About Me

My passion for gardening, design, and art began when I was very young. Mom’s parents, my Granny and Granddad were both avid gardeners and fine craftsmen who instilled a love for the arts and science (Granddad was a science professor at NYU) in their children. She in turn shared those passions with my brother, sister and me. I can remember myriad art and craft projects with Mom, from pottery, artificial flower making, and candle creations to drawing, painting, and of course sewing and tailoring because Mom had studied fashion design until Dad stopped her trip to Paris to study by marrying her - for which her three children are very grateful! With Granddad I studied fossils and science and Granny was always on a mission to locate another native plant species. She would tell Mom, and Mom would tell Dad, who was a forester. He would scout out the location and then we would all load up for a weekend outing hunting for a special orchid, Kalmiopsis, Trillium or other beauty hiding in the woods. Even though that was 40 years ago, plus a few on either side, we followed the rules of conservation in collecting. Dad taught us the codes of playing in Mother’s (Nature that is) home, as he called it – leave where you’ve been cleaner than you found it of Man’s trash, and make certain nothing is left to indicate you were there.

When the weather was nice we worked in the gardens. It might be Mom’s designed gardens, Dad’s which were the seven spotlessly groomed acres of forest we lived on, or Gran and Granddad’s beautiful lot in the city of Ashland, Oregon just 50 miles from Grants Pass where we lived until I was 17. This is what led me to Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo to seek a degree in Ornamental Horticulture. I started out studying landscape design, took a floral design class and decided to concentrate in both. In my junior year, after hearing my professor talk about starting a flower shop “on a dime” I thought what a great way it would be to work with my Mom. It took me one phone call to convince Mom how fun it would be to own a flower shop and a few more than that to help her convince Dad, since he was to be our financier. Five months after graduation we were off and running. Wanting to stay on the cutting edge of floral design, I studied European design in Austria, Japanese design with Keita Kawasaki, took a multitude of seminars with instructors from around the world and learned how to design competitively from my mentor Bob Bigham AIFD.

My floral design professor, Robert Gordon AIFD was one of the founding members of the American Institute of Floral Designers and he instilled a desire in most of his students to strive for membership. I was inducted in 1983 and the doors to teaching floral design on a national level opened up. By the mid 1990’s I had taught floral design in most states and five countries. My passion for teaching equals that for design and opportunities to combine the two are pure pleasure.

In 1989 I made a career change from the flower shop to teaching full time nationally and at our junior college, where I had been teaching floral design since 1982. By 1994 I was missing the retail industry and decided to open another store. My sister, who is a very gifted designer, and I bought a hundred year old Victorian in downtown Red Bluff, renovated it and opened the House of Design in May of 1995. This time, thinking it would be less demanding, I focused on home décor with a specialty in semi-permanent floral designs. In 1997 a beautiful old stone building that had been the city’s library was put on the market. Having looked at it longingly for years we took no time in purchasing it. The restoration was going to be a huge project so it took several years before we could get to it, but in January of 2006 the work commenced and in October that year we relocated the store.

A big part of the decision in relocating the store was made when my dear friend and business partner, Pam Hibbard (as well as the genius behind our web sites) agreed to be a part of House of Design. Left to me, you wouldn’t be reading this because my talents definitely lie in other areas! Having had a beautiful store in Walnut Creek for 30 years, she is an expert in the industry, bringing a fresh and distinctive edge to our product mix and business. Our websites are testimony to her creative talents. Life is always more joyful when traveling the road with those who share our visions and together we see no end to where this one may take us.

I have always felt incredibly grateful to have been given the creative ability to design. Working with Mother Nature’s offerings and the opportunities to teach and share the beauty of what she gives us is one of my life’s greatest blessings.