Author: punchwpadmin

Words by Sheri Baer

Arielle Citron Leonard recently had a new client contact her about a remodeling idea that was just taking shape. The homeowner hadn’t talked with anyone else yet and launched the call with a somewhat-sheepish query. “They asked, ‘Is this the right time to reach out to you?’” recounts Arielle. “And I responded, ‘Most people don’t but it’s so important because we see the project through from nothing until it’s complete.’”

As the principal of Citron Home, a full-service Peninsula-focused interior design firm founded in 2016, Arielle frequently finds herself clarifying the role that interior designers play. “People think that we just come in and put furniture in the space,” she explains. “We definitely can do that, but if you are doing a whole renovation or a new-build construction, it’s to your benefit to bring us in early.”

Whether working on spec projects or with individual homeowners, Arielle touts the value of weighing in from the outset. When she’s brought in by developers, she works hand in hand with the architect to convey the overall vision for the home, which is frequently influenced by the Peninsula’s many family-friendly neighborhoods. “Seeing it through that lens means making sure that it’s not just a pretty home but it also makes sense and it flows,” she notes, citing examples like sufficiently wide hallways, ample storage, a laundry room that’s close to the bedrooms and a proper mud room.

COVER IMAGE: We wanted the beautiful exterior vintage oak trees to be an integral element in designing this great room. Large windows, soft ripple-fold drapes and a light fixture with oak accents intrinsically link the space with the outdoors.

“We make sure that the kitchen has everything that’s needed for a family and that there’s great usability and flow between the spaces,” Arielle continues. “And nowadays, a lot more people are working from home, so instead of doing one office, we’re doing two offices or a flex space. We look into areas where kids can play or that can also be used as a guest room or a study room.” From a design perspective, Arielle appreciates the flexibility that comes with spec projects. “There’s not as much direction,” she points out. “There’s no client, so we have more range to be fully creative.”

That said, Arielle also enjoys partnering with homeowners, who typically have a personal style they want to achieve. “We work together to really understand their aesthetic, so we can carry that vision through to the end,” she says. “Not only do we have the layout of the home in our heads, but we also consider how somebody is going to live there.”

Being involved from the start allows for input on space planning, scale and core decisions. That includes door and window placement, floor selections, baseboards, TV locations and even outlets. “If you have a vacuum that needs to be charged, we make sure that there’s a plug there so that it can be put away. Even electric toothbrushes—we like to have everything plugged away in drawers,” Arielle relays.

Small details make the difference in this staircase design. Adding picture lights to the ceiling to allow for a statement piece of art to shine introduces depth, illuminates the space and draws the eye upwards to take in the full effect.

The list goes on. Stone choices, sconces, window treatments and stair railings. Ceiling height, ceiling pitches and locations for recessed lighting and switches. “All the plumbing fixtures and faucets,” adds Arielle. “Even the height of the shower and where the temperature control goes so that you don’t get wet when you turn the shower on.” For a client who likes to cook, Citron Home makes sure there’s plenty of room for pots and pans. If they like to host big dinner parties, the design team ensures there’s sufficient table space for guests. “We definitely voice our opinion on what we think the client would love and appreciate, and after that, it’s their decision on what they want in their home.”

Raised in Menlo Park, Arielle says it feels like a natural extension to create beautiful and functional living spaces on the Peninsula. “New construction and renovations keep the community thriving and bring new life and young kids into the area,” she reflects. “When I drive by all the parks and they’re filled with kids, I think, ‘I was one of those kids.’” She credits her parents with sparking her passion for design and timeless art. “They built their own home, and I got to watch that at a young age,” she recalls. “And then they built spec homes throughout my childhood so I was able to learn about that and see it with my own eyes and become more involved as I got older. Design is something that’s in my blood, and I’m fortunate enough to have known it my whole life.”

After earning a design and architecture degree from UC Berkeley, Arielle pursued additional coursework in interior architecture and interior design. She worked for an interior design firm until she realized she was ready to go out on her own. “That’s what I always envisioned myself doing,” she shares, “and so I took the leap.”

Continuing the indoor-outdoor flow throughout the home creates a cohesive and clean atmosphere. The window treatments span the length of the room, drawing your eye across, while the horizontal lines are brought together by the European white oak floors and the linear oak pendant.

Now married with two “rambunctious” kids, Arielle has renewed appreciation for the Peninsula’s vibrant green spaces, high-quality schools and charming tree-lined streets. She also recognizes that it’s not easy to get into this market, which underscores why the right design team should be in place sooner than later: “I think the worst thing that could happen is that you spend two years building or renovating your dream home, and it doesn’t have everything you need.”

As she partners through the construction process, Arielle also consults with clients on furnishings. “That way, once their construction is done, they can move right in,” she says. “Having a family of my own allows me to have more insight into what families need that they don’t necessarily know that they need.” Drawing from first-hand experience, Arielle cites examples like easy-to-clean fabrics and carpeting. “I think we have a good grasp on durability and just making sure things are timeless.”

While she finds the entire design process stimulating, Arielle doesn’t hesitate when asked what’s most satisfying. “Seeing the project at the end of the day and closing the door for the last time,” she smiles. “To see families move in and create their own memories in a space that I’ve designed feels really special.”

designing every detail – citronhome.com

Words by Johanna Harlow

If you’ve ever found yourself mesmerized by the undulating, rippling surface of a pond, you’ll likely feel an affinity toward the paintings of Joseph Fuchs. Though water isn’t always featured in the artist’s city and nature scapes, it flows through many of his atmospheric works of art. “Essentially the water is an abstract,” the Los Altos painter describes. “You have to try to get the range of colors and shapes.”

That many of Joseph’s canvases are awash with depictions of bobbing Venetian scenery should come as no surprise. “The first time I went, it was almost like that previous life experience where you walk into a place and you fit… I was more than enchanted!” reflects Joseph, who first fell for Italy’s “City of Canals” back in the ‘80s.

The landscape was quite different from the endless orchards of Joseph’s hometown, where the only action was the occasional groan of a Boeing B-52 coming and going from nearby Moffett Field. As a seventh-generation Peninsula native, Joseph describes the Los Altos of his boyhood as “a drowsy, sleepy place.” “It wasn’t important. It was just a nice place to grow up,” he recollects. “A dog could go to sleep in the middle of the street and never be run over!”

Cover Artwork: Quiet Outing, Venice / Artwork: Floating World

But back to the water and Joseph’s unquenchable wanderlust—because over the years, he’s revisited Venice over a dozen times. “You can go back and see it a second time—and a third and a fourth—and it’s always a little different. And the more you do that, the richer it is,” the octogenarian says.

Joseph, who taught English at Menlo-Atherton High School for 33 years, even spent his six-month sabbatical living there. He painted every morning, then wandered the streets after lunch, returning back again in the evenings. “I would find a direction and just walk,” he says. “I would go different routes every single time.”

Where’s Pulcinella?

