Time for a Redo: August 2019 Note from the Editor

Photo by Jennie Sullins.

Our August 2019 issue is on newsstands now!

My daughter turns 5 this month, and her birthday gift is a room transformation. She’s been in a toddler bed since we took her out of a crib two years ago, and this month, she’s getting a lofted twin bed with a play space underneath that can fit another twin mattress (or air mattress)—perfect for future sleepovers.

Leading up to this room reveal, I’ve wallpapered her room (stay tuned for a blog post about that) and painted her ceiling a soft pink. The rest of the makeover includes cosmetic changes: I’m going to repaint her dresser and mirror, get her some new artwork and rearrange the current toy storage scenario in her room. I’ve actually taken a lot of inspiration from the ideas in this issue.

Regina Moomjean, merchandising manager and a buyer for Pigment stores, shares her tips for adding personality to blank walls in your house with paint, plants, jewelry, mementos and more. Find all her advice in “What to Do with Blank Walls.”

If you’re ready for a more substantial change, read “Finding a New Outlook.” Writer—and erstwhile editor of this magazine—Peter Jensen revisited a property that he originally wrote about here 37 years ago. See how the current homeowner preserved the architectural integrity of the Rob Quigley-designed condo but modernized it.

And thumb through “A Place for Everyone,” penned by our own Eva Ditler. See how a dark stone house with a view turned into a cozy but airy, bright home filled with treasures and sometimes a whole lot of people.

The August 2019 issue of San Diego Home/Garden Lifestyles magazine.

And if you’re the DIYing type, meet Jenna Pilant in “Living in Color.” The upholstery artist, blogger, and designer and host on her YouTube channel’s Room Bloom tackled four rooms in her home by herself—OK, she got a teeny-tiny bit of help from friends—but the changes she made (and the rainbow of color she injected) is nothing shy of incredible.

In the garden section, Kevin Espiritu helps make over a friend’s weed-infested backyard with raised beds for growing edibles in “Backyard Transformation” on page 80. And a large landscape gets beautifully divided to make space for entertaining, playing, growing and meandering in “A Whole New Outdoor World.”

Finally, we’ve added a new section this month. Find a recipe developed by Phoebe von Reis. You may remember her from the June issue’s “Ladies Who Make Lunch” story. We so loved Phoebe’s philosophy of only using in-season produce and making everything from scratch that we asked her to create a monthly recipe for us with whatever’s fresh and accessible in gardens and farmers markets. In addition to Phoebe’s instructions, she’s included a little backstory, and we filled in with lots of tips about growing, harvesting and cooking with her pick-of-the-month. I don’t want to give it away, but I guarantee your mouth will water by the time you get to the end of “Peachy Keen.”

Wendy Manwarren Generes