our house in Los Angeles |
- It was a Craftsman style house built in 1913.
- It was painted a weird teal green when we bought it, so we changed it to navy (click HERE for that blog post). This navy was a Ralph Lauren color (cannot remember the name--sorry!) and it looked black on the chip.
- We put in that new walkway, and also new grass.
- There had been some sort of wall enclosure thing on the left side of the porch, which we removed.
- I handpainted the house number up there while standing on a very shaky ladder. Because I am so smart like that. (Fact: #1 household injury cause is falling off of ladders. Fact: I just made that up.)
- That little cross design you see painted on the columns was there in the bricks, but had been painted over. We chose to highlight it.
- I took this photo in such a way as to block the front door because it was really ugly and we never had enough money to replace it and it was a perfectly good door, just ugly, so hard to justify buying a new one.
such a Virgo living room; by the way, had to stand on chair to take this photo |
- We stained the floors dark.
- We painted the walls a very soft lavender with white trim.
- The biggest transformation was that we ADDED those divider cabinet/ bookcases you see. We are pretty sure something similar was in the house originally, but when we bought it, they were not there. We hired a carpenter to build them.
- Next, I took a book of 1920's design pictures to a stained glass place and the lady duplicated the lovely glass design. New, but made to look old! That was my favorite part. I really loved it when people would say, "Oh, the original built-in's!" That was very gratifying. I always felt like the house was giving me a big hug for putting those back in.
pretty stove |
- 1952 O'Keefe & Merritt stove
- Came with the house when we bought it
- Was white, we had it re-enameled cobalt blue at Antique Stove Heaven
- They also completely re-built it and refurbished it
- Best stove we ever owned
- We would like to get a red one for our current home at some point
The nice thing about that house was that we had a lemon tree. It produced enough lemons to probably sell at a Farmer's Market. Mostly we made lemon bread or lemon pancakes or lemonade.
Okay, are you bored yet? This is Tall's cute little baby room.
was this clean once, for this photo when we were selling house |
Tall, age 7 months |
MOV
I love the blue stove!
ReplyDeletethanks hilary! we sooooooo miss that stove!
DeleteMy dream house! We had a house like that when I was younger, but you did an amazing job with this house...love, love the exterior color! You must miss it...
ReplyDeletethanks! but I know you lie, because you said on your blog that your dream house is made of CHOCOLATE. See, I read your blog. Hey, everyone, go read Tracie's blog, right now! it is very cool.
Deleteand yes, I do miss the house (esp. I miss how good it looked on Photo Day-- ha!).
I love this house, always have had a soft spot for the Craftsman. I want the stove!
ReplyDeletethank you S+L+T (that is easier than writing it all out). :)
DeleteWonderful! And putting the dividers back in was genius!
ReplyDeletethanks! I do miss those dividers.........
DeleteI want more of this shit. This was good! Made me feel happy seeing it.
ReplyDeleteyay! thanks Mollie! will try to more of this for future posts..........
DeleteSo you are a creative writer AND decorator?! I have to go eat some chocolate now...
ReplyDelete*blushing*
Delete(and make sure it is Free Trade fair labor chocolate, or Tracie at Crack You Whip will be all over you!)
First of all, you have some awesome framed posters.
ReplyDeleteThat aside, you should really be an interior decorator specializing in remodelings/rehabs. I used to volunteer at the Preservation Society in Asheville just for all the free tours of Arts & Crafts homes in the area. Many of them were quite amazing and looked like their owners had sunk hundreds of thousands of dollars into them, but I never, ever saw anything nearly as awesome as 1) that stove, and 2) those stained glass built-ins. You have a good eye. Print some business cards and start telling people which design decisions to make! You can totally do it!
hey Miss Haley,
DeleteYou are going to laugh, because I do have a couple nice posters, but the 2 that are in Tall's baby room are (*gasp*) copies of famous posters, and they were of course purchased at target!!!
thank you so much for your vote of confidence! You totally made my day. :)
xxo
MOV
I love build ins of all kinds, but those are especially gorgeous! And that stove is incredible. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go find an uncluttered corner of industrial/rental carpeting so I can rock myself.
ReplyDeletethank you! (and if you are going to do any rocking, may I respectfully recommend a birdseye maple arts and crafts rocker, just sayin')
DeleteLovely house and you did a great job on it.
ReplyDeletethank you julie!!!
DeleteNow you've done it. I cannot begin to tell you how obsessed I am with Craftsman style, houses, etc. Just yesterday I was looking at a book all about Mackintosh -- and then you show up here with those amazing built-ins with the leaded glass! *sigh* Let's not even talk about the sweet baby photo. Thanks for sharing all these great photos!
ReplyDeleteah, couse, my number one fan. Contact me via email at
Delete1julieharrison@gmail.com
with your info and I will send you some of my craftsman books that I have accumulated. You live in England, right?
xxo
MOV
I LOVED this post, and I really wished you lived closer so you could help me decorate. I'm so bad at it. Such a cute house, but an even cuter baby!
ReplyDeleteoh, that baby! why is he so mouthy now that he is 8? what is up with that? (look how sweet and cute while sleeping and not knowing how to talk yet!)
Deleteand thank you for your nice words on the decor front.
What a lovely house, and you obviously have a great deal of talent for interior design!
ReplyDeletethank you! that means a lot! :) thanks for reading, always happy when you comment, Jo.
DeleteOk, last time....
ReplyDeleteAWWWWW! Tall was (i'm assuming still is) beautiful! bless his little socks.
The hand painted door number is genius! I would steal that idea, but most houses in the UK are made of brick, so i think it's look pretty ugly if I did it on my house :(
thanks, aysh! he is still a cute kid, just not as compliant (he's in a very talk-backy stage, making me wish for the diaper days when I could not understand him, but at least he was nicer-- ha!).
Deleteglad you like the house number! not sure where I got that idea, it just seemed like that beam was calling out for it.........
Do you spose that I could get J to let me get a stove like that for our new build? I want one so so bad. He's a stick in the mud about it. :o) Was the double oven grand or what? Or was it a warmer? Green with envy!
ReplyDelete