Monday, May 25, 2009

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 16th 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.”

DSC05702 SF Designer Showcase 2009 cabinet of curiosities

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:

DSC05706 2830 Pacific Avenue entry columns

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.”

DSC05705 SF Decorator Showcase 2009 Family Room

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

DSC05707 SF Decorator showcase family room

Leverone Design also designed the lovely timeless breakfast room:

DSC05708 SF Decorator Showcase breakfast room drumlight

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

DSC05710 SF Decorator Showcase kitchen

DSC05711 SF Decorator Showcase kitchen light

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.

DSC05712 SF decorator showcase stove and backsplash

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.

18 comments:

Sherri said...

Wow! Love the back splash in the kitchen, kinda retro! And the family room is design perfection. Great lines and texture! I want a furry chair! It would be the most popular chair in the house!

My Castle in Spain said...

this round smooth wooden table is a beauty!
yes more pics please!
:-)

A Cuban In London said...

After the mouth-watering first photo I was left with the strong desire to see the rest, but it reads that these photos are currently unavailable. Many thanks for the commentary, though :-).

Greetings from London.

Ruth said...

Really very beautiful. Those 10-12 foot ceilings with white walls and features really send me. I also love how the design of the wooden chairs in the dinette stand out in the simplicity of color in the room.

LoisW said...

I'll take one of each! WOW! I have been in the midwest entirely too long.... I need to spread my wings... and soon!!

david mcmahon said...

If I lived there I'd be photographing the interior all day!

Emily said...

What a gorgeous home. I love the idea of a game cabinet. If only I had the room... Thanks for your idea on arranging my table. I think you might be right. I didn't know if I was finished with it or not. Just trying to get it done and post about it :)

Elizabeth said...

Love that first picture, my kind of color, my kind of cabinet. It is a beautiful house, would have loved to join that tour. Little sad I am because no matter how hard I try will my house ever be that clean and tidy with my boys running around,LOL.

Thanks for this gorgeous post, it gives inspiration and something to strive for.

Fijne pinksteren.

Groetjes uit Denemarken.

Elizabeth

paris parfait said...

How lovely! The cabinet d'curiosities is my favourite. It looks a lot less cluttered than my own! Thanks for these photos - can't wait to see more. And so sorry I missed your birthday. Hope it was wonderful! xo

Daryl said...

What great fun to tour such a tony house ... I love the your comments about the house/rooms ..

I stopped by to say congrats on the POTD mention at David's

katherine. said...

found you from david's mention...we have talked about taking these tours one day...great pictures.

Anonymous said...

Here from David's POTD and glad I came-what an elegant house-not cosy-even those couches do not invite, but the design, colour and style, perfection.

Dutchbaby said...

Dear Postcards,
I agree with all your comments! Isn't it great that David anointed us with the Post of the Day title?

Dear Castle,
The table is incredible. I would love to hear the stories each ring of the tree would have to tell.

Dear Cuban,
Thank you very much for pointing out my technical issues. Hope you return :-)

Dear Ruth (Co-Post-of-the-Day a la David),
I agree, the family room and breakfast room are a dream.

Dear MOWB,
Come on down! If we all order one of each, do you think we'll get a bulk rate?

Dear david,

Good news, david, the house is for sale. For a mere $14 Million you could be photographing to your heart's content.

I'm so honored you selected this post as Post of the Day!

Welcome to dutchbaby!

Dear Jemm,
We have a game cabinet, but it's out in the hallway. My suggestion was only minor; it looked great either way.

Lieve Elizabeth,
Voordat je het weet, zijn je jongens volwassen. Geniet!

Dear Paris,
I bet that cabinet would be gorgeous brimming with your antiques.

Dear Daryl,
Thanks for telling me about David's POTD! I'm glad you enjoyed the tour. Welcome to dutchbaby!

Dear Katherine,
This is my first time to the San Francisco Decorator Showcase. It looks like it will become an annual pilgrimage for me. Welcome to dutchbaby!

Dear Moannie,
I used to think that about those hard couches, but then I sat in one like the one pictured here when I was in New York. It was amazingly comfortable. Not snuggle-cozy, but comfortable and easy on the back. Welcome to dutchbaby!

Cheffie-Mom said...

Thanks for taking me on the tour! Great photos! Congrats on the Post of the Day Award from authorblog!

A Cuban In London said...

Thanks for alerting me back to your post. Now I can see the images! And they are beautiful. Those columns, my oh my, they are stunning. Agree with you on the family room. Our children are banned from eating in the lounge where we have a beige? light-cream? off-white? couch. Ta muchly for this post. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Now, let's move up onto your latest :-).

Greetings from London.

Dutchbaby said...

Dear Cheffie-Mom,
Thank you for visiting; I'm glad you enjoyed the tour. Welcome to dutchbaby.

Dear Cuban,
I'm so glad you returned! Now that my kids a little older, I would love to have that room; it is so inviting.

Relyn Lawson said...

What a lovely house. But, definitely not a family room for families with children. Still. Quite lovely. My favorite is the cabinet of curiosities. I've always wanted to create one of my own. I remember when Tara told us about hers - it made me so happy that real people have such treasures.

Dutchbaby said...

Dear Relyn,
The house is fantastic. The family room is not for young toddlers, but I think it's great for slightly older children and up.

I would love to see what you would put into a cabinet of curiosities. One day I'd like to see Tara's in person too!

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