Indra Fortney explains her years in Finland as a love-hate relationship. “The Finnish men and women are extremely kind and well educated, but the weather got to me,” she says. The California native found it hard to survive the long, dark winters that are part and parcel of Scandinavian living. “While I was there we had record lows for snowfall and among the darkest winters in history. We had a nine hours of daylight for the whole month of December this past year.”
As many on the West Coast know, California (and Napa, specifically) is a great spot to be both human and avocado. For the most part, Fortney now loves the Mediterranean weather that Wine Country dwellers appreciate: clean days and sleepless nights, using a relatively short rainy season in the winter.
“I do miss my customers [in Finland],” Fortney says. “From the end of the time there, I had cultivated a thriving architectural and design photography business.”
Inspire Your Own Life Style
Fortney enjoys the Ikat cloth she had custom made for the throw cushions. “Ikat fabrics are stitched on narrow looms,” she says. “It is a labor-intensive procedure. I favor handwoven Ikat fabric because it is free of the chemical additives and pressures of power-loom production, and they’re vastly different in feel and appearance from machine-made fabrics.”
Coffee table: Habitat (Sweden); floor lamp: CB2; armchairs: Classic flea market with initial faux leather upholstery; Buddha statue: Via Diva
Inspire Your Own Life Style
Inspire Your Own Life Style
Fortney’s house showcases original artwork from friends and family, and a few she made herself, such as the artwork above the table. “The photos are a triptych of my girlfriend, Anna, that volunteered to be my own version,” she explains. “I was going to get a vintage’70s Vogue [style].”
Rug: Vegetable-dyed Afghan rug from the Alameda flea market; table: Ikea; white leather chairs: imported from Finland
Inspire Your Own Life Style
Fortney enjoys the fireplace that is contemporary. “No plug, no gasoline socket,” she says. “It only burns with cans of gel. You pop open a can and light the flame.”
Art: Angela Willetts; fireplace: AllModern
Inspire Your Own Life Style
Fortney identifies the layout roots of the guest toilet as clearly Finnish. “This bathroom has the simple, clean appearance that is widespread in Finland,” she explains. “I included touches that give it a more earthy texture: pottery, baskets and an oil painting.” The oil-on-wood art piece is a smaller version of a larger fish painting by Angela Tirrell, awarded to Fortney as a housewarming present for the villa in Greece. The fish, together with a few other bits, today call Napa house.
Sink: Vessel sink by Decolav; artwork: Angela Tirrell
Inspire Your Own Life Style
The buttery cream paint colour was Fortney’s method of infusing the space with a little New England feel. “I do not mind throwing a New England reference into a contemporary, loftlike inside,” she says. “My attention was to maintain a spacious feel, a place where the two art and furnishings can breathe.”
Inspire Your Own Life Style
The master bedroom is still pristine, with a slipcover headboard and a George Nelson pendant on order. But”this article has led to a purchase of a big, beautiful new painting in our bedroom,” says Fortney. The abstract can also be by Angela Tirrell. “I asked her to deliver something over for the photo shoot,” Fortney recalls,”and decided that I couldn’t live without it” The prayer seat against the wall has been obtained from among Fortney’s trips to Nepal.
Inspire Your Own Life Style
The top shelf at Fortney’s home office, from where she asserts her blog, shows a portrait in oil that artist Caitlynn Booth did ; it was part of a larger exhibit of portraits. “The fan is circa 1940s, and the lamp is now, from Target,” says Fortney. The top, bottom-up shade is constructed from the exact same natural woven cloth as the living room colors.
Bamboo shades: Woven Woods Plus
Inspire Your Own Life Style
Fortney, found here with her husband, loves to entertain and says that their favourite spot to hang out at home is with no doubt their built-in bar. “I am always throwing a celebration,” she says. “The previous one was a Mad Men cocktail party. The open floor plan we’ve generated is the ideal arena for small or large groups of individuals.”
Inspire Your Own Life Style
The pair had a steel framework made out of a very long leg section that has been bolted into the wall. “Among my 200-pound employees stood on the bar — that is how powerful it really is,” she says. Fortney’s stepdad, who was able to design race cars for Lotus, came up with the pub layout; lacquer automobile paint was used for the bar end.
More:
Clean, Colorful and Collected at Denmark
Guest Picks: 20 Scandinavian Finds
Regional Modern: Northern California Architecture
