Makeover pro’s big style on a budget
For years, viewers watched designer, author and Emmy Award-winning television personality Lisa Quinn make over rooms in countless Bay Area residences. On shows such as HGTV’s “Sensible Chic” and KPIX’s “Eye on the Bay” and “Evening Magazine,” she demonstrated that big style could come with a small price tag.
As one might expect, budget-minded ideas abound in her own Alameda abode. And in Quinn’s household, decorating is definitely her purview.
In explaining why her husband, Michael Orkin, allows her free rein, Quinn recalls the apartment he was living in when they met: “He had a giant rolled-arm sleeper sofa upholstered in a fabric with giant clocks — and not in a cool Salvador Dali way — an Igloo ice chest for a coffee table and a rocking chair that would flip backward if you actually rocked in it.”
Quinn and Orkin, who works in video production, along with their two children — 15-year-old daughter Scarlett and 12-year-old son Silas — moved into their 2,800-square-foot home nine years ago. Furniture and accessories of varying styles populate the interior, from a contemporary glass-topped dining table and a leather club chair to a Peruvian metal mirror and Javanese clay figurines; Quinn relies on a restrained palette to ensure cohesion. “Neutral colors keep it from looking too busy,” she says.
Among her favorite hues is Kelly-Moore’s San Francisco Fog, which she describes as “a gray that’s not too blue, brown or purple — a true gray. Anything looks good with it.”
In her living room, the paint color is the backdrop for a skirted sofa, wingback chair and rustic coffee table, all procured from a regular source for Quinn: Restoration Hardware’s warehouse in Alameda. “Every time you go, you’ll find different stuff,” she says. “Eventually, if you’re patient, you can get a whole room outfitted.”
Quinn’s creativity is also on display here. One wall is adorned with framed fabric remnants; both the frames and fabric are Ikea. The painting above the sofa, “Rainy Bayscape,” is by Quinn, while the pair of table lamps whose bases consist of vintage car radiator fans was designed by her and constructed by Orkin.
In the great room, a table comprised of a salvaged Mexican church door that dates back to the 1800s is surrounded by seating from the Restoration Hardware warehouse. The slipcovered chairs in the formal dining room are from there, too.
The ceramic flooring in the living room, great room and dining room — 20-by-20-inch tiles chosen for their minimal maintenance — can be found in the home’s central courtyard as well. The outdoor spot is appointed with rattan chairs from the Home Consignment Center, and a towering cactus in the corner has thrived despite Quinn’s lack of horticulture skills. “It was knee-high when we got it,” she says. “It’s just gone crazy, and is about 11 feet tall now.” (In the courtyard, Quinn and Orkin installed a drip irrigation system they bought at Costco for about $60.)
On “Eye on the Bay” and “Evening Magazine,” Quinn hosted Ikea-sponsored segments, and her fondness for the Swedish retailer is evident in the house. Scarlett’s and Silas’ bedrooms owe most of their decor to Ikea. “The key to happiness is buying inexpensive kids’ furniture and keeping their storage easy,” Quinn posits.
Although “Home With Lisa Quinn” still airs on the Live Well Network, the show stopped filming in 2012. These days, most of Quinn’s professional focus is on Stage Left Interiors, the interior design, styling and staging company she started with Mike Zimmerman.
“I can sometimes be a little too ‘more is more,’ and Mike does a great job of helping me edit,” says Quinn of their complementary approaches to decorating. “It’s as much about the negative space in a room as it is about all the beautiful things you want to cram into it.”
“It’s as much about the negative space in a room as it is about all the beautiful things you want to cram into it.” Lisa Quinn, designer