Cutting out a string of hand-holding paper dolls is virtually a rite of passage for little girls. But how many do you know who sketched out detailed doll houses on note paper where the flimsy dolls could live in style? Yep, that was me.
For visualization purposes, let me point out that I used standard 8.5-by-11 inch paper, oriented vertically. I invariably drew with colored pencils an A-frame house with attic at the top of the page, bedrooms upstairs and kitchen and living areas downstairs at the base of the page. The finger-size paper dolls really were just an accessory to the main event -- the home's interior.
For as long as I can remember, I have adored designing interiors, starting with my own childhood bedroom, where I artfully arranged throw pillows and stuffed animals -- including panda, poodle and python (I don’t recall where that came from) -- on my bed just-so each day and instinctively knew that bookcases were not the sole reserve of books. Pint-size vases, dainty porcelain kittens and micro framed reproductions of master artworks deserved a spot among "A Child's Garden of Verses" and "The 14 Bears Summer and Winter," too.
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| No longer in print, my copy was published in 1973 by Western Publishing Co. |
Recognizing my love of home design early, my family -- grandparents, uncle, aunt, cousin and parents -- collaborated to build me a four-room, 4-foot high doll-house for Christmas when I was about 7 or 8. I spent hour upon hour in my room playing with it; not much with the dolls, mind you, though I had a bevy of those.
As a kid growing up in the '70s, I had a toy box filled with Malibu Barbie, her little sister Skipper, Malibu Ken and like-size dolls, from the hippy-esque Sunshine Family to a bendable Bat Girl action figure in a gray body suit and permanent cat-eyes mask.
Since my dollhouse sported only two bedrooms, and I had a large family of dolls to accommodate, I’d add on to the house by upending large picture books to form temporary walls, ceilings not required. Inside, I created individual bedrooms, losing myself in the art of arranging mini doll furniture, placing teensy area rugs and improvising accessories, such as turning a red velvet pin cushion into a doll’s footstool or toy dog bed. Inevitably, I spent little time playing with the dolls, because I spent so much time fashioning the perfect Lilliputian-worthy rooms.
When it came time to head to college, I pored over recruitment brochures for universities and design schools. The applications for the latter always seemed to ask me to submit proposals for original furniture designs. At the time I had no interest in designing a new look for a chair; I just wanted to arrange pretty rooms. In the end, I reasoned that if I went to an all-purpose college, I could take design courses along with the standard liberal arts offerings. It never happened, and instead I followed the writer’s path, working for my college newspaper and later pursuing a journalism career.
After paying my professional dues for a few years, I landed my ideal newspaper job as a reporter for the features section, where eventually I got to contribute home and garden stories. When the redesign trend gained momentum in the early 2000s, I was quick to track down a practitioner and write about it. Redesigners use a client’s own furnishings and belongings to reconfigure their living space and give it a professional interior designer’s touch, typically for far less money than it would cost to design rooms from scratch. Watching Bay Area-based redesigner Anna Jacoby transform a client’s home was a little like slipping temporarily into my dream job, if only vicariously. While I satisfy my thwarted designer’s ambitions through Pinterest-a-thons, subscribing to four design magazines and acting as design consultant to family and friends, here’s a glimpse into the design alchemy one woman stirs up for her customers every day.
Originally published March 25, 2003 in the Oakland Tribune/ANG Newspapers
Redesign uses homeowners' stuff
to create fun, fresh spaces
By Monique Beeler
YOU'RE ready for a new look for your home. You've got
grand visions, but a not-so-grand budget. Take heart.
For less than the price of a new chair, a fresh design
scheme can be yours with a little professional help.
For those who aren't ready to hire an interior
designer to decorate a room from scratch, Anna Jacoby,
principal of Anna Jacoby Interiors in Fremont, offers
room redesigns. Working with an owner's existing
furniture, wall art and accessories, Jacoby and others
in her field transform humdrum rooms into living
spaces with pizzazz.
Depending upon a client's needs, whether they want one
room redone or the whole house, Jacoby schedules a
half-day or full-day visit.
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| Anna Jacoby (Photo: Anna Jacoby Interiors website) |
Jacoby and her assistant, Kim Muller of Pleasanton,
start each job by clearing out the target room,
leaving only the largest pieces of furniture.
"I don't draw up a plan," says Jacoby. "I do take
pictures beforehand so I can look at them between the
first visit and the redesign visit to see if anything
spurs my creativity."
On a recent morning, Jacoby surveys the living room of
client Dawn Sommers, an independent consultant who
works out of her cozy two-bedroom home near the Niles
district of Fremont. Sommers' living room, anchored by
a light wood entertainment center and a dark green
leather sofa and loveseat set, features pale
sponge-painted walls, a greenhouse window and wood floors.
No major design flaws jump out at Jacoby, but she
wants to give Sommers a new arrangement with the
"pulled together" effect the homeowner wants.
"I think I do a fair job, but I just know someone
could come in and make it look really nice and make
the flow of the room better," says Sommers, who
describes her decorating style as
traditional-meets-contemporary. "I just want someone
to come in and make it gorgeous."
A tall order?
