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!

Book review: Design Rules with Bonus Giveaway

Challenged by scale? Always choosing paint colors that are too dark or too wishy-washy? Wonder why the chair that looked perfect in the store looks like children's furniture in your living room? Designer Elaine Griffin knows the theory and has tons of practical experience that she shares in her new handbook Design Rules: The Insider's Guide to Becoming Your Own Decorator. This easy to understand manual will become your go-to source for avoiding costly mistakes or wasting hours of your time. Elaine has you covered; she lets you in on the secrets of design professionals so you can redo every room in your house and get it right FIRST time.


Elaine is contributing editor of Elle Décor, she designed for Good Works Makeovers at Oprah’s O at Home magazine and is ranked as one of House Beautiful’s Top 100 American Designers. Her own style is warm and comfortable. On a more personal note her chic, intimate wedding earlier this year was featured in the style section of the New York Times. A Georgia peach who has her own design business in New York, Elaine retains a friendly, folksy, Southern voice in her writing - think Paula Deen with a tape measure and a roll of swatches. We quickly learn that it's all about proportion - and Elaine spells it out in feet and inches. Design Rules comprises chapters on every room in your house, including the basement, each full of notes, helpful tips and rules of thumb. My favorite tip: always take the lamp with you when you go to buy a new shade. As Elaine says "sugar, there are no exceptions to this rule" - that's a lesson I had to learn the hard way! My second favorite tip is one that I'll use very soon: a wall-mounted flat screen TV means you cannot change the layout of your bedroom, so go with a stand-mounted model on a dresser. If, like me, you change the layout of your room every season, you'll be glad you paid attention here!

And so to the bonus: The Cool House's very first giveaway. One lucky interweb reader will win a copy of Design Rules, courtesy of Gotham Books/Avery & Penguin Group USA. Just leave a comment detailing the most important thing you've learnt about design and the one that resonates the most will get their own copy of Design Rules: The Insider's Guide to Becoming Your Own Decorator. That's it... Go!

*Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Legal disclosure stuff: Gotham Books/Avery & Penguin Group USA asked me to review the book, I did it of my own free will and was not seduced into giving a favorable critique either by the copy they sent me or the knowledge that one of my blog visitors would be the lucky recipient of another copy. I have received neither bucket-loads of cash nor the promise of a lavish trip for my book review.

Rothko Inspired Beachscape

Halloween was eerily warm and spookily windy; a strong breeze out of the south whipped the water and kept the clouds scurrying across the bay and the natural division of sand, water and sky reminded me of Rothko's Color Field paintings. Enjoy!

From the bedroom windows

Quite a lot has been done outside over the past week or so and the best way to view it is from the second level/first storey.


Sealcoating: Through a screen, darkly. Nevertheless you can clearly see the just-asphalted rear drive. It's taking a good time to dry but it looks much better than the cracking, holey, moss-covered mess that was there before. It will need another coat next year - and we'll also do the front drive and put in a drain on the north side at the same time.


Planting: An additional 15 Holly, Cephalotaxus, Box, Pinus and Euonymus shrubs as well as more Hostas and Dianthus have joined the 26 bushes that were planted on the North side of the property. The Guy has been out and counted every plant we've put in since we started this section. He makes it 100 - I think he's exaggerating but I'm afraid to count. I'm just hoping they all make it through the winter.


You'll be able to see one thing that hasn't yet been taken care of - the fence, although I'm promised it will be done this week. Definitely. Here's hoping...

Primary Bedroom Inspiration

Because you can't have a primary bath remodel without a primary bedroom rehab, here are a few items I would absolutely love to use to redecorate the space: This colored version of the classic George Nelson Bubble lamp from Room and Board. I love the seafoam color, the mid-century modern design, the huge scale -36" diameter. Everything about it screams buy me... except we don't have a pendant fitting in the bedroom. While we are on the subject of lighting, and still shopping the George Nelson lighting section at Room and Board, I'd pick up a couple of these Cigar Sconces - one for each side of the bed. I'm planning to flip the room round again, well the bed at least. If I'm going for a new look I want to upgrade to a king-size so I'll need more wall space. It actually makes sense to do this so I can look at the newly cleared and planted side lawn. And we'll have the headboard on an interior wall and that's got to be warmer, right? The bed was narrowed down a few months ago to one of these walnut beauties. The question is still which one... maybe Grove, again from Room and Board.

