Now that I’m starting to get my feet back underneath me, I’m trying to get caught back up on the world. I have a mountain of blog content stacked up waiting for me to get around to uploading photos, so I’m going to try to make my way through it by the end of the summer. For starters, I thought I’d share the close-enough finished product of my insane year of work. I have hardly done a thing this year but work on this house, and I’m really starting to enjoy the fruits of my labors. I think I love this house so much because I’ve worked so hard on it. It’s like I heard somewhere about service: if you want to love someone, serve them. I love my house because for the past year I’ve taken it from an outdated monstrosity to someplace I can be proud of.
So, I’m going to dedicate this week on the blog to showing off the new look. I have nearly furnished this whole place and haven’t had a chance to talk about any of it! Gosh this year has kicked my butt. Anyhoo… for today I’ll walk you around the ground floor.
Let’s start the tour at the front door and into our tiny living room:
Long time readers with very good memories may remember those chairs. They were some of the first pieces I spotted as we were shopping and one of the only actual items I ended up bringing home after my time at the temp job.
Off to the side is my studio, which hasn’t changed besides the fact that it’s covered in dust and cat hair since I rarely get to see it these days, and then a little guest bathroom:
You may remember this as the cave of a bathroom that had leopard print wallpaper. I don’t care how in it is now, I will never use wallpaper. I’ve taken down enough wallpaper for four lifetimes.
This leads into the dining room:
This table is really hard to photograph. It’s surrounded by windows, so it’s perpetually backlit, and it’s a really dark wood anyway. Would you believe we got this table, which has a classic art deco crescent base and six bucket chairs …. for $800??
When our table broke back before Thanksgiving, taking most of our dishes with it, we ended up propping it together with wood glue and hoping that it wouldn’t pull a repeat performance in the middle of dinner one night. We couldn’t imagine coming up with enough money for a new table and chairs before the kids were old enough to do their homework on it. We were toying around with the idea of buying a bedframe (because we are super classy and just have a mattress and box spring on the floor) so the co-sleeper would be at the same height, and there in the store was this little gem. It was the floor model, and they just couldn’t sell any so they were discontinuing it. Everybody wanted classic California casual, so this perfect little art deco reproduction was just waiting for me. What a find.
This leads into our main family room:
We had the couch made for us because I had my heart set on a curved couch. It’s excellent for seating and conversations, and I think it really brings this room in to make it cozy. Our next big purchase will most likely be an area rug for this room, because this spot gets so much traffic that unless I sweep and mop daily, I end up with black feet by the end of the day.
Then instead of a breakfast nook I created this little home office area:
This teak desk and reproduction tulip chair were the first pieces of furniture we bought for the place. You may have noticed by now that I have a love affair with midcentury modern and art deco design, and this tulip chair is my prize possession. There are some wonderful antique shops up and down Pacific Coast Highway, and one great place had both of these. I actually got quite a deal by buying them together. Putting together a tour all in one place like this makes me realize just how many outrageous deals I’ve gotten on some beautiful beautiful things. I have wicked good furniture karma.
Also, these inset shelves used to be a winerack. I just flipped the shelves over and now instead of ridges for holding wine bottles in place, they have triangle details on the bottom – say it with me now – very art deco.
We then find ourselves in the kitchen:
From this distance I think it looks great. If you got up close you’d see the paint already chipping and the scratched up glass. And don’t try closing them or you’ll really see the effects of the damage the rain caused. But until we’re ready to redo the kitchen right, at least I can stomach the sight of them which is more than I can say for the nasty peach glazed cabinets.
Tomorrow…the upstairs.
