Skaters, creative directors, chefs and fashion designers are captivating subjects for photographer Todd Selby, who has traveled the world for more than 20 years, capturing creatives at home for his blog, Selby.
“I've always been interested in innovative people who live in vibrant, colorful homes,” says Selby. “Growing up in Orange County during the 1980s, the most interesting person in my world was a classmate who used to draw Garfield during lunch every day. He was asking me, 'What do you want Garfield to do?' To me, he was a hero in a clique school.”
After becoming a father, Selby's interest focused on how other fathers managed their chaotic home lives. His latest book, “The Selby Comes Home: An Interior Design Book for Creative Families” (Abrams, $65), is a testament to this curiosity. It has a wide range of families (41) from Echo Park to Tokyo. They include a family of four who reside in a one-bedroom apartment in the city of Kawasaki and a family of five who care for ducks, chickens, a dog and donkeys on a 20-acre nature refuge outside Portland. .
In Sunday Funday, the people of Los Angeles tell us step by step their ideal Sunday in the city. Find ideas and inspiration on where to go, what to eat and how to enjoy life on the weekends.
Selby says traveling the world has made him appreciate Los Angeles. “Los Angeles is so spread out, there are so many cities and they are all so different,” she says. “It's an interesting place for a person who likes to explore.”
Selby travels less than before so she can be at home with her two children, ages 6 and 8. He then details his ideal Sunday itinerary in which, like his subjects, he combines family and home life, interspersing some time for himself.
This interview has been lightly edited and condensed for length and clarity.
5:45 am: Online shopping under the covers
My luxury is to get up very early and hide under the covers to do some silent online shopping and then go back to sleep. I will read to my friend Earl Earl Newsletter by Laurel Pantin and buy the men's silk scarf he recommended on Etsy. Or I'll go online to Wayfair and get a two-seat camping chair. I am a fan of camping chairs. I have five just for myself, for different occasions and endorsements. Full disclosure: I've directed a ton of Kelly Clarkson ads for Wayfair, but I'm a big fan of the brand and the camping chairs!
6:15 am: Go back to sleep
After some more sleep, I'll wake up at 7am and go downstairs for coffee and breakfast with my wife, Danielle, and our kids. I make coffee the night before in my beloved Chemex with Groundworks beans. I always buy 5 pound bags of their Black Magic Espresso because I'm afraid I'll run out, which I've never done. Then in the morning, I serve the coffee at room temperature over ice and add some Califia Farms Extra Creamy Oat Milk.
7:15 a.m. Jewelry Try-On
My wife often gives me a piece of jewelry to try from her jewelry line, Sherman Field. Today, it will probably be a 25-inch Double Chain Medium so I can play two chains like one of my main musical influences, 2 Chainz. I'm an official wear tester, which means you wear a sample and make sure it works.
7:45 a.m. Game of life with children.
I will continue the Game of Life with my children at our dining room table. The classic board game chooses your career path and bank loans. The more babies you have, the more money you get, which is confusing.
8:30 am: Back exercise for photographers.
After Life, I'll be doing my photographers back workout developed by Jason Whitman on Positive Physiotherapy. One of the exercises involves lying on a psoas ball. It's like a big puffy but firm ball on your stomach and somehow makes your back feel amazing.
9 am: Bike ride with the cobra snake
I'll be taking a quick bike ride with local photography celebrity Mark Hunter, aka Cobrasnake. We are both “old school bloggers” and like to ride our bikes down Ocean Avenue. I have a beach cruiser with a coconut drink holder. We will pass 21st Place and 21st Street in Santa Monica on our bike ride. I always wonder why there is a 21st Street and a 21st Place.
11:15 am: Order the secret sandwich at Lady & Larder
Then we will go through Lady and pantry for a Scribe rosé pinot noir, colorful candles and crackers. We like to support local small businesses. They are famous for their cheese boards. Sometimes I can even order a secret sandwich. Because it is a secret? I have no idea, that's what they call it. But who doesn't love a tasty secret?
11:45 am: Pigs and play at the Mar Vista Farmers Market
Around noon, the whole family will head to the Mar Vista Farmers Market to buy fruits and vegetables for the week and play with Steve's machines. It has cranes operated by children and wild robots. We usually buy some “little pigs” (as my daughter calls them) – pig-shaped red bean dumplings.
1:00 p.m.: Visit the birthday party circuit
We usually end up at one or two children's birthday parties over the weekend. Children usually go straight to tasting as many sweets and fruit drinks as quickly as possible. I'll check out the food options; normally, it is Fresh Pizza Brothers cut into small squares. I'll look at the pizza, think about sautéing it, and then eat it.
2:00 p.m.: Painting in the art studio.
For a long time, children were not interested in my art studio, which is a special place. At one point, I told them they weren't allowed in my art studio, and the next day, everyone was talking about my art studio. They love doing watercolors with me. I'm trying to get them to do “paint by numbers” in my new book, but they haven't been interested. We usually paint kittens, unicorns, or other creatures with “pretty eyes.”
3 pm Dinner pickup at Tehran Market.
We like to go to Tehran market, a large Persian grocery store in Santa Monica, to pick up dinner and some shopping. On Sundays, they have people barbecuing in the parking lot. You place your order and then you can buy it inside. I usually load up on labneh while I wait for my huge plate of salmon and grilled vegetables.
16:00: Lifeguard
I'll sit in one of my camping chairs and be a lifeguard while the kids swim.
5 pm: Prepare dinner together as a family.
My youngest daughter is an unconditional lover of sushi and she prepares it herself with fish that we bought at Eataly and Santa Monica Seafood — Eataly has great salmon eggs. My youngest daughter will hand-make some egg and salmon sushi and my oldest daughter will help make macaroni and cheese. Both kids help make kale chips for the whole family. Then our family and some friends will eat our takeaway at the Tehran market.
7 pm: reading library books.
We read to our children from library books. I am a huge Los Angeles and Santa Monica Library system fan. You can request any book you want and they will send it to your local library for pickup. Even the DVDs. Our family currently has 51 titles available! I stop by a library every week, dropping off books and picking up new ones. That way, the books will always be up to date for the children and we can follow their interests on a daily basis. Currently, we love reading the Isadora Moon and Real Pigeons series. Isadora Moon is about a girl who is half fairy and half vampire.
8 p.m.: Balloons and bath.
After the kids are asleep, I'll play some Bloons TD 6, a video game in which little monkeys throw darts at balloons, on my iPad. It captivates me. I do not know why. Then it's time for a Lush bath bomb and a soak.
9 p.m. Books and Z
I am currently loving”The Lost City of Z.” It was rumored to be a city in the Amazon jungle, and all these people went to look for it and didn't come back. I'm in the third round of people who don't come back. I was in the Amazon with my dad and we went for three days, but we didn't see any pink river dolphins. I feel lucky not to have disappeared.
