bookends

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4
5
6

i think my parents had a set of no.3...

shelved!

another project checked off the list. d made a beautiful little walnut bedside table and matching shelving. here's a peek as we get the final touches on the room complete.





we went back and forth on the finish for the shelf brackets. we finally settled on white (from here), and i'm so glad we did. they aren't too noticeable, match the finish on the bed frame and d pulled in the white on the grommet for the drawer pull (love!) he also helped reduce the brackets visual presence by using deeper boards for the shelves, and hiding the bracket tips in a hole on the underside. he secured each bracket/shelf so there is no wiggle (something inherent in this style of shelving and an important consideration in earthquake country - especially bedside).

i'm very happy with how these turned out. especially the table. its d's design and i think so lovely with our bed.




oh, and in case you're wondering about the kangaroo. it was one of the first gifts i ever gave d. probably 17 years ago? it is a vintage ceramic wallet caddy. we'd watched pulp fiction together, and then i spotted it at the pasadena rose bowl flea market. i couldn't find a clip showing it online - but it is mentioned here. and the artwork: an early piece by lisa congdon, purchased at a show here in L.A. many moons ago! It is a wonderful ink drawing on a page of text - winnie the pooh, in french (winnie l'ourson).

wallpaper 101

there's stuff still to do, but i couldnt resist sharing where we are at!

we were a little nervous about this DIY project. in preparation we watched a lot of videos including:

this one

and

read up about it on good old msl








in the end (and d may beg to differ) i thought it went up rather smoothly (no pun intended!) i had experience, a long long time ago, putting up pre-pasted wallpaper with my mom. the kind you soak in a tray then apply to the wall. i must say, though my memory may be failing me, i think this was a much easier, and cleaner process. we had to search a bit for a paste (we found it at Lowe's) but it was easy to work with and set-up and clean-up were quite basic.

items of note:

* have a long clean smooth table top surface to work on. this made applying the paste a great deal easier
* wipe down said smooth surface between paste applications. we did have a minor mishap with the paper sticking to the table and tearing. luckily we had ordered extra.
* order extra (see above). we used the calculator on the wallpaper direct site. glad we did.
* it is a two-person job. sure one person could have done it. but it was great having an extra pair of hands (especially as first-timers). d did the cutting, paste-up, application to the wall and trimming; while i was his spotter, and followed him with the tools to push out any bubbles, roll the seams and sponge down. (it was a great team-building exercise!)
* invest in a good roller. we had a cheap one that came with the kit d picked-up. we ended up using a clean brayer which worked much better.
* prep prep prep! d's careful preparation of the wall (sanding, patching, sanding, priming, and sealing) made a huge difference to the outcome.



i really love how it looks. (d is getting tired of hearing me go on about it!) it ties into the theme of the house in color and its retro vibe. the natural wood furnishings keep it warm and inviting. our chaotic neglected bedroom has turned into a "crisp clean space" and a "cozy refuge".

wallpaper: dandelion mobile in porcelain with powder blue by miss print purchased at wallpaperdirect.com (but sadly no longer available).

still to do: walnut shelving, bedside built-ins, baseboards and having ceiling painted. we are close!

our new mattress

we wanted to be ready to go as soon as our bed arrived and the wallpaper was up. so d headed out last weekend to investigate mattress options more closely. my criteria were of the environmental bent, while he was concerned with comfort and perhaps a remedy for his back pain.

he visited two stores, and the second was impressive enough to end his search.

Keetsa is not the most environmentally friendly mattress on the market - and they openly admit it - but it is much better than standard mattresses, and is at a good price-point in comparison to the other eco options. (Keetsa's unique package cuts down on freight costs - and that saving is passed on to the consumer. good stuff!)

he chose the Tea Leaf Supreme. a few nights in, and we are extremely happy with our new mattress. it was shipped to the house (free!) in a box not much bigger than K. its vacuum packing provided much entertainment on opening. and there was no weird smell! (so happy!) most importantly, we are both getting a great night's sleep.

added bonus: upload a video showcasing your mattress to their youtube channel and get a free pillow :)



thank you Keetsa!

(a peek here too at our new wallpaper and bed before the closet doors went back up!)

this just happened!

tic toc

looking to replace our old clock radio in keeping with the bedroom redo.

options to consider...



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two
three
four
five

any other suggestions?

mattress shopping

we are pretty set on purchasing a "natural" mattress - or at least a "hybrid". i thought we'd go with the dwr sonno versa mattress, but then i started reading about polyurethane and other mattress "ingredients" and decided we weren't in a big rush (our bed frame is back-ordered to april), and this deserves more investigation. after all, we do spend a lot of time in bed.

did you know that a polyurethane, aka memory foam mattress, loses half of its weight in ten years! that's half its weight going up as dust in your bedroom as the chemical components in the bed begin to decompose. yikes! there are "eco-friendly" PU mattresses out there, including the aloe versa from dwr, which we are considering.

of course we are taking price-point into consideration. and i am bemoaning we didn't do this prior to purchasing the girls' mattresses. (really it came out of our consideration of a memory foam mattress, which we hadn't considered for the girls.) we bought them "conventional" mattresses - coils and foam. And in hindsight, I don't feel too guilty about our choice. Simmons touts itself as "the first mattress manufacturer to have all polyurethane foams meet strict environmental, health and safety standards and states the mattress is free of phthalates, formaldehyde, methylene chloride, CFCs, PBDEs, mercury, lead and heavy metals with low VOCs for superior air quality."

