The Wake Up with…Hopie Stockman
Sun-shiney optimist, Block Shop Textiles Co-owner, Great Hostess
Los Angeles, CA.
Hopie is an onomatopoeia in that she is exactly what her name sounds like: happy, hopeful, bright, up…she’s charged with positive energy. And her home is just as you’d imagine: light-filled and soaring like a birdcage up, up, up. Her bathrooms (there are two) are flodded with color and happy (if you can use “happy” sa a noun.) She and her sister, Lily have a badass block print business based in L.A. and Jaipur, India and they donate a percentage of their profits to a women’s empowerment program…
How did the color stories for your bathrooms come to be?
Impulse decision made while on a Home Depot run. I painted the bathrooms myself and did a mediocre job, but it sure made me feel like I was in a “WE CAN FIX IT UP!” movie montage from the 80s (i.e. bandana, overalls, can-do attitude, Tears for Fears, crackin’ open a cold one, etc, etc). Both bathrooms turned out to be a full shade darker than I expected, but the bold colors make us happy.
What’s your favorite thing about each bathroom?
The turquoise bathroom is my little tropical paradise. It gets great, soft light; enough to keep my orchids thriving. I love the rustic-chic tiles my landlords put in when they built the house in 1991. Very Diane Lane in “Under the Tuscan Sun;” my lifestyle stretch goal.
The salmon bathroom features a laundry machine, which feels luxurious after living sans W/D in our old apartment.
I love your mix of old and new, modern and eclectic. where do you look for your home goods? specifically the things in your bathroom?My favorite decor items are my Quiet Town shower curtains, duh! They were my very first purchase for our new place. Most of our stuff is from the Rose Bowl flea market,Sunbeam Vintagein Highland Park / other thrift stores around LA, or family hand-me-downs. I love myCold Picnicbath mats;oneof them reminds me of an Ann Truitt painting.
My interior designer friend told me that if she could only spend money on any three design elements, it would be light fixtures, paint, and rugs. Even though we’re just renting our place, I replaced the gnarly light fixtures with some cute brass ones I got on sale from CB2.
We know that shopping for the bathroom is a “chore”, there’s a real lack of thoughtfully designed accessories out there. what would you redesign if you could? (for instance, we have that toothbrush holder with the open bottom in our kid’s bathroom and i’m pretty certain my son’s toothbrush slides onto the floor behind the toilet every night).
That’s true! But bathrooms can actually be fun to decorate because they’re low stakes. Especially when it comes to paint color or wallpaper. I mostly use accessories that aren’t bathroom-specific, like an enamel mug I use for our toothbrushes, or our towel ring, which is an antique brass door knocker.
Where did all of those beautiful orchids come from? are those “your” flower? and do they do best in humidity? Any plant advice actually?
T Magazine will have you know that orchids are back in vogue right now, along with all the other dentist’s office / investment banker bachelor pads of the 80s organ-flaunting flowers. But I’ve loved them ever since my late great aunt figure, Mame, took us to the spectacular orchid garden at Duke Gardens when we were impressionable little gremlins. Also, Adaptation is in my top dozen movies.
One of the orchids is quite special to me. My husband got it for me the day he proposed in May 2016. It bloomed for a second time during our wedding in March 2017, and now it’s blooming for a third time (two years after he proposed). The other orchids I got from the LA Flower Market and they’ve been happy in here for almost a year. They get about an ice-cubes’ worth of water per week, and they like the consistently bright but diffused light as well as the moisture in the bathroom. FYI the orchids I got from Home Depot died, so my advice is to head straight to a quality plant shop for yer’orchids.
Do you really use that old fashioned perfume squeezy applicator thing? or is that just for show? and what’s that fragrance?
YES. The fragrance and brilliant packaging are from Glad Hours, my dear friend’s company.
You travel to india often for work. any memorable bath or shower experiences there?
During my most recent trip this past March, I spent a week in Gokarna, a remote town in Southern India. I stayed in a thatched-roof cottage in the jungle that had a heavenly outdoor shower. Tropical birds, lizards and monkeys living in the trees overhead made for an incredibly immersive bathing experience / soundtrack.
Thanks, Hopie! And now for our TMI Lightning Round...
Deodorant: natural? toxic? Aesop deodorant or non-physical exertion days. Sometimes I spray it on my clothes like perfume.For schlepping days, I use the fully toxic drugstore stuff 100%.
Tooth brushing: Shower or Sink? Sink
Toilet Paper: Eco or the plush stuff? I recently graduated from whatever sad TP is sitting on the bottom shelf at the corner store, to buying the nice, buoyant stuff in bulk. It’s my way of proving to myself that I’m a grown-up.
Toilet Entertainment: phone, book, deep thoughts? Phone. Although we do have good backup in the form of this pint-sized book about Celine Dion.
A Smelly one: Light something or Spray something? Light. Palo Santo.
Shower view? Our leafy street. We realized the hard way that our street also has a clear view of the shower. And by “hard way,” I mean my husband stood outside the house one morning when I was showering and said “I can see you showering” in an indoor voice, and I could hear him crystal clear and we could make direct eye contact and then I realized for the first time in my life that windows work in two directions.
Bath or Shower? Mostly shower with an occasional guilt-ridden bath (drought state).
Toothpaste: Fancy or Regs? Crest Whitening.*Reddens with shame, zips over to Mohawk General Store, shells out $15 for Italian toothpaste with turn-of-the-century packaging, regains sense of dignity, predicts future, wins big prize.
Favorite toothbrush? Oh boy, truthfully I couldn’t name a toothbrush besides Oral-B, but thank you for giving me something to aspire to.
Towels: terry or Turkish? My parents got us big fluffy white towels for our wedding. I love them even though they’re monogrammed which is extremely uncool.
Hand soap: Bar or Liquid? SaipuaThe best, olive oil based hand soaps. Made by Sarah’s mom in upstate New York. Love Wary Meyers salty sea breeze with the blue and white stripes, too. Made in their Maine house.
soap vehicle? Loofah, wash cloth or our old friend the pouf self-slatherer.
favorite products right now? I should start with the disclaimer that I was raised by a mom who swears by unscented organic stuff for body, face, everything. Growing up there were no full-length mirrors in our house, and my three sisters and I didn’t do makeup until college. So even though I dabble in the world of products, I have pretty low product requirements (standards?). Admittedly, I did buy something nice for this shoot. My favorite shampoo and conditioner are R+Co; I love the Atlantis line for my thin, dry mouse hair.
Travel: Bring or Wing-ding? WING DING. :) The travel-sized section at CVS.
And finally…What was your last Ah-Hah! moment in the shower? I just remembered, while showering, where I’d stashed a great pair of jeans that I thought I lost during our move almost a year ago. EXTREMELY SATISFYING.