Designing Woman

Sharon Peterson faced an interior design dilemma two years ago. She and her husband, Patrick Schoenberger, had amassed hundreds of items for their home, but had precious little storage space. Upgrading to a new residence wasn't an option, since the home was where they planned to retire.

Peterson, 59, came up with a solution, one suited to her decorating skills: she transformed their 1,200-square-foot dwelling into a "homemade house."

Indeed, many pieces of furniture within their home are homemade. But also, every square inch of storage space possible within each room had to be used and everything had to be easily accessible. Plus, all of the storage methods had to fulfill a decorative purpose.

The result, as described by Peterson, is a "one-of-a-kind" home near Rancho Drive and Washington Avenue. She's found room for 1,200 books, 500 yards of fabric, wine bottle storage, and all the cooking/baking paraphernalia they own.

Peterson takes considerable pride in that no area of their two-bedroom home of nearly 11 years looks cluttered.

"We have so much stuff, and so it was a challenge to suit a purpose with storage, and make it look nice at the same time," she said. "When you don't have the room, you get real inventive.

"But the home is very small, so you can overdo this terribly. So, we have to be very careful."

The living room is a microcosm of Peterson's plan. It contains the basic furnishings: a three-sided davenport (built by Peterson), a glass cocktail table and a roll-top desk.

It also has space for about 100 hardcover books, via wall shelves and more shelves underneath the desk; a wine rack Peterson built into the wall that holds 36 bottles; an elaborate series of 2-foot-tall plastic Christmas trees with lights on the pot shelf; and a series of candles and lamps to illuminate the room.

"We did everything in here so it was convenient," Peterson said. "It's comfortable for us, and it's easy to clean. If company says they're going to come, we can kind of `whip through' the whole place, and vacuum and dust it down in a half-hour or hour. So, it suits our purposes."

Peterson said their current inventory represents half of what they had two years ago. The volume of boxes in their home became overwhelming, so Peterson kept only what she thought "necessary."

The books are the bulkiest items. Since Peterson's design strategy includes placing a bookshelf atop nearly every doorway, and on various walls of every room, she has managed to showcase the books while keeping them conveniently shelved.

Peterson, a semi-retired costume maker, has no plans to get rid of the books.

"They're books that I'm going to read many times, and I'm not going to find them later," she said. "During my retirement, I'm doing a lot of reading again. They're the books I love from authors that I'm very happy with. I've got about 500 audio books as well."

The one place in the home without books is what Peterson calls the "genie room." It serves as her home theater, and doubles as guest quarters. The rugs on the floor and the walls give the room an exotic ambiance, in addition to making it soundproof. The television's placement in the closet exemplifies her "waste-not" approach to saving space, while the room's eye-catching quality meets her style goals.

"Eclectic" is the word she uses when describing her design philosophy. The "genie room" was named for its Arabian theme, but the living room contains a Kwan Yin statue to provide a house goddess and good-luck piece. Also in the living room is a Roman statue.

"There's no decorating style at all that's going on here, believe me," Peterson said.

Nonetheless, many of the items share a common thread: making them can often cost less than a one-year subscription to Better Homes and Gardens magazine.

Peterson is enthusiastic about the wine rack she built into the living room wall. Using a "hunk of sewer pipe" she found in the garage, and cutting it into 40 pieces, a wooden frame and some burgundy-colored velour, Peterson spent $12 on the item.

Similarly economical are a davenport, drinking-glass holder, kitty litter "cabinet" that resembles a bookcase when the door is closed, and videotape cabinet made from shutters that were potential trash-heap material. Peterson built them all at minimal cost.

"None of this is brain surgery," she said. "Each item is very easy to do. There's nothing here that takes a lot of artistic talent."

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