The biggest surfaces in your home are ceilings, floors, and walls, with walls being the most directly aligned with your eye. Let’s look at 3 pleasing ways to finish walls. Each is an opportunity to express what you’re passionate about.
Create Colorful Stripes with Paint
Design and photo by Kimball Starr
In a bedroom for a young boy, we wanted to create color and interest without investing a lot of money or time, since kids grow up so quickly. The perfect solution: Paint stripes!
Design and photo by Kimball Starr
Here’s a mock-up of the design. I created an elevation drawing to scale then cut paint strips also to scale, and laid them over the drawing to decide the placement, colors, and sizes of the stripes. The best thing about colored paint: If their son decides he likes orange, green, and purple instead, it’s easy to update.
Design a Custom Wall Mural
Design by Kimball Starr / Photo by Eric Rorer
When my city clients expressed a love of travel to Guatemala, I wanted to bring their affection for the colors, patterns, and textures found in that country into their San Francisco condo. I found a mural painter to create a custom art wall inspired by Guatemalan culture in their dining room. We also installed a custom wine fridge next to a long counter with beautiful white cabinetry underneath.
Design by Kimball Starr / Photo by Eric Rorer
Now it’s a luxurious wine tasting area where they can reminisce about their travels and share the tastes of Guatemalan wines with their guests while admiring beautiful art on the main dining wall.
Inspire with Pattern
Design by Kimball Starr / Photo by Joe Fletcher
My client wanted something unique in his San Francisco loft. His metal spiral staircase was the same as every other one I’d seen, with the exception of the curved bookcase, so I brought a special flair by adding a subtle silver geometric pattern to the exterior moveable wall, contrasted with a bright orange on the inside of the bookshelves.
Design by Kimball Starr / Photo by Joe Fletcher
I repeated the orange in a nearby wall niche, providing a sense of harmony and balance. Now he loves going up and down the stairs, admiring how they can be hidden away by a rolling wall with an airy silver finish.
Kimball Starr designs unique wall finishes in homes throughout the San Francisco Bay Area and Lake Tahoe. Contact her today for a remote or socially-distant in-person consultation.
Spring has sprung! You can smell it in the air, so fresh and exciting, when the plants starts to grow and bloom, birds and butterflies are busy and the spring rain is just around the corner (we hope!) The change of season always brings with it an intention to do – what else? – Spring Cleaning! Here are 3 simple tips to make yours swiftly effective and fun.
Design by Kimball Starr / Photo by Eric Rorer
1) Clean from the top down
Don’t fight gravity! Start by dusting ceiling fans, shaking out curtains, wiping blinds, and definitely do the tops of your cabinets and fridge before you get to the countertops and later the floors.
Use a microfiber cleaning tool to grab dust instead of pushing it around – Rubbermaid, Lowe’s and Walgreens all have low-cost, flexible tools. Choose something washable instead of disposable.
Freshen fabrics – launder sofa and pillow covers. Wash matching items at the same time so they always have the same wear and color. Wash your mattress pad and flip your mattress while hanging your sheets outside for that extra-fresh smell.
Sanitize high-traffic surfaces – doorknobs, drawer handles and light switches deserve extra attention. But skip the antibacterial products – plain dish soap and water or citrus-based products are the best natural antibacterial and don’t contribute to our environmental chemical load. Use bleach sparingly.
Design by Kimball Starr / Photo by Eric Rorer
2) Clear the clutter
Visual clutter is disruptive to an effective work life and home life. Banish belongings to hidden storage or eliminate them altogether with these quick steps.
Remove anything that hasn’t been used within the last 7 days – either put it back into its storage location, donate it to a friend or charity, or recycle it. Landfill is the least desirable option so try to find a new home for it first.
Develop and regularly use a storage system – whether that is cardboard boxes labeled with sharpie pen, or clear plastic bins with label maker stickers, or glass jars with canning labels, keeping items separated and clearly labeled makes it easier to find and maintain them over the entire year without a huge investment in time. If it can be done in 2 minutes or less, you’re more likely to keep it up.
Group related objects together in storage – hats, gloves & scarves can go in the hall closet or up in the attic until next winter. Rotating your items seasonally means you have less to wade through in your most-used areas.