The artist has another preoccupation. But this time, it’s not a where or a what. It’s a who. Pay Joseph a visit and, in every room in his house, you’ll spot a hook-nosed, humpback clad with a smurf-like hat and a mask. This funny little fella perches on Joseph’s nightstand, revels along his bookshelves and gambols across many of Joseph’s paintings. Tilework (handpainted by Joseph) in both the laundry room and kitchen depict this comedic creature hanging up the wash on the clothesline, hugging a bevy of baguettes to his chest or balancing precarious, multi-scoop ice cream cones in both hands.

This character you’ve likely started playing “Where’s Waldo?” with goes by the name of Pulcinella. Joseph remembers first encountering the well-known stock character in Italian theater (also called “commedia dell’arte”) at a Pulcinella-packed exhibit at Stanford University. “I was devastated and amazed,” he says. “I’d found my man.”

Over the centuries, Pulcinella has been depicted as both foolish and cunning, both servant and master. He’s an opportunist known for exploiting situations to his favor—yet despite his foibles, rescues others who find themselves in trouble. For Joseph, the character is an ideal vessel for exploring humanity’s many faces. “He’s an everyman,” Joseph describes. “He represents everyone you could be.”

The artist notes that Pulcinella paintings aren’t in as much demand as they once were and that he’s incorporated more landscapes from his travels as well as Bay Area scenery into his practice of late. Though fortunately, he still finds fans of his favorite rogue.

Artwork: Alla Volta; Tea Time.

Joining the conversation, Joseph’s wife Jane references one of her husband’s earlier works: a piece in which Pulcinella shows a barefaced young girl around a mask shop. “Innocence doesn’t have a mask,” says Jane, observing, “As you come of age, you put on many masks. You can become anyone you want.” Joseph nods in agreement, “She’s being initiated into a future world that she’s going to occupy.”

Joseph and Jane

Joseph and Jane interact with that comfortable, lived-in ease that comes after 55 years in a strong marriage. Growing up, they attended the same schools—junior high, high school and college (San Jose State)—but it took two fateful dinners to finally get the two together. The first didn’t go so well.

Joseph, who had joined the military and spent a frigid winter in a guard tower in Korea, was back on leave when he attended a dinner hosted by their mutual friends. “He was white as a sheet, thin, extremely quiet,” Jane recalls. Meanwhile, Joseph found Jane excessively bubbly. “And I don’t like champagne!”

But when the two ate again with the same mutual friends a year later (after Joseph returned from time serving as a medic in Vietnam), sparks flew. “She’d written a couple of letters to me,” Joseph remembers. “And when the door opened, and she said, ‘Joe! Joe!’ It knocked me down! Nobody really had welcomed me back like that.” Jane adds that the change of scenery had done him good. “He was tan, muscular and had this fantastic smile,” she reminisces. “I told my girlfriend after I saw him the second time, ‘I’m gonna marry that man.’ And I’m usually a very cautious person! Within two weeks, we were engaged.”

Outside the Canvas

Drawn to art from childhood (which included many a sketch of Donald Duck), Joseph continued to paint during his time in the military. When he returned to California after ending his tour, he took up teaching at Menlo-Atherton High School with the intention of cultivating the next generation of artists. Instead, he got roped into teaching English, his college minor.

Artwork: A Wizard's Dream

“That didn’t squash the painting,” Joseph assures. “It augmented it because it allowed me to be in a world of ideas… It allowed me to have this kind of imagination that deals with images. Because when I read a book, I’m thinking of images.” And although Joseph didn’t log long hours in front of the canvas during his early years of academia, he still carved out short nightly sessions to paint in the garage—even if only for 15 to 20 minutes.

He also found creative ways to tie art back into his students’ writing prompts. For one project, Joseph handed out images to his students and told them to write short stories that culminated with the pictured scene. For another, they analyzed a film and book version of the same story to find where the tales overlapped. “The kids loved it,” he smiles.

In 1991, when Joseph started exhibiting his art, his students came to show their support. Since then, his work has been displayed at over a dozen galleries and exhibitions including the Pacific Art League, Voshan Fine Arts and (his latest) Gallery 9 in Los Altos as well as international shows like Art Revolution Taipei and Biennale Internazionale Dell’arte Contemporanea in Florence.

Artwork: Arcadia; English Waif (inspired by a photo of a threader by Lewis Hine).

Now in retirement, Joseph dives into traveling, submerging himself in the inspiration of landscapes from around the world. In addition to wielding a paintbrush, he also renders black and white sketches with a combination of pencil and pen. “When you go from one to the other, there’s a transition,” he notes of the differing mediums. “How do you hold this pencil?”

Back in his home studio, Joseph explains how he balances a painting and pulls the viewers’ attention around the canvas. He indicates a scene with a man unloading a boat, the box in his hands tipping at a precipitous angle. A dozen characters twist around to watch him, waiting for the inevitable. “The interest goes back and forth,” Joseph explains. We watch the unfortunate man, but also the reactions of the watchers. It seems a fitting metaphor for a prolific artist with a multifaceted life.

Let Art Transport You – josephfuchsartwork.com

Words by Loureen Murphy

If walls in this 1906 home could talk, they’d discuss all the personalities who inhabited their 9,000 square feet in lower Hillsborough, among them Victor “Trader Vic” Bergeron, the renowned one-legged tiki bar owner and self-proclaimed inventor of the Mai Tai. True, they might bicker about taste shifts over time—Colonial columns here? Really? But they’d cheer in chorus at TRG Architecture + Interior Design’s dramatic transformation of their domain—and how it vibrates synergy between past and present.

When the current owners first viewed the house, last renovated in the 1980s, it didn’t lure them in. But the “fantastic location” did. “We loved the flat lot, walkability to downtown Burlingame, and a much bigger home than we’d be allowed if we were to build from scratch,” shares one. “We bought it knowing this was going to be a soup-to-nuts remodel,” remarks the other.

Inspired by the potential, the couple took TRG’s architect Randy Grange along to see the property. “They assumed we’d do the work,” he recalls. Having gained their trust on a previous remodel, “We didn’t have to prove ourselves to them.” The husband/wife team, which also comprises interior designer Leslie Lamarre, embraced the Arts & Crafts spirit and solid bones of the place as they drew plans capturing the homeowners’ wishes. Leslie says, “They gave us a list, and we made it happen.”

The indoor to-dos: Move the master suite upstairs so the young family could relax together. Make an upstairs playroom to keep toys on one story. Raise the laundry room up a floor. Pare the number of fireplaces from seven to one. Attach the guest house/pool house to the main home for easy access. Open the guest house kitchen and great room to the poolside. Wine room, workout room, game room, mini theater.

The big ask? Alter the disjointed Winchester House-like floor plan, with its small, dark rooms and abrupt turns—and make everything fit. Randy enlarged rooms without altering more than 50 percent of existing walls, complying with Hillsborough’s building codes. The owners praise the “clever things Randy did that opened up the central spine,” allowing for “the big, light-filled rooms” they wanted. The spacious main floor now optimizes hosting, particularly long-term guests. “Everybody can go to a different space. No one feels overcrowded.” Noise disperses. Peace.

