Napa's 2010 Holiday Candlelight Tour

Over the weekend my husband and I made some time for Napa's 2010 Holiday Candlelight Tour. This year the tour showcased some beautiful mid-century homes in Napa's Monticello Park area. Here's some information about the area borrowed from the tour brochure:

"... The population explosion led to a post-war building boom, and the area in and around the City of Napa saw the construction of seventy-one subdivisions between 1946 and 1951. Though Monticello Park was part of this post-war expansion, these houses were much larger and more substantial than the nearly identical tract houses intended for working-class families. After its subdivision in 1950, the houses in Monticello Park were developed individually over the next 15 years. The ranch-style architecture that dominated the neighborhood was inspired by architects such as Frank Lloyd Wright, and popularized in the California Bay Area by famous builder Joseph Eichler. The rambling one-story homes of the Monticello Park area epitomized the rise of the suburbia in post-WW2 America. Wide streets accommodated the large cars of the era and huge lawns were perfect for families at play. Design features developed in California, such as large expanses of windows oriented to the back yard, were associated with the desire to bring the outdoors inside, and gave rise to the term "California Modern." The size, quality, and innovative features found throughout the neighborhood quickly made Monticello Park a desirable neighborhood for Napa's professionals and business leaders, especially those with growing families."

And here's some more photos I snapped.









As locals, we really enjoyed the tour because it gave us the opportunity to learn more about our home town. Small details like finding out what kind of locally quarried stones were used on home exteriors and interiors helped us familiarize ourselves with aspects of Napa's architectural history that we didn't know anything about. The tour guides were very knowledgeable and helpful, which we really appreciated.

The tour organizers must have gotten a few ideas from the Sacramento Mid-Century Home Tour because they also had vintage cars parked outside each of the homes on the tour. This was a great idea that made it much easier for us to spot all the houses on the tour. The only disappointing aspect about the tour was the home interiors. Only one of the homes on the tour (an incredible and extremely unusual modern house designed by Grant Perkins in 1965) contained period furnishings and interior details that I really appreciated. The rest were more conservatively furnished. But many of the homes still maintained original features such as floors, etc. In a way this helped us focus more on the houses themselves instead of getting distracted by lots of designer eye-candy. We also didn't have the opportunity to really meet or chat with anyone besides the generous tour guides because we were trying to hurry a little so we could see the homes before it got too dark.

Overall we were just really happy that we got to see some more mid-century homes in Napa and learn about the history of the area. In conjunction with the Holiday Candlelight Tour, the Napa County Historical Society and Napa County Landmarks have organized an exhibit called "From Battleships to Apron Strings: How WW2 created Napa's Swingin' Fifties" on display downtown at the Goodman Library; 1219 First Street Napa, CA 94559 starting Dec. 14 and ending Feb 28, 2011.

I'm really excited about the exhibit and I hope it will give me the opportunity to learn more about my own neighborhood, which blossomed in the '50s. I've been trying to find more information about my home such as the builders name, house plans, etc. but the city hasn't been able to offer me much help. After I visit the exhibit I'll be sure to report back with my findings.

LINKS:
- My Flickr Gallery with more images from Napa's 2010 Holiday Candlelight Tour
- Local newspaper article about the event: Holiday Candlelight Tour visits Napa’s mid-century modern neighborhood

Exterior Ideas

A few months ago we decided on what colors we wanted to paint the exterior of our house. We also started looking for accessories that would flatter the place so I thought I'd share some of our ideas.

I fell in love with two particular houses in the Atomic Ranch book last year and we've been using them for inspiration. We also really wanted to create some kind of perforated wood screen wall for the front of our place as a decorative element and for added privacy. During the Sacramento Mid-Century Home Tour we saw lots of incredible homes with beautiful outdoor screens so we wanted to incorporate that idea into our own exterior plans.

Once again, we used the exterior Eichler color palette as a basis for our own color choices. We picked Benjamin Moore's Black Bean Soup for the ceiling beams/outside trim and we're planning on using Bear Creek for the main exterior walls. We also plan to use Shy Cherry and Super White as accent colors on the front door, between the ceiling beams, etc. I think these colors will work great with the Japanese influenced landscaping we're planning on doing.

Recently we ordered some red house numbers and a red mailbox from Chiasso to add a little more color to the exterior of our house. I don't know when we'll be able to hang them up but I think they'll look great with our red door. Although the mail box was a bit bigger than I had imagined it would be. I probably should have studied the measurements a little more closely but at the moment our mailbox is too small so we need something bigger. As for the numbers, we plan to mount them on some white backing board so they'll really "pop" on the outside of the house and maybe figure out way to light them from behind.

For fun I decided to try out some of our exterior ideas using Photoshop. Obviously the "After" picture isn't perfect and I'm sure we'll make lots of changes before we actually start painting, but I figured I'd share the results anyway.

Our house now

Our house in the future (just one possible future)

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...

The Sacramento Mid-Century Modern Home Tour

Over the weekend my husband and I attended the fabulous Sacramento Mid-Century Modern Home Tour & Car Show. We had a great time and saw some amazing homes and lovely old cars. We were eager to see how other people had renovated their mid-century houses and the tour provided us both with a lot of inspiration and fresh ideas. The crowd was great and we were surrounded by an incredibly diverse bunch of people of all strips who were obviously interested in Mid-Century design. Unfortunately we weren't able to take photographs of the interiors and we didn't get as many photos as we would have liked to due to camera troubles but here's a few highlights.


The Stecher Residence designed by Carter Sparks.

