text: Baylor Chapman has a sense of repurpose
  HOME DESIGN Unexpected displays bring rooms to life
  1of14Baylor Chapman, owner and floral desinger of Lilia B. Designs in San Francisco's Mission District, shows us how she repurposes salvage and incorporates plants in unusual ways into her home. Ran on: 11-01-2009 Baylor Chapman, owner and floral designer of Lilia B. Design in the Mission District, is known for sustainable gardens. Ran on: 11-01-2009 Photo caption Dummy text goes here. Dummy text goes here. Dummy text goes here. Dummy text goes here. Dummy text goes here. Dummy text goes here. Dummy text goes here. Dummy text goes here.<137,1970-12-18-17-21-52,><252>###Photo: greenery01_ph1<252>1255478400<252>SFC<252>###Live Caption:Baylor Chapman, owner and floral desinger of Lilia B. Designs in San Francisco's Mission District, shows us how she repurposes salvage and incorporates plants in unusual ways into her home.###Caption History:Baylor Chapman, owner and floral desinger of Lilia B. Designs in San Francisco's Mission District, shows us how she repurposes salvage and incorporates plants in unusual ways into her home.###Notes:###Special Instructions:MANDATORY CREDIT FOR PHOTOG AND SF CHRONICLE-NO SALES-MAGS OUT-INTERNET OUT-TV OUT<137><252>Russell Yip/The ChronicleShow MoreShow Less
  2of14Baylor Chapman, owner and floral desinger of Lilia B. Designs in San Francisco's Mission District, shows us how she repurposes salvage and incorporates plants in unusual ways into her home. Chapman traded a refrigerator for this storage chest. The vase is a repurposed light fixture with a glued-on base, and the candlesticks came from her grandmother.Russell Yip/The ChronicleShow MoreShow Less
  4of14Baylor Chapman, owner and floral desinger of Lilia B. Designs in San Francisco's Mission District, shows us how she repurposes salvage and incorporates plants in unusual ways into her home. A grafted euphorbia (left) and an orchid adorn her grandmother's cabinet. The lamp was a gift from her sister.Russell Yip/The ChronicleShow MoreShow Less
  5of14While only the seeds of the osage oranges are edible, they give off a pleasant scent. Baylor Chapman, owner and floral desinger of Lilia B. Designs in San Francisco's Mission District, shows us how she repurposes salvage and incorporates plants in unusual ways into her home.Russell Yip/The ChronicleShow MoreShow Less
  7of14Ant plant in San Francisco, Calif., on October 28, 2009.Craig Lee/Special to The ChronicleShow MoreShow Less
  8of14Baylor Chapman, owner and floral desinger of Lilia B. Designs in San Francisco's Mission District, shows us how she repurposes salvage and incorporates plants in unusual ways into her home.Russell Yip/The ChronicleShow MoreShow Less
  10of14Baylor Chapman, owner and floral desinger of Lilia B. Designs in San Francisco's Mission District, shows us how she repurposes salvage and incorporates plants in unusual ways into her home.Russell Yip/The ChronicleShow MoreShow Less
  11of14Baylor Chapman, owner and floral desinger of Lilia B. Designs in San Francisco's Mission District, shows us how she repurposes salvage and incorporates plants in unusual ways into her home. Here Chapman uses acorns as place card holders.Russell Yip/The ChronicleShow MoreShow Less
  13of14Baylor Chapman, owner and floral desinger of Lilia B. Designs in San Francisco's Mission District, shows us how she repurposes salvage and incorporates plants in unusual ways into her home. Copper chargers from a scrap salvage company and placemats, plates, napkins and silverware from her grandmother adorn her dining table.Russell Yip/The ChronicleShow MoreShow Less
  Baylor Chapman's San Francisco home isn't about formal floral centerpieces or huge houseplants. For the sought-after designer, known for sustainable gardens and floral arrangements, home is about personal touches, repurposing materials and using nature's knickknacks to their utmost potential.
  In many ways, the choices that Chapman makes with foliage are second nature. It's not simply because as the owner of Lila B. Design (named for her grandmother and great-grandmother), she isn't limited to premixed supermarket bouquets and hardware store houseplants. It's Chapman's knack for knowing how some of the most unobvious of nature's greens can be integrated as decorative objects throughout her airy Mission District studio.
  "I try to connect food with flowers," says Chapman. "Something that will come in useful later." No matter the level of whimsy, she manages to give her peculiar-meets-practical handmade creations an air of organic sophistication. They could include a simple gathering of cheery persimmons or an abstract piece of ginger root displayed among framed photos.