Pinterest Organization Board by J. Davidson Design
3) Clip ideas from social media
Don’t be afraid to go someplace unexpected for cleaning advice and inspiration. Social media is full of people thinking about and doing spring cleaning at this time of year, just like you!
Find inspiration – Follow a friend whose organizational smarts you admire. Look up a celebrity. Or go with a brand you trust that is natural and organic.
Celebrate your accomplishments – After you’ve sweated, take some photos to show off your sparkly-clean results! Post them to your social media of choice with a relevant hash tag such as #springcleaning, relax with a glass of wine and wait for the kudos to roll in!
Kimball Starr Interior Design is an award-winningSan Francisco interior design firm providing clutter-free interior design for both residential and commercial spaces. Contact her today for a complimentary consultation!
I love designing kitchens and coming up with solutions that delight my clients. Here are ideas to handle gaps in your kitchen cabinetry and storage.
Design by Kimball Starr / Photo by Client
The LeMans corner storage unit is a great idea to access a previously unreachable corner.
Photo courtesy Pinterest user Diamond Cabinets
Custom-designed pull-out spice rack with matching handle to fill a 2” gap.
Photo courtesy Lushome
This narrow pull-out cabinet holds brooms, mops, and other stick tools. The cabinet bottom keeps items contained so the slide function is easy.
Photo courtesy IKEA Hackers, edited
Another solution for a small gap is to create shelves for your cookbooks. Magnifique!
Kimball Starr designs for kitchens throughout the San Francisco Bay Area and Lake Tahoe. Contact her today for a remote or socially-distant in-person consultation.
Do you love Mad Men reruns, interior decor and cocktails? We do too — pairing design and drinks is a natural! Today we’re sharing a playful and colorful interior that makes entertaining fun and easy.
Design by Kimball Starr Interior Design / Photo by Eric Rorer
My bachelor client loves mixing and matching materials and colors in his San Francisco apartment.
Design by Kimball Starr / Photo by Eric Rorer
Chartreuse-and-silver custom cabinetry opens to reveal a cocktail bar, perfect for offering guests a drink while they enjoy a movie on the hidden projector or snack at the dining room table flanked by bright seating.
Left: Green iguana courtesy drinksmixer.com / Right: St. Patrick-tini courtesy Anders Ruff
To enjoy this bachelor pad with friends or dates, we recommend the Green Iguana:
1/2 part tequila
1 part Midori melon liqueur
2 parts sweet & sour mix
ice
Mix tequila, midori melon liqueur and sweet and sour mix in a blender. Add ice. Serve in a margarita glass.
For a non-alcoholic version, we love St. Patrick-tinis! Mix green Jell-o with vanilla ice cream, and refrigerate overnight or until set and garnish with a lime twist. View the full receipe on our Pinterest Drinks & Décor Pairings board.
Kimball Starr Interior Design is an award-winningfirm specializing in contemporary interiors for the San Francisco, Oakland, Berkeley, Marin, Lake Tahoe, Peninsula, and San Jose areas. Kimball Starr changes lives one room at a time by creating interiors tailored specially for you. Get in touch today for a consultation!
We’re so proud to share that we won again for Best of Design at Houzz in 2025! That’s our 11th total win!
Design by Kimball Starr / Photo by client
We design kitchens that make cooking and gathering with guests a pleasure.
Design by Kimball Starr / Photo by Steph Dewey, Reflex Imaging
We design dining rooms that allow you to enjoy your mealtimes with family and friends.
Design by Kimball Starr / Photo by Eric Rorer
We design relaxing bathrooms that feel like your personal oasis.
Design by Kimball Starr / Photo by Steph Dewey, Reflex Imaging
We design living rooms that express your personality.
Design by Kimball Starr / Photo by Eric Rorer
We design bedrooms you dream of! Can I help make YOUR dreams come true? Get in touch!
Kimball Starr designs beautiful homes throughout the San Francisco Bay Area and Lake Tahoe. Contact her today for a remote or socially-distant in-person consultation.
So you’ve decided you want to do some work on your home, perhaps refresh your dated bathroom, upgrade your home office into a tech haven, or rip out that frustratingly-designed workspace and gain the cook’s kitchen of your dreams. You have some ideas, but don’t really know where to start. How do you organize your thoughts into a coherent plan? Where can you find the fixtures and fittings you want? This is a great opportunity to bring in a professional interior designer, who can help you realize your goals.
