Victoria (Tori) Schuler
My love for design started early — as a kid, I completely remodeled my sister’s 1970s-style Barbie house that our dad built. I replaced the flooring, sewed tiny curtains, and made bedding out of leftover fabric samples. Summers were spent tagging along with my mom at an upscale children’s boutique in Berkeley, where I’d sort fabrics, collect fallen buttons, and peek through the workroom windows to admire the design boards the team created.
By middle school, I thought I’d be an architect — until I realized I loved color palettes and materials a lot more than math equations. In high school, my art teacher encouraged me to explore interior design and even let me create my final project as a full design board for a historic building, The Krusi Mansion. From there, I went on to earn my Bachelor of Science in Interior Design from San Francisco State University, working at the San Francisco Design Center and as a design assistant throughout college.
After graduation, I joined a small residential design firm in Oakland and worked on projects spanning from Napa Valley to the Peninsula — and even Hawaii. Over the next 12 years, I learned the ins and outs of managing projects large and small, designing everything from a sprawling estate in Woodside to modern city condos overlooking the Bay and cozy family homes throughout Northern California.
Somewhere in the middle of that chapter, my love of gardening started to bloom again — literally. In 2010, after visiting a dear friend in Boston, I fell in love with the lush window boxes and curb appeal of Beacon Hill. I came home inspired and launched Tori’s Pots, creating custom potted arrangements for clients and local real estate agents. That passion for blending indoor comfort with outdoor beauty continues to shape my aesthetic today.
I grew up in a 1905 Queen Anne Craftsman cottage on the island city of Alameda, California — a house with twelve-foot ceilings, solid woodwork, and a mom who wasn’t afraid of bold choices. She hung plaid Scalamandré wallpaper and painted the kitchen dark green long before it was trendy. I definitely get my fearless eye for color from her.
Now, as a mom of three energetic boys, I understand that beautiful homes also have to work hard. My goal is to create spaces that feel lived-in but intentional — layered with texture, grounded in functionality, and always inspired by the outdoors.