70 PUNCHMAGAZINE.COM {home & design} But instead of architecture, Jeannine got a degree in fashion merchandising and marketing, only to find low-paying, low-rung jobs after graduation. So she switched to finance, then to corporate event planning. While drawn to event-room decorating, she never envisioned her present business. Amid a long work hiatus, Jeannine poured her creative energies into bringing up three children, now in junior high, high school and college. A midlife career took shape as she imagined the new contours and contents of each room in a gut-to-studs remodel of their Peninsula home. During the often rigorous process, Jeannine found herself thinking, “This is Give a girl a classic Mac, a bike, frequent trips to Grandma’s, and what do you get? Blue-striped tigers prowling the walls of a hot pink powder room. Pops of orange peeking out from behind books. Hidden push doors. In short, the bold vision of Peninsula interior designer Jeannine Cranston. Young Jeannine spent hours on the family’s Macintosh computer, manipulating squares to create floor plans. “I always loved houses,” she says. Artistic and avid, she tackled school projects—and life—full-tilt. The 10-year-old and her friends, bored with their mid-century houses in Moraga, often cycled to a nearby new development, complete with model homes. “We would go to all the open houses and see the different styles,” recalls Jeannine.
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