We love to push the boundaries of predictable when it comes to hardwood floors. We’ve been working on a number of projects lately with some fantastic hardwood floors. While classic and timeless, they are not your run of the mill (no pun intended) honey stained oak.
Working with Robert Lewis Renovations in a contemporary condo, we installed a spectacular chevron patterned white french oak floor with a custom glaze finish. The chevron is much more difficult to install than a regular herringbone, but the lines it creates are wonderful and the look is so much sleeker.

We are also in the midst of renovating a 19th century classic Pacific Heights Victorian, where we had intended to update the look of the floors by staining them a dark walnut. However, when the client and I walked into the house during the laborious sanding portion of the floor refinishing process, we both looked at each other and immediately had the same epiphany… let’s go extremely light instead of extremely dark with the hardwood stain.

Floors in Process- During Sanding

The house gets limited natural light in certain areas due to the neighboring buildings. When the brown stain was taken off the floors, the rooms suddenly felt lighter and more airy. Of course, changing the floors so drastically inevitably changes the design intent. One thing I love about interior design is as much as you plan and plan, spontaneity always plays a critical role in the end. After many meetings with the floor refinishers and conference calls with the client, we came up with a custom formula of bleaching the pink out of the oak and then applying a custom mixed gray/white washed finish.

While dark floors did not end up being the right fit for the San Francisco Victorian, we do have a crush on super-ebonized walnut floors. Getting the color to come out right can be tricky– often taking five coats– so don’t expect a rich color after one or two coats.

And for an über chic look, we are made for a geometric painted floor, a signature look for the queen of Hollywood Glamour, Mary MacDonald.

I have been lucky enough to work on several occasions with Jon and Susan Reiter and their incredible crew at Jon Reiter Home Building. Jon Reiter Fine Home Building is one of the premier luxury home builders in Sonoma and Napa County.

We all know there is an abundance of architecture that tries desperately to look old and quite frankly is not successful. Jon and Susan are one of the rare builders I have encountered that painstakingly and methodically create new homes that fade elegantly into the landscape. It’s as if the house settled there decades upon decades ago. Their spaces work because they are brilliant in their design intent and execution and, in part, because many of the materials they use are indeed architectural antiques. Jon and Susan make regular trips to Europe and purchase significant amounts of salvaged building materials abroad. They also incorporate the materials from the local land, such as stone from the building site will be used to create an outdoor wall or the base of a structure. And then, of course, the latest in green energy and technology makes each structure hum like an efficient 21st century machine.

This weekend I had the pleasure of touring Jon and Susan’s latest project, Fox Hill, which has just been featured as the Sonoma County Decorator Showcase House and has not surprisingly already been sold by Maurice Tegelaar. Fox Hill is a modern take on a French farmhouse.

I was honored to be consulted by Jon and Susan initially when they were playing around with the initial plans and again when Jon was looking for lighting fixtures for the property. The finished project is spectacular.

The great room with hand carved wood trusses and hand applied finishes

The U shaped floor plan is one of my favorites with the central lawn flanked by old growth Olive trees. And for you oenophiles, the wine cellar is below ground.

I adore the kitchen’s cream, beige and gray palette featuring an enormous custom Lacanche range and massive concrete counter tops. Behind the open kitchen is a wonderful working pantry and a mud room catered to the avid gardener.

A side door off the guest wing, all doors and windows are imported from Italy.

I love this unusually scaled antique French tile

For now I am going to leave the property Reiter and I are currently collaborating on, Montevigna, a surprise to you all…more to come soon.

My wedding anniversary this month takes me back to our magical honeymoon in Africa. Travel is essential to inspiring design, my trip to Africa was especially tantalizing. I had somewhat expected to be blown away by the vast African landscape and of course, the animals. I did not, however, expect to be amazed at every turn by the design of our luxury safari accommodations. Fourteen private plane hops allowed us to experience vastly different landscapes, and by extension, safari lodges throughout Tanzania and Kenya.

The design of each camp brilliantly combines simplicity of function with incredible luxury while still managing to feel true in spirit to the natural landscape, important considerations when designing vacation retreats.

Our first destination: And Beyond’s Tree Lodge overlooking the Ngorongoro Crater.
The individual huts combine local Masai construction practices while revealing lush European expat inspired interiors.

A grand bath, the ultimate luxury in any home or hotel room. Especially amazing after 48 hours of travel.

One of the eco-resort’s common areas to relax after a day of safariing known as the Tree Lodge. The decor is layered and relaxed and feels as though it’s been enjoyed for decades.

Leaving Ngorongoro, we set off to follow the Great Migration. Experiencing the Serengeti Under Canvas was the highlight of the trip.

The chandelier and headboard take camping to the next level.

Our tent’s Out of Africa inspired Powder Room.

The camp’s bar and lounge rests under an Acacia tree.

A phrase to travel by…

Our final safari destination was Klein’s camp, a private game reserve. Private reserves have less regulations and, thus, guests can do activities that are restricted in the national parks such as hiking (with a rifle toting escort) and nighttime game drives.

Our canopy bed with mosquito netting, necessary, brilliant and beautifully executed.

