Christmas Project Breakthrough

Christmas Project Breakthrough    

I feel as though I won the Christmas Lottery!  This year, the holiday project was at our house instead of at our daughter’s house.  When we first looked at this house, we found it a bit quirky.  Fortunately for us, the quirky characteristics caused many potential buyers pass on it, leaving it for the more adventurous.

We have not yet figured out what the original intent was for the add-on room, our project room.  We believe the room was added on about 25 to 30 years ago, based on materials used.  The do-it-yourself person who built the room did not have the qualifications to do a really good construction job, especially with the electrical system.  The room has seven good quality, floor to ceiling windows, all dual glazed, but none of them open for ventilation.  The exterior door, off the driveway, is the only access into the room; fortunately there is a screen door for fresh air.  This room was not good for not much more than a sunroom or storage, which is how we have used it.

However, we always intended it to be a guest room, knowing we would need to upgrade many aspects of it.  Most important was constructing direct access to the rest of the house from the room, without having to go outside walk down the driveway and enter the house through the back door.  Having an accessiblebathroom without having to go outside was primary.

The plan was to cut a door through a wall in the second bedroom aka my husband’s office.  We could see there had been a window in that wall prior to building the add- on room; therefore, there was an existing header in the wall.  That wall was the logical place for a door.  The window was simply walled over from the inside and left exposed on the guest room side, though disguised by a make-shift closet.  

The biggest problem was cutting through 1938 stucco and about an inch of concrete.  I was grateful to have a much younger person doing the cutting: our gallant son who was willing to do the very, very dirty work.  Once the cuts were made and the wall removed, we all finally could imagine the finished project.

Sadly, there is much left to do before I can jump in and share with you all the fun decorating plans I have; but be patient, it will all be recorded here for you in the coming weeks, and months.

There is a need for only one step down from my husband’s office into the newly created guest quarters.  After some discussion, we agreed that making the step into a full platform would serve best.  First, my husband would not have to level the pebble path that ran under the window before the room was added, and I would not have to deal with an awkward step into the room.

We purchased an old, entry door from Pasadena Salvage, as the door that would offer the necessary privacy for our guests.  I opted for a Speakeasy door to add to the interest and maintain the quirky quality of the house.  This door will slide on barn sliders for access to the rest of the house.  Stepping down from my husband’s office into the room and onto the platform will offer very secure footing.

Currently, my husband is working on the electrical system in the room; there will be plenty of outlets, USB ports, and lighting options.  Having the platform, will afford an outlet or USB port in the riser, wires running under the step, and no encroachment on the very limited wall space, since two sides of the room are all windows.   

Progress beyond the electrical will be fun to share; I am expecting the door hanging to be a whole new story—stay tuned.

Design and Function—The Beauty Within

Not everyone will agree on what beauty is, but it is one’s perception that counts; however function is a bit more concrete.  As a designer and decorator, I strive for both, it is in my DNA.  I know that not nearly as many people will find a storage shed a thing of beauty as will find a pretty fabric or the lines of a lovely chair; but to me, the shed illustrated here is a thing of beauty.

I do a great many painting and refinishing projects that add to the aesthetic quality of my life and the lives of my clients; so having a place to work on these projects is particularly important to me.  I wholeheartedly subscribe to the designer mantra that form follows function.

I purchased an eight-by-ten foot shed last fall, and my handy husband spent a couple of weekends getting it set up; first he built a frame for the foundation so the shed to sit level on the back patio that was sloping for drainage.  Suffice to say that he built the shed and foundation with his usual precision.  There are still some additions to install, such as lighting and a box fan for exhausting paint spray and fumes.

Fitting the interior with a tall, wire-frame shelving unit was key to storing the many cans of paint and other necessary supplies.  I thought it would be a good idea to wrap the wire-frame shelves with an insulation blanket meant for a water heater.  My hope it to help preserve the paint, which degrades in extreme temperatures— since the shed is not as well insulated as the garage.  Investment:  Insulation, $22, shelving unit was a donation from my daughter, $0. 

I bought a set of adjustable saw horses to hold a discarded, standard interior door; this serves as my work table. Investment:  Saw-Horses, $59, Interior Door, $0, Lighting, $140 and the Box Fan, $25.  The shed was certainly the most expensive, but I did get it on sale.  I do not remember what the pressure treated wood and flashing cost, but probably somewhere around $100+/-, and the labor was based on pure love which is priceless.

Without the lighting or the fan installed yet, the room has been a valuable addition.   My husband was the first to use it.  I insisted that he spray paint some auto parts for the restoration of our 1930 Model A, which has not seen any attention in 50 years!  Next up was the painting of a cabinet my daughter uses to conceal the litter box in a bathroom.  The shed, which we have nick named "The Dexter Room", has been deemed a great asset and in my mind, a thing of beauty. 

