an abundance of tufting

My favorite design contest, Restaurant and Bar Design Awards is gearing up with entries due before April 19. Out of only 37 entries to date here are the 5 from the US. I’m seeing a lot of tufting and nailheads this year. …

toddlers and architects

So right off the bat I need to say that many of my friends are architects, I’ve worked with many amazing architects who are much smarter than I am, and I have absolute respect for the profession and most of …

no kids in restaurants….really?

once upon a time Several years ago, in my pre parenting age, I was visiting a friend in Germany who was already sporting a toddler. We spent many an hour in the local cafes and bars in her Berlin neighborhood …

scandalous ads and alzheimers

I don’t know about you, but I’ve noticed a difference in ‘scandalous’ ad content over the course of my lifetime. Where the big scandal of my teenage years were those ads about  tampons (remember when all you had to do …

netflix does design(er movies)

In the past I have done my fair share of entertainment listing. Foodie film lists, obsessive indulgence in the cinematographically superior Breaking Bad (here and here and here), what’s available at this or that film festival. But for this list I take zero …

scheduling creativity

Is creativity schedulable? Is that a word? I’d say probably no to both. But the creatives of yore did keep schedules and Mason Currey wrote a whole book describing their schedules. Then various others riffed off the book to create infographics (here …

sing your budget out LOUD!

before the beginning The first step in any interior design project is what we in the field of architecture call ‘Programming‘. That’s where we ask you about your operation, your aesthetic inclinations, how many people will do what and where, …

it’s ON….eat out now!

SF Restaurant Week, Dine Around Town. I know….I was confused at first too. The Golden Gate Restaurant Association has taken over what the SF Convention and Visitor’s Bureau, more recently called San Francisco Travel, began 13 years ago as a way …

restaurants in relationship

My first apartment in San Francisco as a recent college grad was about 200 square feet. I had one window, a tiny little kitchenette, a mattress in a drawer (that when pulled out crashed into the couch so I had to …

cobweb sweeping

Happy 2015! Yup, I’m back all rested and refreshed from a couple of weeks of sleeping in, making things and eating way too much. With the new year I’ve been cleaning out closets and cupboards and, of course, my overloaded …