Playoffs, Pivots and a Stone Crisis Averted

Happy Saturday, friends!

It’s time for the weekend post with Kim and Elizabeth, our weekly roundup of inspirations and goings on. I don’t know about you but the week flew by … with lots of fun things plus the usual drudgery. Let’s stick to the fun …

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The NHL playoffs are on and I’m in seventh heaven with multiple games to watch every night. I know many find it odd that this California girl is an ice hockey fan. There is a story behind it, but in the interest of brevity let’s save it for another day.

My team (San Jose Sharks) opted out of the post season in favor of golf, lake related water sports, etc., so I’m looking to bandwagoning another team – this is a helpful guide (gift link). I’m waiting for the first round to wrap up before committing myself.

Creekside Folly Update

Before more of you drop off, let’s get to things non-hockey related … like a Folly update. There’s so much going on right now I can’t cover it all today. It’s probably time to begin writing about the house in a separate series.

The interior trim is well underway and window and door trim is mostly done. Installation of the two-piece crown molding just started … and it’s looking very good. The downstairs bathroom beadboard is installed, and the entry hall and den are templated for applied molding.

The upstairs bathtub was dropped into place (and slab surround templated), and our very patient plumber and electrician moved the vanity faucet rough-ins and electrical outlets due to a last minute redesign of the space.

A little unsolicited advice, if you’re building or renovating, don’t be married to your original design plan. As a project unfolds, and reveals itself, you may start to see the spaces in a different light and changes may be warranted. Make them. You’re going to be living in the space for a long time and it’s miserable to live with regret.

And let me tell you there have been a lot of changes since it slowly dawned on me that the anxiety I was feeling around the project was due to a design plan that, while beautiful, was not me. I didn’t panic, I pivoted.

My saving grace has been Jaklyn Groom of KB|KC Design who quickly understood how I was struggling and helped me right the ship. In addition to being a talented designer, she has an established working relationship with our general contractor.

In fact, Rick, our project manager at R&J Construction, recommended her. It’s allowed me to breathe a huge sign of relief. Rick too!

Pietra Fina – Best Local Source for Natural Stone

On Wednesday I made a mad dash to Pietra Fina in Hayward to visit our quartzite and soapstone slabs. We selected them at the beginning of the year, and they’re being stored there until they’re ready for fabrication. Our cabinets are behind schedule due to the design pivots, so we’re a ways from needing countertops — but the primary bathroom tub deck is needed now and was templated last week.

I wanted to do a final look-see to confirm the bathroom paint colors and tile selections work with the slabs. To my horror, I discovered that the slabs I’d selected are honed, not polished — honed is what I want for the kitchen; the bathroom needs to be polished. How did I screw that up?

I assumed it could be easily remedied, but it turns out that honing a polished slab is straightforward, but polishing a honed slab is not. A fix was possible, but expensive and the timeline too long.

Enter Diana Hawy, who has been helping us with slab selections. Jim begged and pleaded with her to let me swap out my honed slabs for polished ones. She checked with the boss, who is traveling in Italy to bring home more fabulous stone, and got the ok. Crisis averted.

If you live in the Bay Area, Pietra Fina is the best place to find a wide variety of high-quality natural stone IMHO. I first stumbled upon them during Snowberry’s renovation after being underwhelmed by our contractor’s local recommendation. Six years later, history repeated itself. Different contractor, same recommendation to underwhelming local stone shop. We headed straight to Pietra Fina. Diana drew the short straw and got us as a walk-in, and we found exactly what we were looking for right away.

Moral of the story: do not pass go, go directly to Pietra Fina. Oh, and make an appointment.

MPSF Speaker Series with Ken Burns

In other news, Jim and I went to hear filmmaker Ken Burns speak at the gorgeous art deco Paramount Theater in Oakland as part of the MPSF Speaker Series. Ken is every bit, if not more, impressive, amazing, and entertaining, as you’d expect.

I wasn’t familiar with the breadth of Ken’s work beyond his most well-known documentary series, like 1990’s The Civil War, and last year’s The American Revolution. On the BART ride home I Googled the library of Ken’s documentary films, spanning 50 years, starting with his first, The Brooklyn Bridge. Full list here. And, yes, he’s been at it for 50 years. I mean, he barely looks 40. He’s 78.

We were blown away by Ken’s ability to call forth quotes from decades of past interviews, and weave them into fascinating stories in response to audience questions. He also talked about projects he has in the pipeline, like a post-civil war reconstruction era series. And he shared that he’s been recording interviews with President Obama, with one or two more interviews scheduled over the next few years. Intriguing.