A word about the decision to purchase a pre-made shed; we looked into many less expensive options of which there are many.  First, was the least expensive, was inspired by the popular TV series Dexter but, involved assembly and take down after each use.  PVC pipe fitted to make a frame, and heavy sheet plastic sheeting attached to the PVC constituted the “room”, and would cost about $50.  I liked that, but from a realistic stand point, I didn’t think I could do the assembly by myself, and weather might be an issue.  The next idea was a simple pop-up tent, a bit more expensive, and certainly easy enough for me to assemble; but it would limit the size of the projects.  The ability to use the Dexter Room shed in just about any weather for large and small projects drove the decision to acquirea more formidable structure.  My daughter and I have plans to spray paint some custom doors for the newly installed cabinets in her laundry room; a couple of the doors are quite tall and require a fairly large area to work on them and allow a place for them to dry without interference.

From the outside, the shed is a pleasant enough looking piece, with a cottage look, but the interior is pure function.

New Places for Some Old Favorites

Most people sooner or later, will get into a decorating rut.  They put the same things in the same places, either because they like the arrangements or are just too intimidated by the thought of changing.  I have been guilty in both cases.  Sometimes the geometry of a space dictates what will fit or create a reasonably balanced setting.  Other times, why change a pleasing setting?  Small changes can occur with seasonal decorating, and that is change is enough for me, as long as everything else suits.

I always suggest to clients to live in a space for a time to see how the space will work out for them, practically, to see how their life patterns will develop.  I am reminded of one of my earliest design instructors telling us how a New EnglandLandscape Architect allowed the pathways of a major University to be developed naturally, that is he allowed the students walking from class to class to set the pathways before setting them in stone.  What evolved was a pleasing and sometimes meandering paths, while other pathways were direct— that’s human nature.  It was just like seeing the paths blazed by the animals in the wild.

Moving forced me to consider what to save and what to let go— not an easy task, I admit.  The next step was to decide what artwork, family pictures, and the like would go where.  This decision-making took a bit longer than I expected, but then emptying boxes and finding space for what was most important took even longer.  More editing!

As a family, we have grown attached to many things. Some, while not great pieces of art, are important to our family’s history.  We all tried to remember where the five large Sunset posters had hung when our family was very young.  Thank heavens for the stronger memory banks of our children.  We sold a couple of the framed posters that our kids grew up with, more than 40 years ago, and we had several hanging in the home we had for 30 years.  It was gratifying to know that two young couples furnishing their first home, coincidentally enough, the California Craftsman style home that was our first home, were happy to hear our family’s story about the posters.  We are now down from five posters to two.  The placement of one of them in the bathroom may seem odd, but why not the bathroom? It feels fresh and fun.

Another grouping of framed art, is a set of three sketches of my husband’s first trip to Europe, on a cycling tour.  He turned 16 in a Paris cafe and met up with an artist from the San Fernando Valley— small world indeed.  After storing the sketches in a drawer for many years, I had them framed; they have hung somewhere in our home ever since.

This house is much smaller than our previous one, so I have had to think of ways to get our favorite pieces to fit and make some sense of what might be considered a diverse collection.

The three Paris sketches have made the cut and landed in the TV room.  Another important collection was of my father, as the “Fire-Fall” man in Yosemite National Park during his youth in the 1920s.  The pictures were always a treasure to me, because of the stories he told of those daring times.  Pictured in the background is Half  Dome, and there are scenes of him in his cabin, under what had been the Glacier Point Hotel, high above the valley, where guests of the Ahwahnee Hotel would marvel at the fiery logs being tossed over the falls.

I decided that the scale and coloring of both these two diverse collections could work together, since the black and white sketches were framed in a similar wood and style as the Yosemite photographs, which are in a sepia tone.  We have decided after much thought that this was a good choice, although not quickly made.

If you are moving, you certainly will be challenged with what to keep and where to place your things, but do not be hasty. Even if you are not moving, but are tired of your current displays, I say take them down, sort through what you have, keep only your very best and favorites and then find new places for them.  You will find it is refreshing to have familiar things in new places.

It Is Time for Some Black

Most readers of this column will not be surprised to learn that I love a black wall— somewhere.  I have a designer friend who asks me fairly often where my blackboard wall is going to go.  I have not yet decided, but you can be sure I will have one.  

I had determined, early on, that one of my office walls would be black.  I have several black and white prints that I especially like, and think they will be stunning on a black wall.  The French doors and frame are white, so there is a nice contrast and boldness without being too bold.  The black wall is visible from the living room and adds dramatic relief to the soft, soothing taupe walls in the that room.

