Tahoe ARTour 2010

I find it fascinating to see an artist in his own environment. What colors and forms surround him? What view does he soak in, over his morning coffee?

How does the place an artist calls home, influence his work?

Come on along and hit the road with me, as we drop in on a few of Lake Tahoe’s gifted artists. I was lucky enough [...] Read more »

Years back, I attended a San Francisco art sale at the most fantastic place. Creativity Explored is nonprofit visual arts center where artists with developmental disabilities create, exhibit, and sell art.

Color and smiles were free-flowing, and I came away with a half dozen of the most uninhibited and visually striking drawings.

I was thrilled to learn from my best friend, that CB2 is featuring [...] Read more »

A Garden Accents Treasure Trove

This weekend, throngs of us are spending time outdoors, some even heading to the beach. So I thought I’d take you to a spot in a wonderful Northern California beach town. Half Moon Bay is the kind of town where you can spend the morning with sand in your toes, and the afternoon strolling from boutique, to gallery, to mom-and-pop shop.

Always [...] Read more »

Designing and remaking upholstered furniture, and combining it well in a space, is an art.

Designer Heather Hilliard is brilliant at it, as evidenced by her living room design for this year’s Marin Designer’s Showcase.

Photographs by Michele Lee Willson Photography

A classical room with grand proportions, Hilliard wanted it to feel “luxurious and refined but understated” and to function well for both formal entertaining and casual [...] Read more »

Small spaces in our homes are often treated like afterthoughts. Not so for this dressing room and bath worthy of an up-and-coming fashionista. These were favorites of the spaces we saw at this year’s San Francisco Decorator Showcase.

Photographs by David Duncan Livingston

We loved how the designers—George Brazil and Cecilia Sagrera of SagreraBrazilDesign—brought light and a soft, fresh color scheme into the space. And we were [...] Read more »

by Leona Gaita

Today we are joined by Leona Gaita, HomeWorkshop.com Interior Design Expert and Contributor. Leona shares with us her inspiring ideas and advice to help us enrich our homes and lives with beauty and elegance.

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I Went to the High Point Market and I Saw the Light!

For the first time ever, I made the pilgrimage to the furniture mecca of the world, High Point, North [...] Read more »

Its spring in the City and time again for The San Francisco Decorator Showcase, a benefit for the financial aid program at San Francisco University High School.

You’ll come away with a mansion full of inspiration when you visit this year’s 8,368 square foot Pacific Heights home, open through the end of May.

Photographs by Cathy Lambert.

40 of the Bay Area’s top designers have transformed [...] Read more »

Production assistant-fantastico, Lisa and I recently zipped down to L.A. to shoot some new videos for ‘ten,’ our upcoming New Year’s special event. True to form, we worked in a little design browsing.

In the barn-like space of Design MIX Furniture (442 South La Brea Avenue), we couldn’t help but look up.

Not that the exotic antiques and art at ground level left anything to [...] Read more »

by Regina Garay

It’s a great day! Today it is my pleasure to introduce you to Regina Garay, HomeWorkshop.com’s Decorative Painting and Surface Design Expert, and our newest Contributor. I’m thrilled with the creative posts Regina has planned for you, and about what we’ll all learn from this true artisan. Read more about Regina at her blog Fauxology.

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Hello, Everyone!  First of all, I’d like to say [...] Read more »

IKAT. You’d have to be folded up in your pull-out sofa to miss the popularity of this textile.

Ikat inspiration board from the studio of textile designer Laura Singh of Color Loom.

Ikat (pronounced “ee-kat”) is a loom-woven textile created by a remarkable process.

A master weaver first ties bundles of warp threads in precise patterns to prepare for colored dyes. A more intricate resist-dyeing technique like [...] Read more »

There’s a store you went to once. A marvelous store. In your mind’s eye you can picture the colorful objects, the mix of textures. You always meant to go back.

That’s how it was for me with Berkeley, California’s Ethnic Arts (1314 Tenth Street). Part store, part global museum. All wonderful.

One of numerous fantastical puppets from the Bozo tribe of Mali in West Africa

When [...] Read more »

Thanks for hanging out with us by video last week, as we scored vintage furniture and accessories at the legendary Rose Bowl Flea Market. With renowned designer and TV host Kenneth Brown as stellar guide, we delighted in our finds and honed our shopping skills.

This Market is massive and we only covered a fraction of its home decor possibilities, but saw more than we shared [...] Read more »

Let’s spend a Design Junkie’s dream day together in Pasadena, California as we scour a world-class marketplace for decorator finds with one of the planet’s top designers. Watch and learn from Kenneth Brown, acclaimed interior designer and host of HGTV’s reDesign as he shops the legendary Rose Bowl Flea Market.

We get up with the sun and comb the Rose Bowl with Kenneth, a member [...] Read more »

We had a ball tooling around Pasadena, California this weekend, savoring the sunshine, the food and the magnificent architecture. The city of the Tournament of Roses and the Rose Bowl is blessed with abundant, awesome design.

Photographs by Lisa Gillis

My cousin Larry Martin (aka ‘Mr. Pasadena’) served as stellar tour guide, showing us all the sights. We rode, walked, munched, drank and talked. Loving Pasadena. [...] Read more »

As travelers move away from the uniformity of mass tourism in favor of more individualized experiences, we are seeing the trend of stylish, nomadic guest accommodations. Rural property owners and boutique guesthouses are starting to offer luxurious nature experiences in ready-made units that can be placed anywhere.

Case in point is the Carré d’étoiles (cube of the stars) from French company Bocages. Conceived by Louis Blanco [...] Read more »