Open Beam

Relocated

2009-06-15T21:52:00.000-07:00

Just in case you were concerned, the octagon table and yellow Bertoia side chairs have a new home on the patio. We think they look pretty nice under the Nelson bubble lamp. Smokey loves to use this table as a perch for birdwatching. Don't worry, I always clean that table before eating on it!

Menus Please!

2009-06-15T21:40:00.000-07:00

Here is the newest addition to our kitchen. A 1950's style restaurant booth. Before Tim and I were married we talked about how cool it would be to have a restaurant booth in our house. This is another great find from Redlands Thrift for $75. The upholstery needs to be redone on the seat (we think we may just redo the whole thing in order to change the color scheme a bit) and there is no table top (the little table cloth is over an unfinished piece of wood where we will glue the formica table top - to match our formica counters of course!). We are getting close to getting the backsplash done in the kitchen so we think we will try to match the vinyl to the tile, but we are still trying to decide. Stay tuned!

I hope this does not encourage the kids to treat me more like a waitress than they already do...I am in for it!

Upgrade

2009-06-15T21:29:00.001-07:00

We first bought these generic patio chairs to kinda match our strapped hanging chairs. Tim was not satisfied with these because they were more of an 80's style and he got a lot of heat for them when he posted them on the "Lotta Livin'" Forum (a mid-century modern message board where a lot of MCM geeks - like Tim - compare their furniture and get ideas for remodels). Anyway, they were only like $5 each at Redlands Thrift so we decided to keep them. We even thought they look cool under our new umbrella.

A couple days ago, Tim made a quick stop at Redlands Thrift and found these beauties! They are Brown Jordan Kailua Patio Chairs from 1971 (they have the original tag). Tim found the original add also. They need to be powder coated and restrapped, but they are being sold online (ebay) for $300 each once refinished. Jackpot! Too bad we like them too much to ever sell them!

Our Amazing Garden

2009-06-08T22:12:00.000-07:00

Without much effort on my part our garden has really exploded (compare these pics to the first pics of our garden!). The drip system that was already installed for the ugly bushes that were there previously has been plenty of water (although I do soak that tomatoes once a week). So far we have harvested green onions (although I thought I was planting white onions), red and green cabbage, round zucchini (about 5 so far!), green beans, one green bell pepper, carrots (very small and twisted because we planted them too close together), blueberries, and tons of basil, mint and rosemary. All of our tomato plants are full of green tomatoes and we have a sugar snap pea plant that would reach the sky if we let it, but still no peas. We are also expecting cantaloupe, artichokes, yellow bell peppers, sweet corn, and lots of yellow and red tomatoes. Hanna and Syd had a great time "harvesting" today.

Gainey Ceramics

2009-04-14T22:23:00.000-07:00

A couple months ago we also took a trip to the Gainey Ceramics Factory Outlet Store in La Verne. The pots in the Outlet are not necessarily cracked or irregular shaped. Sometimes it is a discontinued color or a small blemish and you cannot even tell the difference - and they are over 50% off retail. We got about 15 pots and stands for about $200. If anyone has ever seen these pots in antique stores, they can go for hundreds of dollars each. We had fun fitting everything in the Subaru with two kids!

Spring is in the Air

2009-04-08T23:39:00.000-07:00

Our latest remodeling project was in the garden. A few months ago we tore out some ugly bushes in our raised planter out back and mixed some manure in the soil. I planted some cabbage sprouts and they went crazy! We even got three broccoli plants that were accidentally mixed in the cabbage.

This past weekend my dad and I rototilled the soil again and added more manure and planted a full fledged vegetable garden. We planted onions, tomatoes, green beans, herbs, cantaloupe, zucchini, bell pepper, artichoke, and two blueberry bushes. Syd directed us, Mason ate some dirt and we all had a great time.

Tim also put up a weather station in the garden. It has an anemometer (wind speed/direction measure), temperature and humidity sensor, and a rain gauge. We have a little computer inside the house that tells us all the info. Tim's goal is to use this info to help us use passive solar heating instead of gas and electricity. Mason loves watching the anemometer.

We also bought a vermicomposter (a worm farm) to help us reduce our waste and turn our green scraps into soil for the garden. We were all excited to get it started and our worms only lasted a week! We think we may have added too much citrus? We will try again! The picture is of our dead worms....sorry guys.

