Living Large... in the Basement.

Anyone who has lived in San Francisco for the last twenty years has witnessed much change in our city.   Artists have been segregated to the East Bay and Hunters Point.  Even Hipsters are out numbered in the Mission with the surge of puppy Millennials invading neighborhoods, riding around on their Google buses.

With all of these changes we have seen housing prices go up.  Rents have increased incredibly and since the Air B & B advancement it's harder to find a descent apartment.  Most of us have been lucky enough to not get pushed out of our homes but we hear the stories constantly.  Good luck if you are trying to move.

So, with all of this on my mind I had this idea for a photo story.  If you can't afford to pay the crazy rents you could live under ground.

The space under our building is unfinished and has inspired me to create this vision.  Here is Michaels' and my story of living the glamourous life in our enchanting city... in the basement.


Imagine waking up in the morning and this is your bedroom.

When you get home from work it's time for a sip and to listen to records in your living room.

End the evening with your love.  Enjoying a fresh dessert of fruit in your enchanted dining room.

Michael and I worked for scattered days and it took a couple of months to really finish.  Not only is this our biggest shoot I think it's our best.  I am happy to take a break after all of the hard work... but I am thinking about what to do next.

I want to thank all of the people that in some way participated or contributed to this project:

Mike Richman (support, cleaning & set up), Annie Linton (various props & enthusiasm), Linda Wolkovitch (vintage tea tins),  Vanessa Dina (booze & cordial glasses) Dietrich Ripalski (records),  Nick Wagner & Justin Divine (mattress), Christopher Wahlgren (beautiful rug) and Michael Bennett (photographer & record player). 

What I Have been Up To...

I have been very neglectful to posting!  Regardless if anyone is paying attention I am continuing on... because it is fun.

Life has been interesting and therefore I have not written any posts in months.

I have been busy with my boyfriend, projects and work.  I have been extremely inspired but have not had the time to do all that I want.  There doesn't seem to be enough time.  The tree house or "the nest" as we call it, is not near finished.  Although, I do have a couple of photo projects in the works I have not had the time to move forward but I do hope to have at least one done by the end of June.

Work has been very consuming and so I thought I would share some of what I have been doing these last few months... in photos.

Thanks for looking!

Billy and I being clever

One of many drapery "fabric swatches" for Pottery Barn

One of my favorite beds for Pottery Barn Teen 

A new friend that I made at one of our locations...REMY!

Fun day spent on a Williams-Sonoma shoot for the new Australian catalog

A day with the PB Bed & Bath team... these are the photos that made it into the catalog

I have the most fun making beds for Pottery Barn Bed & Bath

Spring bed for PBB&B with Brad Knipstein and his crew

An evening walk with friends and dogs at Fort Funston

The most recent swatch wall of upholstery fabrics... photo effects by Lori Roark

SEE... I've been busy.

Biodegradable Flower Pots? Yep.

I recently was invited by a young photographer and fellow Blogger, Lynn Kloythanomsup, to style a product she was shooting.  Always, excited to do something new I took on the opportunity to do more prop-styling.

Her clients family has had their nursery for almost thirty years.  The son, Jed, wanted to have a more sustainable production using biodegradable containers rather than plastic.  So, he used an old technique of using rice husks to make new containers.  He has developed amazing and colorful pots for plants.  They will biodegrade over time and quicker if left outside but they are riding the wave of the future at Ecoforms.  Taking better care of our Mother Earth.

Jed, who has been running the show since 2004 hired, Lynn to help update their website with shots of their newest product colors and shapes.  His parents opened up their home to us to produce our photo shoot.  We had a fun day experimenting with all the varieties Jed provided.

These are my favorite pictures from that day.

Please check out both Ecoforms' and Lynns' websites and see great ideas and stories.