hot-pink chair from Limited Too that Claire earned for getting good grades last spring. And with a $19.99 zebra stripe satin sheet set from Burlington Coat Factory, I whipped up a trendy duvet cover with my below-average, straight-line sewing skills. A five-armed lamp from Target and a few fuzzy pillows from Ross Dress For Less added some youthful fun. A dress form that Claire received for Christmas showcases her latest fashion creations.

With a helpful hand from my friend, Amy (who is startlingly confident with a staple gun), a little bench got a new, striped fabric top. And my neighbors, Dhelia and Maria, came over to fluff and puff and re-angle the love seat. Claire pinned a newspaper photo of pop singer Taylor Swift on her bulletin board, plugged in her iPod boombox, and invited in her friends.

From downstairs, I could hear them squeal when they entered.

I still feel a pang when I think about the Victorian picture and the little pink pompoms. But not all signs of Claire’s little-girlness are gone. When I tuck her in at night, she still keeps close her Teddy and hippo and blankie. And when I kiss her good night under the zebra-striped covers, I love the confident, independent tween she has become.

Here’s my shopping list:

1. White Shag Rug, Ikea _ $50
2. Antique Store Sign, from Alameda Antique Market (a splurge) _ $75
3. Zebra-striped sheet set for Duvet cover, Burlington Coat Factory _ $19.99
4. Five-headed Lamp, Target _ $19.99
5. Three throw pillows for loveseat, Ross Dress for Less _ $5.99 a piece.
6. Two green throw pillows for bed, Ikea _ $12.99 each.
7. Framed Shoe Picture, Beverly Fabrics _ $3.99
8. Dress Form _ Santa
9. Fabric Remnants, thrift shop _ $15.
10. Ikea pendant lamp _ 24.99

Update:

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

Posted in Home Decor, Inside Stories, Inside Story, Interior Design, Julia, Shopping | 2 Comments »

Mid-Century Modern from California Ranch: A Town and Country Life

Friday, January 9th, 2009

From the steep driveway, Lisa Rissetto’s home on a Woodside hilltop looks like an unassuming California ranch style spread, with a curving driveway and a taupe facade. But the inside is a surprising mid-century modern masterpiece.

The same is true at her design studio in San Francisco, where she worked her way up from merchandizing at Esprit de Corps in the 1980s to become president of her own leather handbag and accessory business. Outside, the three-story cement building is plain and austere. But inside is something else entirely — a vibrant, light-filled work space that has such a cool vibe and views of the bay that it’s been used for advertising photo shoots.

If design is a sensibility, perhaps it is no wonder that Lisa has surrounded herself with some of the best of it at her office in town and her home in the country.

Growing up in Bergen County, New Jersey, in the 1960s and ’70s, her influences were strong and clear. Her father was an architect and professor at Columbia University in New York and designed the family’s modern home that neighbors called “The Jetsons’ House” after the space-age cartoon family. Her mother was a style maven, uninhibited to wear a Bonnie Cashin-designed bright orange leather coat with brass toggles.

“That’s all I ever knew,” said Lisa, now 49. “It was different from what everyone else grew up with.” (There were no La-Z-Boy recliners with upholstered American eagles at her house.)

And it’s probably fair to say her home she shares with her husband and three children doesn’t quite conform to those of her neighbors in the horse country of Woodside. Sure, she has an acre, two horses and a rustic old barn that would be an ideal setting for a Ralph Lauren brochure.

But this is a woman who knows a Mies van der Rohe, Jean Prouve and Serge Mouille when she sees it. And a walk through her front door proves it. When she and her husband bought the house in 1995, they quickly tore down the interior walls of the main rooms to open up the floor plan, pulling in light from the back wall of windows deep into the dining and living rooms.

Once inside, you are greeted with a gallery-like space that’s spare and sleek, with pops of lime green and zebra. An extremely rare spider-like industrial lamp by Mouille, who was a mid-century French goldsmith and industrial designer, hangs like a mobile over the dining room table. The table chairs are Aalto, covered in vintage green linen.

In the living room, a low-slung avocado couch and oblong coffee table were designed by T. H. Robsjohn-Gibbings, a British-born architect and furniture designer who worked in the United States from the 1930s through the ’50s. Lisa acquired three of Van de Rohe’s famous leather Barcelona chairs at auction in Chicago — two a matched pair from the 1960s and the third produced in 1970. A slatted bench in the living room and a bubble lamp over the kitchen table are both classics by George Nelson. Some of her favorites, though, are pieces from the house she grew up in, including the bright red Bertoia chair in the corner.

Bringing depth and personality into the modern space, Lisa’s collection of female portraits picked up at flea markets from Paris to Alameda rest atop a wall unit she had manufactured in the wood-and-metal industrial style of Prouve.

