San Francisco Decorator Showcase 2009

This year's San Francisco Decorator Showcase featured a number of antiques from C. Mariani Antiques as well as ultra-chic rooms by many of the city's top designers. 

Plus the opening party was a great opportunity to visit and catch up with some of my favorite clients. Here I am with James Hunter and Brenda Mickel of The Wiseman Group.

And below I'm gabbing with Greg Elich of Douglas Durkin Design and Greg McIntyre of Shears & Window, the showroom that exclusively represents our Collezione line of antique reproduction furniture:

There were too many beautiful rooms at Showcase to list them all here, but two of my favorites were Benjamin Dhong's "Her Study" and the "Master Suite" by Cecilie Starin Design.

Here's Cecilie's room:

And here's Cecilie herself (with one of our English Regency tea caddies and an ancient Roman bust accessorizing her commode):

Here's another shot from Cecilie's "Master Suite". Isn't her color palette amazing?

I also flipped for Benjamin Dhong's design of "Her Study". Here's Benjamin and me in front of our Louis XVI bureau plat:

And I wish I could say this amazing mirror in Benjamin's room came from us but it didn't: drat. Nonetheless, it's totally delicious:

Also, look how Benjamin did a baldacchino (pronounced "bal duh KEEN oh") over the desk. I'd never seen one used like that (baldacchinos are typically over a bed-or an altar!). Talk about thinking outside the box and hitting a home run with it. Kudo's Benjamin.

But back to socializing. Here's Jay Jeffers of Jeffers Design Group with Michael Purdy and Suzanna Allen.

And last but certainly not least, here's C. Mariani's own Marketing Director Sarah Hills with yours truly (one reason I adore Sarah is that when we were taking this picture she was practically kneeling on the ground to make me look taller-talk about job dedication!). Thanks, Sarah: