BUDDHA GATE MONASTERY - LAFAYETTE, CA

BUDDHA GATE MONASTERY IN LAFAYETTE, CA

A beautiful meditative garden of art and gorgeous skyline views sit on a hill top just out side the city of Lafayette in California. While visiting a client in Lafayette to design a home office I discovered this monastery to the side of her yard. What a wonderful place to be near to have a peaceful home office.
For more information go to their website: Buddha Gate Monastery

CLOSET SYSTEMS

CLOSET SYSTEMS

Not really a closet system specifically for our company of Closet Innovations / Innovative Design Group is a fully licensed custom cabinetry company in California. We design custom cabinets for all sorts of spaces, I just love designing closets. To be more specific we design custom European Integral Custom Cabinets. Integral means the cabinetry are not module but the parts integrate together. What ever I draw we can create as long as I honor gravity and the state laws of California Building Codes and California State Contractors Codes.

I have noticed in the 20 years that I have been designing, is that many companies are not licensed and do not design correctly. Many of our clients in the 20 years of being in business have the same closet standing in their closet as well as the other custom spaces that we have designed for them; Home Offices, Pantries, Garages, Kitchens and other storage spaces. This comes from good design and excellent materials and construction.

The above closet is a very nice large closet system or closet design in St. Helena for a husband and wife. Simple, but well organized, well built and very well planned for maximized space.

NORMAN ROCKWELL'S CLOSET ART

A NORMAN ROCKWELL'S SCENE

Lovely art of everyday life in American homes, and all cities even including closets. Young women remain the same in today's life.

MONSTER IN THE CLOSET

MONSTER IN THE CLOSET

(1986) PG

San Francisco is in the grips of a bizarre murder spree in which all of the killings have taken place inside victims' closets. A local newspaper obituary writer (Donald Grant), a science teacher (Denise DuBarry) and her super smart son (Paul Walker) team up to get to the bottom of the mystery. But once this beast comes out of the closet, there's no putting it back. Now, there's a national emergency in this madcap horror spoof.

Now playing on Netflix.

CUSTOM CRAFT ROOM

AMAZING CUSTOM CRAFT AND SEWING ROOM

Designed for a lovely lady in Napa Valley and created with the infamous interior designer; Thomas Bartlett. Innovative Design Group / Closet Innovations with me, Malka of course, made the most of this room for the client to play, organize her recipes and make her crafts. We used the plans that Martha Stewart had posted on her website for the sewing machine cabinet and it worked out perfectly. I spent many hours of research to find ideas for a sewing machine center and came back to the Martha Stewart plans. She did the best...

CUSTOM SHOE STORAGE IDEAS

CUSTOM SHOE STORAGE IDEAS Here are a few custom shoe storage and shelving ideas from my files of 20 years of designing closets. I have a scrap book on my iPad that gives me inspiration or reflection of what works or what does not work well. The simpler, is the better for easy access and view. Men do prefer slanted shoe shelves with the shoes facing forward. Since they generally do not have too many shoes the space needed for slanted shoes shelves generally works out just fine. Other ideas are on my Closet Innovations web site.

SAN FRANCISCO INTERIOR DESIGNER BLOGGING EVENT

OUR FIRST OF GREAT BEGINNINGS:

SAN FRANCISCO INTERIOR DESIGNER BLOGGING EVENT

... and Get Together - Meetup

Learn more about Interior Design and get to know each other, please join Malka of Innovative Design Group / Closet Innovations and Cristin of Simplified Bee for a Meetup. We will get to know each other and learn about the secrets of the closet and cabinetry business from Malka.

Malka has been designing closets and cabinetry for 20 years and has been in the interior design and construction business for over 30 years after studying at UCLA.

Light dinner snacks will be served fresh from Whole Foods. Please rsvp closetinnovations@gmail.com

Thursday July 21 at 6-8 pm.
San Francisco Design Center Showroom

MULTIFUNCTIONAL STORAGE

MULTIFUNCTIONAL STORAGE

Make the most out the space you have in tight living quarters.

A problem with living in San Francisco, besides the expense, is the lack of storage space. The above table has some storage below it as well as having wheels for easy moving to clean or to use as a work station. My desk made by my colleagues at CLOSET INNOVATIONS is quite similar with drawers and paper storage. I use it as a desk and drafting table while working at home. When I entertain for dinner, I have a nifty dining room table just as the one above.

This photo comes from Design Sponge.

SAN FRANCISCO DESIGNS

SAN FRANCISCO DESIGNS

Not far from out showroom in the district referred to as The Avenues there are these beautifully designed mosaic steps hand created by an artist. I will have to look up his name again and do another blog on him. They are simply amazing and have a very colorful illustrated story to them.

