Monday Musings – My New Yard, Pumpkins and Dining Room

How was your weekend? We got a little hint of the chill of fall and it was so nice. I even bought a cozy dark green sweater and got my boots out of the back of the closet! Thanks everyone for the lovely comments about the new kitchen. We are STILL wrapping it up here. Got both the back and the front yards finished this week and the garage all redone- cabinets and an epoxy floor. More faucets and electrical that were backordered going in this week…Then possibly final inspection. Whew…I just want to be done.

My new house numbers are up. My builder Mike McCloud, put them in for me Friday and they are Neutra Modern House Numbers. I first had some others bought locally and Mike said, no look for something extends out of the house a bit and is heavier. I did so and these are hugely nicer than anything else I have seen. They come with very specific instructions on how to space them. I went with uneven spacing, what do you think? The four is slightly farther out than the rest which they recommend.

I love that it’s October- well almost, so bring on the pumpkins! My lovely landscape designer Carla Olivet brought me our first pumpkin of the season. The orange contrasts nicely with the blue of the new door. Thank you Carla!

Right now our local flower inspiration spot, Bunches has the most gorgeous assortment of pumpkins. I like to buy one or two special ones to keep on my table until Thanksgiving. Take a stroll through there if you want inspiration.

I love having a black table at Halloween as pumpkins look great on it. My Malibu Chandelier from Serena & Lily is really my style- with the beads and the woven elements and probably my most favorite thing I chose for the house. I think it makes the dining room with the wood and mirrored bar. Their chandeliers are very modern and fun while still giving a bit of elegance. More beautiful Serena & Lily pillows I choose on another post later this week..

What do you think of my smoky mirrored backsplash? If you remember, from previous posts, I choose this as kind of an homage to my parent’s 1970’s house. Both Max’s parents and mine, and probably yours, had a wall of these smoky mirror tiles when we were growing up. When I saw this in a tile form, I thought it would be a great light reflector for the bar with all the glass and give it that 70’s in California feel.

My friend Ani surprised me with these beautiful Waterfall Champagne Coupes from Anthro as a housewarming present. I had coupes on the brain after loving them on my London trip! I can’t wait to have some friends over and have bubbles!

I was slightly concerned this mirrored tile might be too busy, but it turned out better than expected. The tile is called Yesterday’s Glass and it’s by Jeffery Court. If you are in the Bay Area I got it at Tile Fantastic.

Speaking of Carla, she helped me realize my dream of a French Mediterranean type of landscape with a combo of boxwoods, olives, cypresses, and small bushes that attract bees and hummers. I LOVE the DG or decomposed granite that was added and pressed on top. They have this all over France and I always knew I wanted it, though you see it less here in California.

We used two larger olive trees and added three new large cypress to match my neighbor’s tall ones and fill in a spot where we took out an ancient juniper I hated. Most of the other plants grow into small bushes and are low maintenance like lavender, Wheeler’s Dwarf (a namesake plant!), Meerlo lavender, lomandra, westringia, and Little Ollies with some agaves in front of the walls. Now we just have to wait for all these babies to fill in and spread out over the fall and winter. It looks like there is not enough, but they need room to grow and take off. I want this not to be crowded when that happens. We tried to go with plants in groups of threes and just a few varietals repeated so the yard wouldn’t look busy. Hoping it will someday grow into something like this…

I cannot say enough about the guys who spent two weeks here transforming my derelict front yard back to life.. The Garden Group is a small local business run by a talented guy Cristobal Torres. Cris comes every day and checks everything with his hard working team and gives ideas along the way about lighting, plants and suggestions about what might look good and even what you might get rid of..

I had years of backyard clutter. You know how it just adds up after a while? Cris and Carla said, ‘Kim maybe it’s time to say goodbye to some of it.’ You just don’t notice it after being in a space so long. Since this house is now on the more modern side and I’m starting fresh, I agreed. I did the Marie Kondo thing and said thank you to the many terra-cotta pots of geraniums, the multiple teak and wrought iron benches that came with the house, the wonky garden ornaments, (okay I kept a stone turtle from my dad), and more. Today I am the owner of modern pots! Aren’t these lovely? Got them at Pottery Planet in Los Gatos. I don’t even know who I am anymore. Change is feeling good! I have to thank my friend Jen for the inspiration as she’s done this in her yard and it’s so nice.

I’m kinda loving them! Still deciding on what to have planted in them.

This is view to the back. The whole expanse above the pool was redone with creeping fig along back which should grow to cover the new fence that went in last fall plus more plants like in front and some mini cypress called Tiny Towers for height. You can see we raised the fence on the left and expanded the upper patio so more space up there could be utilized for hanging out. As we have a pool that wraps around the yard with a lap lane, space is at a premium back here. I’m eventually moving these wicker lounges to the upper part and want get a cool sectional or sofa out here. I hope the citrus and creeping fig to cover the fence and make a tall green wall.- Stay tuned. It’s a work in progress. Lights are going back here and a few in the front on the path and my olive trees.

One thing we really are loving is these modern Matthis outdoor lights. Not sure if I mentioned these before, but they give the nicest pool of light. Soft, but enough to light the area without being invasive. They are dark sky compliant which I wrote a post about, and is what you want in outdoor lights for your health and for the aesthetic reasons too..

They just look so good -and don’t shine into your neighbor’s house and give a lovely atmosphere. I have 6 in my back because of city regulations by doors and they give the perfect amount of light.

By the way, I’m going to list all the paint colors, materials and more about the baths, master bedroom and family room in an upcoming post, so thanks for asking. The London Trip Part 2 is still in the pipeline and other good things this week- specifically some more pretty things I choose from Serena & Lily that I can’t wait to show you.

Well I better get out of my pajamas..more plumbers are on the way! Hope you are enjoying the change in weather and have a good week!

Kim

P.S. Special shout out to sweet Lisa, a darling reader who lives in Tahoe and recognized me shopping at the The Rack last week. Lisa did you guys get snow up there already? I saw some beautiful photos of Lake Tahoe this weekend and it looked magical. xo