The yards begged equal time. “The former front had changed in the last remodel, and we split the front in half with a stone wall,” Randy explains. “Now it feels more like a back yard.” Major work also entailed moving the garage from one side of the house to the other. Eliminating one of the two driveways “to keep cars and kids as far from each other as possible” allows for safe playtime on the new sport court, lawn area and swings.

The makeover process yielded some surprises and challenges like the original unattached brick foundation beneath the living room and tile-floored garage. The basement required digging to even out the floor and increase head height. Fully finished, it levels up family fun, housing the game room/preteen hangout with bean bag chairs, foosball and ping pong tables as well as the theater, workout room and elegant wine room/whiskey bar.

After removing asynchronous design elements, the team restored clean Arts & Crafts lines. In rejuvenating each area, Leslie designed built-ins apropos to their place and purpose, including cubbies for the children. She selected unique artisan-made furnishings and light fixtures that elevate the distinct contemporary aesthetic of each room, yet reflect Craftsman-era authenticity and simplicity.

Subtle nods to Trader Vic accent the home with tribal-inspired floor tiling in the mudroom and two bathrooms. The tiki vibe spices up the more casual guesthouse. Roman shades in a tropical pattern. Black and cream grasscloth in the bedroom. Caning on chair backs. Carved wooden panels from New Guinea on the walls. A set of tiki glasses commanding the shelf over the kitchen sink.

The serendipitous re-do reveals harmony between the noted former occupant and the present ones. Vic hated pretension and loved art—he sculpted and painted in his home studio. Today’s family-focused owners appreciate modern art and display a nascent collection. Vic prioritized hospitality even more than his food and drink creations. Likewise, togetherness in the two-island kitchen flavors each meal as much as the touches of its avid home cooks.

As Trader Vic once said, “At no time did I do anything that wasn’t the best I knew how to do. I wanted quality.” The refinished home embodies that same can-do spirit. “It’s one of the most extreme remodels we’ve ever done,” observes Randy.

“It’s basically the same footprint, but a radically different house than what we bought,’’ summarize the owners, who are flourishing in their new paradise. Smiling, they “threaten” to hold a Mai Tai party. More conversation fodder for the walls in the years to come.

transform your space – trgarch.com

Words by Johanna Harlow

Graduate Palo Alto isn’t for the modern minimalists. In the lobby of University Avenue’s eclectic new hotel, general manager David Joseph stands before a showstopping gallery-style wall, brimming floor-to-ceiling with paintings, scientific illustrations and pressed plants. “We actually had a woman try to pry the pictures off our walls one time because she wanted crystal chandeliers and one lone art piece on a blank wall,” he recalls with a chuckle. “That’s not us.” Now, if you’re looking for an exuberant space with an explanation behind every design detail—the kind of maximalist design you can really sink your teeth into—you’re in the right place.

When Graduate Hotels (a hotel group that themes each of its locations around college nostalgia) opened its Palo Alto site this past January, it aesthetically delivered a love letter to Stanford University. At first glance, you’ll pick up on this motif through the key cards made to look like student IDs of notable alumni as well as the study table with lamps in the lobby, evoking student libraries of the past. You’ll notice it in the hotel stationery, embellished with a bubble test pattern, beside a yellow No. 2 pencil with the hotel’s motto: “We are all students.”

But it’s in all the subtle touches too. The in-house design team has meticulously woven historical and cultural allusions to the region and the school throughout the entire fabric of the hotel—right down to the art on its walls, the carpet in its hallways and the menus at its in-house dining options.

Lifelong Students

So why the academic aesthetic? “Attending university can be such an impactful time in somebody’s life,” reflects David Joseph. “There’s a sense of excitement and novelty leaving home for the first time!” He adds, “Some of our best memories and some of our biggest memories come in that transition from youth to adulthood. We really try to lean into those stories.”

Designed for and by lifelong learners and curious souls, almost every design detail—and we mean everything—is location-specific, paying tribute to Stanford, its history or the surrounding California landscape. Take the hallways, often a nebulous in-between space in hotels. Not so at Graduate Palo Alto. David points out the native aviary woven into the carpet: our state bird, the California quail, as well as the finch, northern mockingbird and American kestrel. “I’m strangely a snob about hotel hallway carpeting,” David admits, “because it’s one of those things that either has too much personality or zero personality—and I love that ours tells a story.”

The carpet also features a series of numbers that mirror Stanford class plaques found in the campus quad. Since 1896, graduating seniors have left behind time capsules—and the numbers at the hotel correspond to milestone years at the University. “There are people in this building who can tell you the story of each number and say, ‘Oh, this is the year when the Queen of England came and visited Stanford,” notes David.

Push all the elevator buttons, and the door will open on curated collections of Stanford-themed memorabilia on the opposing wall. Everything—whether it’s sheet music, sports memorabilia, historic photos or old maps—references back to those time capsules.

The academic narrative extends to the rooms. After you manage to pry your eyes from the wild botanical wallpaper, you’ll find that the wall art pays homage to Stanford alumni. A framed cover of Mice and Men tips its hat to John Steinbeck, while the sketching of a comely undergrad reveals a student-aged Sigourney Weaver. The cluster of redwood trees on the headboards is also a nice touch, representing both Palo Alto’s namesake as well as the Stanford band’s unusual mascot.

Not even David has identified all the hidden references tucked throughout the hotel. “There’s a really robust sense of design that keeps you discovering every day. There are a million small details. Every day I’m in this building, I learn something new,” he reflects. “It’s fun to be in a space where we truly are all still students.”

harkening back

But the design team didn’t stop there. Graduate Palo Alto owes its Spanish Colonial sensibilities to the building’s previous tenants. As it happens, this building was formerly known as the Hotel President during the first half of the 20th century. Its historic architect, Birge Malcolm Clark, studied at… you probably guessed it: Stanford.

Graduate Palo Alto’s exposed wood ceiling beams, the enormous wall tapestry behind check-in, the carved credenza serving as the front desk and the Spanish tilework all harken back to Mr. Clark’s choices a century ago. Meanwhile, the art in the lobby features paintings inspired by Spanish Colonial interiors (alongside illustrations of California botanicals). The original building’s staircase and ironwork remain. “We tried to reimagine the space while still paying tribute to what came before,” shares David.

A Taste of the Past

That Spanish flair extends to the President’s Terrace, the hotel’s enchanting rooftop lounge awash with terracotta tiles, pops of color and playful patterns. Pendant lights swing above the bar, while tasseled patio umbrellas crop up in red and white. “We’ve got the only rooftop bar and restaurant in Palo Alto! We’re proud of that,” David shares as nearby guests pull up rattan chairs to congregate around wicker tables.

