San Francisco’s McRosky Mattress Company has been promising a good night’s sleep to their customers for 115 years. Recently, they asked designer Brian Dittmar to create an eye-opening bedscape for their Market Street store window. “With Twitter and other tech innovators nearby, they wanted something that would attract the younger crowd that’s rejuvenating this area [...]
On this rainy Tuesday, I’m loving these cheery photos of The FloraCultural Society that Liessa Johannsen shot for my Gardenista post about this lovely new flower shop in Old Oakland. Florist Anna Campbell opened the shop as part of PopUpHood, a group that seeks to revitalize urban areas by taking vacant spaces and linking small business [...]
Quilts are more than bedcoverings, they’re also works of art. Marie Strait, President of the Board of Directors for the San Jose Museum of Quilts & Textiles recently told me that “quiltmaking has always been a way for women to practice art while doing something practical.” Strait, an avid quilter and quilting teacher, was one [...]
Reading this essay about a woman asking for a better table when given a crummy one made me think about a recent failed attempt at being more forceful. Claire was in town from the frigid East and wanted to spend every minute of the weekend out in the sun. So we drove over to Point [...]
All right. Time to stop getting distracted by stocking stuffers and get down to serious gift-buying. If you’re giving to someone who leans towards contemporary design on a less than stratospheric budget, consider the collection of well-edited designs presented in Remodelista: A Manual for the Considered Home (Artisan). The book culls ideas from the popular [...]
Woah. My busy week got busier last week with an unexpected death in the family—my Uncle Bob, patriarch of the Cool California Cousin branch of the Loosli clan, passed away and I needed to make my way to Newport Beach for his funeral. I had a lovely time with those CCCs and my mom and [...]
Just as I was about to drive off from the Googleplex, I noticed this unusual cloud formation where the sky seemed to be cut in half. One side was a nearly cloudless blue, the other a gauzy panel that reached almost to the ground like a cloud curtain half-drawn over the summer sky. Seemed like [...]
Our nest has been a little less empty this summer because our daughter Sydney came home to roost for ten weeks while she interned in the legal department at Google. On her last week of work we met her for lunch and a tour of the Googleplex in Mountain View. Thought I’d share some of [...]
San Francisco furniture designer Ted Boerner makes beautiful furniture that wows in both contemporary and classic interiors. Check out my BANG profile of Boerner from this past weekend to learn more about his background and design process and to see some of his terrific designs. One of my favorite Ted Boerner pieces is the Gardener [...]
Forget the flowers in your hair, if you’re coming to San Francisco be sure to bring a sweater. Especially in the summer. Because of the summer fog it’s more than coolish here, it’s downright cold. Which makes this fair-skinned Idaho transplant very happy. I love a rainy winter day the best, but a foggy summer [...]
