(It's no secret that I'm nosy as heck...anyone who meets me gets the 20 questions. So this is nirvana, I just love going into people's home and having a good old gander and imagining how they live.)
This serene Contemporary home, made from exposed concrete and wood, was completed in 2014 on a lot that has sat empty since the 1991 Oakland Fire. The newly married couple, Adam and Amy, love to entertain frequently and Amy also loves to discover emerging artists. She heads up a family-owned Yountville vineyard and invests in a number of Bay Area start-ups. I can't wait to see her live-edge make-up table in the master bathroom.
Below, the Morse House is an English Tudor Revival built in 1936 for Charles Morse, a rice miller, and has fantabulous views over the bay and the country club, and awesome people living in it. I know this because we are lucky enough to be their friends! John and Kim spent 15 years looking for a 1930's era home to restore, and then they spent the next six years doing much of the restoration themselves. They've furnished it in the Hollywood Regency style and you'll see in the living room a Wonder Woman painting done by their daughter when she was in elementary school!
Next is a Prairie Style home, a style which includes overhanging eaves and sloping roofs and originated with Frank Lloyd Wright in the early 20th century, apparently. One of the homeowners is a glass and metal artist who forged the door handles and cabinetry hardware.
This Italianate home below was built for a concert pianist; it operated as a music hall in 1914. Today the piano stage is a home office where the owners have outfitted the walls with the same cabinetry as the home's original.
And then there is this English Tudor which features intricate leaded glass windows. The owner is a mah jongg enthusiast who hosts games, hence the double game tables and her nickname for her home; The House of Clicking Tiles.
You can buy tickets from here online or at other places around the Easy Bay, including the Terrace Gifts & Coffee shop. VIP ticket holders get to attend other events and view additional homes, like this charming one below.
What do you find most interesting when you go into someone's home? I love bookshelves and utilitarian things like the kitchen sinks, and then the opposite: anything glam and shiny.
Food cupboard, book shelves and momentos. But I like to see when I'm good friends the type of mess they create BC a clean prepped house is much alike regardless of architecture. My mess is piles of things as opposed to stuff thrown around.
ReplyDeleteOoh yes, food cupboard, that's a goody. It's a story of would could have been (ingredients for that dish you'll never make and other aspirational buys) vs what is. Just like in The Wire when Marlo says: "You want it to be one way, but it's another."
ReplyDeleteI think the Morse house is my favorite, though the Italianate runs it a close second. Love going through people's houses, I guess that's why I'm addicted to House Hunters.
ReplyDeleteLove that blue in the Morse house for the kitchen, not sure what you call that shade.
DeleteHave seen that show and love it. There was a fascinating show in England called House Doctor. Funnily enough the host was from Piedmont, the next town from Oakland. Anyway she would go into houses and change them enough to sell immediately. When they interviewed the househunters first time around they focused so much on the color of walls and no curb appeal, two things that can so easily be changed...
I used to love the House Doctor - Ann Maurice, had that withering look when she looked at people's choices and clutter.
DeleteI know...whatever happened to her. Loved her, no one here is as good as her
DeleteI know what you mean.... I'm real nosy too! So fun looking around tour homes and I love open houses too! I haven't been to the Heart of the Home tour in years but really enjoyed it when I lived in the east bay many years ago! Looks like a good one this year and I'm loving that kitchen with blue cupboards! Kim and I are going to a kitchen tour in Hillsborough on Fri, May 13th. You should join us! Glad to see you are back at blogging!
ReplyDeleteThere's a great one your way with Eichler houses that I have yet to get to
DeleteWhat a fabulous peek. I'm nosy too!
ReplyDeleteLoving your party photos today in your new room. Congrats!
DeleteI truly like the minimalist approach to decor. Less is definitely more. An antique or two is also great. Love a surprise. Clean lines always appeal to me.
ReplyDeleteYou have the best job! Meeting interesting people and visiting their homes. What could be better? Susan
You're so right Susan!
DeleteI wish that blue kitchen was mine, sigh.
ReplyDeletePretty blue alright
DeleteI do love the Morse House and that blue kitchen and their daughter's Wonder Woman whose Golden Lasso would have me singing like a canary.
ReplyDeleteYou should draw (or trace) one for your own abode, GSL
DeleteDamn...this place looks amazing! Have a great Monday :)
ReplyDeleteGlad to see you back!
DeleteI'm nosy too hence a blog reader. My favourite is the prairie with the morse being close second. Being in the UK prairie is romantic and rustic to me. I find book cases most interesting. They tell you so much about the people.
ReplyDeleteIn NZ we grew up (with our one channel) with Little House On The Prairie so nostalgic about that too
DeleteI do like those older houses but if I moved to CA I'd go modern as everything I've lived in is old old old! mind you I do make my living restoring them so I can't complain.
ReplyDeleteUs too. We'd lived in so many old homes in London that we just wanted wide walls and huge windows
DeleteThese are some great homes! :) Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteEven better in the flesh
DeleteJust WOW! Those interiors are amazing. I love going into kitchens and looking through the bookcases. Actually, I like admiring the taste and devotion that other people put into decorating their homes.
ReplyDeleteMe too on the bookcases, says so much. Do not like this new thing of putting white paper over all the books so its styled.
DeleteI could look at these for hours. I love the idea of using the written word as in "under the willow tree".
ReplyDeleteIn Liverpool Cathedral I recently saw under a beautiful stained glass window "I felt you and I knew you loved me" in Tracy Emin's handwriting and for some reason it moved me to tears.
It's amazing when you see all those greats in person. You can mock them from afar; Unmade bed, formaldehyde cow, but they are really affecting in person.
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