The San Francisco Decorator Showcase 2009 – Part I

House sketch: Clay Seibert, Image from: Decorator Showcase

My friend Stephanie invited me to a lovely birthday celebration last week. She kick started the festivities at her home where she served the most delicious continental breakfast of New Orleans iced coffee and fresh blueberry muffins baked by her daughter.

We then all drove to San Francisco to see this year’s Decorator Showcase, a fundraising event benefiting the San Francisco University High School financial aid program. This year’s house is a brick mansion designed by architect Nathanial “Nat” Blaisdell and built in 1910. The four-story house is on the crest of Pacific Avenue in the heart of the tony part of town called Pacific Heights.

For the entry, Nicole Hollis chose a beautiful grey cabinet of curiosities, giving homage to the popular hobby of collecting in the homes of royalty and aristocrats since the 16^th century. Hollis encourages you to “press your nose to the glass, or reach out and touch” and hopes that this will spark “enough inspiration to continue to preserve them for future generations.”

Taxidermy specimens, featured throughout the house, created a running conversation amongst many of the attendees.

The architectural details of the entry immediately reveals that the Georgian-style architecture is consistent throughout the house:

The first room we entered was the family room. We all chuckled that this room is not for a family with young children with Nutella fingers. Having said that, I thought the room was very chic and comfortable with a beautiful relaxing palette of wheat, straw and wood. The designer of the room, Leverone Design, Inc., describes the room as a nest, an “invitation to lounge, play games, or enjoy a casual meal – a place to reconnect with friends and family.”

This cabinet would be perfect to store Monopoly, Scrabble, and jigsaw puzzles:

Leverone Design also designed the lovely timeless breakfast room:

Everyone went gaga over the Aqua Creations light fixture J. Weiss Design selected for the kitchen:

Though the kitchen was remodeled from a series of small rooms to a more spacious layout, it has not lost its old-world feel. J. Weiss Design’s selection of the classic-looking backsplash by Heath Ceramics, designed and manufactured just across the bay in Sausalito, was perfect.

That’s all for today; next time we will visit the rest of the entry level. If you must peek ahead, you can visit the Flickr set here.