some frightening reads:

motherjones

the huffington post

Safer Chemicals Healthy Families

even goop...

some "green" mattress options:

Keetsa

Palmpring

Natura

Naturepedic

Vivetique

a couple of you have recommended these to me. (thank you!) any other experiences out there? i admit to finding it a bit overwhelming!

master piece

i am dreadfully behind in posting. lots in the queue...


for our bedroom I had a vision of a crisp, clean space that felt bright and airy. but after reading your wallpaper comments, I hesitated, and was pulled in to the idea of a cozy refuge from the rest of the house. I've come around again though, and am back to embracing the nature of our house - large bright open spaces and going with my original plan.



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four (this one is no longer available)
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six

d has hardwired two lovely tolomeo wall lights on each side of the bed (bought years ago at an artemide parking lot sale), and we are taking advantage of the dwr bedroom sale to order our new bed. (any advice on mattresses?) the desk, bedding, and chair are already all in place. this lounge chair is on the wish list for the patio off the bedroom.


I think we are close. I'll caveat that though, with the fact that I haven't yet ordered the wallpaper! so here we go...

:::

pulling together a collage of images as we finalize our bedroom - and feeling a bit lazy this morning - i did a quick internet search for our dresser only to discover this second-hand store find was indeed a good investment.


image via 1stdibs

d and i purchased this almost 13 years ago - when we first bought the house - at a little shop on abbot kinney, before abbot kinney was hip. it seemed like a huge outlay of money at the time, but the quality of materials, construction and the unique design, sold me. and now seeing it sell for over twenty times what we paid for it, reenforces our decision to put our money into items that will last and to think carefully about what we bring into the house. (and learning more about the man who designed it and the company that made it was fun too!)

in a house full of heirlooms, hand-built items and carefully considered purchases I feel good about where our money goes, and in the knowledge that these items will last for future generations to enjoy.

closet case

our bedroom closet is the last in the house to be customized by d. as part of our bedroom redo, and moving e to her own room, it moved to the top of the queue. it is almost finished and i couldn't resist sharing this shot. i wish i had a before of the chaos that was. needless to say, i'm not in a huge rush for him to finish and hang the new doors. (the original sliders are worn and limit access. d is replacing them with two sets of beautiful double-hung doors that will allow up both to get to our stuff at the same time.) here's our inspiration. (as much as i love pinterest, i am still a victim of paper and files full of inspiration shots that i've been carrying around for years. its lovely to see that pile dwindle as projects get checked off the list!)



thanks for the wallpaper input. of course, i thought i knew what i wanted but you've made me reconsider. final decision this weekend! (and in cleaning up around here, found this old post with original choices. glad to see we haven't wavered much!)

off the wall

as i mentioned, we are looking at wallpaper. it will hang in our master bedroom, where we have lived with this above our bed for the last 12 years.



it is, of course, older than that. and when we bought the house, was hidden behind another layer of even less lovable paper. we actually get a lot of compliments on this floral - and of course it is in keeping with our house and its mcm vibe. i however, am so very done with it. and i look forward to our bedroom remodel as the opportunity to change it up. (more on what's happening in our bedroom - on the decorating front! - soon...)

so here is the short-list. and it has been a long time coming. in the end, we decided we wanted something that kept the spirit of the old paper, but that made the room feel fresh. we also wanted it to match-up with walnut furniture and the quilt we have, and relate to the adjoining bathroom color-scheme. the samples are all from MissPrint out of the UK. (we looked at a lot of options, and i was sorry we couldn't find something more local. lots of great stuff out there - but either the design, or the color way, just weren't quite right.)


garden city :: glacier


dandelion mobile :: french grey and white


dandelion mobile :: porcelain with powder blue


poppy :: thunder

i know which one is my favorite - but am curious, which is yours?

new year.

new projects (and ongoing)

dining room table (more soon), lighting (maybe) & chairs

shelving in family room

office

bedroom wallpaper

final touches on the yard.

hello 2012 :)

happy new year!

wall.paper

when we purchased the house there was wallpaper. everywhere. mainly this large blue floral (that you see in the last post as well.) actually, in our bedroom, this was covered by a slightly more contemporary paper with a print of bamboo stalks. that come off easily to reveal more large blue flowers. i arranged a group of landscape painting in the same tones (painting by d while in art school)but we are ready for a change!




some friends love this paper. i don't. perhaps because i have to live with it! the flowers don't want to budge. and frankly i am confident the wall they cover is likely cracked enough to eliminate the idea of painting. d is working on plans for a new bed - and i am looking for paper to cover this.

right now i am thinking:

this was my first love. the grasscloth adds a natural element i really like. but worry about keeping it clean with littles who still like to tumble on our bed.

from twenty2

perhaps this:

from MissPrint

or maybe this - if i can find it:

Orla Kiely wallpaper via Anthropology

i want to keep the quilt. our master bathroom is blue and gray. there needs to be a tie-in.

hmmmmm