4th annual

tonight was the night. it is so great to see everyone together - ages ranged from 2 to 92. stories flowed along with the wine. good food. and great company.

lights on.

it is a tradition in our neighborhood to get your holiday bling going over the Thanksgiving weekend. D prefers to wait until the first weekend in December. but surprised me yesterday by setting the house aglow. xo

::

great holiday spread shot at the alexander built, palmer & krisel designed "elvis honeymoon hideaway" in the newest issue of "rue". (pages 138-165)

(also includes a wonderful story on hello handmade - and my friend shanna murray.)

house plants

we already have quite a few... but the latest issue of covet garden has me wanting to pump it up a bit.




have been collecting cuttings from friends. adding a trip to potted to our list of places to go this week.

listing.

before 2011

:: finish up with the new windows

:: inside of the house painted. and the outside trim

:: clerestory windows cleaned

:: fencing in the backyard

:: new outdoor table

yes - i do realize there are only 44 days until christmas.





a neighbour's house is about to list. he passed away last month. 93 years old. an original owner. he had actually sued the developer for the shoddy foundation work. and won. he had the best foundation in the 'hood. it is a great house. fingers crossed it is discovered by great people.

these don't do it justice.

but the book is amazing.

and how wonderful to see outtakes here.

it somehow sums up modern for me. we are not the modern of minimalism in this house. but have always looked as inspiration to charles and ray eames - and other artists and designers of that time that we have been lucky enough to have known. the eames house interior has been described as a "collage" - and the other homes in this book have that same feel. mix of old and new. mass produced and handmade. local and exotic. they tell a story. one i love.

this book

a current obsession.

the latest issue of Dwell - with an article on J.B. Blunk - didn't help it any. (Those who know me know how I feel about a man with a chainsaw.)




order it here.

pool inspiration

have had this on my desktop for the last few weeks - and now have seen in popping up again around the internet. better here to remember.

via remodelista.

(and my friend ang.)

hey d...

perhaps you could build one of these...





oh that barbara bestor. that domino 2006 issue has a permanent spot on my bedside table.

yard to do list. part I.

drill holes in that old artwork leaning against the fence and turn it into a vertical garden like that clipping from the LA Times on my inspiration board. (swap out the vegetables for succulents.)



think out the plantings around the pool. think native.



figure out what to do about the outdoor table. can it be saved? paint it grey to match the shed... or say hello to something new?

pup bowls

we adopted a new puppy - Moxie. and with that the search is on for accessories in keeping with our home decor. I saw some great looking plastic bowls - but have been trying to reduce the amount of plastic we bring into our home - and a nice ceramic one - but worried about breakage. The stainless steel ones seemed the best bet - but how to make them fit into our kitchen decor?

trust David.



he cut two circles out of a piece of cherry and finished it to match our cork floor and cabinets. perfect. (And utilitarian too. they don't tip over.  and it is easy to pop out the bowls and stick them in the dishwasher at the end of the day.)

adobe oven

we ate outdoors tonight for the first time in a long time. as things started to cool down I started thinking of the fabulous outdoor fireplaces at the Ace Hotel in Palm Springs:


via Ace

and how lovely it would be to be sitting by one as the sun set. in our own backyard.

I think we will adapt their design with that (with instructions) found on Sunset:


via Sunset

I'm imagining pizza dinner and gazing at the stars by the fire.


will let you know how it goes...

ahhh summer nights!

From the archive - Corners of our Home

first posted 2/2/06 11:06 a.m. at jumilla stories



This is my first post relating to Amanda's wonderful Corners of My Home pool on Flickr.

This is probably the busiest corner in our house. And rarely does it look this quiet - or tidy! The corner bench was one of the first things Papa built for the house when we moved in. Originally there was a door to the right, and between it and the window were the hook-ups for a washer and drier. The narrow galley kitchen had nowhere to sit - a priority in a kitchen for me, as it seems to be the spot where all my friends and family end up when they visit. We converted an unused storage area into a laundry room, removed the door (which adjoins a door onto the outdoor breezeway anyway, so was a bit redundant) and inserted this. It is wonderful. All storage drawers underneath full of art supplies and cookie cutters! It is where we eat almost every meal. It is where most activities take place. It is where games are played and stories told. In the morning it receives a perfect sunbeam. We still have a little work to do on it. The wiring for the light fixture needs to be redone (hidden) and the clock moved. And it is in the works this spring to re-plant the yard, including doing something outside this window so there is more to look at than fence.

See more corners here.

I've said it before

i ::heart:: barbara bestor

from today's LA Times Magazine

our kitchen

veni

vedi

vici

we purchased our home from its original owner. they had completed a redo sometime in the early 80s - but the kitchen had remained fairly original. complete with slide-out stove-top - which we perhaps foolhardily kicked to the curb. (it no longer worked.) the narrow kitchen upper cabinets had sliding pegboard doors. cool. but filthy. we replaced them with plexi. the counter top was a fab green and pink boomerang. very cool, but again had aged poorly and was replaced with baltic birch and white laminate counter tops. d rebuilt all the wooden cabinet doors and upper cabinetry, replicating them in the dining room. the carpet (!) and original lino underneath were replaced with cork. the 80s light fixtures were replaced with simple globes. the only real footprint change was moving the washing machine out to a newly created laundry room and building a breakfast nook where the dryer, and another door once stood. (details to follow.)

really before, kind of

i realized after posting about the bathroom earlier today that i didn't really include any before shots. i searched my files (boxes of prints! ahhh film!) and couldn't find anything decent. these are pretty much before. a little demo, wallpaper removed, new window installed - but you get the idea.

and yes. that is carpet.

process::product

this is how it usually works. (aka the story of our master bathroom.)

i see an idea somewhere. (in this case sunset magazine)


d takes it to the extreme. (in this case tearing the room back to the studs and starting from scratch while the girls and i were out of town.)


we live in a state of chaos for a while. (in this case not too long - though at the time it made me crazy.)


and somehow, with his own hands he transforms the space into the vision. (in this case - well in all cases - making me very happy.)

wall.paper

when we purchased the house there was wallpaper. everywhere. mainly this large blue floral (that you see in the last post as well.) actually, in our bedroom, this was covered by a slightly more contemporary paper with a print of bamboo stalks. that come off easily to reveal more large blue flowers. i arranged a group of landscape painting in the same tones (painting by d while in art school)but we are ready for a change!




some friends love this paper. i don't. perhaps because i have to live with it! the flowers don't want to budge. and frankly i am confident the wall they cover is likely cracked enough to eliminate the idea of painting. d is working on plans for a new bed - and i am looking for paper to cover this.

right now i am thinking:

this was my first love. the grasscloth adds a natural element i really like. but worry about keeping it clean with littles who still like to tumble on our bed.

from twenty2

perhaps this:

from MissPrint

or maybe this - if i can find it:

Orla Kiely wallpaper via Anthropology

i want to keep the quilt. our master bathroom is blue and gray. there needs to be a tie-in.

hmmmmm

a place to start.

our living room the weekend we moved in. july, 2001. (that bump i'm resting my breakfast on is our first daughter e.)

we closed on the house in june. but d took a month to get things somewhat ready. carpet torn-up. floors refinished. wallpaper stripped. (sort of.) a deep cleaning.

the milo baughman chair came through d's parents. the wardrobe i purchased when we lived in that warehouse in mid-city that didn't have any closets. it's long gone. (thanks craigslist.) d build the table. the chair i am in he found curbside just before we found the house. he thought it was good omen that homeownership was headed our way, and had it reupholstered as a rocker for the nursery.

it was good omen.


same spot this morning.