One of the audience questions was about how the loss of Federal funding for PBS has affected Ken’s operation. He said it hasn’t, much. As an established filmmaker, he is continuously fundraising, but does so successfully. However, for lesser known and just starting out filmmakers the loss of public funds is devastating. What a shame.

Ken’s opening remarks included these words of wisdom … “do something that will last and be beautiful.”

There’s one more event in this year’s speaker series featuring Pete Buttigieg … on May 5th. I can’t wait. If you’re local, the Marin and Peninsula venues are sold out, but some tickets remain for Oakland.

Quick Trip to Grass Valley

Thursday we took a day trip to Grass Valley to visit niece Sophie and her littles. Sophie and her husband Chad (I shared their wedding here) are looking to expand their adorable house in Grass Valley and Sophie asked me to weigh in on their plans. As I’m sure you can imagine, I couldn’t get there fast enough.

Sophie and Chad have two littles. Haddie, who is almost five, and Everett, who just turned three.

Haddie and Everett are expecting a little brother in late summer and their country cottage is feeling a little tight. They live on 2.5 acres where Sophie raises chickens and tends a beautiful flower and veggie garden and there’s plenty of room to expand. They have a phased plan to extend their great room to accommodate a dining room + larger living room space, and add a primary suite.

Chad’s dad is a general contractor, and will do most of the work with Chad assisting. And I know they’ll have plenty of help from family and friends. Jim raised his hand to offer up his unskilled labor. Ideally they’ll start phase one this summer before baby boy arrives. If that’s not doable, it will be next spring.

We had lunch in Grass Valley’s cute downtown. Sophie suggested The Owl Tavern on Mill Street lined with beautiful, historic buildings. The tavern is super charming with a brick exterior, and stunning old wood floors inside.

It was a beautiful day so we grabbed a table outside across from another historic landmark building, the Nevada County Bank building. Built in 1917 it’s a gorgeous example of Greek Revival architecture.

There are so many cute places to eat, shop and see in Grass Valley and neighboring Nevada City … Gold Rush towns full of history. The Holbrooke Hotel is a wonderful – and convenient – place to stay in the middle of downtown. Its sister property, The Nevada Exchange Hotel in Nevada City, is very cool too.

Sophie sent us home with a loaf of her wonderful sourdough bread. I shared her sourdough essentials here.

Versed Tinted Lip Serum

You may have noticed I’ve been on a skincare and makeup experimentation kick lately, which is quite unlike me. I’ve reached the point where I’ve found many new products that will be my anchors for a good while. I don’t like change. On the other hand, favorite products get discontinued with alarming regularity, particularly make up, so I may have to remain flexible. It’s maddening.

My newfound openness to experimentation has led me to accept some gifted products with varying degrees of success. One of the successes is the Versed brand. Founded by Katherine Power, an entrepreneur also responsible for the highly acclaimed Merit brand, Versed is affordable with most products under $25 and can be found in drugstores. It’s also clean and cruelty-free. I’ve talked about their Rich Barrier Cream several times; a product I purchase on repeat and use nightly.

But back to makeup — Versed sent me their lip trio. Lip liner, lip stick + lip serum. The lip liner and lipstick are good, but the tinted lip serum is amazing and I’m devoted. It’s similar to a lip gloss in that it adds a little shine, but without the dreadful stickiness associated with 80’s lip gloss. And, as a serum, it’s working behind the scenes to moisturize and protect. Used by itself or over lipstick, it’s long lasting and feels super moisturizing. It has a subtle tint, but it’s quite translucent giving a little shine to whatever’s underneath.

Lip serums seem to be a thing right now and I’ll be repurchasing this one.

Odds & Socks ~

• Kim and Cindy covered wedding guest dresses in this month’s Signature Style. I found two that are perfect for a fall wedding in Maui. So glad these two did all the work for me.
• These colorful jeans are on sale!
• In case you missed it – I almost did – favorite decorator and California lifestyle guru has a gorgeous new book.
• Local friends, a reminder that the AAUW Garden Tour tickets are on sale for May 8 & 9th.

Current Favorites ~

And that’s what I have for you today. Last week I shared Vol. 4 of Eyeing and Buying for the New House – Patio Season Edition; catch up here.

Let’s see what’s inspiring Elizabeth and Kim.

NORTHERN CALIFORNIA STYLE

PINECONES AND ACORNS

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