So excited today to share a tour of a house oozing with vintage charm and character in Oakland, California. Homeowner, Laura, is a studio floral designer, friend, and sometimes my boss when she hires me to help during wedding season.
Come on in!
As you walk into the 1922 Craftsman style house, you enter the dining room, complete with built-in window seat, leaded glass china cupboard, and fireplace.
Laura says it felt immediately like home, even before she saw the inside.
Most of the original features are intact. Laura says that she has done minimal work to the place -- only updating it with a bit of paint.
An avid collector, Laura has been visiting flea markets since she was 19. Many pieces of her collection are used for floral design, and a lot of what she has was once in the flower shop she owned in L.A. before moving to the Bay Area.
This bookshelf once resided in her flower shop, but now holds most of her photos. Laura says that because her house is small, she prefers to keep them all in one place and mix them up with other things that have special meaning, like sand and beach glass from Hawaii, and special treasures given to her by her nephew.
She has also been a long-time collector of globes and vintage cameras.
Just off the dining room is the living room.
The painting is a flea market find and most of the colors in Laura's house are intuitively pulled from this single piece.
Here is another amazing collection of yellow and green pottery housed in an old lawyer's bookcase from Laura's dad. The coffee table/chest is from her grandmother.
Laura is a master at creating vignettes. This is a little grouping full of bits and baubles she liked with a spur from her horse-riding days.
Laura tells me that she doesn't know where her obsession for vintage clocks came from. She has them all over the house, including wall clocks with dangling cords. People often ask her why they aren't plugged in, which amuses her as much as people's reaction to her doll parts, like the legs you see in the bird cage.
The kitties have found a sunny spot in the living room.
And here we are looking back into the dining room again.
On Friday, I'll show pictures of the rest of Laura's house. Hope you've enjoyed part 1 of the tour, and be sure to check out
Laura's website to see photos of the
stunning floral work she creates for weddings.
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