As bargoers drink in unbeatable views of the Stanford Dish, Hoover Tower and the surrounding hills, they sip Stanford-themed cocktails concocted by master mixologist Bad Birdy. Kutilda’s Thai Tea, spiked with brandy, is a nod to alumnus Tiger Woods, whose mother grew up in Thailand. West of Eden—cucumber, watermelon, vodka and gin, elevated with monk fruit and house-made fennel syrup—recalls another Steinbeck classic. And Leland’s Gold Rush mocktail raises a glass to Stanford’s founder with pineapple, lemon and elote. Other mocktails like Fountain Hopper and Full Moon on the Quad reference longstanding Stanford traditions, while The Peninsula and Silicon Sipper are more obvious callouts to the area itself.

Light bites are also served. “Our executive chef Andrew Cohen has done a wonderful job in curating something that’s so focused on the region as well as a lot of fresh seafood,” says David. “We do amazing fresh oysters!”
David’s favorite dish is the prime beef tartare, followed by the Bread & Butter, whipped bone marrow served with Manresa sourdough. “It’s something so approachable but at the same time feels upscale,” he relays. “And it’s a labor of love. It’s something that has a really distinct process.”

On the ground floor, Lou and Herbert’s café and bar offers a cozier experience with dark wood, a more subtle color palette and plenty of armchairs. “Downstairs should feel a little bit more intimate,” David notes. “It’s about the martini. It’s about the spirit-forward cocktails that feel a little bit more appropriate for a sip-and-sit-back.”

The title venerates Stanford lovebirds. Herbert Hoover, the 31st U.S. President (and one of the first students to enroll at Stanford) met his wife on campus. What’s more, Lou was the first woman at the college to earn her geology degree. “It’s meant to feel like that meet-cute, that space where you lean in a little bit,” describes David.

The café is also open during daytime hours so make sure to return in the morning for Manresa pastries, chia pudding or a breakfast burrito along with a piping hot cup of Saint Frank Coffee.

Real Neighborly

For a hotel seeking to not only act as a traveler’s destination, but also as a neighborhood hub, downtown Palo Alto is the perfect setting. “We want to be the living room of the community in any location that we’re at,” David says. “We want students to be walking by—if we had a room full of people and they all had backpacks with them, we’d be thrilled.”

And like the building itself, the area is textured in times past. “There’s so much history along this street,” David reflects. “So seeing some of the spaces that have transformed as we have, I think is really part of that neighborhood storytelling.”

Back in the lobby with its joyfully maximalist layout, David adds one final thought: “When people join us—especially when it’s a big weekend like back-to-school or graduation weekend—we’re hoping that people staying with us are also creating their own memories and making us a part of their story.”

Study Break – graduatehotels.com/palo-alto

Words by Sophia Markoulakis

As partners in business and life, Sam and Gloria Malouf have had 23 years to perfect that elusive balance that so few couples get right when working together. And they both credit the Peninsula with being a foundational bond.

Sam recalls his first reaction when he arrived here from Texas: “The moment I stepped out of SFO on April 1, 1991, my whole being felt refreshed. I took a deep sigh of relief and knew I was home.” After emigrating from Lebanon in 1979 and spending her first few years in Las Vegas, Gloria had a similar visceral reaction when her family relocated to the South Bay. While dating Sam in the late ‘90s and visiting him at his family’s business, she too fell in love with the Burlingame-San Mateo area. Today, as co-owners of Burlingame’s upscale boutique, Sam Malouf Authentic Luxury, the duo harmoniously work side by side. They continue to build an ever-evolving life based on mutual respect and shared heritage and interests, all while running their thriving store stocked with sleek sport coats and blazers, classic dresses and clutches.

Sam and Gloria, both of Lebanese descent, met in the late ‘90s at a local Lebanese-American Association fashion show that Sam’s family business, Malouf’s, was sponsoring. Gloria’s cousin, who was helping with the fashion show, was short on models and asked Gloria to fill in. “The rest is history,” smiles Gloria.

Sam has been part of the Burlingame business community for 34 years, first with his family’s business, Malouf’s, and then with the couple’s own enterprise for the last 15 years. Sam’s ties to Italian menswear and Neapolitan tailoring run deep, and brands like Zenga and Brunello Cucinelli are part of his core lineup. Gloria has been by his side since they wed, first helping with Malouf’s while working full-time as a corporate retail buyer to now heading up a robust womenswear section ranging from established brands like Missoni, Proenza Schouler and Khaite to Australia’s Aje and Swedish sustainable fashion brand BITE.

Specializing in coveted and cutting-edge European and Japanese designs, the Maloufs have the eye (and the inventory) to supply customers with particular looks that often can’t be sourced outside of Europe. Separately, they travel to Europe several times a year to connect with vendors and attend shows. Even with lots of international travel, you’ll still find both of them on the sales floor most days. And you might even run into Gabriella, their youngest of three daughters, helping out after school.

It’s not cliche to say that family means everything to the Maloufs. The couple’s three daughters—Eleanora, 21, Isabella, 18, and Gabriella, 11—are their world, and the work that it takes to run a business is never lost on them. “They have watched us grow our business from the ground up.

Naturally, we don’t expect them to carry on the legacy of the family business, but if they did, we would welcome it. We give them the room to follow their interests first,” Gloria explains. Sam expands further on his daughters and the business: “I would love to grow the business with their involvement, and I know each would bring different talents—but only if they have the passion. And I would want them to work elsewhere for five years first since experience outside is essential to their success here.”

Gloria credits her business acumen to her previous career and her innate curiosity and passion for design, but she also gives a significant nod to Sam. “We challenge each other’s viewpoints and learn from them,” she notes. “We have a mutual respect for what we both do and our individual strengths.”

Sam is quick to point out that a good working relationship with one’s spouse needs to be cultivated. He specifically recalls how things shifted during the pandemic: “I decided that we needed to figure out what we really loved to do most and focus on that, removing everything else. I really wanted Gloria to flourish in what she loved. I also began to outsource some tasks and focus on what I love, and that has helped both of us enjoy our relationship at work.”

Being involved in philanthropy is an essential aspect of the business. Through the years, Gloria personally has been active in PARCA, Filoli and the Hillsborough Auxiliary to Peninsula Family Service (HAPFS), in addition to their girls’ schools. The business supports PARCA and HAPFS, in addition to the SF Ballet, the Lymelight Foundation and the Hillsborough School Foundation, either as a corporate or fashion show sponsor. “Giving back to the community is important to us as a family and as a business, and I’ve made lifelong friends as a result,” Gloria says. “It’s a bonus when your vision for events is aligned with a nonprofit, and you can dream together.”

Originally commissioned by Lucie Stern as a center for Sea Scouts—and built to resemble a ship with porthole windows and navigation bridge—the EcoCenter in the Palo Alto Baylands was restored as an environmental nature center. Menlo Park photographer Jennifer Fraser enjoys wandering the tidal salt marshes that surround the Center, photographing the herons, avocets and mallards that inhabit them. “It is a peaceful walk, especially in autumn when the sun is low on the horizon and the marsh grasses glow gold and red,” she shares.

Image by Jennifer Fraser / jenniferfraser.zenfolio.com

Calling all Shutterbugs: If you’ve captured a unique perspective of the Peninsula, we’d love to see your Perfect Shot. Email us at hello@punchmonthly.com to be considered for publication.

