At Home With CityMama: Stefania Pomponi Butler's Retro Eclectic Home
Stefania's warm and inviting Palo Alto apartment simply screams out happiness. Bright cheery colors, retro and hip furniture, small and cozy kitchen that is filled with cooking treasures puts a smile on any face. How could you NOT want to cook here? This also reminds us that that size does NOT always matter.... it is more important what you do with the space to make it functional, exciting and of course, full of love.
Join houzz.com as Stefania (CityMama) shares her lovely home and reminds us: "You don't need a giant, state-of-the-art kitchen to cook meals with big flavors! My tiny kitchen is where all the magic happens."
Can you tell us about your food blog, CityMama? When I started CityMama in 2003, it was to share my adventures in urban parenting since I wasn't reading much on blogs about urban parent experience. I was reading wonderful suburban stories, but no one I knew was sharing stories about having to lug strollers onto the worst bus in San Francisco or having to check their park sandbox for used condoms or needles. My focus shifted to cooking as my kids got older and I didn't want to share as much about them. I have always loved to cook, lobved to grocery shop, loved to check out new farmer's markets and ethnic markets. None of that changed when I had kids and yet I read about lots of parents stuggling to cook delicious and healthful meals because they were tired and overwhelmed. I wanted to show that yes, I am tired and overwhelmed, too, and if I can do it, so can you.
How do you find happiness in your home? I find happiness by creating a cozy, warm, and relaxing environment where people can feel at ease. I also love to entertain so happiness to me is a house full of friends eating good food that I've lovingly prepared, drinking good wine (or fancy cocktails), and laughing and sharing stories together. To me, there's nothing better.
I feel the same way about kids books and my kids have an amazing collection of books. They love to sit in front of their book shelves and pull books from it and read. One favorite shelf of mine is a display bookshelf that allows the girls to see the covers of books instead of the spines. I rotate books depending on the holiday or season. It always makes me smile when I put the next batch of books out and the girls excitedly flip through them because they haven't seen them in awhile.
Anything else you want to share about your apartment? I moved my 12 precious boxes of books around for years before I finally gave them up. We're very pared down now, but I love being surrounded by books. If every wall of my house could be bookshelves I would be very happy and would spend a lifetime filling them up.
What made you choose this Silicon Valley apartment? We like it for several reasons: 1. It's close to downtown Palo Alto, and even though we aren't in a big city, it lets us feel as if we are. We are city-folk and like to be walking or biking distance to everything. 2. It has a pool and my little fish girls love to swim. 3. It's a spacious garden apartment. At about 1200 square feet, it's almost as big as the house we were renting. 4. My office is in a studio apartment just down the hall so it's convenient for me as a work-at-home mom. My office also has toys and books and a place for my girls to watch movies while I work. I can also watch them playing in the pool from my desk. 5. It's much cheaper than the house we were previously renting!
Can you tell us about your furniture? Our furniture is mix of heirlooms, souvenirs from my travels, & antique store finds, with a dash of Craigslist freebies & IKEA basics thrown in for good measure. I can sense a pile of furniture on a sidewalk with a "free" sign attached to it from miles away. At age 40, my husband & I still haven't "settled down" yet so we don't have much "big commitment" furniture in our apartment. When we were childfree and living the dot-com high-life in San Francisco, we splurged on custom-made, down-stuffed sofas from Crate & Barrel, an antique dining table & chairs, and expensive electronics. We move around a lot and we have young kids so we've forgone the fancy furniture for pieces that work. Our IKEA couches are leather and can be wiped down with a damp cloth. The dining table is stored at my brother's house. Our china cabinet with my mother's & grandmother's china, crystal, & sterling silver pieces that were passed down are in storage, too.
What is your favorite room in the apartment? My favorite room in the house actually isn't the kitchen even though I love to cook and it is a functional (and cute!) space. As you can see from the pictures, it's a tiny kitchen and really only one person can be in there at a time. I am a collaborative cook, so I miss having the space to have family and friends working along side me.
Can you tell us about CityMama's decorating style? My decorating style is pretty eclectic. I work really hard not to follow any one style of decorating because I hate to be categorized (even as a blogger I defy categorization!). I like the freedom to mix and match pieces from different periods. Overall, though, I'd say I'm going for a comfortable and cozy 70's modern feel.
You'll notice that none of my recipes are complicated. Most only take 20-30 minutes to put together and many can be made ahead. Choosing local and organic ingredients whenever possible for me is important because I like supporting my local farmers, vendors, and markets, and I don't want to feed my kids unecessary chemicals, additives, and preservatives. I don't get preachy about it and I work hard to show that yes, I'm on a budget, too, and I can still shop for local and organic ingredients. We all do the best we can and because I am a Libra I can say that even though I try to choose local/organic whenever I can, sometimes, every once in a long while, you just need a Happy Meal. (I know!)
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