Loma Linda Mercantile

2009-04-08T23:10:00.000-07:00

Tim found out that LLU has a huge warehouse filled with old office furniture that is for sale for cheap. We went to something similar at UC Riverside, but most of it was pretty beat up. At LLU Tim found some great stuff. The circular Herman Miller table was free because it had no base (Tim found a base on Ebay). He later found the same table online for $800. The smaller table is also Herman Miller. We also have a tall rectangular desk too. The trash can is just cool. The chairs, as Tim posted a couple weeks ago, are from Redlands Thrift.

We are having so much fun finding cool, used furniture. Our favorite stuff we clean up and use right away. You should see our garage! It is filled with stuff to refinish someday. We have even discussed getting a little side business going selling vintage furniture. Who knows?

Our New Baby

2009-04-08T22:51:00.000-07:00

We finally got a piano. We have been talking about getting one since we got married and Tim found the perfect one on Craigslist. It is a 1950's Acrosonic in mint condition. Unfortunately, it was in Walnut Creek, up north. So we first had my dad go look at it to make sure it was real. Then we sent a deposit. Then Tim went up to Sacramento for a work conference and met some piano movers in Walnut Creek to move it to my parents house. Then Tim rented a van and drove it from my parents house to our house. Phew! Totally worth it. We will be starting Syd in Suzuki piano lessons in the Fall (once we can afford it!) and Mason will follow along as soon as he can. In the Suzuki method, the parent learns along with the child, so I am getting really excited to get started too. Syd and Mason already jam together on the piano whenever they have a free moment.

Kitchen Collectables

2009-04-08T22:12:00.000-07:00

Here are a few of the treasures that I have collected over the past few months. Most were Christmas gifts from Tim - he totally spoiled me this year. We have had the best luck finding things on E Bay or at the Long Beach Flea Market and Redlands Thrift!

Details of Modernism Week

2009-04-07T22:41:00.000-07:00

Here are some of the things we saw at other houses that we would like to integrate into our house some day.

This was our only purchase of the weekend. We got it for $50 at a thrift store in Palm Springs.

Moderism Week

2009-04-07T22:33:00.000-07:00

In February, Tim and I went to Palm Springs for Modernism Week. We stayed for three nights (away from the kids!!) at the Orbit Inn, ate great food (Copelys was our favorite), rode the Tramway and attempted to see as much mid-century modern stuff as we could. We did a 3 hour double decker bus tour and did a private tour of the Frey house. We also did self-guided tours of all the antique and thrift shops. We tried to be low key so we did not have our camera at most places, but here are some pictures of some of our favorite houses.

Hanging Chairs

2009-04-07T22:18:00.000-07:00

This has been, by far, our favorite purchase of the New Year. We bought these mid-century hanging chairs at Xcape in Long Beach. At the store we were not sure where we would hang both of them together. I guess we forgot about this huge tree with two perfect stumps!! Syd love to swing in them and she even designed a pully system so that when one of us is in the other chair we can swing her chair. Mason also loves chilling out there and when he sees the chairs he says "Bweee, bwee!"(his version of wee).

Tim also got this umbrella from the Loma Linda's School of Nursing courtyard. No, he did not steal it. He actually got a hold of someone in maintainence with the help of his mom and bought an extra one they had in storage. Unfortunately, it did not have a pole so he found the manufacturer (Sundrella) and bought the pole kit from them. Now we just have to figure out where to put it.

Peek-A-Boo

2009-04-07T22:16:00.000-07:00

One of the great uses for a double sided fireplace!

2009-03-06T22:50:00.001-08:00

Here's another thrift store find. I bought a set of four of these at a thrift store for $12. I think they're pretty cool. I was going to rent a steam cleaner to clean them but didn't want to spend the money so I did some searching on the internet and read that some people were using a wet-dry vac to do the same job. So I mixed some hot water with a little bit of laundry soap in a spray bottle, sprayed it on, and vacuumed it up right away. It seems like that's all a steam cleaner does anyway. After that and a bit of vinyl cleaner I was pretty happy with them. Here's a before and after picture:

Thrift store patio chairs

2009-03-06T22:35:00.000-08:00

I bought some patio chairs at the local thrift store today. I cleaned them up with some soap and a brush and I think they look pretty good. For $10, you can't go wrong. The thrift store by us has some pretty decent stuff sometimes. You just have to imagine it without the coats of funk on it. Here's a picture showing one before and the other after cleaning.

