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 »

This year’s San Francisco Decorator Showcase is packed with creative solutions from talented designers. Here are some ideas you might put to use at your place.

Shadow Mural

In her Sports Room, stuffed with equipment to enjoy recreation with family and friends, Audrey Brandt brought the outdoors in with this subtle, effective wall treatment. The tone on tone glaze over latex paint resembles the shadow cast by [...] Read more »

Prepare to be impressed by the designs at this year’s San Francisco Decorator Showcase, where 37 of the Bay Area’s top designers have remade a gorgeous four-story, 10,000 square-foot Pacific Heights mansion.

The Showcase, a benefit for San Francisco University High School’s financial aid program, opens this Saturday, April 25. Here’s a peek at some choice vignettes from the house—watch for more to follow!

My [...] Read more »

The Grand Californian, Part Three

With the Artisan Program, Disney extended an open invitation to modern-day masters of the Arts and Crafts genre to create work for the hotel. From over 5,000 applicants, 30 artisans and craftspeople were chosen. Here are just a few glimpses of their fine craftsmanship.

I was surprised that Janice McDuffie’s formidable Roycroft Pottery vase in the Great Hall is out in the [...] Read more »

The Grand Californian, Part Two

Sometimes you know right away that a space is special. That’s how it is with the Great Hall at The Grand Californian Hotel. It begins when you enter through a kaleidoscope in art glass, this spectacular portal fashioned after the Gamble House Doors.

An awesome example of a structure inspired by the California Arts and Crafts movement, Disneyland’s Grand Californian was [...] Read more »

The Grand Californian, Part One

You can find great design in the most unlikely places. Like smack in the middle of the mother of all theme parks in Anaheim, California.

This Spring-Break week we’ve been hanging our shingle near Toon Town, just this side of Pirates of the Caribbean. It’s been heaven for our tween and our baby seems content anywhere, strangely even during the ghostly [...] Read more »