Her sense of style extends up Highway 280 to Bryant Street in San Francisco, where the interior of the concrete building is illuminated by a wall of industrial windows. More than a dozen designers sketching spring fashions and mulling over leather samples and metal buckles collaborate in the bright natural light.

It’s a business she helped build with former Esprit executive George Hensler, who started the company that designs and manufactures accessories for major retailers. When he retired in 2004 and Lisa took over, she fulfilled her dream of designing her own line of handbags. Her company still bears the G.Hensler name, but she labeled the California-casual line of supple Italian leather bags “49 Sq.Mi.,” an ode to the geography of San Francisco.

And while many are in the versatile blacks and browns and burgundies, some of her favorites are in the color of her mother — the bright oranges, soft yellows and rich greens.

When her mother died, Lisa went through her closet and found 12 leather coats — all Bonnie Cashin originals. She reconditioned the leather, and still wears the bright orange one with brass toggles. And it looks fabulous with a sumptuous “49 Sq.Mi.” bag slung over the shoulder.

Like her mother before her, she wears it well.

Update:

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

Here’s the complete slideshow:

Posted in Architecture, Home Decor, Inside Stories, Inside Story, Julia, Modern, Ranch, Woodside | 1 Comment »

Lookiloos’ 2008 Favorite Posts

Wednesday, December 31st, 2008

It is hard to imagine that the Holidays are just about over. This year the Lookiloos team met a slew of new friends, peeked into dozens of jaw-dropping homes and were amazed by the number of people who said they were lookiloos too. We hope 2008 was a good a year for you and yours and wish you all the best in 2009!

Julia, Desiree and I have been thinking a lot about our favorite stories of 2008. Here are our top five favorite Lookiloos stories and invite you to take a second look at these beautiful spaces:

Aptos Beach House
We kicked off the entire Lookiloos site with an exclusive peek into local builder Mark DeMattei’s beach home. This is pure California luxury at its finest.

Manderly Revisited
This Victorian Estate in La Selva Beach built in 1872 reminded us that homes have long stories to tell.

Palo Alto Andalusian
Serial home restorers, Joyce Hoffspiegel and David Buchanan, recently saved a hidden Silicon Valley oasis. Their historic home and its gardens were brought back to its former glory as a Sunset Magazine feature.

English Tudor in Woodside and Looki What I Found: Emily Joubert
One of our favorite Lookiloos, Judy Siebert opened up her cottage – unveiling impeccable style and personality. We also featured her to-die-for shop, Emily Joubert, which is well worth a field trip.

Decorator’s Daughter
The home of Vicky Petula is simply stunning. A daughter of a decorator, she has paid attention to every detail. We are all green with envy!

Posted in Home and Garden, Inside Stories, Inside Story, Sheila | 3 Comments »

Google Couple Build Green Home in Mountain View

Friday, December 26th, 2008

Shannon Madison purchased her first home when she was a 24-year-old engineer, using Apple stock. The home was a simple three-bedroom, two-bath post-war ranch in Mountain View. But one husband and two kids later, it seemed small and, quite frankly, “I was sick of it.”

Besides, by then she and her husband, Giles Douglas, were both engineers at Google — and it was easy to dream big. And dream green.

They started looking in Palo Alto, but realized that what they wanted most they already had — a corner lot, a dead-end street, easy walking distance to downtown cafes and Caltrain. So they stayed put and started from the ground up.

“If you’re going to build a house from scratch,” Shannon said. “Why not build it right?”

Google offered incentives for employees who install solar power systems. And Giles had just seen Al Gore’s “An Inconvenient Truth.”

“That scared my husband into doing as much as possible as green as possible,” Shannon said.

They hired architect Forrest Linebarger from Vox Design Group, a Mountain View firm just a few blocks from their property that specializes in green design.

And they ended up using much more green technology than just solar power. Along with such standard green features as skylights and Vetrazzo countertops made of recycled glass and fly ash cement, they built a 10,000-gallon rainwater collection cistern and drilled for thermal gas under their property to heat and cool the home.

“We had derricks in the front yard drilling the wells for a couple of weeks,” she said. “I told neighbors I decided against the solar and was drilling for oil instead. That’s when oil was over $100 a barrel.”

The house was on track to receive a 242-point GreenPoint rating from the Berkeley-based Build It Green group, a score Shannon said would make it the “second-greenest” house in Mountain View.

The couple decided on a Craftsman-style design and were pleased that “we had to make very few concessions when we started adding the green stuff.”

They got their vaulted ceilings on the second floor and reclaimed walnut floors downstairs. The only thing she lacks, she said, is adequate storage space. Huge heating and cooling ducts and other equipment took part of their master closet as well as storage under the eaves, she said.

And she splurged on some anti-green indulgences — a wine refrigerator being one of them. “And there’s nothing green about the jacuzzi,” she said. “But I figured I had solar panels to make up for it.”

Here’s the complete slideshow:

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