Santa Monica Evening

The quintessential Santa Monica beach experience in four shots:


Santa Monica Pier


Filming an Italian movie on the beach - the girls in red swimsuits, the boys playing volleyball and all Frankie Avalon look-alikes - Baywatch with a touch of sixties teen Beach Movies


One of a whole salad of vegetable-mimicking seaweed


Dipping toes in the cold Pacific ocean
Have I mentioned how much I love the west coast?

Getty Museum

With all the reupholstery/renovation/yard/maintenance drama that's been happening on the home front I completely forgot to post some of the photos from LA where we ended up after our trip to Palm Springs. So, with minimal commentary, this is what we packed into 4 hours one afternoon...


The breathtaking architecture that is the Richard Meier designed Getty Center


The juxtaposition of rough and smooth surfaces


The Robert Irwin designed Central Garden at The Getty Museum - a growing maze in a water-filled arena. Stunning!


More hard/soft shapes and textures


Feeding my Magritte obsession


The plaza at the end of the day.
That's just the exterior, the Getty collection is just as stunning - as anyone who saw last week's Project Runway 6 will attest to. More from California tomorrow.

Homes for the Holidays

I couldn't leave the whiney, moaning post up front any longer - on to brighter, more positive topics. The wonderfully creative author and painter Nadine Bouler of Bouler Design Group dropped in to Beach House yesterday bringing an invitation to the opening of her latest show Homes for the Holidays at The Ripe Gallery on December 5th.


Her last show explored houses as emotions and the new works are also house-themed. The paintings are intricate, atmospheric, whimsical in a good way, with just a hint of danger. Almost as soon as I saw the butterfly landing the aqua villa I said "I should ask you to paint this house", and as simply as that a project was born. I can't wait to see what Nadine has in mind for Beach House - which angle she'll choose to portray, if it will be a night painting and which animal or insect will find it's way into the frame. Whatever she decides I know we'll be able to see in it far more than just a house... which is, perhaps, just a little disconcerting.

Iron Moan

Yesterday at twilight I dug up the iron form around the rear driveway, bent it into a small hoop and hauled it to the trash collection point. Today is plastic and metal recycling day and I'm hoping it gets picked up, otherwise it'll sit there until the regular garbage collection. Even after five years of separating the trash I'm still not sure what gets recycled where. In Europe we had a list, a long long list and woe betide you (in the form of big fines) if you put the wrong garbage out or left a yoghurt pot unwashed in the regular trash. But at last I knew what went where on which day!
Of course the solution to my dilemma was to leave the freakin' form where it was but frankly I'm fed up falling over it (when I don't remember to carefully step up) every time I walk the dogs. In 2004 the owner's son had mentioned we should get the landscaper to knock it back in and I'd hoped he'd volunteer or magic elves would take care of it, but that never happened. Fast forward five years to when I told the landscaper we were resurfacing the drive and he suggested I get the asphalt guy to rip it out. Nope that didn't happen, either!
As I walked up the drive with the dogs in the late afternoon there was a chill in the air and I knew the warm weather we've had this week wouldn't last. If I didn't do something about it right now it would have to wait until Spring. That was the breaking point. I fetched a shovel and took all my frustrations out on 50 feet of metal. Why was I so miffed? The lovely deep asphalt you see in the photo that we had laid a couple of weeks back, on a sunny day with no rain in the forecast so it would have time to cure, well the weather guys got it wrong and it poured and poured, leaving puddles of sealant and exposing holes in the drive - in general it's a big gray mess. Actually it's a big gray mess covered in leaves and acorns and it will stay that way until March when the asphalt guy will come back and redo it. Until then I can look forward to it being covered in several inches of snow and impenetrable ice... and of course I have that lovely photo to remind me what it will look like when it's finished.

Unique Animal

The Guy nixed half the bedroom inspiration. I had done all the prep work, all he had to do was tell me which of the three options he liked the most. I don't think he quite understood his role in the mission to redo the master bedroom/bath. Or maybe he decided "master" meant he was in charge of decorating decisions? I don't know, but he took one look at the George Nelson sconces and said "Huh? Yeah. NO"! A totally visceral reaction that was so loud he had the sales guy and two customers chuckling away. I was unamused. He then showed zero enthusiasm for any of the gorgeous walnut beds I'd been lusting after and eventually, after looking at and lying on a zillion beds in a few thousand stores (ok I exaggerate but it was a long day) he pointed at one across a room and said "That one".


"That one", the Hoffman at Room and Board, appeared to be everything he always said he hated about furniture - especially bedroom furniture. Firstly it was upholstered - he has allergies and we have a bunch of kitties that leave fur everywhere. Wooden and leather furniture you can wipe down with a cloth but fabric? All traces of dust or kitty have to be removed with a vacuum or roller-ball. Every. Single. Day. Then there's the style - it has buttons. The Guy hates trim of any kind and that includes buttons. I decided he was so hungry he must be hallucinating so I dragged him off to Mercer Kitchen for some lunch, where, I swear, he spent 90 minutes talking about the damn bed. I have to admit his reasoning was good - there was already a lot of wood in the room and sitting up to read in bed would be more comfortable.