Master Bath Inspiration

Meanwhile back at the house... things are definitely moving on the master bathroom front. Can you even recall when I first knew we had to go in and fix this 80/90s redo? I'm ashamed to say that after we made an offer on the house we walked through with the engineer and sought his advice about the crack in the terrazzo shower base; he thought we could probably get a replacement installed for $1000. Well, dear readers that was April 2004. Rather than start to repair what would eventually be ripped out we put it on the "to do" list and moved on to more urgent projects like the roof, the windows and the pesky termite damage.
We were going to rehab the room in 2006, we even started the demolition, then we had the water gushing through the ceiling scenario that made us switch focus and fix up the boys' bath. Remember? That was the "practice" bathroom. We practiced some more in the girls' bath and the downstairs bath and perfected our design skills in the powder room. Before long I realised I had perfected them so impeccably I'd run right out of inspiration.
For the last couple of years I've been seriously collecting images of spaces and products I love: wooden tubs, showers and over-the-top tiles. I loved them all - just not in that room with its design challenges: no natural light, raised floor and a small footprint. Nothing felt completely right, so we waited.
Then we went to Palm Springs. The hotel bath was the usual windowless space but it had a ton of light - sconces, lights on either side of the mirror and six energy-saving hi-hats - in a space that had the exact dimensions of our master. When I got home I pulled out my favorite photos (I'm not sure where they came from so if I've ripped one of your designs I apologise) and saw they all had something in common: dark vanities. The same dark vanities we'd used in all the other bathrooms. I'd been trying to avoid them here to increase the feeling of space but I realised going lighter wasn't going to help and I should just go with what's worked in the other baths. From there it all just fell into place.


So that's it - five years of procrastination, a blog full of inspiration and a few days in a hotel in the desert - we are finally ready to roll.

Krisel and more

My Krisel crush is well-known, and it's been happily fed recently, first by the sneak preview of Jake Gorst's upcoming documentary "William Krisel, Architect". I cannot wait to see the full version. A short time ago Krisel Keeper left a comment here. I followed the links and found her blog detailing the ongoing rehab of a Krisel ranch in Woodland Hills, California. Then there was the trip to Palm Springs, which is dotted with Krisel houses. It was like eating a box of chocolates all in one sitting, albeit really, really good Belgian chocolates while lounging in an Eames chair. I toured three Palm Springs neighborhoods, Las Palmas Estates tucked under the mountains, Racquet Club Estates and Twin Palms in search of the Alexander Construction Company homes designed by William Krisel of Palmer & Krisel. And as I don't have any Belgian chocs to give you, I'll share my real estate finds: three gorgeous examples recently on the market with links to more photos and to the realtors. Enjoy!

The earliest of the Krisel modernist tract homes, like this 1600 sq' 3 bed, 2 bath Alexander Sunflap in Twin Palms Estates, were built in the mid-fifties.


In Racquet Club Estates a 3 bedroom Alexander home built in 1959 is for sale at $399,000



Complete with mountain views a Krisel designed home in Las Palmas Estates, just a stroll from downtown Palm Springs.

Alpine Desert

This is perhaps the most stunning of the fifteen so-called "Swiss Miss" houses on the Las Palmas Estates in Palm Springs. Designed by Charles Dubois, and built by Alexander Construction in 1959, these alpine chalet inspired homes are quite distinct from the standard Alexander-built tract houses, most of which were designed by William Krisel.


This one was completely renovated in 2005 and is currently for sale at $1,095,000. There is also an option to rent at $595 a night or $3,195 a week through Vacation Palm Springs .



More on the unique Swiss Miss homes at Jetsetmodern and Eichler Network

Desert Realty

Driving around the Old Las Palmas neighborhood I was surprised at the number of For Sale signs, often four or more on one side of a block. I knew that California had been one of the areas most badly affected by the housing crisis but I hadn't realised how hard the state had been hit. Even in the more tony neighborhoods of Palm Springs, you could feel the pressure to sell - at any price. And the homes ranged in every condition from mint to almost abandoned; foreclosure signs placed despondently among the cactus and yuccas.
To be sure not all the homes had that aura of desperation, indeed a few retain that scent of celebrity and glamour:


Donald Wexler designed this house for Dinah Shore in 1963.