My black wall is hung with nine, mostly all black and white sketches.  There is a pair of bird drawings with very subdued coloring— the birds must be the female of the species.  The subject matter of the collection is varied.  The frames are not identical, although the frames of the three Aubrey Beardsley drawings all match, and the three bird drawings have matching frames.  Consistency in color, size or subject help a collection achieve a cohesive feel.

A black or very dark wall of blue or plum or green— something very close to black can give drama to an ordinary room.  If your room has a great deal of light, as mine does, you will see sharp contrast that does not make the room seem gloomy.  

The TV room is painted a very dark blue, but not dark enough to be mistaken for black; it is very definitely blue, and the white trim keeps it lively.  The TV room has no direct outside source of light; the two long windows that flank one wall, borrow light from my office.  Without the white trim and the borrowed light, the dark blue would make this room a bit depressing for me; but it is a perfect room for watching TV with no glare on the screen. 

A home office or study, where you want quiet solitude, might be a good place to consider very dark walls.  Decades ago, a man’s office or study would have been paneled in dark wood and probably would have had walls lined with books, with a window looking out onto a shady garden— all lovely, but hardly practical today.  Most houses do not have a space for a separate library, but the thought is still very appealing to those who treasure reading an old fashioned book, in peace and quiet without any electronic hum.  You might be able to achieve a similar look for a reading nook in a room; if you can find a “quiet corner” in a room, paint two of the walls a dark color and section it off using an area rug or seating to visually close it off from the rest of the room.  Some tall bookcases can become walls within a room and add to the quiet effect.

Decorating Western Style

We have enjoyed several days visiting our western neighbors to the north, primarily Montana and Wyoming, with a detour through parts of Idaho.  We have touched all of these neighbors over the years, but only passing through on our way to somewhere else.  Having a destination wedding to attend, we decided to take a little extra time and see these beautiful states.  Oh, America the Beautiful!

Decor styles in these very western states run to the rustic and, country reigns supreme.  The wedding reception was held in a beautiful and historic barn.  The ceremony was as beautiful as the bride was elegant.  Guests sat outside, under beautiful shade trees, on fabric covered bales of hay.  Small mason jars held sprigs of lavender at the end of each row.  Inside the barn, tables were set around a wooden dance floor.  

But the show stopper was the lighting.  Strings of tiny lights were strung from side to side, the width of the barn, about forty feet wide!  That took a lot of strings of lights.  Additionally, there were paper lanterns of varying sizes that drifted with the breezes that came through the barn doors, it was magical and a lovely idea for any country wedding or gathering where lighting is needed.

During our travels, there was a reoccurring theme in nearly every restaurant, casual or dressy, and that was the use of antlers in lighting fixtures.  Nothing new, I know; but I saw such variety and could imagine some of the choices in many different settings.  

Outside would be natural for an antler chandelier, but inside would be fun as long as the proportion was suitable for the room.  I can invasion small twinkle lights draped around the antlers or wound around them tightly for a more intense lighting effect.  How fun would it be to decorate seasonally with an antler fixture?  Spooky black lights for Halloween, red, green and white for Cinco de Mayo; soft pastels for Easter— you get the picture.

I saw plenty of simple antler table and floor lamps.  An antler lamp could give a modern room a bit of natural sculptural element, especially when it casts its shadow against a wall at night—  beauty in simplicity, the best kind.

Of course, an antler fixture would be at ease in most country homes; the possibilities are endless.  If you have an old antler lamp in your barn, garage or attic, you mayhave been hoping it would be lost or tossed out—anything but bringing it back inside.  However, you could get creative and spray paint it a fun color and add a funky shade.  

Probably the most unique use of antlers was the the town square in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.  Each corner of a city block had a massive arch of naturally shed antlers, and at night they are lit with hundreds of tiny lights.  It is a spectacular vision.

I have never considered decorating with an antler lamp or chandelier, but I'm intrigued by the possibilities--maybe in the garden.  Now the problem is collecting enough for a small arch of my own!

A Trip Back in Time

This is one of my favorite times of year because the Pasadena Showcase House Tour is running through May 17th.  I have been visiting this showcase for decades and always marvel at what designers can come up with in new and inventive ideas of the designers; I do not always agree with what I see, but I usually come away inspired.  This year was no different; there were some likes and some not so much.

One of my favorite rooms was the Artist’s Retreat.  I nearly gasped when I saw the quiet color palette, the same palette that I planned for my new office, and some of the same materials.  The designer who was responsible for this particular room, used very expensive oak planks on the walls and spaced them tightly together, while my plan is to use wide pine planks with a shiplap look instead.  Cost is always an issue for me.  I loved the use of cork for the floors, they actually looked like travertine.  I had planned to use travertine, but I think cork is the way to go.  With advances in the use of cork, you can find it in a variety colors.  You can mix and match to create designs such as the harlequin pattern in this room.  Cork is warm, quiet and renewable, therefore a very “green” product.

