“Each object becomes a piece of art,” Malibu-based designer Karin Blake says of her treatment of folk art in her clients' Los Angeles house. She placed an antique rocking horse on an 1890 sideboard with an oil by Rufino Tamayo. Her signature style is a blend of antiques, often from unexpected sources. For example, a wooden template for a giant cog, from a Victorian gear factory, now painted bright red, was spotted in a Bloomingdale's window display.