-Tim

Kitchen: Before and After

2008-12-17T23:56:00.001-08:00

So, we tore out our 80's style tile counter tops. If you don't remember them, look back at the Holey Moley post. They were pretty bad and totally not our style. The whole coutertop remodel project started when we bought the new stovetop that did not fit in the old slot and of course when we cut the hole in the wall and needed a bar to go with it. Tim got some help from his dad, and they tore out the tile, cement and wood planks on our old counters. Look at that cute boy working so hard to give his wife a beautiful workspace. I love him so much.

It was very hard to have to use the laundry room sink for two weeks to wash dishes. That room is tight quarters! We had to move all of our pots, pans, and kichen appliances out too so they did not get too dirty. We are still trying to remember where we put everything!

Then, we hired Pazzula Plastics out of Huntington Beach to install our Nevermar (supposed to be more scratch resistant than Formica) Laminate countertop in matte putty.
The bar is so awesome! We just have to cut the bar stools down about two inches to make it more comfortable for adults to sit at it. But it is perfect for our little Syd.The wall above my desk will be sanded (once we confirm that we don't have lead paint) and repainted and three Putty Nevermar shelves will be install for displaying pictures and cool kitchen stuff. This was my mom's idea. I cannot wait!
We decided on no backsplash because we want to tile this whole wall. We are going to do 1 inch tiles in a mosaic pattern. Hakatai is a tile website that Tim found. It is so cool. You can pick from solid colors, premade mosaics, or you can create your own mosaic on the website. You enter in the colors you want and choose what percentage you want each color represented. Then it creates it for you. We ordered a sample of this one to try out in the kitchen. We think we may also tile the side of the cabnet that houses the oven. We don't think we will be able to match the stain if we try to refinish it, so Tim's parents suggested tile. I think it will look pretty cool.

Another feature that I am very excited about is the new sink. We almost kept the old sink to cut costs and I am so glad we decided against that. We were most concerned that the sink was undermount so that water and food could be easily wiped into it. The sink we chose is called Karran, another product of Tim's careful research. It is made from a specially formulated acrylic resin and is reinforced for strength with a polyester/fiberglass mix on the underside of the sink. They have yet to discover a substance that can stain the sink. Pazzula Plastics had them so we went for it. We were concerned about doing the double sink because we liked that our old one was a single. But that is all they had. I now really like it. It keeps dirty dishes away from the garbage disposal and gives room to fill pots even when there are dishes in the sink. It is also a couple inches deeper than our old sink, which makes a huge difference. Tim did all the hookups for it. It only took a couple trips to Home Depot. I am amazed that he was able to do this all by himself. It looks so confusing to me. Amazing talents come out when you own a house.

Christmas Decorations

2008-12-17T22:41:00.001-08:00

Sydney's room started out as the most festive room in the house. This is a mini-silver tree with all her favorite ornaments on it. The lights are little pine cones. She loves it. And it looks nice from the street too.

Then Tim decided that we needed a 50's style aluminum tree if we were truly going to be mid-century modern freaks. So ebay came to the rescue and our quaint 6 foot aluminum tree came a week later. It came in this puny box (we thought we got scammed) with each of the branches in a cardboard sleeve. The brand is Evergleam. So here it is right after we put it up.

Then we decided that an Evergleam tree is just not complete without the spinning light (color projector) to bring out the tree's true "colors". So another week later (and a few wrapped presents later), here is our Christmas Tree. Tim's mom freaks out because this is the same set up she had as a child.
We also bought seven of these plastic spindles. They are hung from our ceiling in the TV room. Mason loves to look at them.