Not for Jacoby, a woman who says that as a child she
enjoyed getting sent to her room. It gave her
uninterrupted time to reorganize her drawers and shift
around her bedroom furniture.
Today, she uses that same natural gift to transform
rooms into spaces that sing. Grouping complimentary
bursts of color, clustering together knickknacks of
varying heights and assembling inviting, well-lit
seating areas gives Jacoby's redesigned rooms a
sophistication that novice, do-it-yourselfers rarely
achieve.
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| A room redesigned by Anna Jacoby Interiors. |
While Sommers is out of the house running errands,
Jacoby and Muller get to work.
After placing the sofa on casters, they drag it to two
or three spots in the room before settling on the
longest wall under the greenhouse window.
"I just kind of play until I think things look great,"
Jacoby says.
Jacoby is not alone in her efforts to help clients get
the most out of what they already have.
"The industry itself is, max, 10 years old," says
Donna Reynolds of Redwood City, financial officer for
the national trade group Interior Redesign Industry
Specialists. IRIS formed about 4 1/2 years ago.
"When we started it, there were about 20, 25 people in
IRIS," Reynolds says. "We now have 180 members and
we're international."
Most IRIS members, including Jacoby, are based in the
United States, but a few hail from Australia, Canada
and Ireland, Reynolds says.
She attributes the growth of IRIS membership and the
popularity of redesign services to exposure the
industry has received from the Home and Garden
Television Network, or HGTV.
Reynolds and her colleagues have been featured
redesigning rooms on shows such as HGTV's "Decorating
Cents."
"At first it was really hard for people to understand
(redesign)," Reynolds says. "They kept thinking we
were regular designers."
Jacoby charges approximately $100 per hour, plus extra
if she needs to hire movers to assist her during an
eight-hour session. At her business, Home
Rearrangements, Reynolds and partner Kristine Moore
charge by the job. In general, redesigning one room
costs about $400. The fee for an entire house runs
between $1,200 and $1,400.
"What I usually tell people is how can you find a
couch for $1,000?" Reynolds says. "We'll make your old
couch look (great)."
Jacoby once had clients determined to spend $5,000 on
new furniture until they saw how wonderful their old
set looked in a room she redesigned.
"In that way a redesign can really save you a lot of
money," Jacoby says.
Back in Sommers' living room, Jacoby has removed one
side chair from the room and grouped the sofa,
loveseat and a wingback chair in a U-formation away
from the wall. This arrangement should promote
conversation when Sommers entertains, because the
seating areas now are closer together. A tall ficus
plant hovers behind the light-colored wingback chair,
which Jacoby has brightened with a dark purple
chenille throw. A small round table lit by a reading
lamp and decorated with a painted box and glass grapes
make for an inviting reading corner.
The entertainment center remains in its original place
to accommodate the cable wiring, but Jacoby brings new
life to its shelves by making every cubby an
interesting spot to rest the eye.
A casual collector, Sommers has amassed coasters,
candlesticks, tile trays, bowls and a teapot
reflecting a grape or vineyard theme. In a guest
bedroom, a row of miniature Eiffel Towers line a
dresser top. And framed prints of flower-covered
cottages and a Paris street scene by mass-market
artist Thomas Kinkade hang in several rooms.
"When you start clearing out someone's stuff you start
to see how things relate," Jacoby says. "Most people,
too, over time seem to buy things that are similar."
The entertainment center presents ample opportunity to
take advantage of Sommers' collections.
The glass and metal Eiffel Towers comes out of the
bedroom, along with several travel guides about
France, to create a Parisian vignette on one shelf.
Photos of Sommers, her cat and dog -- all in
pet-themed frames -- dress up a stack of books with
titles, such as "Dogs in Love" and "Chicken Soup for
the Pet Lover's Soul." A handful of brilliantly
colored glass eggs, placed next to decorative
candlesticks and more framed photos finish off the
central display shelf.
"She does have some cute things," says Jacoby, as she
fusses with the contents of the greenhouse window. "I
like this little teapot."
The plum-colored pot goes into the window case,
joining a gardening book resting on a display stand, a
vase of dried lavender, a family photo and a
houseplant swiped from Sommers' office.
Equal amounts of care and attention go to every blank
strip of wall, every hidden space between pieces of
furniture. A colorful stack of empty storage boxes at
the end of the sofa become a home to video tapes.
Piles of magazines hide under fluffy blankets in an
oversize basket on the floor. A candelabra brings
height and interest to a corner to the rear of the
sofa.
As she removes paintings from the office or bedroom,
Jacoby doesn't leave unfilled holes. She gracefully
rearranges those rooms, too.
Four hours after the redesign began, Sommers returns
to inspect Jacoby's work.
As giddy as a lottery winner, Sommers' hands shake
with excitement and tears spill from her eyes once she
sees Jacoby's handiwork.
"Oh my gosh, this is not the same house!" she says.
"It's gorgeous. I love it."
"You've made it so much homey-er and cohesive,"
Sommers tells Jacoby. "I can't wait to throw a party."
You can reach Anna Jacoby Interiors at (510) 490-0379
or www.annajacobyinteriors.com.
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