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Northern California Style

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Before & After -My Laundry/Mudroom Renovation

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Hope you all had a good week. They sure go fast don’t they? I am loving the cool weather this morning and the leaves on our pistache trees on our street just started to turn brilliant pink and red hues. It makes me think I may be able to wear a sweater this weekend! I finally am getting around to sharing some photos of other parts of the house and one of my favorites is this space, the laundry/mudroom.

I feel lucky to love have this space and it was something I really loved about this home when we first bought the house 10 years ago.

Before-Back then, you came in from the garage and the washer dryer were to the right and a door to the kitchen was after it. To the left, there was a counter and a bank of shelving and cabinets.

Beyond that was a small bath I turned into a pool bath by adding a door. It’s been ten years ago almost exactly when I pulled up the green linoleum and added travertine to this space, seen below in a view from the old kitchen..

Before- we used this almost like butler’s pantry, but it also held the laundry and served as our mudroom when coming in from the garage.

Now this space is so much more functional – it’s laundry, an entry, storage and holds the cat box too!

Before- you can see where I added hooks to a broom space to the original area to make it function as a mudroom/entry from the garage, but it was tight.

Now-you can see below in the new space, we have a place to put on your shoes and drop your things.

We also added a skylight which makes me so happy when I’m in here doing laundry!

That pool bath was part of a weird addition to the house along with the original kitchen that had an old sloped ceiling going off the back. I’ll share that on another post when it’s all done.

You can see the slope here in this old kitchen photo. This carried along to the pool bath which is to the left here…

We fixed that in the remodel, raised the ceiling and roof height, which looks so much better and so it was natural to rethink this space too. The kitchen was moved to the center of the house, no longer in this space. This area is now a transitional space we are calling the media room..more on that too soon.

Now when you enter from the garage you can turn right to the rest of the house, or straight into this laundry/mud area and onto the pool bath and out to the pool.

The toilet area is separated by a pocket door with opaque glass. The window in here has obscured glass and the new French door has a pull-up blind attached to the bottom of the door. All of the windows and doors in the house are by Marvin.

My washer/dryer are Electrolux and I LOVE them. I bought them a year before the reno and had them stored during the move. I couldn’t wait to get back and use them again!

I decided to take out the travertine, which had taken a beating over the last 10 years, and go with fun tile. This tile was fairly inexpensive and I really like the bold statement in this small space. This cost around $400 and if it wears out or looks shabby on 10 years, I can change it and not feel too badly.

When we redid this space, I wanted a bench for sitting down and drawers for shoes and hooks for backpacks, etc. I also wanted a laundry drop, a folding and hanging space, deeper drawers and just one set of upper cabinets. This is where I keep lightbulbs, vacuum bags, paper products, batteries and so much. My holiday decor fits in here too.

The cabinet makers helped me make a few fun design choices like wood for the bench and floating shelves (also have one above the machines), and a shiplap sort of back for the bench area.

The cabinet color is Benjamin Moore Calm and walls are Benjamin Moore Oxford White. The plan is to add a wallpaper on the wall to the left of the bench which is long. I have to find something that will work with the tile.

The wood here is European Oak with a light wash. The counter top is a man-made quartz called Vadara and the color I have is Belezza. One slab of this Vadara material was enough for the boy’s bath, this laundry area and also the pool bath counter (coming soon.) So far I’ve been loving it’s durability.

I’m so happy they added a shelf above the hanging rod. I have some of my vintage California books up there. The fern print was a Homegoods find and the pillow on my bench is the Winter Beach Pillow from Serena & Lily, and so is the cute teak step stool.

I still need to add 3 hooks in the bench area for bags and jackets. The hardware is all from Top Knobs brand which made the Essex Knobs and Square Pulls. I purchased most of my hardware at Belmont Hardware in Cupertino or you can get it online.

I still have to add a cozy rug for the cooler months and a few other things, but I am getting close to down with this space. Thanks for letting me share with you all.

Have a beautiful weekend !

Kim

Monday Musings – My New Yard, Pumpkins and Dining Room

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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

May House Update

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I can’t believe it’s May already.. This year is flying by. We have two months until we move into our home and it seems like a ton to still get done. The past weeks have been so busy. In the midst of everything my beloved wisteria had the best bloom in years.. Thank you California rain!

As luck would have it, that was the week the painters came to paint the eaves black to match the new black roof and gutters, which I am loving. They very kindly pulled the wisteria off and hung it in a large wrap. Can you believe it? They put it back after no harm done. I was so happy as this vine is 40-50 years old and I am trying my best to preserve it with all this work being done!

I am mostly finished with choices for-tile, cabinets, lights, floors and I am so glad. My head is swirling all the time with this stuff. My days go like this- call the closet person, get back to the cement guy, meet the garage door people, check with the tile store, view the floor sample, get back to the cabinet guys, order those lamps, return the ones that didn’t work, think about bath mirrors…and so on!! I would be lying if I didn’t say I’ve had some anxiety.