It's a glorious example of a Hollywood home in the desert that has been stunningly and sympathetically renovated. Listed at almost $6,000,000, double the price it sold for in 2003, it has been on the market since Spring.


A secret gem: One of Elvis' desert homes, owned by Liberace until 1971.


Already substantially reduced to $749,000 it's a 4 bed, 5 bath, 3000 sq' statue-bedecked MCM house full of flock and glitz


and the occasional piece of Liberace memorabilia.


Also on the market, for $1,295,000, is the former Tony Curtis/Janet Leigh home "Camp Curtis", a stunning 1960 Fey home that got smacked with a nasty granite kitchen in a recent remodel. Click here for more details/photos.
If you fancy experiencing the luxury lifestyle but don't want to relocate to the desert, you can always rent a vacation home for a night, week or longer. You could stay in Frank Sinatra's Twin Palms pad or hang out where Marilyn Monroe slept. On the other hand, given recent press, you might not want to spend time in this particular celebrity's Unusual Villa rental...

Desert Modern

So where was I? Oh, yes back in the desert...
I spent a couple of days doing the Modern Palm Springs Tour, a self-guided street-side peep around the exteriors of the best examples of mid-century modern architecture. I picked up a $5 map from the Visitors' Center, formerly the Albert Frey designed Tramway Gas Station - the first stop on the tour - and set off on a drive past residential and commercial buildings designed by Donald Wexler, William F. Cody, E. Stewart Williams and other designers who made the Coachella Valley the unique resort destination in the 50s and 60s.


The tour takes you past the Richard Neutra Kaufmann Desert House - newsflash they were doing some work on the air-conditioning system - via the Albert Frey designed Raymond Loewy House to the House of Tomorrow.
Although I've seen photographs of some of these homes, and in some cases written about them, it's always more interesting to see them in situ. You see how they fit into their environment, how they affect and are affected by the surrounding landscape.


The House of Tomorrow, for example sits on a cul-de-sac; other homes have been built around it and thickly planted trees and shrubs have grown to enclose it so that it now looks, at first glance, like any other suburban home. It's only when you look closer that you notice William Krisel's mid-century details: the huge projecting bay window, the angles, the cutaways in the roof.


The Raymond Loewy House is set back on the lot behind an elaborate fence structure, the more architecturally unique side of the house faces the mountains, hidden from passers-by.


While I had great fun driving round the neighborhoods of Palm Springs in the rented convertible (and getting a major case of neck burn from the desert sun) I was disappointed I couldn't get this trip to coincide with Palm Springs Modernism Week when I'd be able to view the interiors of some of the houses. So when I got back home I treated myself to Julius Shulman: Palm Springs, the late iconic photographer's tribute to the architecture of the city. If you can't get to Palm Springs I recommend you beg, borrow or buy a copy, you'll be instantly transported to the desert oasis where every building is a reminder of the shift in style that became known as mid-century modern design.

Dozy Sunday

Another Palm Springs moment.

Well at least it's not snowing...

It's currently 42 F and raining, all the cats are huddled together and I'm having to consider seriously turning on the heating. It's not news, it's just Fall on Long Island and it wouldn't normally bother me except that it's 100 F and sunny in Palm Springs. Not fair! So to cheer myself up (and in lieu of some MCM house shots that I'm still processing) here are a few photos to remind me of the fabulous dry desert climate:


Cactus!


Oranges!


Dates!

Desert Air

What can you say about Palm Springs that hasn't been said before? Driving from Los Angeles on I -10 the desert air hits you full force as you drive through the San Gorgonio Pass that divides the San Bernadino and San Jacinto Mountains, the temperature climbs 10, 15 degrees in a matter of minutes and the wind almost knocks the steering while right out of your hands.