Before you even begin to seek out a designer, start by gathering some inspirational photos. Go through old and new magazines, look at design blogs you enjoy and start to identify what your style and taste is. There are several easy ways to do this. If you have a Pinterest account, start a board with your favorite photos. Collect them together and you will start to see patterns emerge – maybe you like mid-century modern, or art deco, or maybe you like contemporary but definitely not too modern. It’s easy to gather products and vignettes on Pinterest and you can even share your board with your spouse or partner, and later with your designer.
You can also save photos of real interiors to an ideabook on Houzz, a fabulous resource for all things residential design. There you can follow specific designers whose style you admire, and you might even connect with a few designers and feel them out, asking questions about their selections and techniques. Another very happening source of inspiration is Instagram – tons of designers post their project progress photos, and items they are sourcing. Use hashtags to search on specific keywords and discover new designers that way, such as #fauxfinish or #modernkitchen.
Once you have an idea of what your style is, and maybe a few designers whose work you admire, sit down and think about your budget. Do this at a time when you are not rushed, and you have access to your financial information so you can record facts, rather than guesses. What is your budget range? Have a low and high end. Make sure you are not breaking the bank, but have a comfortable amount that is realistic for the project you have in mind. If you’re not sure what that is, when you start interviewing designers, ask them for their advice.
Here are some things to consider when selecting your interior designer:
Do you like their style? Have you seen their work – either online or in person? Do you like what they’ve done for other people? If not, keep looking.
What is their work personality like? Are they prompt about returning phone calls and emails? What is their communication style? If you don’t like reading long emails and you can’t get this person on the phone, then you might not be a good match.
What is their reputation? Do they provide references from prior or current clients? Do they have a Yelp and what are the reviews like?
Do they have a professional affiliation and credentials? Are they a member of the American Society of Interior Designers (ASID) or the International Interior Design Association (IIDA)? Do they have a degree in interior design? From what school? Have they passed the National Council for Interior Design Qualification (NCIDQ) exam? Are they a Certified Interior Designer (CID)? They don’t necessarily have to have ALL these credentials, but they should be able to show that they are educated and knowledgable about the field in which they practice, and have specific current knowledge about building codes in the state(s) in which they work.
Do they share your values? Are you seeking a sustainable designer? They should be a LEED AP (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Accredited Professional) or certified in Green Globes or some other green building and construction program. If you are thrifty or have a lower budget, your designer should share that value as well, to watch the pennies for you. However, keep in mind that designers need to make money also, so your budget should not be so low as to only work for DIY.
Are they transparent about their fees? Does your interior designer take a certain percentage of the total budget cost or a mark-up on items purchased for you? Do they charge an hourly rate? What does that include? Will they be there for installation day or do they leave that to the contractor?
Do they have local and international knowledge? They should know whom to contact for draperies and where to source a specific sofa you’ve had your eye on. While of course you can order items from overseas and have them shipped, it’s good to have relationships with local showrooms, installers and shippers, in case you run into difficulties. A good designer will know people both locally and around the world.
Finally, when you sit down to interview your proposed interior designer, make sure you LIKE them. Remember, this person is going to be privy to not only your finances, the contents of your closets, and your personal relationships, but will also be with you for quite a long time. A renovation project does not happen overnight, so you need to enjoy this person’s company and feel comfortable with them, and above all TRUST them. Think of this not as a single project, but possibly a lifetime relationship – your designer can give you valuable advice about art, purchasing a new property and how to create an entertaining space that will make you the talk of the town. While you should of course consider this a professional relationship, it will be a more satisfying one if you genuinely feel a connection.
So now that you know how to do it, don’t wait – get started on that project of your dreams today! One final tip: Kimball Starr is an excellent interior designer who meets all the qualifications I’ve listed above. Contact her for advice on your next design project. You’ll be pleased, you have my word.
JENNIFER DAVIDSON holds an M.F.A. in Interior Architecture and Design from the Academy of Art University. She consults with interior design professionals on their small business needs. Contact her viamakesocialmediaeasy.squarespace.com
