michelle kaufmann designs

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday weekend. We had a fun few days with family and friends.  Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays, especially this year. I am thankful for so much including having so many talented, smart and inspiring friends: writers, designers, builders and artists.  One example are our friends Beth and Peter Whiteley who we spent Thanksgiving day with.

Beth and Peter both worked for Sunset Magazine for over 40 years combined. Visiting their house is like walking into the pages of Sunset: a treat for all the senses.  Here are just a few examples.

Beth’s centerpiece was made from vegetables like mushrooms and artichokes that she can then cook with the following day - so nothing goes to waste. The napkin wraps were bamboo tree ornaments that went home with each guest.

Each room of their house is filled with objects thoughtfully designed and built by Peter.  In the living room he has mirrors he bought in bulk and wrapped with different types of materials including leather, copper and palm husks from the garden.

Peter was trained as an architect, has been a builder and writer for Sunset, and is now doing a lot of beautiful garden designs for clients. His own garden is filled with unique and smart ideas such as this birdhouse made from wood shims and has a sound speaker inside. So it has double-function of housing birds and also providing music for the back courtyard.  He also used mirrors on the side fence walls that read more like windows than  mirrors, extending the sense of space.

And one of my favorite elements is this overhead trellis made from thin branches and twigs and wire. It hangs from cable over the outdoor dining table, and includes holiday lights below. It creates sunshading an intimate scale for dining, while using natural materials and feeling connected to the rest of the garden.

You can get one of these from Willow Farm in Pescadero (they have beautiful pieces), or you could make one yourself.

A similar trellis was integrated by a client in the middle of wine country in California on this Custom Sunset Breezehouse below. This provided sunshading for the glass wall and interior space behind,  but also helped to connect to the vines 20′ away, bringing the outdoors in.