Everyone loves a home tour…

(Originally posted at OC Tastemakers on May 6, 2013.)

…everyone who is looking for scenes of good taste.

 

On Saturday, May 4, I attended the annual Tustin Home and Garden Tour, which traditionally happens on the first Saturday in May. I make it a goal to attend at least one home tour a year. 2013 was my year for Tustin (unless Orange has one in the fall).

 

We were blessed with perfect springtime weather that day, brightening every flower and blade of grass. Some of the homes opened their backyards to us as well. I say that all dwellings, homes and apartments alike, need some outdoor space for sitting, for eating meals, for reading books.

 

My photos of the day are all outdoors – no inside pictures because that is the rule. I can, however, tell you about some tasteful ideas that I saw:

1. One home had a living room with two ivory couches facing each other with a round table between them. The backs of each couch were angled like the sides of STOP signs, and they had teal satin pillows on top. It was a room set up for conversation. (P.S. No television, either!)

2. One home had a wall with built-in shelves and cabinets painted white. The wall behind was painted pink, and nearly every object on the shelves was white. Limiting colors often reveals an impressive visual effect.

3. One home had a kitchen in mostly gray colors, all the way to a silvertone Kitchen Aid upright mixer. It may sound counterintuitive to decorate a food preparation space in a color that is rarely seen in food – ideally speaking. But it worked in this case.

I thank the Tustin Historical Society – and all organizers of home tours everywhere, as well as those who generously open their homes – for giving people the opportunity to see new tasteful decorating ideas in real life. You can buy Better Homes and Gardens, Architectural Digest, etc., but there’s a difference between staring at paper and standing in the middle of a living room, kitchen, bedroom, or backyard, seeing with your own eyes.

It’s good to know that taste is living in your neighborhood, right now.

No “Twinkie” homes here!

(Originally posted at OC Tastemakers on April 22, 2013.)

In my opinion, there are two kinds of neighborhoods of single-family, stand-alone homes.

One consists of “Twinkie” houses, named after the late-and-possibly-soon-to-be-revived Hostess cake. Twinkie houses look alike. They may be tasteful and individual on the inside, but walking in a neighborhood of Twinkie houses can be a numbing experience (unless you concentrate on something else, like trees or flowers).  Homeowners’ associations (HOAs) do not allow Twinkie house owners to paint their homes in bright, lively colors (like, ironically, an actual Twinkie would be), nor do they allow personal touches such as gardens or landscaping in the front yard.

The other kind of neighborhood is a Gallery of Homes. Each house is different, and this variety delights the eye. You may see an adobe-style home right next to a Colonial right next to an Art Deco right next to a bungalow. People love to walk in Gallery of Homes neighborhoods. People get in their cars and drive to Gallery of Homes neighborhoods just so they can walk in them.

It’s exercise, aesthetics, meditation – and sometimes therapy.

 

This upcoming weekend, April 27 and 28 (10 a.m. to 4 p.m. each day), you will have the opportunity to walk  – and much more – at the annual Floral Park Home and Garden Tour. Floral Park is within the borders of Santa Ana, but it is not “like” the stereotypes you might attach to Santa Ana – or, for that matter, most other Orange County neighborhoods.

 

Floral Park started to grow right after World War I, and without a dictatorial HOA on hand, homeowners were allowed to build in the style that their hearts desired. Thanks to a dedicated and active Neighborhood Association, Floral Park has been allowed to stay the way it is – a Gallery of Homes neighborhood.

 

 

For the price of a ticket ($30), you will receive the privilege of actually going into a select few of the Floral Park homes for docent-led tours. No matter which homes you go to, I guarantee (and I don’t guarantee often) that you will see prime examples of good taste in interior and backyard decorating.

 

In addition to the Home Tour, there will also be a “Street of Treasures” (i.e., arts, crafts, and antiques) and a classic car exhibition.

According to the 2012 Home Tour brochure,

“We are proud of our heritage and endeavor to maintain historic correctness [italics mine] in the process of refurbishing, remodeling and upgrading our classic homes.”

(If you want to keep the magic going, Tustin will have its own Home Tour one week later on Saturday, May 4, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.)