  Typically, it means utilizing unpredictable groupings or bits and pieces others would cast off as waste. Mini watermelons on a crisping vine, displayed over a stack of books. Or a dainty strawberry vine draped along a television console. Dogwood, cotton or fig branches, as well as unruly piles of cedar cones, carefully arranged horse chestnuts and acorns yet to pop from their pods all have promise.
  Combined, these curious details are successful in Chapman's 850-square-foot space. Before she moved into the converted Allied Box Factory, she was inclined to favor rustic, vintage furnishings. To better suit the decidedly urban palette - and because Chapman's penchant for reusing and repurposing isn't limited to offbeat botanicals - she mixed in refined modern wood and metal pieces.
  Yet her partiality toward salvage still pays off here, such as when a dismantled light fixture becomes a vase. Tarnished silver urns display succulent bouquets.
  On her 500-square-foot deck, a dining bench (doubling as storage) is born from an old metal storage container plucked from the back of a truck. Found shutters given a coat of paint and then planted with succulents wrapped in weed cloth add some height to her potted garden.
  To make up for the lack of walls inside, she assembled mini vignettes that mix her signature pared-down casual charm with the practicality of storage space. "Even though I don't have full walls, I like to create rooms within the one large space. I use rugs and furniture to delineate the space. I like flow and easy movement from one place to the next."
  Still, Chapman relies heavily on botanicals of all kinds to provide patterns against a subdued backdrop. "I look for shapes and textures, something with high impact. An arrangement of flowers may not have the same impact as a big moss ball." It's a method that can be achieved without plants, she says. Twig shaped hooks, prints from vintage horticultural books and floral-printed textiles. (Her own dining room table bench is made cozy with throw pillows covered in vintage frond prints her sister collected in Thailand.)
  No matter, the spare and chic collections are dictated by a few simple rules: They have to be easy and they have to endure. "I look for things that will last. Quality over quantity." Rather than splurging on flowers that might not make it through the weekend, Chapman accessorizes with trios of bumpy Osage oranges, a lone dried thorny devil's claw and, perhaps, an architectural dried eucalyptus pod to adorn her bedside table.
  These small, spare accessories also provide versatility. "I like to move things around," says Chapman. "I like people to touch things, experience them, raise questions."
  Her craving to experiment with uncommon plants and flowers recently led her to cultivate her own supply. She uses the rooftop of neighboring Stable Cafe and shares the perimeter of a paved commercial lot in Dogpatch to tend to her own unusual and locally grown blooms.
  What makes her choices even more ingenious is that they help solve an age-old problem: how to keep touches of nature present without their wilting. Securing a plant that's easy to care for and complements a design is a chore. Another issue, says Chapman, is time.
  "But there are so many plants and/or natural things that one can use to bring the outdoors in. They are easy, in your home already and you might even be able to eat them after you admire them for a while."
  Baylor Chapman's recommendations for plants, flowers, salvage and other materials:
  Annie's Annuals & Perennials: "A fabulous and fun and large nursery," says Chapman. "Annie chooses unique plants and the prices are doable. Easy-to-see-and-read plant tags help educate customers."
  740 Market Ave., Richmond, (510) 215-1671. anniesannuals.com
  Berkeley Bowl: "Fun fruits and foods: Display them ... then dine on them."
  2020 Oregon St., Berkeley. (510) 843-6929. berkeleybowl.com
  Building Resources: "Beautiful tumbled glass to pour into the bottom of a vase. Our old shutters, turned succulent wall, came from here."
  701 Amador St., San Francisco, (415) 285-7814. buildingresources.org
  Cliff's Variety Store: "More than just nails. ... You can create a ton of arrangements with the one-of-a-kind vases, planters and pots. Look for small wood bowls, cheese domes for terrariums and interesting chains."
  479 Castro St., San Francisco, (415) 431-5365. cliffsvariety.com.
  Molte Cose: "Vintage heaven: beautiful napkins, teacups and more."
  2044 Polk St., San Francisco. (415) 921-5374.
  San Francisco Flower Mart: "The most amazing flowers, fruits and plants." (Some vendors are open to the public from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Saturday.)
  640 Brannan St., San Francisco. (415) 392-7944. sfflmart.com
  San Francisco Scrap Metal: "The outdoor dining bench/storage unit for garden supplies came from here. It was once on the back of someone's truck."