SAN FRANCISCO INTERIOR DESIGNER BLOGGING EVENT

OUR FIRST OF GREAT BEGINNINGS:

SAN FRANCISCO INTERIOR DESIGNER BLOGGING EVENT

... and Get Together - Meetup.

Learn more about Interior Design and get to know each other, please join Malka of Innovative Design Group / Closet Innovations and Cristin of Simplified Bee for a Meetup. We will get to know each other and learn about the secrets of the closet and cabinetry business from Malka.

Malka has been designing closets and cabinetry for 20 years and has been in the interior design and construction business for over 30 years after studying at UCLA.

Light dinner snacks will be served fresh from Whole Foods. Please rsvp closetinnovations@gmail.com

Thursday July 21 at 6-8 pm.
San Francisco Design Center Showroom

SUNDAY BRUNCH IN NAPA

SUNDAY BRUNCH IN NAPA

Not Yofi the Poodle of Closet Innovations, but a gorgeous poodle indeed.
Really from Italian Vogue Magazine but it could be from Millionaire Magazine, it is so richly vogue.

SIMPLIFIED LIVING

Simplify and organize, for a successful life.
... from SF Girl by Bay Blog - sfgirlbybay.com

CUSTOM CLOSET JEWELRY DRAWERS!

JEWELRY DRAWERS & TREASURE DRAWERS

These are a few examples of some beautiful, well organized and very efficient Jewelry Drawers. I have even included a Treasure Drawer otherwise known as a Junk Drawer for a gentleman's closet.

Most of the time I line the jewelry drawers with a luscious black velvet for women and a sturdy and durable Ultra-Suede Cloth for the gentleman. The Ultra-Suede's thick suede like texture acts to quite the noise of the user throwing his change and junk in. At least, this way his coins are not on top of a counter or some where else inappropriate throughout the house.

Most of these drawers shown are custom made by Malka & Closet Innovations.

ROSALIE SHERMAN DECORATIVE HARDWARE

ROSALIE SHERMAN AND HER AMAZING PULLS

Delightful and whimsical hand created and designed decorative pulls and knobs for every closet and cabinetry in the home.

Rosalie Sherman, a fine artist based outside Philadelphia has pursed her dream of being an artist of animals. She graduated Philadelphia College of Art in the 60’s and has spent the following decades exploring a variety of materials: woods, fabric, steel, aluminum, clay and now pewter.

She has made sculptures/benches for parks in Pennsylvania, animal seating for a subway stop in Boston, dog and cat sculptures for the front of a county animal shelter in Florida, play sculptures for a children’s hospital in Oregon, and benches and sculptures for schools in Maryland.

Now, she’s turned her attention to everyday surroundings, making affordable sculptures for the home. In her studio outside of Philadelphia, she creates hooks that are giraffes and penguins, knobs of dogs named Bob and a myriad of animals and people you could hang your hat on, literally.

It pleases Rosalie to know her little cast of characters are opening cabinets and holding brooms in the homes around the world.

San Francisco bay area folks can find Rosalie Sherman pulls and knobs as well as millions more at the best shop in city: BAUERWARE.

Buy online with Bauerware as well.

POPE IN THE CLOSET!

Cannot say he was my client, but it would be an interesting job... A custom designed closet for the Pope would be very well organized with lots of long hang sections for his gowns and shelves for his yarmulke hats. I did design a closet for a priest in San Francisco about 10 years ago. He had obviously left the priesthood but I saw in his closet, a few boxes of white collars that priests use and he had a black cassock.

SAN FRANCISCO BLOGGING EVENT!

Hooray for
SAN FRANCISCO INTERIOR DESIGN BLOGGERS

Thursday, July 21 at 6:00 in the gorgeous San Francisco Design Center

Our first meeting ever to network, learn and enjoy. Please attend this event sponsored by Closet Innovations / Innovative Design Group in an interest to start something good.

Malka, a blogger of Malka In The Closet.blogspot.com, a cabinetry designer with a background in Interior Design is teaming up with SIMPLIFIED BEE would like to team up with others to get to know each other and learn about the industry we write about. So Malka's employer CLOSET INNOVATIONS is sponsoring the first Meetup to get us started.

We will be contacting Kravet Fabrics for who she used to work for many years ago for another meeting in their showroom.

ST. HELENA'S HOUSE TOUR

HOUSE TOUR NAPA VALLEY IN ST. HELENA

I took a tour of a lovely home in St. Helena recently that is now up for sale. A dream home in a gorgeous area of Napa Valley. It even includes the beautiful closets and wardrobes we at Closet Innovations created.