There are SO many building choices and websites. You can pull a whole home together on something like Build.com and Restoration Hardware. I am one of those people who may do better with less choice. I love a LOT of things and styles. The anxiety comes from worrying about whether I’ve made the right choice and if it will all look good pulled together..Luckily now a lot of design is changing and there really is no ‘perfect’ look -just your own. I keep reminding myself that, and that I am going for my own unique home, but still I stress.

So look guys…this is the interior..Fireplaces and walls gone, drywall almost all up. This is the front view out. I love the large French doors to the little patio we are building. I plan to put my dining table in front of these doors.

This is the back of the house looking toward the new fold away La Cantina doors and our fireplace. Window seats will be on either side and to the left is the kitchen.

My biggest challenge with this house has been sticking to my look and style for this home. Not everything has to match, but I would like it to flow. I love when a home has a thread of continuity about it and the rooms feel connected in some way. This exterior of the house will be white with black details, wood floors and cabinetry, light stone accents, white walls and aqua blue in a few places. The house has no trim or moulding on the upper walls or windows and has contemporary feel inside.

This is the front right now. You can see the new path I tried to model after an offset path from my grandparent’s 1960’s house and the new patio to the left.

The front entrance has a portico that will have a little bench on one side for packages. The door will be glass and the sidelights also.

This is the back and you can see the new dark roof and gutters. This will be all stuccoed and painted white. Deciding on that color is next- hopefully something not stark.

Here is what is all over my house..tiles and cabinetry and flooring. I think you can see the look I’m going for here- whites, light oak, and stones.

This is the fireplace material below. I love this Italian tile and I think it will look modern, yet still natural. I cannot believe the gorgeous stone looking tiles that are coming from Italy. This is supposed to be like onyx and has about 400 different variations so using it looks just like the real stone for a lot less.

These two are the flooring for the mudroom/laundry/pool bath and the beautiful blue tile is the background for the wall in the pool bath part. I wanted something fun as the pool is just outside the door and it’s mostly used by swimmers. This tile has the slightest shimmer and is like the sun on the water. I love it!

I used this image for inspiration for that pool bath and I am sorry I have lost the source. I am having a vanity built like this with two floating shelves where I can wedge pool towels between. I like the modern stacking style of tiles and the wall mounted faucet too.

I am also excited for the wet bar which I decided to use something called Yesterday’s Glass from Jeffery Court on the backsplash. It’s like those 1970’s mirrored tiles that had that smoky look that my parents and Max’s both had. I hope this will be a little glam and reflect light. The upper shelves are floating and the lowers are light wood. I still have to figure the hardware, but there is a round hammered nickel sink and a dark pewter toned faucet.

This was one inspiration for the bar found on Instagram.

I wasn’t sure what kind of garage door to go with. I like the glass ones, but they seem more modern than my house is. I did not like the metal ones many garage door companies have. I like a very clean and streamlined look and a few neighbors have that. Turns out my neighbor Vivian designed her own and the other neighbors like it so much they also used her design.. Below is Vivian’s house and the look I want, but in black. Isn’t it modern and sharp? I think it’s perfect for my transitional style.

Then there is the driveway and I love this look below and am trying to recreate something similar, but offset like my walkway and with stones between..

I have always known I wanted a glass front door for the light. This is where I am conflicted -do I go very modern like the photo below or classic like the next photo? Max worries about the openness to the front, but you can always add a curtain that pulls over the windows and sidelights if you need more privacy.

I am set on having the door a color and this below is the front runner..

I think Palladian Blue is a good foil to the golds and wood tones that will be in the house, like these chairs shown above with it.

Great Barrington Green is also cool for the door of a white California house with black accents..

Speaking of color, these new Century Paints from Benjamin Moore are so gorgeous. Have you seen these? Any of these would make a statement on a door!

Thanks for following along. I would love to hear what you think and any tips you’ve got for remodeling choices.

Next week I’ll share more house things like wallpaper, my trip to So Cal and my lunch at the most beautiful San Francisco home.

Kim

House Update & Spring Finds

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On the main street by my house!

Hey friends how’s spring in your neck of the woods? Hmm, I feel like I’ve talked a lot about the weather this year haven’t I? Finally, we had some gorgeous weather last week with flowers and California poppies blooming everywhere. It was in the 70’s and I even got my sandals out, but here we are again back to the wet and cold! What the heck? I have booties and my anorak with my eyelet blouse on today because I refuse to go back to winter. I’m doing some spring here dammit. This is California!

Finally the house remodel seems to be making progress. I am seeing light at the end of the tunnel. Only problem now is a lot of the pressure rests on me to make choices and be firm about them, not always my strength. I have been obsessing on lights the last week or so. We chose all the outdoor ones and next came the main rooms (see the previous post), and now the bathrooms- the lights and mirror thing. I knew tile was going to a lot of choices, but I hadn’t given lights etc that much thought- thus my descent into mirror and lighting madness in the past week. After researching all the options on the planet, (seriously), I went with Restoration Hardware for most of the lights which seem to be very affordable for the quality, given what is out there. RH mirrors are also fab though very expensive and so I am still figuring that out. I’m not spending $1,000 or more per mirror.

