A Day with Penelope Bianchi....

Have you ever spent time with someone you just met and felt like you have known them forever......

Well, I have....

Interior designer Penelope Bianchi is a free spirit that oozes creativity. 
She is the first one to admit that she can't draw a chair, but an artist she is.......
She creates visual portraits with her interiors. Everything about her is artistic, from how she dresses to how she expresses herself.  

 

As I drove up her driveway I knew why her home was voted one of the top 10 most romantic homes. Her and her husband had it built to look like a chateau in Europe.  

Penelope was surrounded by beautiful things as a child.
 Her early education of design was encouraged by her Mother. 
 Her Mother had black tie dinner parties every Friday night for twelve.
 Penny's Mother's home was an Italian Villa in Pasadena and at 6 years old Penny would rearrange her mothers living room. 

 

Penelope was an English major and started designing homes for her friends which blossomed into a lifetime design career. 

 

 As she was sharing her life with me.. I couldn't help noticing how I was surrounded by the most beautiful gardens and everywhere I turned there was something else to see.....oh my gosh....her home is even more beautiful in person than in these pictures.

I asked Penny if she could share with you some recommendations  on how to get started in design.... 

Here are some tips that Penny suggested...

  

Penny believes your born with an eye for design and and you can't learn it..... that its something your born with.....  She doesn't believe in going to design school...and feels it could stifle the creative process......

 

She recommends working for a designer who's work you like. 

Train your eye.....get your hands on as many design books as you can and study them.
 

Don't follow trends.....

 

A home needs to look collected.

Penelope's mother gave her one great tip.....
Don't ever give discounts.....
keep it professional!
 

As Penelope was showing me her house I couldn't help to notice how unique everything in her home was.
 It was a collected home...

 

I took this picture as I entered through the front door.....
It was a table in the middle of the room which had several different conversation areas..
Penny has slip covers for her furniture for every season...
 Which makes so much sense to me...
A lot of people and clients don't understand how color and seasons effect us....
Shoot, look how the moon effects the tide....
Our surroundings effects us emotionally.
The color of our home can effect our moods, how hungry we are...... it can effect our well being. Color has a psychological effect on us.

 

My favorite room was her bedroom.. 

 

I loved the sitting room that was connected to her bedroom. 
You could see her pond from the window.

She also showed me her closet....
I love this picture of all her shoes. 

This is her husbands closet....every mans dream. Everything right in front of their nose.

 

This is her how her dinning room looks most of the time......

 

But....when I was there she had all her decorating books out as if she had been looking through all of them, which I loved.....
 Her husband said that Penny owns every design book that was ever published and still collecting. 

Penny is a dog lover..this is one of her little pups.

I loved this bowl in her living room....
it was as though it was saying.....sit down make your self comfortable and have something to eat....
There's something about sitting together and breaking bread that forms a covenant between friends...

 

This is her kitchen photo from her web site.

This cart replaced the table that use to be in front of the window.
 I loved this cart...the color was wonderful and I loved her silverware in the baskets....

It looked like an art piece all on its own..

Remember these.....they were for candles, but look how Penny used it.....Great idea!
 

The Lanterns are copies of a lantern belonging to "Sister Parish"; (it was in her estate auction) and copied by John Rosseli. 
 Bunny Williams worked for "Sister Parish" for 20 plus years, and is married to John Rosseli!

  

 

These wonderful images were in her husbands office.....they told the story of Adam and Eve. They are antique copper etchings by the artist, Ridinger. They also were purchased through John Rosseli.
 

Here is a close up of Adam and Eve in the garden..

This is the little guest cottage....it was so quaint and charming. 

I had a wonderful day with Penny...
We went to lunch at the Coral Casino and she drove me around Montecito and showed me all the homes she loved.
 It was fun to talk about design and our goals as designers.
 I just was so mad at myself...I forgot to get a picture of myself with Penny! 
Oh well, next time....

 Penny has a blog and a website.....She has a great post about here slipcovers.. go here...
Hope you enjoyed learning more about Penny and seeing her home. 
Thanks for stopping by...


  

Source....some pictures were taken from Penelope's web site and myself.