Oct 28, 2021
Stroll up the walkway toward an enthusiastically red front door and you know there’s something fun and funky going on inside. The clue is five extra-large round panels, mounted along the exterior pathway, displaying 1950s artwork from a book on how to date, each with a chuckle-worthy caption.
That’s just a teaser of what’s to come. Get ready for an explosion of color, whimsy and humor decorating almost every square inch of this artfully wacky home.
Tony and Donna Natsoulas, both avid art collectors and mid-century modern enthusiasts, had their hearts set on a retro house when they stumbled upon this 1,563-square-foot Streng Bros. home built in 1963.
Oct 28, 2021
A self-described “bratty teenager,” Lori Ann Asmus saved her best attitude for houseplants.
“My mom was an avid gardener, but I really wasn’t interested in working with her,” Asmus says. “I would buy these little indoor plants and then kill them in short order by being uber-responsible, watering them every day, sometimes twice a day. I didn’t have success with houseplants until I went to college, where I didn’t have time to love them to death.”
All grown up, Asmus owns The Emerald City Interior Landscape Services. Chances are you have gazed upon her “interiorscapes” in Sacramento businesses such as The Citizen Hotel, Eskaton Village, and lobbyist, attorney and doctor offices. She designs and maintains indoor plants for mostly business clients
Sep 28, 2021
“This is my commute,” says Sacramento artist Judith Johnson, locking the back door behind her. We walk together through a lush backyard garden, pausing briefly to study a reflecting pool busy with mosquito fish and a tall cinderblock barrier that wards away the sounds of an adjacent railroad.
“When I built the studio, I build it so that I had to leave the house and lock the door behind me,” Johnson says. “So it’s like going to work every day. And that’s pretty much how I treat it.”
Before moving to Sacramento in 2016, Johnson lived in Austin, Texas, where she worked as an investigator for the Texas attorney general for 30 years. Painting has always been a constant in her life. “For about 15 years, I was painting and putting them in closets and boxes,” Johnson says. “I didn’t have the emotional strength to deal with the business side of art while working full time.”
Aug 29, 2021
Hot, sweaty and longing for the cooler embrace of fall, Sacramento gardeners have decisions and chores looming. Ready or not, transitioning from summer to fall gardening begins now. Drag yourself off the sofa and visit nurseries, hardware stores, fall plant sales and online sites, if needed, to prepare for the coming months. Need guidance? Happy to help!
Last call to fertilize citrus: Feed citrus trees for the final time in late summer. Any later and resulting tender new growth may be susceptible to frost damage. Container-grown citrus trees may accept an additional early fall application of fertilizer because more frequent watering flushes out fertilizer.
Aug 29, 2021
Vine-covered arches and vintage brickwork. Quaint gabled dormers. Hand-blown antique glass windows. Storybook turrets.
The English-style Tudor, built in 1938, is the creation of famed architect and builder Frank “Squeaky” Williams—and was once home to Sacramento native and renowned author Joan Didion and her family.
