City Dwellers Moving to the Suburbs? Here's What You Can Expect.

I have lived, worked and played in San Francisco for 25 years. The Bay Area is where I grew my interior design business, threw events for clients and friends, attended parties, explored the many cultural offerings of the city, and ate at my favorite restaurants. 

It’s also one of the many reasons why I decided to live and work part-time more than 2,000 miles to East Lansing MI this year. 

I’m not alone. 

The pandemic has motivated many of my clients and friends to upend their lives from cities like New York, San Francisco and Chicago and move to more sparsely populated areas. 

But the virus is not the only reason why.  Too many people have been trying to live in the same seven square miles for too many years.  For now, there simply isn’t enough room at the ball.   

A cultural migration makes a point

When COVID-19 happened, the pulse of city life flatlined. No more restaurants and parties. No more subways and crowds. Remote working and homeschooling are the new reality. 

Without the distraction of city life, a decades long cultural struggle has been exposed. Has the city become a suburb for the mega-wealthy?

I operated a gallery called IS: Fine Art and Design for a few years in San Francisco. I finally decided not to renew my lease after it became clear that living in the city is untenable for young artists struggling to survive and entry level collectors can no longer afford to buy. The patrons of the art are champions for a healthy intellectual culture. What will happen to the now vacant spaces in the city once filled with vibrant art galleries and retail shops?  

On the other side of the country, New Yorkers are making headlines for fighting over real estate in New Jersey, Long Island and Connecticut. One of my best interior design clients with a home in San Francisco and a Park Avenue coop in New York is exploring the option of moving his family to Connecticut. While he is absolutely in love with the city, the recent events of 2020 have made city life with a small child too challenging.

Still, others are looking for a slower pace of life. A stylish friend recently asked me to help her find the perfect house in Connecticut or the Hudson River Valley. A soulful trendsetter who has been living in Chicago, she craves space and a reconnection to the outdoors. My very first client in San Francisco also is in search of greener pastures — at least two acres in Connecticut and the Hudson Valley, to be exact. 

These are people who have never met, but they are headed in the same, general direction.

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The future impact of this cultural shift

The Midwest is a respite after years of exhausting myself with fast-paced city life and the ever-rising expenses that threaten my business. The 1988 Irving Tobocman-designed house my husband and I purchased in Michigan is four times the size of our Nob Hill apartment in San Francisco and costs half as much. 

Like any change in life, there are trade-offs. I miss the view of the city and the Bay, but, now, I have a stunning garden to dig around in and a pool to enjoy. We also miss our San Francisco neighbors, but half of them have moved away over the last 7 years. 

The idea of the city is as much a part of who I am as my new Midwestern surroundings. I still maintain my business in San Francisco, a city I love with all of my heart.   I’ve filled three passports and I am used to working internationally.  I’ve had the opportunity to work in many amazing cities — including New York and London — where I have forged strong community and family connections. I traveled for work the better part of the last decade.  For now, I am grounded.

My hope is that my fellow design- and art-loving urban peers will nurture the diversity and Bohemian spirit of the city into these new areas — including the Northern Wabash River Valley, The Hudson River Valley; and the university belt of lower Michigan, from Ann Arbor to East Lansing and from Kalamazoo to Grand Rapids. 

San Francisco was a lovely Bohemian seaside village of a city when I first moved there as an 18 year old to study film and design. I’m hopeful this cultural shift will allow cities to return to these roots and regain the authenticity that once helped them shine.  

Until then, this cultural moment appears to be meant for the countryside, or at least the leafy green suburbs.  

International Autumn



Something Old, Something New

An International Wedding 

Enjoying Preservation & the Arts 

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Recently, I was fortunate enough to attend the wedding of my dear friends Yoko and Stephan at Emmanuel College, Cambridge.  The English countryside and the college were the perfect magical backdrop to their storybook wedding.  The Wren Chapel and the private rooms of the college were breathtaking and full of interesting history.  It was a magnificent weekend spent with family and friends, celebrating the love of this delightful couple.  

On the way home to London from the wedding my little London family and I stopped at Audley End House.  Audley End was the site of Walden Abbey, a Benedictine monastery that was granted to the Lord Chancellor Sir Thomas Audley in 1538 by Henry VIII.  The abbey was converted to a domestic house for him and was known as Audley Inn (how very Downton Abbey of him). It is a largely early 17th-century country house outside Saffron Walden, Essex, England. Audley End is now one-third of its original size, but is still large, with much to enjoy in its architectural features and varied collections.  One of the highlights of the property are the Kitchen Gardens.  My Godson, his brothers, their parents and I were completely fascinated and inspired by the beautifully ordered rows of plants growing glorious food.  It really makes one think about our relationship to the food we eat.  

Recently the house and grounds have been used in popular television shows. During 2017, scenes were filmed at Audley End for ‘Trust’ produced by Danny Boyle and based on the life of John Paul Getty III. On 7 September 2018, scenes were shot for ‘The Crown’.   

I could not help but think of the Lagro House and the Wabash River Valley Artist in Residency Program I have been working to build, with the help of my hometown friends and family. I hope Wabash County continues to be a mecca for artists and thinkers for years to come, the same way Audley End House attracts history, art, gardening, and design enthusiasts.  



Fall Art & Antiques 2018 THEME

THE SUN, THE MOON, & THE STARS

Celestial Imagery in Art, Antiques & Design

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Putting all of our heads into the clouds, the Fall Antique Show kicked off this week!  As Florence Welch so boldly sang to us in the fashion of San Francisco’s very own Grace Slick, “The stars, the moon, they have all been blown out”.  They were blown out by the beauty of another perfect year of fine Decorative Objects showcased at the show to benefit Enterprise for Youth.   The show never ceases to amaze me with how it is able to make the history of decorative objects relevant for new generations of collectors.  What is old is new again.  


The stars, the moon, they have all been blown out
 You left me in the dark
 No dawn, no day, I'm always in this twilight
 In the shadow of your heart

I took the stars from our eyes, and then I made a map
And knew that somehow I could find my way back
Then I heard your heart beating, you were in the darkness too
So I stayed in the darkness with you.

~ Florence + the Machine




IS Fine Art

“Safe People”

New Paintings by Casey O’Connell

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I have had the privilege to show many fine artists at IS over the last few years and this season

I had one of the biggest honors of my career thus far.  The story begins years ago when I met a muralist and fine artist by the name of Casey O’Connell while she was painting a commission for a mutual friend of ours.  If I had ever doubted it before, I knew never to do so again: Love at First Sight is real.  Seeing the subject matter of the commissioned piece she had finished for our friend, knowing the recent romantic developments in his life after the mural was completed, and seeing this powerful creative force standing before me I knew this woman was someone I had to be close to for the rest of my life.   I could tell she was going to be one of my “Safe People”.   One of those special people you can trust to lead you down a path of joyful introspective bliss.  Casey is a seeker who shines through her work.  She is a kind, insightful, vulnerable, genuine person that makes us all smile.  It is impossible to have a bad day around Casey, or her work.  “Safe People” is a collection of skillfully rendered and well thought out figurate paintings that would impress the likes of David Hockney, Frida Kahlo, Henri Matisse, and Georgia O'Keeffe.  In the political climate that we find ourselves in at this moment, these joyful paintings and our “Safe People,” are more important than ever.  



All of this season’s glorious experiences of Art and Design find a special place in my heart.   I have shared them all with my dearest friends and family, which adds to their importance.  Sharing different perspectives and creating memories in inspired spaces is the driving charge and reason why designers and artists produce culture.  We are trying to mold, shape, and enlighten our audience to see the world for not only what it is, but what it could be.  





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