Panelists included designer Jeff Schlarb of Green Couch Interior Design, architect Steven Sutro of Sutro Architects, artist Katina Huston and choreographer Alonzo King of  LINES ballet.  All of the panelists had interesting things to say, but I was especially taken with Mr. King.  Articulate and witty, he held forth like a preacher fired-up on a Sunday morning, telling us that the artist’s goal should be to “bring light into a world where there is so much despair and worry.”

Here’s a bit more of what he had to say along with some shots of creative light fixtures (raindrops! colored icicles! octopus! dinosaur fossils!) that caught my eye at Coup d’Etat.

On a creative lifestyle:  “Human beings are makers and doers.  There isn’t an on/off switch to creativity, it’s a way of living.”

On preparing to create: “I stop eating a certain way and spend much more time alone so that clarity can come to the fore.”

On originality: “When you’ve been doing this for a long time the idea of ‘authorship’ is a joke.  Everything that is discovered, created or invented exists already—you’re just excavating, waiting for secrets to be revealed.  And when you devote yourself to something, it reveals itself.”

On connecting with your audience: “A good messenger is not a showoff.  You want to make sure the message is clear.”

On challenging your audience: “If they’re giving up two hours of their time, you want to feed them well. The goal is to stir the heart or the mind, to touch them somewhere. But you also want to slap people a bit, help them come out of a stupor.”

On being tenacious: “If you’re putting out the effort now, things will improve in the future.”

On how difficult things can inform your work: “It doesn’t matter what happens to you in life, only what you become because of or in spite of it.”

Any favorite wisdom you’ve heard that helps shed light on the creative process?

Modern art–like these butterflies suspended in an infinity mirror in SagreraBrazil’s dining room–dazzled.

Or tumbled down a stairwell wall like these hand cast bronze letters and symbols in the hall outside the library.

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 design blog Remodelista founded six years ago by the book’s author Julie Carlson. You can read more about Carlson and Remodelista in my BANG feature but let’s peek between the pages while you’re here.

The book features twelve contemporary homes of the “white wall interiors” variety with thoughtful, spare furnishings and interesting backstories.  They’ll make you wish you too lived in a revamped potato barn in Amagansett or a restored Georgian townhouse in London.

It also shares basic remodeling advice, a curated list of favorite everyday objects (good gift ideas year round) and The Remodelista Manifesto—10 Rules to Live By, including:

Classic and livable trumps trendy and transient.

Ikea mingles well with antiques: a mix of high and low animates a space and allows room for all budgets.

 A room full of neutrals needs a disciplined dose of color. Think throw pillows, textiles, ceramics, and artwork in vibrant shades.

I know it’s old school, but there’s something very relaxing about flipping through a book of design images rather than swiping images on a screen. Slowing down to savor things is a gift we could all use about now, don’t you think?

If you’re in the Bay Area, check out the Remodelista Holiday Market this weekend at Heath Ceramics, 2900 18th St, San Francisco.  Click here for a one time 10% discount offer valid in the SF showroom on Saturday, December 14th only.

*Images excerpted from Remodelista by Julie Carlson (Artisan Books). Copyright (c) 2013. Photographs by Matthew Williams.

Now that we’ve fallen back time-wise, I’m not only waking up before the sun but also ready to crawl into bed before prime time. Anyone else start to hibernate over the weekend?

I’ve adjusted the timer on the back yard twinkle lights so they’ll come on at 6:00 am and again at 5:00 pm to keep me company as I bundle up for an early morning walk or start chopping onions for dinner. I’ve also turned up the house lights.  A few weeks ago the good folks at Cree sent me some newfangled light-emitting diode (LED) bulbs to try.  Here’s a shot of my bedroom lamps.  One has a Cree LED bulb, the other a standard incandescent light of the same wattage.  Can you tell which is the LED-lit lampshade?

LED lights have historically given off a blue-white color that is only slightly more flattering than the frozen tundra glare of a fluorescent light bulb.  But since LEDs save significant energy and last longer, I hoped there would eventually be some significant improvement in the LED’s quality of light.  And lookee here—there is!

The Cree LED bulb is actually in the lamp on the left of the bedroom photo.  It gives off good reading light and doesn’t make the room look like a polar ice cap. Which makes getting–and staying–out of bed just a little bit easier.

