House Tour-Tracy

Name: Tracy Benjamin
Location: Redwood City, CA
Square Footage: 1700 square feet
Years Lived in: 3 years
Rent or own: Own
Describe your style: Contemporary design with a crafty graphic vibe.
Blog/Website/Twitter: Shutterbean
www.shutterbean.com/
twitter.com/shutterbean

What's your favorite free/found item?
Our chandelier in our dining room. My husband's stepsister had it at her house and was going to toss it because she thought it was ugly. My mother in law snatched it up for us! Turned out to be a 1970's vintage Italian crystal rod sputnik chandelier. What a score!

What's your favorite purchased item?
Our dining room chairs. We found them in a consignment shop after searching for over a year. They match the silver leafing I did on the cove ceiling in the dining room. They were totally reasonable and they bring so much brightness to the dark shade of gray we picked for the room. Now we just have to get them recovered and we're good to go!

What has been your biggest obstacle in decorating/design?
Unfortunately, money! Our vision and our taste exceeds our budget. But it makes us less impulsive about purchases and we plan ahead to avoid making costly mistakes.

Is your design style organic or planned?
Planned! My husband and I love scheming and making mock ups on the computer for each room together. We get geeky. But there are parts of our house, like our living room mantle and a few bookshelves that I like to play around with and change seasonally.

What is your favorite spot in the house?
The kitchen. It's where we spend most of my time and it's a nice canvas for my food photos. We renovated it when I was pregnant and it finally matched the rest of the house!

How has your style changed in the past 5 years?
We used to live in a few super modern/minimal lofts in San Francisco and now we live in the 'burbs. Our house is like a combo of the two. We have incorporated a few french ornamental elements into our decorating- which is something we would have NEVER done a few years ago.

What is your favorite resource or store?
CB2 is one of my fave online resources because it's modern and priced very well. I always fall in love with their accessories and housewares. Their rugs are awesome and the furniture is always so beautiful. I want to live in every space on every page. I also spend a lot of time looking at design blogs online to get inspired.

What is your biggest decorating/design pet peeve?
A house full of beige! People play it safe too often. It's paint people! Just paint over it if you don't like it!

What has been your favorite design trend?
Honestly- I can't keep up with all of the trends! I think something that stands the test of time is the most important thing to shoot for when decorating.

What is the biggest influence on your design/decorating style?
The internet and travel! When we go away, we make a point to stay at hotels with a modern motif so we can get inspired and test out spaces. We take a lot of ideas back home with us so we can channel that hotel vibe at home.

What in your home dictates how you design/decorate?
Nothing really dictated how we designed our spaces...but going forward we have to keep in mind how child friendly our design & decorating is since we have a little toddler running around.

What is the simplest thing you have done that has made the biggest impact?
Paint! It really sets the tone of the room and it's soo dramatic. It was the first thing we did when we moved in and it's what finally made our home feel like OURS. All the of the rooms were either yellow or beige when we moved in.