lois mackenzie and pamela hill’s portland bungalow makeover was a huge, huge hit earlier this year- so i’m thrilled to share their latest project, under the name ottobaat design. their newest home renovation is a spectacular oceanfront home on the oregon coast. with all of their homes, lois and pamela like to utilize a color story, and for this home the story is about grey, yellow and white. the home furnishings are a mix of high and low (thrift shops, ikea, department stores and local boutiques) and some of the detailing around the house is actually thanks to their handy husbands. it’s always nice to see what people can do with their own two hands and a vision. if you’re interested in contacting lois and pamels for design work, etc you can shoot them an email right here. and you can also click here for more images of the home. [all photography by jeffrey cross]
[top image: front of house, before image directly above: front of house, after]
[image above: living room, before]
[images above: living room, after]
[image above: kitchen, before]
[images above: kitchen, after]
[image above: bathroom, before]
[image above: bathroom, after]
[image above: bedroom (sorry, no before)]
October 30th, 2008 - 01:00pm
all week heather taylor has been doing a wonderful job as our guest blogger sharing bits of her style and a fresh taste of LA. so as she continues to share a couple more posts this week, we thought it only appropriate to share a sneak peek of her LA home she shares with boyfriend and co-gallery owner, alex de cordoba (he’s also the photographer behind this sneak peek) . i love that she describes her style as “moroccan modern meets an english library by way of a flea market.” and all i know is that as it gets crazy cold (for october) here on the east coast, i’d kill to hang out in her backyard right about now! you can click here for more, full-sized images of their great place. if you find yourself in LA anytime soon, be sure to check out gallery taylor de cordoba and don’t forget to check out LA in bloom, heather’s guide inspiration around LA. [thanks heather and alex!] -anne
[Above: The backyard is a great space to entertain. The previous owners of the house left the moroccan-style couch, which we decorated with cozy pillows. They also left this odd yet beautiful carved headboard looking piece, which we hung above the couch, to create a cozy space. Our good friend and noted landscape designer Tory Polone, helped us create this space. I'm obsessed with succulents so I fill the space with many different varieties. This is really our outdoor living room. ]
Our house was built in 1924 and is part of a historic preservation district in Hollywood called Spaulding Square, which consists of about 160 houses on four streets right off the Sunset Strip. This is the area where silent movie stars used to live in the 20s and Lucille Ball lived here too. Most of the houses are craftsmen, but ours looks a bit like an English cottage.
The living room is quite large, so I divided the space into a proper living room on the left and a foyer/library on the right. This library area houses one of my prized possessions, an original Eames lounger, which I inherited from my grandmother.
Dining Room - We found the “bar” at a flea market and display our vintage bar accessories (an owl bottle opener, an Anri bottle stopper and a black patent leather ice bucket), along with our ever growing collection of grappa and tequila. The bar is presided over by an American painting by Gertrude B. Coffin, circa 1933, which we bought at an Antiques show in Chicago.
My office is where I really get inspired. The wall color relaxes me and I love the chaise lounge, which my parents had tucked away in storage for over a decade until I claimed it. The chaise is surrounded by really special items: an old knitting bowl inherited from my grandmother, a vintage magazine rack i bought in palm springs, a framed artwork by gallery artist Kyle Field, and an old shadowbox depicting yarn being spun, also from my grandmother. My office is where I keep all my knitting books and cookbooks, too. I store other little priced possessions in the bookcases.
The dining room is an important space since I host a lot of dinner parties and love entertaining. The room has marigold walls, which make everything glow and we painted the interior of the original cabinets a pomegranate color. The centerpiece of the room is the moroccan chandelier which casts a magical glow. Another standout element of the room is the black cut paper wall piece by the artist Chris Natrop.
October 30th, 2008 - 12:00pm
earlier this year d*s reader nichole and her boyfriend went for a walk in their neighborhood and stumbled upon this chair. nichole said, “the poor thing was about to meet its maker and its small scale and simple lines were exactly what we were after. it was fate!” so nichole quickly scooped it up and found the cushions were a disaster and permeated with the smell of stale smoke. so she revamped the cushions with a playful but modern octopus fabric and painted the chair a high gloss black. what a simple, but beautiful transformation- from curbside to cute in no-time flat. thanks to nichole for sharing!
October 30th, 2008 - 11:00am
i met jamie graham when i visited scad last year (on the trip that inspired me to get married in savannah!) and was thrilled to hear about her new home in austin. after graduating from scad jamie moved to austin where she’s now working as a designer. her swede hill home was ready to be condemned when she bought it but was brought back to life last year with a full restoration, from the ground up. jamie describes it as “900 square feet of cuteness” and i couldn’t agree more. jamie’s still finishing the house but i wanted to share these two shots that ooze the sort of clean modernism that i wish i could attain. thanks to jamie for sharing!
October 30th, 2008 - 10:00am
this before and after comes from d*s reader luna, who was tired of staring at her “dirty, used up” ikea step stool and decided to fix it up! she repainted the unfinished wood with a glossy white and then used mod-podge to attach sheets of japanese paper she bought at paper source in san francisco. the result? a totally cute, totally personalized piece that embodies my favorite thing about ikea furniture: the endless possibilities for customization that exist. thanks for sharing, luna! (image above via AT)
October 30th, 2008 - 09:00am