Built in 1892, the iconic red barn in La Honda Creek Open Space Preserve immediately catches the eye on the drive between Skyline Boulevard and La Honda. Not surprisingly, the landmark structure is also a source of inspiration for artists and photographers, including PUNCH’s Gino De Grandis, who frequently travels Highway 84 over to the coast.

Image by Gino De Grandis / luiphotography.com

Calling all Shutterbugs: If you’ve captured a unique perspective of the Peninsula, we’d love to see your Perfect Shot. Email us at hello@punchmonthly.com to be considered for publication.

Words by Flora Tsapovsky

There’s that saying, “Don’t throw the baby out with the bath water.” Well, when it comes to interior design, you also don’t need to throw out the entire bathroom. “Just because someone wants to make changes to their home doesn’t mean a full renovation needs to happen,” says Amanda Barnes, founder of Amanda Barnes Interiors. “Often there are features of a home that are so charming, I want to design around what is already in place.”

This approach has served Amanda well through her design career. Based in Hillsborough, Amanda, who grew up in Southern California, moved to the Bay Area in 2008. After working for 13 years in biotech, she pivoted to interior design in 2016, and has made a name for herself helping families reimagine their forever homes. Drawing her inspiration from design stalwarts like former J. Crew visionary Jenna Lyons and interior designer Jake Arnold, but also from being in nature, Amanda gravitates toward earth tones and a thoughtful design philosophy. “Whether it is a solid floor plan, beautiful old cabinetry or millwork throughout the house, a few refurbishments can transform a home,” she reflects.

Previously, the hood was the most dated element in the kitchen. Given the scale of the room, we made the hood bigger and carried it all the way up to the ceiling. We also designed it to run down to the countertop but left plenty of space to prep and cook. When the scales are off, a room can actually feel smaller than it is.

A recent project in Hillsborough exemplifies Amanda’s view on interior design perfectly. A relatively new build, the original design didn’t exactly speak to its new owners’ aesthetic sensibilities. Focusing on the dining and kitchen areas as well as the office, Amanda aimed to deliver an overall makeover without renovating the entire home. “You can really do a lot without having to open the walls,” she says. “Sometimes people underestimate how much edits can do to a space.”

In the kitchen, the clients wanted a complete facelift with minimal construction so Amanda swapped the lighting, countertops, backsplash and hardware, then updated the hood. Paint did the rest. A fresh coat on the walls and two tones of green for the kitchen cabinets delivered a refreshed, modern result.

For this project in Hillsborough, our client’s existing bar cart was quite a bit more modern than the rest of the home. It was a charming piece we wanted to include, so throwing in a vintage vase and fluted glasses, with some contemporary cocktail accessories, helped blend the aesthetics to balance out the old and new around the room.

Cohesiveness—another principle Amanda cherishes—came into play in the small details. The curves in the stone backsplash around the windows now mimic the curves on the hood and lighting. Such nuances, Amanda says, “are all subtle but impactful. Now everything relates to each other and feels effortless, like it was always there.”

The office is another example of an easy, attainable fix that makes a big difference. “When this home was purchased the study felt dated and stodgy,” Amanda says. “My client was unsure when I first told him I wanted to paint everything in here. Yet, with a mix of paint finishes, the room looks bigger, masculine and very sexy, with the new lighting and decor we swapped in.” Heavy materials like marble and wood as well as dark, moody art objects throughout set the atmosphere.

I often find beautiful coasters tucked away in clients’ homes, so pulling them out is a great way to add character to a space without purchasing anything. Mixing metals or swapping in a bartending book for a tray are also great ways to elevate a space.

Regardless of what is driving the limits, be it budget or preference, Amanda says that highlighting what clients love most about their homes can be done without a full renovation. She is adamant that interior design is more accessible than one might imagine—and a worthy expense at that. “You can just start with one room!” Amanda encourages. “While it is a luxury service, it is really something that affects your everyday living and quality of life, so considering how often you use the space, it’s a great investment.”

Photography: Courtesy of Andrew Lafrance

It’s no wonder that busy families—which gravitate towards Amanda’s brand of time-saving, effortless impact—make for her core client base. Amanda herself has two children. “I met my husband on my first day living in the City,” she reflects. “It was magical to go from single, to engaged, then married, and with kids over the next few years.” Her clients, she says, care about their homes, but care just as much about allowing their kids to let loose. By picking durable materials, for example, clients can get a beautiful look that will stand the test of sticky little hands and fast, tiny feet. “A home can feel beautiful and not be terrifying,” Amanda says. “I don’t want anything to ever feel too precious—the house should elevate living for everyday life, but also be a workhorse for the family.”

life-enhancing edits – amandabarnesinteriors.com

Words by Johanna Harlow

Tanya Slye’s seaside residence is awash in green, a tidal wave of trees and plants rising up between street and home. When she tells you she runs her own botanical styling, succulent and floral design business, it seems the most organic choice in the world.

“Being around living things is fantastic and it keeps me outside a lot,” smiles the owner of Tanya Slye Designs. “Living in Half Moon Bay, you can garden year-round. Succulents grow really well on the coast.”

Perhaps most distinctive is Tanya’s work with these squat, fleshy plants, adored by both green thumbs and those green to gardening. “I like working with succulents because they’re really long-lasting—even when they’re not in soil,” muses Tanya. Among her offerings, Tanya incorporates her garden’s succulents into corsages, earrings, necklaces and even atop locally-grown pumpkins. They’ve been quite the smash!

Cover Photo: Courtesy of Tanya Slye / Photo: Paulette Phlipot

But let’s go back to her roots. From an early age, Tanya has tread the garden path. “I was always picking flowers and doing gardening and weeding,” she recalls of her youth, adding, “We traveled a lot when I was a kid and we visited any botanical garden in any place that we went. Some of my favorite traveling memories from childhood are from VanDusen Botanical Garden in Vancouver, Queen Elizabeth Park or gardens in Europe.”

Enchanted by flower shops, Tanya started working at one at 16, and in years to come, managed four: one in Davis, one in Seattle, two in New York. From there, she studied organic farming and sustainable agriculture at UC Santa Cruz.

Photography: Courtesy of Tanya Slye

It was while caring for UCSC’s Alan Chadwick Garden—tending to its raised beds fed by organic fertilizers and nurturing its orchards with 80+ apple varieties—that another area of Tanya’s life bloomed. She met her future husband Richard and the two cultivated a connection. “He is an estate gardener, so we definitely connected over a shared love of gardens, plants and food—and we continue to work together on projects,” Tanya says. Smiling, she adds, “We have quite a few friends who are also ‘Farmie Couples.’”

Then, nearly a decade ago, Tanya started making botanical jewelry with pea-sized succulents. “I studied with an amazing floral artist: Francoise Weeks,” Tanya recounts. “She opened my eyes to a world beyond just flowers and vases.”

In some ways, it’s unsurprising that pumpkins would later become a muse for Tanya’s expanded offerings. It’s hard not to think about Halloween’s favorite gourd when, every October, a traffic-halting influx of jack-o’-lantern junkies take Half Moon Bay’s pumpkin patches by storm.

