The Chic Home

The Chic Home Interior Designer- Bay Area

05/28/2026

I didn’t grow up in a “”designed”” home.

I grew up in a home where:

The good plates came out for everyone.
There was always a soft light on in the entry, no matter what time you came home.
Every room had something handmade in it — embroidered, knit, framed, or stitched by someone whose name we knew.

I didn’t think any of that was design. I thought it was just how we lived.

Now I put one of each in every project I do. I think most people raised in homes like mine could find the same three.

Tell me what your childhood home had that you didn’t know was design. I bet you have a list.

05/27/2026

I went on Zillow for “”research.”” I left with five listings I can’t unsee.

The pattern across all of them: nobody hired a stager, nobody styled the photos, and nobody asked a friend if the dining room looked like a hostage situation.

A listing photo is the most-viewed image of your house, ever. It will outlive your time in the home. It’s worth getting right.

If you’re listing soon and the photos are giving “”hostage situation,”” DM me before they go up. I’m faster than you think.

05/26/2026

I don’t deep-clean before people come over.

I do this 30-minute reset instead, in this exact order, every time:

1. Every lamp on. Every overhead off. Even at noon. The room reads warmer in 10 seconds.

2. Throw pillows fluffed and set at an angle. This one move makes the sofa look like a magazine.

3. One candle lit, by the entry, three minutes before they arrive. The smell hits as they walk in. People will tell you your home “”feels different”” and they won’t know why.

4. Counters cleared of everything except one beautiful object. Visual quiet beats scrubbed counters every time.

5. Music on, low, before they ring the bell. A home with sound is a home with life.

Most people are reverse-engineering the wrong thing. They’re cleaning. They should be styling.

Save this for the next time someone says “”I’m coming over in an hour.”

05/22/2026

The most expensive design mistake I made in my own home is still hanging from my ceiling.

I picked a statement chandelier that was beautiful in the showroom — and devastating once it was hung. Wrong scale. Too big for the room, too low over the table, eats every photo I’ve ever tried to take in here.

I knew the rule. I broke it anyway. I told myself I’d “”make it work.””

Reader: I did not make it work.

Here’s what I tell every Bay Area client who is one decision away from doing the same thing:

Showrooms lie to you about scale. The ceilings are higher, the rooms are bigger, the light is different. A fixture that looks “”statement”” in a 14-foot showroom will look “”oversized”” in your 9-foot dining room.

Always tape it out. Always trust the room you actually have, not the one you wish you had.

I’ll change it eventually. Until then, it stays — as a very expensive reminder.

DM me if you’re about to make a decision you’re not sure about. I’d rather argue with you for free than watch you live with it.

05/21/2026

Here’s the thing most designers won’t say to a client’s face:

Your house doesn’t need more stuff. It needs less, arranged better.

The second sofa, the third lamp, the fourth console — they’re not solving the problem. They’re hiding it.

The problem is almost always that something in the room is the wrong size, in the wrong place, or fighting with the thing next to it. New stuff doesn’t fix that. It just adds to it.

I tell my clients this in private. I’m telling you here.

Save this. Look around your room. Be honest. DM me which piece you already know is the problem.

05/19/2026

I’ll admit it.

In 2024, I called sink skirts “”grandma-coded.”” I just installed one in a primary bath in Los Altos. It’s the best decision in the room.

I told a client wall-to-wall carpet was a hard no. Then I saw it laid in a primary bedroom — plush, deep color, trimmed with a wood border — and changed my mind on the spot. Now I spec it whenever the client wants their bedroom to feel like a hotel.

I refused to do skirted sofas for years. “”Too matronly,”” I said. Last month I put one in a 1920s Pacific Heights living room. It absolutely makes the room.

There’s a thread across all three: design is softening. The hard, sharp, minimalist era is over. The textiles minimalism rejected — gathered fabric, plush carpet, things that absorb sound and light — are coming back, and they’re not coming back as kitsch. They’re coming back as the next move.

Tell me a trend you publicly hated and quietly love now. No judgment.

05/18/2026

Every Sunday around 9pm, I get a version of this:

“”Our living room is fine. It’s just not… right? I don’t know what’s wrong. Help.””

Here’s what’s wrong almost every time:

The lighting in the room only comes from the ceiling.

That’s it. That’s the whole thing.

A ceiling-only room reads as institutional — office lobby, doctor’s waiting room, Airbnb. The fix is two lamps at face height, on opposite sides of the room, on warm bulbs. Both on at the same time.

Do this before you buy a single new piece of furniture. The room will feel new.

If your living room is “”fine but not right,”” DM me. I’ll tell you the lighting fix specific to your layout.

04/30/2026

Every house has it.

The room that got the hand-me-down furniture.
The room that was going to be redone ‘when we get around to it.’
The room that’s technically fine but never feels finished.

It’s usually the home office. Or the guest bedroom. Or the hallway.

Here’s the thing:
They’re not last because they matter less.
They’re last because you don’t know where to start.

Here’s where to start:
1. One good light source.
2. One rug that defines the space.
3. One piece of art that tells you what the room is for.

That’s it. Three decisions. The rest follows.

DM me if you want to know which room in your house to tackle first.




04/29/2026

Minimalism had its moment. now we want warmth, layers, and rooms that actually look lived in. spaces that tell a story. 🤎

we’re seeing it everywhere right now: earthy palettes, natural textures, bold color coming back in the most intentional ways. and honestly?

Bay Area home owners drop a 🏠 if your space is due for a refresh.

04/23/2026

The biggest design mistake in Bay Area homes isn’t the furniture.
It isn’t the paint.
It isn’t even the layout.

It’s the order of decisions.

Most people choose a sofa first. Then try to make everything else match.

A sofa is the loudest piece in the room.
If you start there, you’re designing around a single note.

Here’s how it actually works:
1. Start with the light — natural and artificial.
2. Then the rug — it defines the zone.
3. Then the sofa — now it has context.
4. Layer everything else after.

Every time I walk into a room that doesn’t feel right, the order is wrong.

Fix the order. Fix the room.

DM me if you want to know what to change first.




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Walnut Creek, CA

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