April 2018

In our Nook Neighborhoods series, you’ll find cool history and culture about one of your favorite Nooks, one way we assist our readers in finding the perfect neighborhood for their lifestyle. To close out our spring cleaning month, let's take a look back on some of the nooks that have been spruced up themselves.

Sometimes a complete reinvention, sometimes just a few blocks, and sometimes it takes a village, but the heart and soul of some of our favorite communities cannot be matched.

• After twenty years of community involvement, Dana Point is finally on the road to reinventing their harborside offerings. It's tricky when you want to stay trendy and local, affordable and financially sustainable. I'm sure there's a city planning nerd out there

I first met Rhiannon Gillis when she initiated a Meetup for Eastside Los Angeles “Mom-treprenuers,” creating a community of support that exists to this day. She followed her dream of creating an interior design firm where everyone feels comfortable, no matter their knowledge of design or budget. It’s been lovely to watch her business grow, now with a physical location in North East Los Angeles. Don’t get down if you’re not in the area though; she also provides virtual décor services. I was thrilled that she agreed to answer some questions for our site.

Nook: What's your philosophy behind Amber and Honey Design Co.?

Rhiannon Gillis: I firmly believe all people should love their home. I have worked with clients of all types, and I think it should

I know I’m not the only one. I look at these beautiful homes - mid century modern, next century modern, lofts - and have to wonder: Where do they store all their stuff?

I know that simplicity is elegance, a clean look is a stylish one. I am very aware that the photos I see are usually staged, and perhaps cleared just before the professional swoops in to show just how majestic your potential new home looks without the random jacket here, or phone charging cable there.

I also know people who legitimately live in spaces as stunning and crisp as you’ll find when you Search With Style©. So how do they do it? I scoured the wilds of storage spaces to find just the right possibilities for you.

• Option 1: Hide it. Sewing chairs bring a certain amount

When Nook Sales Experts match a buyer with their dream home, the only thing as important as architectural style is the neighborhood. Today we look at the plants who've turned our neighborhoods into sustainable, magical gardens.

It took me a long time to commune with succulents. I'm originally a New England gal, so if you can't drop all your leaves in October and be bursting with green by May, I don't know if I can trust you. Sure, I'd walk my dog past those Dr. Seuss looking gardens and wonder if they were real or plastic. I'd gingerly touch buds to see if they sting like a cactus. In the early 2000s when I moved to California, however, succulents were still an exception to landscaping, not the rule.

Now, succulents have proven they serve our

Here at Nook, we have a passion for people, places and properties. This week we bring you exceptional Tastemakers making waves towards a more eco-friendly, sustainable world. They may work inside or outside of your home, or even inside film studios, but the work they do affects everyone on our planet equally. Unless you're one of those people who can afford an escape pod to the moon station that Elon Musk is building. Then I guess we'll just meet up when you need moon minions?

• John Lyons brings a Western Ireland aesthetic to The Woven Garden, turning simple shapes into art and all plants into beauty. His garden designs and maintenance bring fantastical life across Los Angeles.

• The Shift Group in the Bay Area believes that strong design

I moved a lot in my twenties, through New York City and then California. In all those years of finding the perfect place to live, I have just one regret. It was while I rushed through a move out of an apartment in Brooklyn. After a grueling day when I realized just how much I had acquired during college, my Dad and I filled his car with all but three boxes of books.  

I stared at those last three boxes, mentally recalling which shelves they'd emptied and thus which books I’d leave behind. My Arden MacBeth (easily replaceable), Othello Varorium (not hard to replace but quite an investment)....I didn’t need any of those right now. I left my landlord a note saying I’d be back for those boxes next week, knowing full well I wouldn’t return, and said, “Let’s

I was one of those people who never really fell for the Beast in Disney's Beauty and the Beast, never thought he deserved Belle. Do a few days of awkward flirting to save himself from a curse really warrant forgiving the almost twenty-one years of being a jerk? I thought no.

Then came the library scene. Talk about style! Every bit of my stubborn, fiercely critical teenager just melted when Belle opens her eyes and takes in the huge stacks of books that contain stories she never even knew existed. This was my fairytale ending: just lock me in that library and throw away the key. Cogsworth and Mrs. Potts can bring me food and drink, I’ll put my feet up on that cute little former dog and say goodbye to the world outside leatherbound covers.

No place

I just visited my family, and it was one of the least stressful and more inviting visits I've ever had. It wasn't until I sat upstairs with my sister and brother-in-law while our kids played that I realized why: they don't have ⅕ of the “stuff” they used to have in every room. Because of their decluttering and rearranging efforts, we had a space to simply sit and talk, our only screens the ones in our hands.

Even better than my own experience, I noticed that they were happier. Their living area wasn't stuffed to the ceiling with random items, they weren't enclosing themselves within walls of discarded projects or losing remote controls underneath piles of bills. Entertainment was now in it's own room, and their 4 year old’s toys are limited, with a