At Home With CityMama: Stefania Pomponi Butler's Retro Eclectic Home

Can you tell us about CityMama's decorating style?

My decorating style is pretty eclectic. I work really hard not to follow any one style of decorating because I hate to be categorized (even as a blogger I defy categorization!). I like the freedom to mix and match pieces from different periods. Overall, though, I'd say I'm going for a comfortable and cozy 70's modern feel.

What is your favorite room in the apartment?

My favorite room in the house actually isn't the kitchen even though I love to cook and it is a functional (and cute!) space. As you can see from the pictures, it's a tiny kitchen and really only one person can be in there at a time. I am a collaborative cook, so I miss having the space to have family and friends working along side me.

My FAVORITE room is actually our combined living and dining room because it's such an open and inviting space. I love having people sitting at the dining room table or on the couches chatting with one another. I hate walls!

Can you tell us about your furniture?

Our furniture is mix of heirlooms, souvenirs from my travels, & antique store finds, with a dash of Craigslist freebies & IKEA basics thrown in for good measure. I can sense a pile of furniture on a sidewalk with a "free" sign attached to it from miles away. At age 40, my husband & I still haven't "settled down" yet so we don't have much "big commitment" furniture in our apartment. When we were childfree and living the dot-com high-life in San Francisco, we splurged on custom-made, down-stuffed sofas from Crate & Barrel, an antique dining table & chairs, and expensive electronics. We move around a lot and we have young kids so we've forgone the fancy furniture for pieces that work. Our IKEA couches are leather and can be wiped down with a damp cloth. The dining table is stored at my brother's house. Our china cabinet with my mother's & grandmother's china, crystal, & sterling silver pieces that were passed down are in storage, too.

What made you choose this Silicon Valley apartment?

We like it for several reasons: 1. It's close to downtown Palo Alto, and even though we aren't in a big city, it lets us feel as if we are. We are city-folk and like to be walking or biking distance to everything. 2. It has a pool and my little fish girls love to swim. 3. It's a spacious garden apartment. At about 1200 square feet, it's almost as big as the house we were renting. 4. My office is in a studio apartment just down the hall so it's convenient for me as a work-at-home mom. My office also has toys and books and a place for my girls to watch movies while I work. I can also watch them playing in the pool from my desk. 5. It's much cheaper than the house we were previously renting!

It's allowing us to save money which is important to us especially because I just started a social media marketing agency with two partners (self-funded!), and my husband works for a start-up. We're trying to be smart about weathering this economy.

You'll notice that none of my recipes are complicated. Most only take 20-30 minutes to put together and many can be made ahead. Choosing local and organic ingredients whenever possible for me is important because I like supporting my local farmers, vendors, and markets, and I don't want to feed my kids unecessary chemicals, additives, and preservatives. I don't get preachy about it and I work hard to show that yes, I'm on a budget, too, and I can still shop for local and organic ingredients. We all do the best we can and because I am a Libra I can say that even though I try to choose local/organic whenever I can, sometimes, every once in a long while, you just need a Happy Meal. (I know!)