Photo: Paulette Phlipot

Each fall, Tanya partners with local farmers to grow her pumpkins, then harvests them herself. (“So that I can get long stems and include some of the tendrils,” she explains.) She then adds succulents in crownlike combinations on top. “One great thing about succulent pumpkins is that they last for months!” she shares. “Many of my clients have mentioned that they plant them in the garden after the holidays—and then have succulents growing the next year.” Tanya’s white pumpkins are particularly popular for bridal showers.

“Every single one is different,” she reflects. “I love the diversity of shapes and textures and colors… Succulents come in such a wide array of rosettes and strings of pearls. Some of them are red-hued and some are purple-hued and lots of green, of course.”

Other plant projects for Tanya include bringing weekly floral arrangements to her clients’ homes as well as crafting customized moss walls. “It’s basically a way to bring greenery into your home that you never have to do anything to,” she describes. “You don’t water it. You don’t touch it. And it can last for years looking beautiful because it’s preserved moss.”

Photo: Paulette Phlipot

When Tanya isn’t nurturing plants, she tends to her husband and two teen boys. She also partners with four other founders to run Half Moon Bay’s wildly popular Jettywave Distillery. As the team’s creative chief, Tanya influences the nautical aesthetics of the distillery and cultivates the patio’s edible garden. The rosemary, sage, nasturtium flowers and countless other herbs and flowers flourishing around the property go straight from planter to plate (or cocktail glass).

And when Tanya returns home after a busy day, her own artful planter beds will be waiting for her—ready for a little therapeutic weeding, of course. As Rudyard Kipling once said, “Gardens are not made by singing,‘Oh, how beautiful,’ and sitting in the shade.”

Sensational Succulents: 
tanyaslyedesigns.com
abodehalfmoonbay.com

Words by Johanna Harlow

“People ask, ‘How many trees do you have?’ I say, ‘Too many!’” chuckles Michael Greenstein, Kusamura Bonsai Club’s newest president, as he swings open the gate to his Los Altos backyard. In this verdant haven, towering redwoods watch over 150-odd bonsai like proud parents over a brood of hatchlings.

Like all dedicated Kusamura members, Michael can detail the characteristics, styling choices and previous owners (if any) of each of his bonsai. “Every tree has a story,” he notes, before scooping up a tree with exposed roots that undulate octopus-like beneath its trunk. “I call this the ballerina blue oak,” he says. “It has nice motion. My job for the next ten or so years is to develop this canopy as the crown of the dancing roots.”

Cover Photography: Robb Most / Photography: Johanna Harlow

Devoted to the artistic shaping of miniature trees and shrubs from the age of 16, Michael, now 70, shows no signs of hanging up the pruning shears. “It’s kind of like a sculptor looking at a block of marble,” Michael describes of the practice of bonsai. “What is the sculpture in the marble? It’s mostly in the sculptor’s head. Bonsai’s a little like that.” A tree will take different forms depending on which branches you lop off or leave. “There’s more than one bonsai in every tree that’s presented in front of you. What do you want to see in this tree?”

Of course, these two forms of artistic expression also deviate. “If you’re sculpting in clay, you can always throw more clay on the wheel to add to bulk. But in bonsai, you have to grow that wood. Very often we grow these trees in the ground for a period of time to fatten them up.” It’s also a “living medium,” Michael points out. “If it’s done, it’s dead.”

One of the oldest English-speaking bonsai clubs in Northern California, Kusamura has been rooted on the Peninsula since nursery owner Toshio “Tosh” Saburomaru founded the Palo Alto group with his friends back in the 1950s. Tosh went on to teach nationally, and when Michael joined Kusamura in the ‘80s, the club flourished under the guidance of John and Sandy Planting. The couple lived on half an acre in Menlo Park, Michael recalls. “They had over 3,000 bonsai at one point,” he adds. “Sandy spent three hours a day watering.”

Photography: Robb Most

Michael gestures to a 200-year-old juniper of John’s he adopted after the man passed. Among its services, the club offers assistance to families of deceased bonsai enthusiasts—selecting easy-to-care-for trees to retain as keepsakes, while helping them sell and rehome the others. They also “nurse” sickly plants. “Health first, design second,” Michael stresses. “If you have a dead tree, it’s just emotionally expensive firewood.”

As he proceeds to the pergola where his shade-loving deciduous trees live, Michael digs deeper into the nuances of the ancient craft. “The Japanese artform of bonsai is in some ways very creative, but in other ways very rigid.” Upright, slanting, cascading—each tree style has its own set of guidelines. “There are rules about what shape and color and size the pot should be, and rules on where the first and second and third branches are, and where the apex (the top of the tree) is relative to the base and how deep the pot is relative to the diameter of the trunk,” says Michael. That said, there’s wiggle room for creative license. “I tell people, ‘First you have to learn the rules, and then, when you really understand them, then you’re empowered to break them when appropriate.’”

Photography: Johanna Harlow

Kusamura members certainly find beauty in the details. “Talking about pots is like arguing about religion in the bonsai community,” Michael laughs. “Everybody has a different notion about how big the pot should be, what shape, what color… The beauty of it is that there is no absolute, ‘correct’ answer.”

Due to Kusamura’s expertise, the club has been entrusted with the care of Filoli Garden’s vast bonsai collection. With a smile, Michael recalls the time he lent a hand with one of Filoli’s problem trees. “No one seemed brave enough to deal with it, so they called me in,” he recounts. “I said, ‘Okay, I need you to all agree that once I take these branches off, you’re not going to complain.’ Because you’ve gotta think twice and cut once!”

Photography: Robb Most

Speaking of which… Michael holds up a splitter tool, used to crack and tear branches in a way that mimics Mother Nature’s weathering process. “It looks like a medieval torture device,” he quips.

As a club member, Michael also shares his knowledge through demonstrations. Kusamura’s growth mindset means workshops for both beginners and more advanced members. “It’s really focused on lifting everybody up to enjoy that art form,” affirms Michael, who learned from a book during his first decade of bonsai. After joining, “I quickly recognized the advantage of being in a club where there were people who could say to me, ‘Don’t do this—because in ten years, you’ll realize that it was a bad idea.’”

Another perk is participating in the Annual Club Show, where 150 or so bonsai pose regally on their wood and stone stands. A formal display consists of three elements: a tree on a stand, a complementary accent plant and an artistic scroll (with calligraphy poems or illustrations). “Those three elements connect in some way—such as the motion of the tree, the flowers on the scroll and the flowers on the accent plant,” Michael explains. What’s more, “the stand harmonizes with the design and the shape and the character of the tree,” and the elements should be asymmetric. Not only is each display arranged to tell a cohesive story, it also allows guests to flow organically through the exhibition.