One of the issues with my bathrooms is that they don’t have enough room for side lighting and a mirror over both sinks. A serious bummer as that is the most flattering light. Anyhow, after getting over that I found some options to the usual strip lighting that is over the top of mirrors and can look dated. A more contemporary option, like above, is a sconce that is hung slightly over the mirror- or a hanging pendant. For the boy’s bath I chose a RH hanging pendant that is pretty cool. That will work for them as they don’t need serious lighting like I do. You people over 45 know what I mean..

RH’s Utilitaire Pendant.
This cool wood Kieran Walnut Mirror is a Lamp’s Plus find.

I like their pendants with these mirrors or a black steel rimmed one..Still deciding.

For our bath, I want a simple rectangle mirror with a gold or silver border. The fixtures in there are polished nickel and for lighting above the mirror, I love this double sconce for its wrench detail which is a different version of the boy’s pendants. This comes in nickel or a burnished brass, both pretty.

I also chose a small flush mount chandelier from RH Child to give the bath a little fancy and to contrast my modern Victoria & Albert IOS tub.. Who knew RH Child had such cool stuff and more a bit more affordable. It is just the bathroom. Also, what does that say about me?? I still have little girl taste? I AM trying to stay young. 😀

Hoping it all comes together.

I’ve done so much overthinking in the past two weeks- kitchen and dining lights, cabinet styles, wood tones, and tiles. I think I actually lost weight from it all and I began having hot flashes again like 40 times a day. I sleep barely at all. Last night we had a huge storm and my cats headed to my bed with all the noise and my older cat, Hobbes decided he needed to spoon with me. GAH. Talk about sweaty. My husband asks why I don’t kick them off, but how can I? He’s so old now. Anyhow, this is why I am the definition of haggard lately…and craving every carb possible..

On that note, I did get out for a spite of retail therapy. Gosh there are so many lovely things for spring and I am ready to bust out the pretty blouses and slides and pack away the sweaters. We are planning a college tour trip with the high school junior to So Cal, so California’s weather better shape up by then! Here’s to more sun ahead and a few things on the radar I thought you might like in case you have a spring jaunt coming.

I can never have enough floral or blue and how cute is this J Crew popover blouse for Spring?

I think I may have to get a pair of these new Birks with the silver buckles and metallic blue. They also have a rose and gold version which is so cute. I love these with white jeans and casual dresses.


In the pink theme, I saw this darling bag -perfect for a holidays for evenings out or for summer days! It comes in a natural too for $69 at Nordys.

I am dying to get this beach tunic for So Cal. I would wear this with cropped jeans as well as by the pool.

While we are thinking spring break, I’d like to see how J. Crew’s reissue of this 1993 underwire suit fits. It’s a pretty plaid and it has proper coverage on the backside too. It sure looks cute here…And they have a long shirt dress to match it that can be worn as a coverup too! How chic would that be?

And check out this fun tote for travel at Anthropolgie from a Danish company.

And how about this fedora with the leopard trim band? That would be a chic vacation hat!

I’ll end with these Cora slides which are TDF!

Okay well back to reality and stay tuned -another blog post is on the way to share a gorgeous California themed book with you all. We are almost to the weekend!

Kim

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The Home Reno Has Begun!

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How is your summer going? We were away on vacation and last week, two days after we got home, we moved into a rental house while we renovate for the next 6 months. It had been ten years since we have moved and I had forgotten how much work there is. GAH! I’m still recovering. My son Jackson and I were saying that moving should be required for everyone every decade as it really makes you evaluate what the heck you own and are living with, you know? Moving requires you to acknowledge and touch just about every darn item you possess and even those squirreled away in a closet or garage. It’s a big wake-up call. I thought I had been good about purging in the past few years, but clearly not at all.  My family especially got on me about the amount of pillows and books I own. I love my books, but yes we will be cleaning out more before moving back. The days before the move we took 3 huge loads to donation. It made me really feel guilty about how much ‘stuff’ we acquired. We all vowed to have less.

The house in its true state in the process of packing.. Mr. Cat none too happy.

Empty and sad looking! I loved these built-ins, but they prevented me from using that space in any other way. This- our largest room, was also seldom used as it was blocked by the fireplace wall and not easy to walk into.

The narrow front room below was also the entry point to the house and our tv/family room. We squeezed into here once a couch and chair were in and never really all fit for a movie or game night.

I have shared before about the reno plan, but its actually been an almost 2 year process, where we intended to just do the kitchen, then realized how much we could actually improve the flow of the house. We figured while we were at it, why not do it and also make the whole living space work better? That also grew to include the master bedroom, which will be enlarged by taking over a fourth bedroom that is seldom used.

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