Happy Holidays!

Finally did some unpacking and got our tiny aluminum tree decorated. We plan to have a much bigger tree next year but the living room is an absolute wreck right now because we're in the middle of painting it & patching holes, etc. I wanted to make one spot nice for Xmas Eve so I managed to make room in our dining area. In a week or two the dining area will be painted (it's currently the same ugly gray/blue color that the previous owners left it) and I hope we can afford to get a rug soon.

The vintage Danish modern dining set was a recent local find. We were told that it was made in the '60s by Dyrlund and it came with 2 leaves so we can expand it if we need to. Best of all? The whole set (4 chairs & table) only cost us $150!!! The clock on the wall was my Xmas gift to my husband this year and the painting was done in the '60s by a Latvian artist named Jurjans who was a friend of the family.

Happy Holidays!!!

Paint & Progress

We're making progress but it's slow going. In order to save money we're determined to do most of the work on the house ourselves but between jobs, life, etc. it's going to take us awhile.

The room I plan to use for my office had to be completely re-wired since we had electricity problems and when we removed the crown molding we found an inch wide gap between the ceiling and the walls that had to be repaired. The ceiling was lowered a little when they installed air-conditioning into the place in the '90s and the work was poorly done so it's causing problems throughout our house. But with a lot of the hard work done we decided to finally start painting and hanging some new lights so I thought I'd share our progress.

Since our 1954 ranch house was based on an Eichler design & floorplan we've decided to use the original Eichler colors (and their variations) as a basis for painting our home. Thankfully Benjamin Moore still produces similar colors that were used by Eichler owners in the '50s. I wanted orange in my office so I decided to use "Pumpkin Cream" for my accent wall. The color is usually seen on Eichler exteriors (doors, trim, etc.) but I like breaking the rules a little and after living in rented apartments with white or beige walls for more than 25 years (that I was never allowed to paint!), I'm dying to have more color in my life.

I love Johnathan Adler's designs and when Lumens had a big sale earlier this year I used the opportunity to purchase a wall lamp that I had my eye on. The playful retro design works well in the room and I think it will work well with my future plans for the space. But before I show you my progress, here's a look back at what we started with.

And now the changes...

But we still have lots to do...