Another take away from this year’s house was the liberal use of Edison light bulbs.  No doubt you have seen them in many magazines, brochures and other advertisements.  One of the designers commented that the Edison lights used in the room he designed were from a local and well known lighting shop—Lamps Plus.  I guess even showcase designers have to find savings where they can.  Edison lights were used throughout the house in a variety of designs from industrial to elegant.

Pasadena Showcase House 2015, from Google Images

The color palette for this year’s house has some of my all time favorites and some new colors from Dunn Edward’s newest collection that I have already used—it is good to know I’m on trend.  There were some pretty bold colors but they were well balanced in the private rooms upstairs where the family stayed, while the more public rooms were much more neutral but had accent colors repeating some of the bolder colors used upstairs.  I found it to be a good exercise in the use of the color palette keeping it unified without creating a rainbow effect.

Pasadena Showcase House 2015, from Google Imagaes

As I mentioned, there were some “misses” for me.  I felt some of the bathrooms were a bit overdone with the use of stone, and I love stone in a bathroom; but I felt there was too much pattern conflict.  There certainly were a lot of bathrooms to choose from, something for every taste, and I had some favorites there too.

You can go online and see some of the photos from the Showcase House, this year and past years; but if you have a chance you should go and see it for yourself this year’s Tudor style house designed by Fernand Parmentier in 1910.  There is always something gained, besides the benefit to children’s music programs throughout the community that the Showcase House funds.

Dormer Windows Offer Interior Opportunities

The charms of an exterior ornament can be a decorating challenge for the interior, but the ornament also can also be a true asset when viewed with an open and imaginative mind.  For instance, dormer windows or slanted windows in some architectures will add interest to the outside of the home and welcome light on the interior.  While these attributes are welcome, many find the decorating or furniture arrangement more than a little challenging.

Take the customary trio of dormers in many homes—lovely to look at, but what do they offer on the inside?  Depending on the spacing between the dormers, there are lots of options.  One of the first things that comes to mind are comfortable window seats.   If the windows open, you have the additional benefit of good air circulation in an attic space that has been converted to a bedroom.  Window seats can afford great storage containment that can be left open or closed--an excellent use of space.

Another option would be a writing or computer desk for.  Usually on the second or third floor, these spaces may offer great views for inspiration or just a great place to read for your own enjoyment.

If your dormer or slanted walls are generous you might consider adding an alcove bed--an easy way to add extra sleeping space without taking away from the room’s intended use, be it a TV room, office space or a well-organized storage room or craft/hobby room.  The possibilities are endless.  To find a bed to fit your alcove is not difficult and custom is not always out of your price range.  You simply order a bed from a sleep shop--one size larger than your opening--and give the shop measurements you need your bed to become.  It takes about two weeks and your custom-sized mattress is ready for pick-up or delivery.  If you build a low box below to serve as the boxed spring, you can use it for storage.  Build the box a little higher and you can have more useful storage with full extension pull-out shelves for linens, pillows and extra blankets.  This will have a captain’s bed, look, which is fun for children and teens.

Making the best use of your space is always an asset to your home’s value and your enjoyment.

Time for a Quieter Décor

As the holiday season settles into the recent past, leaving us with happy memories recorded in our minds and on digital cameras and computers, we can look forward to a quieter time as well as a quieter décor.  While it is nice to pull out all our holiday decorations and trim the house and tree, I find it comforting to get back to an old décor phrase: “less is more”.  It is a perfect time to assess what has been into what can be, just like when you trimmed the house a month or so ago.

I usually go with a white theme, I keep some of the candles that I had out that are white and place them around with small white accents, like the little lamb I move from place to place.

I replace evergreen wreaths with wreaths using white flowers or sprayed white with natural elements.  I like to create small vignettes using the white on white theme.  Buying a white amaryllis or orchid lifts my spirits, and they will last until spring. 

A favorite vignette during the holiday may be adaptable without the holiday theme and its colors to white.  In my case, I replaced a red cardinal with a chickadee.  The bird sits in a huge snifter with a base of broken tempered glass, to simulate ice, a pine branch and a small nest, it is a small scene that can easily change with the seasons.

A monochromatic color scheme is a very restful and pleasing pallet but can be tricky unless texture is incorporated along with a reminder to scale; it need never be dull.  As with most things, the best results are in the details; it is a good idea to “go shopping” in own homes to see what we have that compliments your monochromatic theme.  Those who collect only things that have meaning to them and that are loved will find a treasure trove of items to choose from.  Sometimes just moving things from one room to another, or even from one location to another within the same room, will give the room a lift.  Of course adding a small bouquet of fresh flowers that suits your mono-color scheme will add the texture needed to help bring your room to life.

These are a few simple winter décor changes.  I am a firm believer in making small changes, especially for people who claim they don’t like change.  Those who try might just like what they create.