Turner - Nathan Turners I Love California

Im just another LA multihyphenate. No... not an actor-model-waiter. But a decorator-shopkeeper-author-entertainer. To me, style goes beyond design and decoration. It is all-encompassing in ones lifeand a pretty home is only the beginning. That includes a welcoming, beautiful table and lots of delicious food to share with friends and family.

And I am not talking about anything fancy or extravagant. Its simply about figuring out what style means to you.

For me, its a relaxed, barefoot sensibility. Which is only natural given I was born, bred, and still live in California. The California lifestyle has inspired what is in my home, what is on my table, and what comes out of my kitchen.

We live a bit differently on the West Coast, and this relaxed chic is not only super approachable but translatable anywhere. You can re-create these looks wherever you live. The decor, tables, and menus in this book are inspired by the state, but really its a state of mind...

Looking back on my life in California, its easy to see how design and entertaining became so central to my work and my life. My fondest memories revolve around the kitchen and dining table. When I opened my eponymous Los Angeles antiques shop in 2002, the first thing I did was install a kitchen. It was tiny and had no high-tech equipment, but it worked!

For fourteen years, I shared my love of design, food, and entertaining with clients, friends, and, well, anyone who walked in.

My first job was accompanying a family friend on antiques buying trips to Europe. Traveling around France and Italy, I was so inspired by the dealers I met. There was such a genuine warmth and welcomeness about them.

Like the eighty-year-old French lady who dealt antiques from her barn. She had unique pieces and a quirky personal style, and she insisted that we sit down and share lunch (or at least some wine, bread, and cheese) before we got down to business.

The American in me was dying to see what was in the ancient barn, but she said, No, no, no. Sit; the cheese is very good today. I spread the soft, buttery Camembert on a crusty baguette, we chatted, and I came away with something more than a settee; it was a memorable experience with others over a simple, delicious meal.

This happened time and time again from Aix-en-Provence, France, to Parma, Italy. There was always a beautiful plate of food, a lovely glass of wine, and meaningful conversation. Its why I fell in love with the antiques business. And I wanted to re-create it at my design shop. While I didnt have the eighteenth-century farmhouse, the charm of an older French lady, or the Camembert, I had my own thing. Im a native Californian with a love for the laid-back way we do things.

Where the French have cheese, we have the countrys freshest fruits and vegetables, seafood from Santa Barbara, and local farms galore. I can do this too, I thought. I can be the old French lady of Los Angeles.

So I started small, hosting dinners with friends. (I knew they wouldnt judge if it was a little awkward eating in a shop.) My first dinner was me, my dear friend Mary McDonald, and four other decorators. I set an eighteenth-century Spanish rectory table with china I brought from home and strewed the table with garden roses from Rose Story Farm, a sublime farm in Carpinteria. It was fall, so I made pesto-crusted lamb chops with scalloped potatoes. We had a blast, eating and drinking, and finished the night on the sidewalk in front of my shop, enjoying cheese drizzled with local honey. That night I went to sleep feeling blissful. I had done it. I was the old French lady... just thirty years old and barefoot in Los Angeles.

Shortly after, the LA Times Home section did a cover story on how I was cooking and hosting dinners in my shop. The phone started to ring and callers would say, Id like a table for four next Thursday. Id tell them that I was not a restaurant, just someone who loved to cook for friends and clients. Some pressed, asking, How do I become a friend or client? to which I always replied, Just come on in... So they did, and it became an extension of my home.

Things grew from there. But no matter who or what was being served, business was never discussed at the table. For me, it was always about showing appreciation and getting to know people. If someone was interested in a piece, they could call the shop the next day. I never wanted it to be a sales technique. I did it because I loved it. Dinners turned into big parties. Parties turned into elaborate themed affairs (Ive never met a theme I didnt like).

In my first book, Nathan Turners American Style, I talked about how my shop was my design lab. I experimented with different textures, colors, and patterns to find my style.

Its the same with entertaining. I love to play with various elements, including food, to create a layered table and fun meal for all (including me). The environment is just as important as the food. Its always been bigger than what is on the table.

From cooking by myself out of that closet of a kitchen, I ended up hosting events for clients and friends all over town. But my fondest memories are still those cozy dinners in the beginning. Or any afternoon, when Id be cooking white bean soup barefoot in the shops kitchen, my dogs on the sofa, the fire going.

Although cooking and entertaining did come naturally to me, its not like I woke up one day and made pesto-crusted lamb chops. I started cooking at a very young age (so young that I wonder whether I should have had access to a gas range... nice, Mom). So many things (and people) influenced my love of food and style: my mother, my grandmother, and my surroundings. And California, especially Northern California, has played a huge role in the way all of America eats. Growing up on and around the regions farms gave me a quick and lasting education on where our food comes from.

California is also very much a house culture, even in the big cities like Los Angeles and San Francisco. I grew up in a home where there was always lots of entertaining, and I would often visit other homes. I absorbed the rooms, the table settings... everything that goes into creating a gracious, warm environment.

And I wanted to share it all with you in this book.

It may have been predestined that I would create a life around design and food.

I grew up in and around a lot of agricultural families. And design runs in my family. (My great-great-uncle was an architect on the Golden Gate Bridge, and my aunt was an antiques dealer in Berkeley.)