To say that the design was the highlight would of course not be true. The real stars of the trip were the animals, I have too many pictures to choose from but I will leave you with one memory from Klein’s camp. In the beautiful afternoon sun, we unexpectedly came across 100 or more elephants softly swishing through the grass.

An indian summer has been showing up sporadically in San Francisco this fall, and it has me thinking nostalgically about two magical trips I took this August to Lake Tahoe, CA and Nantucket, MA.

I love hearing about how and where people spend family vacations, particularly spots where families have or rent a home that they return to year after year. For simple folks and jet setters alike, there is nothing better than returning to a lake cabin or a beach house with family and friends each summer.

Along these lines of tradition, many people do not want these destinations to change; they want them to remain the simple places of a time gone by. While on some level, as a designer I think innovation and rethinking old architectural paradigms is healthy and good, in these places, I completely sympathize with the resistance to change.

Both Lake Tahoe and Nantucket have extremely rigid building codes. “Code” is usually synonymous for architects and designers as bureaucratic red tape, but building codes in places like Nantucket and Lake Tahoe each serve a different and interesting purpose.

I started thinking about the difference between Nantucket and Lake Tahoe’s building codes. In Lake Tahoe, the severity and rigidity of the code is about preserving the natural splendor and environmental well-being of the lake.

Buildings are held off from the shore to prevent harmful drainage into the lake, and adding new decks and docks involves jumping through hoops in part because construction creates damaging waste.  Further, there is a short list of eco-friendly siding materials allowed on the exterior of a building, the muted colors of which cause homes to blend into the wooded surroundings.  Along these lines, strict height requirements on residences keep them below the tree line, so that they do not stick out like a sore thumb along the naturally pristine waterfront.

In Nantucket, building codes are designed to preserve an architectural tradition and uniformity.
Houses must have a pitched roof of unfinished shingles which weather to soft gray after their first winter. Nantucket, in fact, has the strictest preservation guidelines (184 pages) in the country. Only eight paint colors are allowed for front doors. Of course this is not without controversy as wealthy new comers have found loopholes in codes.

One especially interesting aspect of Nantucket to me was that as you bike around the island you experience the progression of a history of a few hundred years in a matter of minutes. As the architect Paul Goldberger was quoted as saying in the New York Times:
“Nantucket is a real town, not a suburb; it emanates urbanity as decisively as Boston, and this is crucial to the island’s magic. Nantucket is at once town and country, and one of the greatest gifts it gives us is the reminder that one need not always escape completely from the urban idea to find rest and ease.”

One of the many things I love about interior design is that you can preserve the historical context of time and place on the outside of a building and still create your own stamp on the inside. Of course, diehard preservationists disagree with me on ripping down interior walls…. Biking along a side street in Nantucket one morning, I laughed as I passed this bumper sticker “GUT FISH NOT HOUSES”.

The challenge is not just creating a gorgeous home, it’s keeping one.
As we help our clients create beautiful homes, we try to also give some tips along the way to keep their homes looking their best. Herein are some of our favorite products for keeping every room of your house looking fresh.

The Hallway (no, make that any room…)
My very handy friend Dillon turned me on to these. I’m not sure how I survived without them for so long. Simply wet and remove scuff marks on walls and all sorts of surfaces. Your paint job will look brand new!

http://www.mrclean.com/en_US/magic-eraser-extra-power.do

The Living Room
They say a good home is never finished. Inevitably I want to see how a piece of furniture looks across the room and no one is around to help me move it. These pads work remarkably well, your hardwood floors and your back will thank you.

http://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/product.asp?sku=12136331&

The Bedroom
Iron your pillowcases or have them pressed. It takes no time and you’ll feel like you checked into the Four Seasons!

The Master Closet
I decided to try these after I read Marissa Mayer swears by them, they make everything looks as neat and tidy as wood hangers but literally triple your closet hanging space.

http://www.containerstore.com/shop/closet/hangers/specialty?productId=10023850

The Bathroom
Leave it to the experts at Waterworks to come up with the best way to keep your faucets looking sparkling and water mark free.

http://www.waterworks.com/products/home/care-and-cleaning/tools/cleaning-cloth/2201

The Kitchen
I also love these cleaning pads from Williams-Sonoma for every surface of your kitchen. They are reusable and pay for themselves in no time.

http://www.williams-sonoma.com/products/5118195/

Keeping The Air Fresh
My friends at Elizabeth W make the most wonderful diffusers. My favorite is an extremely subtle scent called “Leaves”

http://www.elizabethw.com/shopexd.asp?id=154

Also, Indoor plants especially orchids are wonderful for removing toxins from the air so no need to feel guilty about splurging on one…

But to really clean your air, invest in a hepa air filter. They are smaller than ever and are extremely effective at improving indoor air quality. This one from the Sharper Image removes 99.5% of household irritants like mold, dust mite debris, pollen and pet dander and internal UV-C germicidal light removes bacteria and germs.

http://www.sharperimage.com/si/view/product/Oransi-V-Hepa-Air-Purifier/101141?trail=

…And for more cleaning tips, visit the laundry and cleaning gurus at:

The Laundress: http://www.thelaundress.com/ThingsWeLove/index.asp