My Story
I began my journey in design as a young girl, completely refurbishing my sister’s 1970s look-a-like Barbie house our Dad built. I changed out the floorings, sewed curtains for the windows, made pillows and bedding from fabric memos. I was lucky enough to tag along during the Summer's with my Mom who worked in a very popular upscale retail children’s clothing in Berkeley. I would sort fabrics, play with patterns, collect fallen buttons under the machines, and peek through the windows and admire the design boards the team created.
Fast forward to middle school, I wrote my 8th grade I-Search paper on why I wanted to be an architect, interviewing my best friend’s Dad and discovering that maybe there was a little too much math and engineering and less sourcing colors and textures that I loved to do. Along came high school, my art teacher opened my world. He encouraged me to pursue my dream to become an interior designer, even letting me create my final art project as a design board for a local historic building, The Krusi Mansion. I then went off to college, graduating with my Bachelor’s Of Science Degree in Interior Design from San Francisco State University. I worked at the San Francisco Design Center and as a design assistant through those years.
After college, I worked at a small residential design firm based out of Oakland. We worked with clients from the Napa Valley down to the Peninsula and Hawaii where I gained the knowledge and grit to handle projects large and small. After 12 years of working in design, getting married to a hard-working business owner, and having three young boys, I have stuck with it. I have designed a sprawling private estate in Woodside, city condos overlooking the Bay, a contemporary cottage in Atherton, and many single-family homes throughout the Bay Area.
During this journey, my love of gardening sometimes had to take a backseat to interior design work. While working in the design firm, I managed to squeeze in a side business, this is where Tori’s Pots began. In 2010, I traveled to Boston to visit a dear friend. I fell head over heels with Boston’s Beacon Hill, I had never seen a city with so much love of greenery and so much curb appeal. I rushed home with a sketchpad full of detailed potted arrangements and window boxes I was determined to recreate with a little West Coast flare. I began creating unique potted arrangements for design clients and local real estate agents. Beacon Hill and the gardens in the Pacific Northwest are my inspiration for creating beauty that starts at the front door.
I owe a lot of my aesthetic to my upbringing. I grew up in a 1905 Queen Anne Craftsman cottage on the island city of Alameda, California. Our home had twelve-foot ceilings, simple but substantial woodwork, and we practically lived outdoors. My mom had plaid Scalamandre wallpaper and beautiful grasscloth on our walls before it was “in”, she painted our kitchen dark green with no regrets. I owe my keen eye for color to her!
As a Mom of three young boys with a love of a beautiful home, I have honed my expertise to create functional and beautiful spaces that are a nod to the outdoors. Aesthetics, texture, and functionality rule my brain, and I hope to help you navigate design to create a beautiful home.