(the berkeley marina with the GG bridge and the city in the distance! x0x)
my eldorado springs project was featured in home & garden colorado magazine! x0x0x
i am so thrilled that my eldorado spring project is included in the summer 2025 issue of home & garden colorado. this was an especially rewarding project because my clients moved from the house we worked on together in boulder to a smaller, jewel box of a home in eldorado springs. we had a great time placing their original furniture and layering on new pieces. many thanks to lori tobias for the story and to heather burns for the lovely photo and of course, my wonderful clients! x00x
Read Moresuper HAPPY to be back in california! x00xx
HAPPY, HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my wonderful father! x00xx
(me and my dad in front of the giant sedan he never had trouble parking)
despite being an economist and a statistician with a super solid understanding of probability and odds, my dad was also a DREAMER. he really believed in luck (especially his own, which he called, “rhode luck”) so he regularly bought lotto tickets. several nights a week, on his way home from the city he would pull over at max’s liquor and get lottos with our birthday numbers. he DID have luck, at least for parking, because he always seemed to get a spot right out front in his BIG sedan, even though san pablo is one of the busiest streets in berkeley (like the way the lead character in a movie always pulls up smack in front of the bar or restaurant in a crazy city without ever circling or even having to back in to the space.)
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september's FEATURED QUILT of the month by my mother, ann rhode! x0x0x
(floating, 2021 by ann rhode, 80W x 84L”)
ann created “floating” in another attempt to reduce her scrap bag. the printed strips were all leftovers from other quilts. she estimates over 200 different fabrics were used, which gives a sense of the incredible size of her fabric collection. the scraps were organized by width and then arranged with the lightest value prints at the top and increasing to the darkest at the bottom. the horizontal solid strips were appliquéd in place after.
floating is is machine pieced and machine quilted. fabrics and batting are all cotton.
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VERY happy to be back in California! x0x0x
(flowers from a neighborhood walk with hank! x0x0x!)
REPOST: interact brand design studio
in commercial interior, art, office
(the lounge area of the office complete with vintage ads)
* now that i am back in california, i am sharing some of my previous projects… this commercial project was so much FUN. i loved all the whimsy and unexpected “art” like the giant ice cream cones, the collection of vintage soda cans, the big drum and the ad campaigns from another era. work spaces can always have a bit of “silly” slipped in! x0x0x
Read Moreso exciting to be in california! x00xx
the last week of summer 2025... x00xx
(hank and rosie getting used to each other and sitting on the same rug!)
this was a big week in our house… lucy started her second year of high school, theo left for his sophomore year of college AND rosie is staying with us (my mom is at quilt camp with her friends making pretty new quilts and gin and tonics!) there’s been lots of flurry, loads and loads of laundry, last minute target runs, tons of take out, MANY extra hugs and of course, some tears (NOT as many as last year, thank goodness!) as i write this, i am nestled between two sleeping dogs and it is quiet for the first time all summer (except for hank’s snoring, which sea saws between soft whistles and full on freight train.) even this new girl, alexa is quiet. i am not sure when she moved in, but she is kind of driving me crazy. she is very bossy and she needs so MUCH attention. she starts chatting around 6:30 am, even on the weekends. she doesn’t respond well to niceties… i have to be really direct and say, “alexa, STOP!” she pipes down for a minute or two and then she starts telling me the weather. i don’t really care about the weather because i have lots of windows. also, berkeley is pretty temperate and i don’t even like to go outside too much. again, i have to firmly say, “alexa, STOP!” and then (just to bother me i am sure) she starts playing music… and not even MY music, random stuff i don’t recognize and don’t want to hear. i typically start to get super irritated at this point and don’t articulate my directions as well so i might have to tell her to stop NUMEROUS times before she finally does (kind of like conversations with my two teens.) but at least i KNOW those teens (i gave BIRTH to them) and i LOVE them so i have more bandwidth for them. i have never even SEEN alexa… she just sort of slips around the house and i hear her voice or her advice or her music from all different areas. i would appreciate it if she could introduce herself properly and look me in the eye.