Photography: Johanna Harlow

At the end of his backyard tour, Michael comes to stand by a potted oak. “I acquired this tree from Tosh Saburomaru,” he shares. “He gave me this as a two-year-old seedling he had grown from an acorn and he said, ‘Put it in the ground, grow it big and then grow old with it.’” It seems a fitting tribute to the spirit of Kusamura Bonsai Club, as its members patiently and purposefully continue to nurture this centuries-old artform.

Tranquili-tree – kusamurabonsai.org

Words by Johanna Harlow

A Godzilla-sized monarch has come to roost on a Tenderloin apartment building. Hyde Street’s largest resident flexes its multi-story, sunshine-colored wings, an unapologetic contrast to the gritty neutral tones of the urban landscape. After all, this is its home too.

“When we made cities, we made them with the intention to not have nature in them and to block it out, but nature has come back in. It’s unavoidable!” notes Jane Kim, the muralist behind Ink Dwell, a Half Moon Bay-based art studio. “So how are we going to live with it? … I’m hoping our work can provide a reconnection to a different perspective of how we can engage with nature.”

Le Papillon is part of Jane’s Migrating Mural campaign series, which spotlights the threatened monarch along the migration corridors these butterflies share with humans. It’s one of many monumental projects. Jane and her paintbrush have sent seagulls and terns pinwheeling around the Jones Beach Energy and Nature Center in New York and jellyfish pulsing along the walls of National Aquarium in Maryland. Countless more of her painted creatures (furry, feathered and finned) inhabit buildings and walls across the country.

Combining fine art with scientific illustration, Jane’s birds and butterflies are never just a pretty pair of wings. “It’s certainly not typical … There’s a fidelity to accuracy while still a real deep embrace of creativity and inspiration,” describes Thayer Walker, Jane’s husband. When Thayer isn’t putting fingers to keyboard as an author and correspondent on the topics of exploration and the natural world, he oversees operations at Ink Dwell.
Together, this dedicated duo brings contemplative beauty to the conservation conversation.

Step into the Studio

Ink Dwell’s headquarters reinforces Jane’s blending of styles, serving as an homage to natural history as much as a studio for art. Cans of paint, color wheels and buckets of brushes are interspersed among shelves of abalone and conch shells, animal skulls and jaw bones, feathers, beetles, pinecones and tree stumps. Bookshelf titles range from Rivers Run Through Us and Under a Wild Sky to Into the Nest and Aliens of the Deep.

“Ink Dwell is a play on the words ‘inked well,’ and then art about the places I like to dwell,” Jane explains as she passes by Cliff, a taxidermied black bear who surveys project mockups from his centrally-located rock.

Even Ink Dwell’s egg logo suits the studio’s symbiosis of nature and art. “It represents a natural object that is truly a work of art,” Jane explains. “The spots and the colors and the amazing patterns that you see on bird eggs are literally painted on the egg! All eggs start white, and then, as they pass through the cloaca and into the canal, pigment is added onto the eggs.”

As to the intent of an Ink Dwell mural? Its mission is multifaceted, Thayer explains. “To educate and beautify, to create a real compelling sense of place—but that’s actually the most narrow purpose for these things. It’s really meant to be a platform for so many other things—for broader storytelling, for conversation, for activation and activism.”

…Even for product. Pulling up a pant leg, Thayer reveals his kicks. His shoes are embroidered with the blue-footed booby—a marine bird from one of Jane’s past murals that artisan shoe seller Le Mondeur translated into wearable art. At their heart, Ink Dwell murals are “meant to catalyze a love and engagement of the natural world,” Thayer sums up. Jane nods in agreement, “We’re a part of it!”

Photo Courtesy of Le Mondeur

Nature Nurture

Jane’s reverence for the outdoors started young. “I wanted to know and understand this world that isn’t human-made,” she shares. Recalling the chopping down of a favorite tree in her childhood backyard—one she’d shimmied up often to nestle in a favorite nook—Jane gets misty-eyed. “It really sits with me in a visceral way, the loss of this massive, epic willow tree.”

Speaking of humans and their inseparability from the wild world… “We have these beautiful nature encounters on almost every single one of our outdoor projects,” Jane laughs. She launches into a story about a winged visitor during the Le Papillon project. “We had a juvenile red-tailed hawk who would just come and land on our swing stage and sit with us while we painted.” On another memorable occasion, “a Cooper’s Hawk dropped a pigeon carcass—like PLOP—it just landed right next to us!”

Thayer too feels the pull of nature, particularly through the majestic power of the ocean. As a surfer, he describes “getting out into that frontier, where it’s energy and it’s chaos, but it’s also… it’s ordered chaos.” It was a major deciding factor in attending UC Santa Cruz. “The wildness of it is what attracts me. I kind of have an anti-authoritarian streak,” Thayer admits, adding that he has always pressed back against “rigid structures and contrivances of humans.”

Nature seems to love Thayer right back. He once dug up the ninth largest diamond discovered at Arkansas’ Crater of Diamonds State Park. (Mostly, Thayer says, people don’t find anything when they pay to dig, “and if they do, they find some little thing the size of a grain of rice with the clarity of a foggy San Francisco August day.”)

Photo Courtesy of Chris Michel

Writer meets Painter

Befitting Jane’s butterfly murals, the painter’s own metamorphosis is quite the remarkable one. “It took me a little while to find my voice and to figure out what I wanted to do with this career called art,” Jane reflects. After graduating from Rhode Island School of Design with a BFA in printmaking, Jane moved to San Francisco. She met Thayer in 2008 while participating in a group show.

“I would very much consider myself an emerging artist when we met,” Jane says, adding that it was before she studied science illustration. As Thayer revisits the memory, he reflects, “Her art was very different from what you see today—but still it had a lot of foundation. It had a lot of energy to it. I saw someone with unlimited potential.”

Though Thayer might be a wordsmith, his already thriving career fueled Jane’s own. “Meeting somebody like Thayer was so inspiring in terms of an individual who had cut a path for himself from the inspiration that he found in adventure, sports and nature,” Jane says. “He was pitching his ideas to magazines!”

The couple reflect on a particularly wild assignment Thayer wrote for Outside around the time they started dating. It involved his volunteer experience walking a 260-pound jaguar on a leash at a Bolivian animal-rehab center. “Rupi was a magnificent creature with incredible cinder block jaws and a telephone pole upper body,” Thayer describes. “He wiped me across the jungle for two weeks.” Day one on the job was particularly memorable: “He literally wrapped my head in his jaws!”

“Thayer’s whole mentality of, ‘Here’s the ideas I have—who’s going to come and be equally excited about these ideas and bring them to the world?’ was a whole different way of thinking that I, at the time, absolutely did not know how to do, and frankly, didn’t even think was possible,” Jane rejoins. Later, she would crowdfund her first Migrating Mural project through Kickstarter, painting a series of six murals devoted to the Sierra Nevada bighorn sheep along the Eastern Sierra and Highway 395.

The project’s success landed her another job, this time painting 243 life-sized birds over a 70 by 40 foot wall at Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Taking nearly a year and a half to paint, it remains among Jane’s proudest work, even inspiring an artful coffee table book that Thayer wrote. “The Wall of Birds was Thayer’s and my first real collaboration as something we put into the world together,” Jane says. “I love that both our names are on it.”