Jung Residence designed by Joseph Eichler

The Koutchis Residence designed by Joseph Eichler

The Sheridan Residence designed by Joseph Eichler

Landscape detail

If you'd like more photos from The Sacramento Mid-Century Modern Home Tour & Car Show you can find them in my Flickr Gallery.

Here are some other lovely photos of homes featured on the tour taken by other Flickr users (the small preview images link to larger versions of the photos hosted at Flickr):

1. Sac MCM Home Tour, 2. Sac MCM Home Tour, 3. Sac MCM Home Tour, 4. Sac MCM Home Tour, 5. Sac MCM Home Tour, 6. mcmhometour.2010.00142, 7. mcmhometour.2010.00124, 8. mcmhometour.2010.00107, 9. mcmhometour.2010.00144, 10. mcmhometour.2010.00132, 11. 1964 Robert N. Hill, 12. 1958 Carter Sparks, 13. Custom Carter Sparks, So. Land Park Hills, 14. Eichler Home, So. Land Park Hills, 15. Eichler Home, So. Land Park Hills, 16. mcmhometour.2010.00143

Created with fd's Flickr Toys

Mid-Century Modern Home Events

Lately my hubby and I have been so busy trying to get settled into our new home and becoming familiar with Napa that we haven't a lot of free time to just relax and have fun together. Since we've become focused on home restoration and repair we've been looking for interesting local events that might help us with our endeavors as well as get us out of the house.

In the next few months there are two events happening within 80 miles of us that we might attend. The first event is the Eichler Remodeling Faire taking place in Mountain View on May 15th. According to the event site here's what attendees can expect:

"You're invited to Keycon's Eichler Remodeling Faire 2010, a FREE party-themed educational event where Eichler experts help you realize your remodeling dreams! SAVE TIME AND MONEY! Learn about the latest time- and money-saving strategies for KITCHEN, BATHROOM, ADDITION, and WHOLE HOUSE REMODELING! Enjoy complimentary food and beverages and kid-friendly activities!"

Of course we don't actually own an Eichler but according to our home's previous owners our custom built ranch home was "inspired by Eichler designs" and was advertised as such when we bought it. We don't know if we'll be able to make it all the way to Mountain View for the event yet but if we do go we hope that Eichler owners won't thumb their noses at us. At least we can point to the fact that my father in-law owned a beautiful Eichler home! I suspect we'd be able to get some tips and helpful advice for home restoration & repair at the Eichler Remodeling Faire so I'd like to go. More information about the event can be found on their site: Eichler Remodeling Faire 2010.

On June 26th The Sacramento Mid-Century Modern Home Tour takes place which promises to be a lot of fun for anyone interested in mid-century design. Here's the full scoop on the event from their official site:

"On Saturday, June 26, 2010 the Sacramento Mid-Century Modern Home Tour will provide enthusiasts of architecture and design an opportunity to discover what it’s like to live, work and play in more than 15 quintessentially Californian residential and commercial structures built between 1945 and 1970. This year's tour features homes within Sacramento’s South Land Park and adjacent neighborhoods, which contain hundreds of Mid-Century Modern residential and commercial buildings."

This event is a little closer to us so we're seriously considering trying to attend. I'm sure we'll get plenty of design inspiration if we do go. For more information about the event please visit The Sacramento Mid-Century Modern Home Tour site.

Holiday Miracles Do Happen!

I got an unexpected X-mas gift this year. This afternoon our real estate agent called to let my hubby and I know that the bank had finally decided to accept our offer on the '50s custom built atomic ranch house described in the listing as an "Eichler imitation." After a month of intense negotiations that had left me feeling more than a little discouraged, we get to celebrate Christmas eve along with the purchase of our first home.

The last 6 months have been tough going and buying a short sale home proved to be a complicated process. But I think the wait and research we did was well worth the effort and really paid off in the end.

Now comes the house inspections, moving process and if all goes well settling into our new home some 40 miles away from our current one bedroom apartment that we've lived in for the past 12 years. I'm excited about moving to the beautiful Napa Valley and I look forward to experiencing all that the Valley has to offer. I know next to nothing about wine except that I like mine red but I suspect that I'll enjoy learning about Napa's number one export.

Happy Holidays everyone! I hope you all get to experience a miracle of your own this X-mas season.

The Journey Begins

Our house-hunting journey started last week after my husband and I received money from the sale of his father's home. My father-in-law owned an incredible Eichler house in Marin County in California, but after he passed away due to complications from cancer last year the family followed his wishes to sell the house and divide the money between his two sons and second wife. My husband really wanted to keep the house in the family and wished he could have purchased it, but unfortunately we just didn’t have the means to buy the Eichler home for ourselves.








Photos of my father-in-law's Eichler Home

After saying goodbye to the fabulous Eichler house we set out on our own journey to find a mid-century home that would fit our budget.

Home prices in California have dropped dramatically in the last year due to the troubled economy. In some areas prices are down as much as 75% and lower than they've been in decades. But we're not alone in our quest for a house and we're competing with many other first time home buyers right now as well as wealthy flippers in the area who are trying to build up their real estate portfolios.

One of the most disappointing aspects of our journey so far is coming across a fabulous older home with it's original kitchen and many original fixtures intact only to be outbid by someone who plans to gut the house and tear out the kitchen so they can replace it with ugly cabinets and granite counter tops.

We hope to find a mid-century home with much of it's original charm intact and restore it. We're not interested in tearing it down and replacing it with a McMansion. Unfortunately we seem to be in the minority, but we're trying not to get discouraged. We know our home is out there somewhere in some long forgotten post-war suburban development and we're determined to find it!