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 The Cool 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 this 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?

* Hi to all Homedigz visitors. All other visitors, go check out the Thanksgiving Blog Party over there

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...