Lights

2008-12-01T20:42:00.000-08:00

Just in time for Thanksgiving we got some dining room lights hung. The light above our formal dining table was purchase several months ago from Excape in Long Beach. The outdoor light is similar to the one we saw at the LB Swap Meet for $45 dollars, but ours is a much cooler (and a little more expensive). This one is a George Nelson Criss Cross bubble lamp purchase through Craigs List (in perfect condition at over half the price!). The one we almost got at the swap meet was a Saucer bubble lamp and we like the Criss Cross much better. It all works out! To see all the styles of bubble lamps click here: http://www.modernica.net/index.php?target=products&mode=search&subcats=Y&type=extended&avail=Y&pshort=Y&pfull=Y&pname=Y&pkeywords=Y&cid=0&q=bubble+lamp&x=0&y=0

New additions to our collection

2008-11-19T20:46:00.000-08:00

The past two weekends in a row we have been furniture collecting. Two weekends ago we went to the Pasadena Swap Meet. We found a couple nice things, but overall we thought it was too big. There were so many vendors selling the new, cheesy swap meet stuff like socks, t-shirts, and toys. We quickly found the antique section, but there were very few mid-century vendors. Here is what we got...

Two really cool barstools. Now we just need a bar. Possibly happening right after Thanksgiving.A Catherine Holm bowl. She was a famous kitchenware designer in the 50's. I think I might become a collector!
A cool mid-century style frame. You cannot really tell from this picture, but the edges of the slant in and the mat is a burlap texture. You should have seen the picture that was in it. It was a watercolor of a joker holding some flowers. Bright greens and blues. We got several compliments on the painting as we carried it through the swap meet. Tim and I decided immediately that he better take it out to the car.

This past Sunday, the day after Syd's 4th birthday party, we headed out to Long Beach to search for some more frames. Here is what we came back with...

A cool wooden bench. It fits perfectly.

Another MCM frame. Not in quite as good of condition, but still a neat style. This one has a wooden frame with a thin wooden mat. It will need to be repainted. The water color in this one is not as bad, but it will still be replaced by picture (probably of Mason).

We would have left the swap meet with a Nelson Saucer Bubble Lamp also.

We found one early on in great condition for only $45. We thought about it a little as we walked around the swap meet, but got caught up looking for other stuff. Then it suddenly hit us that this was a cool lamp for our patio and this was a GREAT deal! We ran back to get it, but it was already sold. Tim looked it over again and realized that it was from Modernica, a cool modern furniture store in LA and new these lamps cost $300. It was a total downer to our day. We could not stop thinking about it. So Tim has been obsessed since then trying to find one on Craiglist. Wouldn't you know it...He is actually in LA as I write this post buying one. Unfortunately, our indecision cost us $100. Oh well, that will teach us to think twice.

A New Addition to the Family

2008-11-08T21:49:00.000-08:00

This is Smokey (surprised the name is not Princess? We were too...Tim had a gray cat named Smokey when he was little, so Syd loved that name right away). Sydney will be turning four on the 17th and this was her birthday present. Smokey lives on the patio and loves her climbing tower and array of toys Sydney picked out for her. She is so playful and spends hours chasing around a big marble or string. Tim agreed to get her (he has always said he HATES cats) based on the fact that she will be our rat exterminator when she is grown. He already has plans to train her with a life-like looking rat on the end of a stick.

Every once in a while we let her in the living room and watch her jump from expensive piece of furniture to Mason's toys. It is hilarious how much she likes all of Mason's stuff. Her favorite is his ball track and a scarf I let him play with.
(Yes, that is our stove top. It has not quite made it back into the kitchen since the hole. I am kinda enjoying the excuse not to cook!)

As I type this Smokey is sitting on my lap purring. I just said the other day that I don't even care if Syd grows out of the "cat frenzy" because I am loving having Smokey. She spent hours next to me keeping all of my fabric warm while I quilted last week and played with all my fabric scraps. Uh oh, I am becoming an old cat lady!

Firmament

2008-11-08T21:43:00.000-08:00

Here is our Christmas present to each other. A C Jere wall sculpture. We have wanted one for that wall since the day we moved in, but had trouble agreeing on which one. This was Tim's immediate first choice, but it took me a while to fall in love with this one. I am now totally convinced that this was the right choice. I love it! When our track lights shine on it it makes the coolest shadow on the wall.

Holey Moley!

