House Tour

Name: Mimi and Jacek
Location: Richmond, CA
Square Footage: 1,600
Years Lived in: 1 year as of September 3
Rent or own: Own
Describe your style: Charles & Ray Eames and Sir John Soane listen to indie-pop at a toy store

What's your favorite free/found item?
The potted plant I swiped from my office. I have no idea what it is, maybe a loquat? Someone years before my time had trained it to grow in a neat twisty way; it's like a sculpture!

What's your favorite purchased item?
For Jacek it's the vintage 1960's Marantz hi-fi receiver with built-in Garrard turntable we found at Thrift Town; he has a fondness for the machines of yesteryear. For me, it's the Eames lounge chair & ottoman because it looks great from every angle, and the design is so complex yet harmonious there's always some fresh aspect to discover and appreciate.

What has been your biggest obstacle in decorating/design?
Jacek and I both have design/architecture backgrounds, so although we often see eye to eye when it comes to decorating, there are times when we battle it out over purchases and placement of items. The placement of the Nesso lamp is an ongoing argument we've been having since January (I've won, for now!)

Is your design style organic or planned?
A little bit of both. The style is organic but we try to be structured and studied in our approach. We spend a lot of time, probably too much time, obsessing over the placement and composition of items. The process never ends, we're constantly moving things around, trying new arrangements and locations.

What is your favorite spot in the house?
The two of us love the living/dining area. The walls are all glass and since the house is on a hillside, we're surrounded by treetops giving us the feeling of living in a treehouse.

How has your style changed in the past 5 years?
Since our recent discovery of thrifting and "art toys", we've accumulated a lot of interesting knick knacks and doodads. These predominantly representational items got us thinking about stories to go with them; visual, narrative threads began to take shape which made us look at our space more like filmmakers. Whereas before everything was visible all at once, now we try to hide things to emerge as surprises as one moves throughout the house.

What is your favorite resource or store?
Thrift Town, IKEA, and DWR warehouse sales. The fleamarkets and vintage stores in the Bay Area tend to be out of our price range.

What is your biggest decorating/design pet peeve?
Recent criticism (by design magazines and professionals, no less) of design classics by virtue of their ubiquitousness. Eames, Saarinen, and Bertoia may be "off the shelf", but it's not the pieces you have it's how you work with them; we like to use these "mass produced, mass marketed classics" as fundamentals on which we overlay our kitschy and whimsical items. And really, has contemporary furniture come far enough for mid-century classics to have lost their relevance? In a 2005 TED lecture, furniture designer Ross Lovegrove said we need to stop filling our buildings with furniture by Charles Eames and embrace the future, but what's a Ross Lovegrove if not a Panton masquerading as a Jacobsen with random holes to boot?

What has been your favorite design trend?
The renewed interest in mid-century modernism. It makes us happy to see mid-century buildings being restored instead of torn down, although there seems to be a backlash a-brewing (see response to previous question).

What is the biggest influence on your design/decorating style?
How Ray and Charles Eames arranged items in their home in the Pacific Palisades. Several years ago the home was opened to the public for one weekend so I made the 450 mile pilgrimage just to step foot inside. Similarly, Jacek was influenced by an Emeritus professor he lived with at Berkeley, Francis Violich, a landscape architect and planner, and contemporary of the Eameses. Jacek was struck by the care and thought he took in the placement of every single item in every space he touched, the strategy of which he discussed at length.

What in your home dictates how you design/decorate?
Living in a period home has forced us to limit our palette. We've tried putting our more contemporary pieces into the main spaces, but it just doesn't feel right. We're slowly relocating furniture designed post-1970, but we're keeping it real with our tongue-in-cheek toys and trinkets. We see it as a post-modern dialogue between past and present.

What is the simplest thing you have done that has made the biggest impact?
Cleaning and tidying up makes a huge difference! It's unbelievable how one week's worth of dust and dog hair can make a space so drab.