Look for an extensive overview of the San Francisco Decorator Showcase in the Bay Area News Group papers this Saturday, but in the meantime here’s a peak at design elements that felt fresh and noteworthy this year.

Contemporary Art as Inspiration

Check out the Cy Twombly inspired floors in Catherine Kwong’s living room, above.  See those splashes and swirls?   They set the tone for this entire showcase house and they’re likely to be the thing people are still talking about in years to come.   Similarly, Heather Hilliard looked to the public art of Sol LeWitt to create the painted detailing on the upper walls of her dining room.

And Martha Angus and Esche Martinez anchored their exuberant playroom with a op-art inspired custom carpet.

Oceanic Blue

Though black and white was the predominant color theme of the showcase, the #1 accent color was a rich turquoise blue.  Kelly Hohla hung it over the mantel by way of this mirrored “jewel” in her Makers Mark Retreat.

Matthew Leverone used it several ways in his ground floor Salon.

Kriste Michelini welcomed visitors to her cozy writer’s retreat with this cheery velvet sofa in the showcase’s signature color.

Decorative painter Willem Racke’ used it for his cut-out mirrored wall mural in Emilie Monroe’s 3rd floor bath.

And Alfred Gregory specified it for this custom tile by Waterworks in the “Elysium” guest bath (note the cool custom threshold while you’re here.)

Living Walls

Vertical gardening can happen just about anywhere, including this sculptural bathroom by Soil Studios.  The plants in this bath wall include French lavender and mint which can be snipped right there to scent the bath.

The same technology was used to create this gorgeous courtyard garden off the kitchen.  The befores are truly incredible–nothing was here besides bare brick wall before Living Green designed and installed these living walls.  Glorious stuff.

Statement Lighting

But living walls weren’t the only artful designs reaching skyward–unusual lighting did as well.  Here are some of my favorite examples.

Kelly Hohla used this mobile-like fixture to draw your eye to the unusual pitched ceiling in the Maker’s Mark retreat.

Alfred Gregory chose this glass chain link fixture both for dramatic effect and because it would stand up to the open shower in the room.

Gioi Tran commissioned a creepy crawly light fixture to fan out across this resin map of London in the teenage girl’s room.

Zoe Hsu paired this undulating fixture with python wall paper in the master sitting room.  Sssssspectacular.

And Stephanie Marsh Fillbrandt  used a hook-like light fixture from Coup d’Etat to add industrial heft to her sweet Chocolatier’s Lab.

Treat yourself and maybe a friend–mom!–to a trip to the showcase before it closes on May 27. You’ll come away inspired to try a new thing or two in your own personal showplace.

For a house built in a canyon, our new place is surprisingly light and airy, unless you’re in our bedroom, which is dark and inspires hibernation most days of the year. That’s all well and good when Mama and Papa Bear want to retire for the evening, but in the January daylight it can be gloomy and depressing—even with two table lamps, two floor lamps and an overhead fixture dotting the room. Not that the overhead fixture helped much.

Made out of red fabric covered with black curlicues it was probably the height of hip in the 1980s, but now it felt sad and tired and a little bordello-esque.  On closer inspection, I recognized the hardware and the shade as products of one of my favorite Bay Area design studios—Sue Johnson Lamps on Solano in Berkeley.

So the quick fix was to replace the shade with a different Sue Johnson shade that was either more current or more timeless. Either way, something that would cast better light in the room. But not too decorative, given all the other shades in the room and the goal to make this room look lighter and less cluttered.

I headed over to Johnson’s shop and spent some time taking in all the beautiful shades and repurposed fixtures. Then with remarkable (for me) restraint I selected an ivory parchment shade that was both elegant and versatile.

Before adding in a white mica shade covered with parrots and assorted leaves. What can I say? Even classy kitsch calls to me.

The parrot shade was fun, but the goal was a lighter, quieter bedroom.  So back it went to the shop.  And the simple ivory shade, along with a pale blue duvet cover and some taupe linen shams from Pottery Barn, have created a bedroom that’s less cave-like.

Come summer, maybe I’ll invite the parrots back.  But for now, I’m happy walking into a space that’s as soothing as the winter fog that hangs in the stand of eucalyptus trees outside my windows.