2008-11-08T21:32:00.000-08:00

Well, we did it. Tim and his dad punched the hole in the kitchen wall. It is SO spectacular. They did this in one day. That is Tim's dad for you. All it needs is some molding and paint and a bar built out in to the living room area and then it is finished. Of course the demolition has inspired a whole new array of remodeling ideas. The latest is that we "need" new counter tops. Especially, if we will be building out the bar, then we might as well make all the counter tops match. We'll see...We have done some research and Formica is the counter top of choice. We now have several samples laying all over our kitchen trying to decide which color will look the best. More pictures of that to follow.

Mason can be playing on the soft carpet while I am cooking or Sydney can be watching a show while I throw her snacks. It is GREAT!

Tims Projects

2008-10-16T22:43:00.000-07:00

This was one of Tim's first endevors...He'll have to explain how he got that heavy thing to stay up there.
Before

After

Notice, we are watching Planet Green, of course!

We thought about restoring this old faucet, but new parts would cost about as much as a new one. We found one that is still a wall mount and it has a better water flow and higher neck. We don't miss the hand-held sprayer we used to have. Tim also installed a water filter system because we don't have filtered water in the fridge anymore.
Before

After

Kitchen Remodel

2008-10-16T22:25:00.000-07:00

No, not really. We just got a new fridge and dishwasher. Both are Whirlpool and the highest rated Energy Star. Our main reason for getting the new fridge was to save more energy. We will get $50 rebate and we just got $50 for recycling our old one. The dishwasher was given to us by Tim's folks. They never use it. Ours was an old one that did not work and was taken by the fridge delivery guys for recycling. We love them both.

I also splurged on some Le Crueset cookware. I got it at the outlet in Cabazon. We decided we needed to get rid of all of our non-stick cookware (with Teflon) because who knows what damage that is causing to our bodies. So we moved to cast iron. At least that has been around for hundreds of years. It looks pretty nice with all the colors in our kitchen.

Globe Lights

2008-10-16T21:45:00.000-07:00

One on Tim's recent projects was hanging these globe lights. He will have to tell you how he managed to get them exactly even on two very different surfaces (I think it was pretty hard). They are not wired yet. We'll need an electricians help with that. But they do look pretty awesome.
Tim really likes the look of globe lights. There was one hanging opposite this wall next to the fireplace that was antique looking and way to decorative for our style. We took it down and we bought one at the Long Beach Flea Market with a chain and Tim tried to redo in a more MCM style. He had to rewire the whole thing with a power strip cord and did not really love the way it turned out.
So he found a matching set on eBay and ordered them. He loved the fact that they had the steel plate and stem with a bendable hinge to hang them on slanted surfaces. They came double boxed and packed with thousands of packing peanuts. They made it safely to say the least. Tim took the first one out of the box and put the stem on it to see what they looked like. Well, the stem slipped out of his had and fell into the inside of the ball....
I thought he was going to lose it! To make a long story short the guy he bought them from just happen to have another globe laying around and said he would send it to Tim for only the cost of shipping for good karma. Tim took him up on it and has that one stowed away in our bedroom to put up once we have them wired and working.

Window Coverings

2008-10-16T21:21:00.000-07:00

We went back and forth for the first couple months on how to cover the windows in this house. We really wanted something simple and MCM looking, but we don't like the look of the heavy wool curtains that you often see in 50's style houses. The kids bedrooms were most important because they needed some darkness during they day (mostly for Mason) and some way to keep the monsters out (for Syd). So we found these pull down shades at Lowes (by Levelor) in white. They are light filtering and seem pretty durable. Syd has two in her room and Mason has one in his.

My next project was the kitchen/breakfast knook windows. They are in the front of the house and I felt like they needed something. So I decided to try and make curtains. I got this cool fabric at Crate and Barrel Outlet in Cabazon. I used Stitch Witchery to make these "no-sew" curtains. I still have to hem the sides but I just recently got orange thread. I have only made this set for the knook window. I feel like they have to much of a country look to them. I love the fabric, but I just feel like maybe shades would be a better match for our style. Tim, however, thinks they look really great open, especially from the outside. He likes how they match the orangish brown shade of our front door. I am still not sold. I found a shade at Lowes that is the same brand and style as our white ones, but it is a woven brown and black. I think it would look really nice in those windows. We will see who wins this battle...