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august's FEATURED QUILT of the month by my mother, ann rhode! x0x0x
(flower power, 20XX by ann rhode, 62W x 62L”)
ann created “flower power” to showcase her collection of big floral prints. when designing it, she felt it needed the darker verticals with the thin strips to give some structure to the piece and to encourage the feeling of dappled light peeking through. the wider horizontal strips provide tranquil pathways across the lighter triangles.
this piece did not end up making much of a dent in her big print floral collection!
flower power is machine pieced and machine quilted. fabrics and batting are all cotton.
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stopping to smell the roses in berkeley! x0x0x
stunning rose on my neighborhood walk in southside berkeley…. x0x0x
celebrating the life of my darling father! x0x0x
* my father began his “longest nap ever” on june 30, 2025. this past weekend we celebrated his exuberant, hilarious, beautiful life at the berkeley country club (formerly called mira vista), his home golf course for decades. i’m sure he loved it. i learned so many new stories and special moments of his life from the incredible collection of people who came to honor him. i am so grateful for the sharing and love and support we have received. i have been fully immersed in the 70s and 80s reading his letters, sorting through photos and remembering his antics and creative, loving approach to living. here is a link to his obituary that was published in the San Francisco Chronicle, a paper he read at breakfast each morning.
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so inspired by the san francisco skyline! x00xx
san francisco sunset seen from the bay bridge! x0x0x
REPOST: winter park mountain home x0xx
(incredible views out of the expansive, angled back windows)
* now that i have moved my business to california, i wanted to share some of my favorite projects with all of you bay areas who might be ready for design help. one of my all time favorite jobs is this winter park mountain house. i LOVED this project because everyone from the architects to the builders to the craftspeople and artists were TIP TOP and so good at their jobs. and of course, my clients were especially awesome! x00xx
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let's create colorful spaces in california! x0xx
sneaky raisins!
one of my girlfriends sent me this card and i felt so SEEN! my dislike of raisins is on par with how i feel about the taste of mayonnaise (blue cheese, salmon, sourcream and gum are up there, but not at the pinnacle.) but raisins are unique and particularly worrisome because they weasel their way into things that should have chocolate chips like oatmeal cookies, scones, muffins and all kinds of breads. even when my eyesight was tip top i always asked the server about the presence of raisins in any desired baked good and then i would crack it open and examine it before taking a big mouthful, just for good measure. there are few things worse than the gummy, sickly sweet surprise of a raisin when you are expecting warm, velvety, delicious chocolate.
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so inspired to be back in california! x0x0x
the old bunkers in the marin headlands… AMAZING views of the bay! x0x0x
interviewed for an article for HOMES & GARDENS on vintage shopping! x0xx
i was so thrilled to be included wtih this group of talented designers interviewed about best practices when purchasing vintage furnishings and accessories. THANK YOU to eleanor richardson of homes & gardens. here is a link to the full article! x0x0x
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so thrilled to be back in my home state! x0xx
july's FEATURED QUILT of the month, by my mother, ann rhode! x0x0x
(exuberance, 2021 by ann rhode, 45W x 55L”)
most quilters have a “scrap bin” where they collect the extra fabric bits created when piecing quilts. some scraps end up in strips and others in odd shaped pieces. eventually, the scrap bin grows full and the opportunity for a scrap quilt arises. “exuberance” is the result of ann’s bin needing to be reduced. she began by sewing scraps together and then cutting triangles from the pieces. putting two triangles together created the diamonds that repeat. she alternated rows of diamonds with green yellow centers and randomly striped diamonds. she enjoyed the challenge of creating something beautiful from discarded pieces and incorporating so many different fabrics in one quilt.
exuberance is machine pieced machine quilted. fabrics are all cotton.