Design Confidently, Live Comfortably




The transformation of our house started long before the first nail was ripped out and even before the first line was drawn on the plans. For many years, I had been compiling ideas for rooms from a multitude of sources.

As the head merchant for a division of a women's fashion brand, I am used to pulling pages from magazines -- we call them "swipes" -- for ideas and direction. I'd started collecting swipes from home magazines years ago and kept them organized by room and by detail. This helped me immensely. As I deliberated between a dark-wood kitchen and a white-painted kitchen, I realized that the majority of my kitchen swipes were white and that I enjoyed the look and feel of a happy, clean, white kitchen.


Idea file Tom gathered inspiration for the remodel everywhere -- from hotel bathrooms (the master bath is pictured at left) to distant neighborhoods. He found the inspiration for the front door (right) on a street in Washington, D.C.


Collecting ideas was not limited to magazine swipes but was an on-going effort to preserve all the great ideas I stumbled on. I have photographed hotel bathrooms, details at open houses, exteriors I've seen here in San Francisco or on trips. The glass on the front door, for example, I found in Washington, D.C. One of the brownstones there had a large, modern glass door in which the primary part of the glass was frosted and the bevel was clear, balancing privacy and the ability to see out the door. The exterior color on our house, Pratt & Lambert's Avocado #YG565A (discontinued), I saw on another house in the city, and stopped to ask the owners about it.

Having this collection of ideas on hand made remodeling much less stressful. I finished this project knowing I had done everything I wanted and had included ideas and details that I thought were wonderful and beautiful.


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