A pic of the curtain from the outside to come soon...

The Quest for the Perfect Bedding

2008-10-16T13:19:00.000-07:00

The minute I saw this light in the master bedroom, I knew that the bedding I chose needed to match it or somehow tie in the beautiful sea blue/green color. Not only is it a cool color, but the spotted light effect is so cool at night. I took this picture during the day so you cannot get the full effect, but it is still pretty impressive.

So, this is what I came up with. I found this amazing coverlet at pillowsandthrows.com and I knew right away that I would not be able to find anything that came this close to matching. In the picture on their website, they had this coverlet with orange sheets and so I stole their idea and got some orange sheets from Pottery Barn. The two decorative pillows and the curtains are from Ikea (that is the only thing Tim says I can buy from Ikea). The curtain rods are really interesting too. We got those at Crate and Barrel and they are called invisible rods because they are just a single bar and they wrap around the edges. They work well for our windows because they make the curtains open all the way past the window. The whole ensemble cost an arm and a leg, but I am so happy with it so it was well worth it.

The green chest at the foot of our bed was left here by the previous owner. We loved it at first when it was in our living room (it look great with the couches), but they had to move it when we got matching end tables. Now it is in our room and I love the storage for blankets and birthday gifts (don't tell Syd), but we don't love the color or style of it with the bedding. It may be replaced by a more simple chest or credenza, but for now Syd loves to use it as a stepping stool to jump on us in the morning or just a spot to pose for pictures.

We Could Not Resist...

2008-08-31T23:36:00.000-07:00

Well, we took another trip to Retro Row in Long Beach. Tim had a day off, my parents were here to take care of Syd, and we found some cool yellow chairs we wanted online, so we went. We got to meet my friend, Holly, for lunch too, so it was a great trip. Here is what we came back with...

Four Bertoia Side Chairs with yellow fiberglass shells. It is VERY hard to find a set of four in the same style/color so we (Tim mostly) felt we had to jump on these.

We are searching for mid-century style frames to decorate with and are having some trouble finding empty frames. We found this one with slanted edges and a cool metal detail. It just so happen that we really liked the picture too. We just need to change the discolored mat. The painting is called Calligraphic Flight By Paul Hanna. We are thinking of hanging on the wall right above where it is pictured.

This will be our dining room light. It is similar to a ph5. We had been dreaming about getting a ph5, but they are $700 new so that was out of the question. Tim did some good bargaining and got this thrown in with the chairs for free! We were so excited. Unfortunately, there are some wiring issues to figure out (how to hang it from the open beams without a chain, how to avoid using the plug so that it can be wired into the ceiling instead of an outlet) so it may be a while until we get to truly enjoy it.

We saw so many things we wanted on our trip. We even got to go in the overstock warehouse for the Xcape store. Vaughn and Steven had fun showing us around and watching us drool over stacks of MCM chairs, benches, lights, couches, and speakers (yes, Tim even managed to find speakers in there). We are going to have to restrain ourselves!
-Amber

New Mailbox

2008-08-25T02:30:00.000-07:00

I changed the mailbox over the weekend. We thought the old white one was ugly and boring. I picked out a black one that I thought had a more modern look at Home Depot. It was marketed as "vandal proof" and had a big picture of someone playing mailbox baseball with it and losing.

It's really heavy duty, but I picked it out mainly because I liked how it looked. I found some really cool numbers at Orchard Supply Hardware and screwed them to the side of the mailbox with spacers to give it a floating look. I met our neighbors today across the street and they said that it's a good thing I bought such a sturdy mailbox because over the years they've had to replace theirs 3 times from kids breaking it with baseball bats. Did I ever come down this street when I was in High School? I hope not.

-Tim

Tim's Surpirse

2008-08-25T00:31:00.000-07:00

I went to San Jose for a week and when I got back Tim had surprised me with some new furniture from Retro Row in Long Beach. Thanks to our friend Chantal (she has similar taste as us and lives in Long Beach), who told us about the LB Antique Market and Retro Row, we are now addicted to furniture shopping. Tim went with his parents and he fit all of the items shown below in a Ford Escape with three people. His dad is a master packer! The table was on the roof and does not have a single scratch!