We went back after lunch to see if his feeling for the bed was true love or a mere infatuation. The temptress had more tricks in store - we he could choose the upholstery, including the retro inspired fabric above and the legs and it fitted with the Grove night tables, a pick of mine that he likes. When he found a mattress that felt like his beloved Swissflex he was sold; apparently he has never felt like this before. Not even the salesman's remark that Long Island is a unique animal and we'd have to pay extra shipping to have it delivered to the Incorporated Village deterred him. He has to have this bed. Is this a mid-life crisis? Should I be worried?

An Attractive Nuisance

According to the source of all legal stuff I need to know (and a shedload that hadn't even entered my realm of consciousness), fences fall into this category of tort law. I do think it's less of a nuisance than before - to get in now you'd have to scale the sheer 5' panels to get in the back yard, there is a spring latch so landscapers/tree guys/pool guys can't leave the gate open, plus there are no stray nails or screws to tear delicate skin. And the gate has a puzzling pattern of reinforcing strips that some may consider attractive - is that a coat-hanger or a Christmas tree? On the other hand, has all the nasty blue plastic wire been replaced? Not yet. But by next week three-quarters of the yard will be secure. And the ugly metal fence on the north side? Well, that's still under discussion...

Design Rules Winner

As all the design tips and comments, including the last, which was obviously born of a scarring design experience, seemed worthy of winning the book giveaway, I decided it would be fairest to randomly pick one winner.


Using an olive green card (great color for Fall) and a humble biro (groundbreaking design), I enlisted the help of The Guy to draw one name from the pile.


The winner of the Elaine Griffin's manual to successful stress-free decorating Design Rules: The Insider's Guide to Becoming Your Own Decorator is... drum roll, please...


Napoleon Woman. Congratulations! Email me at modernemama at modernemama dot com and I'll pass your details to the publishers Gotham Books/Avery | Penguin Group USA. And thanks to all who took part.

Fixtures and Fittings

I ordered a few fixtures and fittings for the master bath this afternoon. Actually, I think they are all fixtures because we'd have a hard time unhooking them from the wall if we ever moved - things like faucets, shower heads, shower base, tub spout, medicine cabinet, towel warmer, sinks and a magnifying mirror. I've always wanted a wall mounted magnifying mirror that swivels and now I can finally have one. Of course there will be arguments about how high to place it so it serves its purpose as both make-up and shaving mirror but my argument will be: The Guy can bend or stoop to shave, I can't jump and apply mascara at the same time.


After a lot of soul-searching we've picked out the cabinets. I still lust after the $3600 chocolate leather and chrome floating vanity with the $1400 porcelain top for the bathroom but even with the $20% discount that's a lot of money and because of the way the plumbing is laid out the waste pipe and connector to the vanity in the dressing room would be visible - not a high-end look! That damn wastepipe also meant no drawer vanity was going to fit, so, taking a suggestion from Design Rules* I headed to the kitchen cabinet department at Ikea where I found a solution: Nexus Brown/Black sink and drawer cabinets.




The total cost of a 42" and 72" vanity is less than half the cost of the countertop so that frees up the budget for Caesarstone tops in Misty Carrerra, Pebbles or Dusty Stones. And there should be enough for some blinging cabinet hardware, too. So, if you had to choose, which of these lovely but expensive handles would you pick to go with the tiles and other fixtures?


Schaub Bistro pull in Espresso/Polished Crome. Kitchen Designer Paul Anater mentioned another Schaub handle on his blog and after I'd recovered from the pricing shock I did as he suggested and poked around their site where I found this italian-influenced beauty at half the price.


Haefele center Handle in Polished Chrome. I love the hammered finish but it is almost twice the price of the other option. Still it's a small space so I wouldn't be going over budget either way.
BTW, these are both 5" handles - not one giant handle and one for wee elves...



* Contest to win a copy of the decorator's lifesaver ends Sunday 11/8. Don't miss out!

Traveling Cats

We seem to have another cat who likes to walk -not roam that, after all, would be a normal kitty activity - but actually accompany the dogs on their daily walk. Readers of the blog have already seen Cassis the cat in action and know the woman (or The Guy) walking a black cat is a common sight. Around the Incorporated Village I still get stopped: "Excuse me, but did you know there's a kitty following you?". As for the other cats, Jefke and Hermes follow for a 100 metres or so and then get bored. They prefer to wait around in the yard, then spring out and surprise us when we get close to home, but recently I've been walking a second cat - Maia. Tiny Maia. She won't walk with Cassis (we have an ongoing "Whos' the boss?" situation) but she is sure to follow the dogs:


Step in step with Polly


Not exceeding the speed limit


Peeling off to visit the Village Hall


She prefers to walk on the berm - we call it the Kitty Super-highway - because that extra two inches height gives a cat such an advantage...


Jefke springs out of his hiding place. We must be almost home.


And joins us for the last hundred feet


Home.
Apologies for the quality of these shots - aniamls on leashes+movement+iphone=camera shakes