The scenery changes from coastal scrub and urban scrawl to barren mountains, home only to battalions of windmills. This is the San Gorgonio Pass Wind Farm, located in one of the windiest places in California, it powers Palm Springs and the surrounding Coachella Valley.


Half an hour further on and you enter the outskirts of the city. You've passed the turbines, steel megaliths have been replaced by Desert Fan Palms; stony outcrops by resort developments - manicured lawns interspersed with native Barrel cactus and yuccas.


You spot your first iconic mid-century building, The Tramway Gas Station. This is where you pull over, lower the top on the bright red convertible hire car and the vacation begins...

Those carefree summer days are over

The Guy installs the hardtop on Beach Car whilst unbeknown to him the Triffid plans its attack....

Timeframes and plans

We're about to embark on the biggest (in terms of finances) part of the ongoing gentle update of The Cool House, the master bath That is biggest so far, we still have the kitchen to sympathetically update, but we've been here for five years now and we decided to celebrate by tackling the monster bathroom and by reminding ourselves just how much we have accomplished in sixty-three months.
In 2006 I made a list of projects done and a rather optimistic timeframe for the complete rehab. Since then the to-do list has demonstrated a certain flexibility in terms of projects to be tackled and the time it will take us to complete them.

2004 Replaced refrigerator.
2004 Taken down 70s vinyl vertical blinds in den, dining room, living room and kitchen
2004 Taken out the faux 70s paneling in three rooms.
2004 Removed the mirrored closets in the master bedroom
2004 Replaced skirting board in master
2004 Shortened the pantry in the mud room
2004 Rewired lights on drives, dining room, kitchen and master closet.
2004 Replaced light fittings in master closet, bath, landing, bedrooms, foyer, dining room.
2004 Removed 70s shag carpets from six bedrooms.
2004 Installed hardwood floors on landing and balcony.
2004 Installed bamboo floors in bedroom.
2004 Removed carpets from front and back stairs and back hall.
2004 Capped the chimney.
2004 Replaced guttering.
2004 Removed dead and dangerous trees from yard, pruned back other shrubs.
2004/5/6 Replanted, planted, weeded ad nauseum.
2004/5 Refinished stairs, installed bamboo on back hall floor.
2004/5 Stripped wallpaper from foyer, front stairs and back hall, bedroom
2004/5/6 Painted master, office, bedrooms, dining room, kitchen, back hall, closets
2005 Primed foyer and front hall.
2005 Re-roofed house.
2005 Stained siding and painted original windows and doors.
2005 Replaced corroded faucets in bathroom. Rebuilt one toilet, fixed two more.
2005 Replaced 15 windows.
2005 Stained 15 windows.
2006 New window treatments den, office, dining room, master, bedrooms.
2006 Replaced dishwasher.
2006 Replaced 5" replacement guttering with 6" guttering
2006 Replaced garden gate
2007 New washer/dryer
2007 Replaced BBQ
2007 Boys' Bath renovated
2007 Girls' Bath updated
2007 Downstairs Bath updated
2007 Replaced one window
2008 Repaired siding
2008 Installed upper laundry cabinets
2008 Renovated powder room
2008 Replaced hot water tank
2009 Repaired bridge
2009 Remortared steps, replaced cracked bluestone
2009 Rehabilitated and planted north side of yard

Still to do, with new timeframe:
2009 Renovate master bath
2009 Finish master bedroom
2009 Finish laundry room
2009 Replace fencing
2009 Repair sliding doors
2009 Replace 3 0f the 6 remaining original windows (master and den)
2010 Renovate kitchen
2010 Decorate foyer and hall stairs
2010 Sealcoat drives and tear up concrete in front of garages, replace with cobblestones
2011 Replace carpet in den and dining room
2012 Marble dust pool and replace pool heater. Renovate outdoor bar
2013 Finish basement
2014 Whatever else we've forgotten/overlooked.

Our original plan was to have the house totally updated by the end of 2012. We knew two years ago that we weren't going to make that deadline and earlier this year I despaired of ever finishing the renovations but looking over this list I feel much better - so the original 8 year plan became a 10 year testament to our love for the house, it doesn't matter as long as we don't intend to sell the house. We can take our time, do what we have to and tackle the maintenance as it arises.