Syd calls this her "Time Out Chair" , but she looks pretty happy to be there. The colors in the seat cushion match our couches great. We think this one is walnut. The storage drawer is perfect for our computers. It had a piece of tinted glass that fit on top, but Tim is having a piece of clear glass made for it.
I think these speakers (a set of two) were supposed to be for Tim's dad, but somehow they ended up in our house. If Tim likes them enough, he will find a way to keep them. We are thinking these would be nice out on our patio once we get some furniture out there.

This is our dining room table. Teak or walnut? We cannot remember. The two side panels slide under the middle panel. You have to see it. It slides so smooth and the side panels just vanish. It looks great with four chair when it is folded up. We need to find 6 more chairs now or a set of ten. Pasadena Antique Market here we come!!

-Amber

Long Beach Antique Market

2008-08-25T00:18:00.000-07:00

Here are some of our purchases from the LB market in July. We felt like kids in a candy store. We had so much fun!This is a set of three teak tables. Small, medium and large. Get out those coasters!

A set of four Danish dining room chairs.

A spinning tulip chair and tulip table for Syd's room. I did some work on the chair pad and now it is in PERFECT condition. We plan to repaint the table and chair white. Syd votes for purple, however.

A head board for Syd's full bed.

-Amber

Our favorite things...

2008-08-24T23:23:00.001-07:00

Here are some pictures of our favorite things about the house.

This tiled entryway caught our eye from the beginning. It is one inch tiles in different shades of green. The original owner owned a tile business and had a lot of fun with tile in the house. The door is solid wood with brass fish for the handles. How weird, but how cool! The door does not have a keyed entry so you can only lock and unlock it from the inside. We hate the brick on the left of the entry. We want to redo that with something much cooler someday.

Of course, the open beam ceilings are top on the list (and the inspiration for the title of this blog). They span the living room, dining room and the den. The beams are painted dark brown and the slats are a greenish brown.

This is the double sided fireplace. This side opens to the living room and the other side opens to the dining room. We love the cobble stone bench and wall. Tim immediately had some ideas for the black hood. Can you guess? More pictures to come soon.

This is the den. Tim envisions this to be his office/music room and theater. We love the high triangular windows and double open beam ceiling. But we hate the cheap ceiling fan and the country brick on the fireplace. At first I loved the wood paneling, but Tim has convinced me that it looks a little cheap and he now wants to drywall it.

This is the guest bathroom. The one inch tiles on the floor are shades of brown, mustard, and teal. I love that color scheme. We love the teal sink (and teal tub), but unfortunately the sink has a large crack in it. We'll have to look into fixing it.

This is a hanging light that we have in the master bedroom and the front bedroom (Syd's room). This picture does not really do it justice. It is so beautiful when the other lights are off. It casts light spots all over the walls and ceiling. It has a aged copper look to it, but it is ceramic. I designed our entire bedding around this light (pics of that to come later).

The is one piece from the previous owner's bedroom set. It is made by Drexel and in really good condition. The handles have the aged copper look and match the ceramic light above. We have this tall dresser, a long low dresser, two night stands, a head board (which is probably our least favorite piece), a mirror, and a chair and desk. We are selling the mirror and desk with chair on Craigslist. The rest we have arranged in the room.

These were the previous owner's couches. We loved them the minute we saw them. We told the real estate agents that if we did not get the house, we still wanted the couches. They were bought in 1965 for $1600 for the pair. We used an online inflation calculator and found out that this would be about $10,500 today. We bought the couches, our complete bedroom set (7 pieces), a end table, and a chest from the family for $400. Great deal!!

There are so many more things that we love about this house, but I don't have time tonight. Just to mention a few:
The built in desk in Syd's room
The solid wood cabinets in the kitchen
The 6 rectangular windows in the bedroom (we feel like we are sleeping out in the garden!)
The indoor spa
The asian style sliding doors in the dining room (that hide all my crap!)
The glassed in patio off the back with two sliders going in and three sliders going out

More pictures of this stuff will come later.

-Amber

2008-07-24T01:36:00.000-07:00

Here's a video of the house as we bought it. This video is from the real estate website so the house is staged with some of the previous owner's furniture and some of the agent's furniture. We moved in on July 21, 2008.