San Francisco Decorator Showcase 2009 - Part III

Please follow the lady in blue upstairs as we continue our tour of the San Francisco Decorator Showcase a fundraiser benefiting San Francisco University High School financial aid program. In place of a chandelier is a giant hanging garden created by artist Yedda Morrison:

The everlasting silk blooms reach all the way to the top of the stairwell: 

Designer Nicole Hollis continued the taxidermy theme, started with her cabinet of curiosities in the entry hall, with this display of butterflies and other insects:

On the other hand, we could have taken the elevator instead which, believe it or not, is vintage 1910, original to the house, along with other cutting edge conveniences of the day like the laundry and trash chutes.

This wondrous little jewel box is decorated with verre églomisé walls by artist-designer Jane Richardson-Mack. 

At the top of the staircase, Gale Melton made great use of the existing shelving and storage to create this gift wrap closet:

 

She ingeniously used gift wrap paper for the wall covering…

…and conveniently displayed all the tools for the task out in the open:

 

Directly across the hall is the Puppet Theater by Jurow Design Associates:

I especially like the men’s newsprint suit:

 

How nice it must be to have sufficient closet space to dedicate one entirely to whimsy and fantasy.

Please enjoy the puppet show, wrap a few gifts, or take that beautiful elevator for a joy ride while I prepare the next post.  We will actually enter the rooms of the second level next time.  

San Francisco Decorator Showcase 2009 - Part II

Landscape designer Kate Michels.  Bench by Terra Teak, Mill Valley

Today we will continue our tour of the San Francisco Decorator Showcase on 2830 Pacific Avenue. A Georgian-style mansion was built in 1910, shortly after the Great Earthquake and Fire of 1906.

Immediately outside the kitchen, the chef has access to a lovely enclosed herb garden on the breakfast terrace designed by Kate Michels Landscape Design

Imagine eating an omelet seasoned with fresh herbs from this attractive kitchen garden

Care for a side salad of baby lettuce and edible flowers harvested right here?

Cement container by Studio Replica

The wooden paneled gate leads into the formal rose garden designed for relaxation or entertaining. In the opening photo, Kate Michels is seated on a classic bench, a reproduction of the bench designed in 1902 by renowned English architect Sir Edwin Lutyens. Michels chose beautiful and practical, low-maintenance plants. The white iceberg roses, so well suited for this climate, will bloom profusely throughout the summer. This boxwood grows naturally in a round form; no trimming required.

Buxus semperviren 'Globe'

Orlando Diaz-Azcuy designed this gorgeous patio furniture for McGuire.

McGuire Portico Teak by Orlando Diaz-Azcuy. Photo by Kate Michels.

Diaz-Azcuy also designed the dining room, just inside the French doors.

This arrangement of white roses ties the dining room and living room together perfectly.

The living room , designed by Myra Hoefer, is meant to be “meditative and inward …for a quiet cocktail after a hurried city day…”

“…containing a few modern elements of surprise…”

Down the hallway, The Classic Powder Room Revisited by Marsh & Clark Design combines classic and modern details in a beautiful shade of blue…

…with a mosaic tile floor hand-cut and set by Pippa Murray Mosaic…

…and rich Venetian plastering treatment on the walls by Olea Plastering

This completes the tour of the entry level. Get ready to climb the stairs to the second level next time.

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.