It’s an honor to win a Top Shelf Closet Design Award. This national award is given annually to honor exceptional designers for creative closet and home organizational designs. To win a second Top Shelf Award in the space of a few years is an accomplishment few in our industry can boast. Now, thanks to her second win last month, Shari Krandel joins that elite group of top designers. Judged by a panel of industry experts based on appearance, design creativity, functionality and quality, this industry award is a coveted recognition of all aspects of designer’s excellence.

One of the best things about living in the East Bay is the relative ease of traveling to Tahoe for skiing on the weekends. Yes, you have to put on chains, deal with traffic slowdowns, and find your own parking—but when you can access a full day of fresh powder within just a few hours, I honestly don’t know why you wouldn’t pack up your boots and head north.

East Bay residents are heading out in droves to Tahoe for skiing/boarding this time of year. Snow is still abundant, and ski gear lives perpetually strapped to the rooftops of cars all over the area. However, when the cold finally breaks at the end of yet another ski season, there's a better way to store your gear: custom garage cabinetry.

I’m just going to come right out and say it: I love Oakland. Whenever I visit SF’s unique (and somewhat cooler) older brother, it inspires me to use more color in my everyday life. To be more loud with what I’m passionate about. And, above all else, to make a statement where a statement is necessary (because around Oakland, it’s always necessary). Living in the suburbs, it can be really tough to give up the culture and vibrancy of the bigger city when you go back home—but there are still things you can do in your own place to make Lafayette feel a little less like a suburb.

Los Altos got its start with farms and apricot orchards, and while the community’s changed a lot since then, plenty of people still like working in the dirt. When I’m in the area, I’m always blown away by the number of lush gardens. One of my clients tells me that the Garden Club of Los Altos is one of the oldest in the state (nearly 90). Not only does the club share ideas for tending their own gardens, they help beautify the city—and they do a pretty fine job of it.

It’s summer in Willow Glen right now, and when I drive through the area, I see plenty of people outside. And why not? It’s sunny (I haven’t seen a cloud all week) and in the 80s. If I didn’t have to work, I’d be outside too. Willow Glen has a great downtown, but its heart lies in its neighborhoods, where people regularly get together to enjoy the weather and each other. All that neighborliness makes it an amazing spot for block parties.