Murals weren’t the initial plan, Jane says, but they equipped her to reach a heartfelt goal: dialoguing with the public as opposed to solely the fine art community. “Murals became a canvas for storytelling,” she describes. Thayer adds, “We’ve found these static objects have the ability to create really dynamic movements and engagement that ripple through the world.”

As Jane’s artwork received rightful recognition and she saw a surge of new projects, she brought Thayer aboard to oversee operations full-time at Ink Dwell. “It’s not a paintbrush affair,” he insists of his role. “None of that. And that’s in everyone’s interest.”

Natural Habitat

“I don’t know if we have what people might say are necessary boundaries between work and personal life,” Jane observes with a laugh.

“It’s all kind of fluid,” Thayer agrees. “This is just a manifestation of Jane. There’s no divide. It’s just her. If she could be making art for 16 hours a day, she would—and frankly she is. It’s like a bird in flight or a fish in the water. It’s just what they do.” At this point, he excuses himself to take a call with a real estate company. Jane is looking to paint a life-sized redwood tree on
a skyscraper.

“It wasn’t like we were ever setting out to do this,” Jane smiles as she watches Thayer head off. “I think that’s often the case in my work. I have an idea, and yes, I set out to do it, but there are so many times where things kind of happen because the circumstance and the time and place all make sense and everything is in alignment.”

Photo Courtesy of Shailee Shah

Because art is an instinct for Jane, she understands the organic impact a mural can have on its audience. “It sort of seeps into public consciousness in a way that I think is really interesting,” she reflects. “All of a sudden, those who are living and seeing it every day are connected to it—almost in a subliminal way.” Watching Jane flow around her ecosystem of a studio, it seems the most natural response in the world.

Hunt for Ink Dwell

Redwood City
+ Arthur Murray Dance 
Studio at 2065 Broadway 
+ Cafe La Tartine at 830 Middlefield Road 
+ Polam Federal Credit Union at 770 Marshall Street
+ Marshall Street Parking 
Garage at 750 Marshall Street
+ Behind the theater at 870 Jefferson Avenue
+ City Hall bench

San Carlos
+ Salt + Brine

Half Moon Bay
+ Mac Dutro Plaza

Wild Murals – inkdwell.com

Words by Loureen Murphy

Designer Kate Handel sits in an airy room at home, afternoon sun filtering through the sheers. In Half Moon Bay—embraced by a sparkling coastline, agricultural fields, grazing cows and towering coast redwoods—Kate says she never imagined this life.

Growing up on a Wisconsin cattle farm, Kate shrugged off the bovine-scented air—letting her brothers work outdoors while she kept to household chores. When together, they played computer games like Oregon Trail and Lemonade Stand. Despite perils of dysentery in one and bankruptcy in the other, Kate’s gaming whet her appetite for technology. The seeds of self-reinvention took root, sprouting by her teens.

No barns and boots for Kate. “I wanted the corporate world and a fancy office,” she asserts.

Degree in hand, she eyed big city opportunities. But when her first career job left her craving a more creative outlet, she moved to Chicago, working in multimedia for seven-plus years. Then, when friends found jobs in California in 1998, they beckoned her to “just try it.” She made the leap.

A few years later, marriage and motherhood begged another transition. “I needed more flexibility over when and where I worked,” the designer says. “I didn’t want to ask permission to take time off … I wanted to be my own boss.”

In making the shift from full-time employee to company owner, Kate zeroed in on her joy in making her own home “more beautiful and more functional.” Confident that “the skills you learn you can leverage down the road,” she crafted her business plan.

Kate had already reworked her kitchen and decks. “I tried to design it myself but without the tools,” she recalls. Ultimately hiring a designer, “We removed a wall, which allowed us to significantly reconfigure the kitchen, let in more natural light and see the ocean view.” Clear panels replaced sight-obstructing deck rails, and a solid panel now blocked an unwanted view. Reflecting on the process, Kate nailed down the missing piece: “I wanted the whole 3D experience beforehand.” So she invested in software and trained on it.

Kate Handel Design launched in 2015. “I found myself doing things every day that I had not done before,” explains Kate. “I asked lots of questions.” The entrepreneur also utilized her tech-world skills, such as project management, problem-solving and creative thinking.

Numerous clients later, Kate still peers into her clients’ kaleidoscope of emotions, expectations and wishes for their homes. “Tell me what you’d like your space to be when we’re done … Give me the words,” she invites. Coastside transplants may answer, “an escape” or “a peaceful space.” The gathering-minded, “the place everybody wants to visit.” Then Kate helps clients “crystalize” these dreams into the digital 3D Design Vision that lets them “walk through” their renovations before sledgehammer ever hits drywall.

No lightweight, Kate is “used to pitching in and being part of a team,” having learned it growing up. “You have to be nimble,” says Kate, of more than just crossing a building site while checking progress. Issues pop up requiring quick thinking and cooperation among teammates.

Also key players in client satisfaction, Kate’s trusted vendors keep her and homeowners posted on fresh finds. For example, amidst her stunning, extensive redesign of a Half Moon Bay residence, a vendor alerted Kate to a large stone slab whose teal and copper tones echoed those throughout the renovated home. Cut into three pieces, the slab, aptly named “Maestro,” now forms a commanding triptych above the owner’s grand piano.

A house renovation may parallel changes in the owners’ lives. Another Half Moon Bay client who recently lost a grown daughter needed to re-envision her new phase of life. Kate’s remodel made those dreams tangible.

Capitalizing on the older home’s assets—hand-cut beams, arched doorways and a comfy fireside area—Kate opened up hospitality possibilities by removing a wall and a beam or two, allowing free movement and light into different spaces around the kitchen.

To retain the home’s “old castle feeling,” Kate applied a stone veneer around the fireplace, kept the exposed beams, and even added a wood-covered steel beam, as well as more arched doorways. A bedroom became a bathroom, while an attic space morphed into a cozy bedroom—all to the owner’s delight. “I feel really proud of it,” concludes Kate.

By working exclusively in the Half Moon Bay area, Kate also offers clients specialized touches tied to coastal living. Though not every home in Half Moon Bay has ocean view potential, most have ways to step-up natural light. Increasing window size, adding skylights and interior transom windows can elevate a room’s mood on fog-blanketed days. For one client, Kate opened up ocean views by simply relocating windows. Calm-evoking hillside vistas can emerge the same way.

Smaller-scale enhancements abound too, such as heated floors and towel bars. In a home designed as a modern beach retreat, Kate captured the seaside vibe by installing shimmering Capiz shell glass in a pocket door, an abalone shell border around a medicine cabinet and dimensional tile to create the image of sand dunes in a shower wall.

Change in living space “often starts with a dissatisfaction,” observes Kate. Her own journey emulates her work—a continuing movement toward beauty and fulfillment. “You have to be willing to take risks and imagine new possibilities,” she affirms. “It’s not just about the house.”

Reimagining Spaces – katehandel.com