Architecture « Lookiloos

Architecture

Darned House:Lisa Needs Advice on Remodel!

Tuesday, March 9th, 2010

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It has been a long time since my last blog and I thought I would give everyone a quick update.

100_4116 The cottage / garage living arrangements seem to be working out really well. We have learned to cohabitate in a very small environment. A key issue for us was keeping the mud at bay with all the wet days we had. Millie the dog would tramp through our swamp of a backyard and then come racing into the garage or cottage spreading wonderful muddy paw prints everywhere. One minute of running through the house equaled 40 minutes of cleaning. Very quickly we learned to catch her and wipe down her paws BEFORE she came inside.

100_4113 The weather has really played havoc with the work schedule as we haven’t been able to lay the footings for the new foundation. We have to wait for the ground to dry out some more. With the dryer weather I am optimistic that this week we will see a burst of energy around the house.

The relative sound of silence around the construction site has made me re-think some of my decisions on the interior of house. I would love to hear from viewers if they have had any experience – good or bad – with the following products I am contemplating using in the home. The choices I am pondering are:

· Hood: Vent-a-Hood

· Range: Lacanche-Cluny versus La Cornue – CornuFe

· Dish washer: Miele versus Bosch

· Fridge: Liebherr versus Sub-Zero

· Cabinets: Kraftmaid

· Radiant Heat: Nuheat (Radiant electric floor heating system)

Please weigh in!–Lisa Murray

(Lookiloos is following Lisa Murray and her family as they remodel their Los Gatos home.)

Posted in Architecture, Julia, Los Gatos, Remodel, This Darned House | 4 Comments »

The Art of Shade

Tuesday, February 16th, 2010

Kenyan Pattern Curved Shade

Let’s face it “green” design doesn’t automatically go hand-in-hand with beautiful design. Green design is vital to our great planet earth, but must it be so utilitarian? This past October, while attending West Coast Green, I found that not all green design is just about efficient function. We can have style, panache and feel good about it.

Decorative Screens

Parasoleil has created wonderful copper panels that can be used for shade, privacy and dare I say, pure for aesthetic enjoyment, and come in three finishes– verdigris, bronze and raw. The patterns are inspired by many different cultures from around the world. The panels are made from 90% recycled content copper. Although copper was the original material for the panels, now you can get them made in aluminum, acryllic, steel, composite and FSC wood. Parasoleil crafts these shade partitions in Boulder, Colorado. The local distributor, Living Green Design Solutions, is located in Fresno, California.

Flanigan Shadow

My personal favorite in the Flanigan pattern with the verdigris finish. I’d use it to hide that ugly pool equipment. The panels are definitely works of art but the best part, in my opinion, are the shade patterns they create.

Posted in Architecture, Backyard, Desiree, Eco Friendly, Featured, Garden, Green Design, Landscape, Looki What I Found, Uncategorized, Yard | 5 Comments »

Retro Furniture Search Turns into Husband’s Ploy for New TV

Wednesday, February 10th, 2010

A false start on an end table, but possibilities abound. Nice lamp, eh?

Let me ask you this: How can my simple quest for an end table for my living room turn into my husband measuring for a flat screen TV in the den?

For those of you who have any interest in following my little design dilemma, here is the latest: So, I’ve been a bit obsessive lately about finding an end table as a perch to add more lighting in my small living room. And I had the idea that it would be a stylish little thing, maybe channeling a little retro Kelly Wearstler. Well, after a jaunt last weekend to Move it Elsewhere in San Jose, a huge warehouse that bills itself as a giant estate sale, I brought something home. It’s a 1960s-era solid walnut credenza, with geometric carve-outs. It was one of two matching pieces, both with removable book cases on top. I hemmed and hawed for more than an hour before I loaded the solo piece into the station wagon. I took the legs off so it wouldn’t be too tall to sit next to the couch. I swapped my grandmother’s lamp from my parent’s attic with the cool silver one from the den that I actually spent money on and set it on top. (I took designer Kathi Mann’s comments from my last story to heart, adding a little shimmer to the dark living room…)

Looks better with legs, doesn't it? Could this whole thing go in the den?

I waited anxiously to see Chris’ reaction. Boy, can the truth hurt. “Too big for the space. Too clunky,” he said. Now, I’m not that unreasonable. And I acknowlege that it lost a fair amount of its grace without the legs. But I really like it! And it was a bargain. Did I have to take it back? Was there another spot in our 1,900-square-foot house for it?

Well, in the span of a few minutes, Chris was measuring the wall of our tiny den, not only for the credenza and its mate, plus the bookcases, but a flat screen TV to span them both. Do we need a flat screen TV? No. Do we need a credenza for the den? That wasn’t on my priority list. (The Ikea cabinetry holding the old TV isn’t that great, but it’s not a focal point for the rest of the house.)

Still, would I love to have both credenzas and book cases? Yes. Would that add style to the frumpy den? I think so. And would I concede to a new TV to make that happen? Quite possibly.

There’s only one problem. I still don’t have an end table.

Julia Looking Left - Lookiloos If you missed it, here was my first post about my lighting dilemma:

Light My Living Room: On A Mission for Style

Posted in Antiques, Architecture, Art, Decorating, Featured, Furniture, Home Decor, Home and Garden, Interior Design, Julia, Julia's Mud Room, Lighting, Living Room, San Jose, The Mud Room | 3 Comments »

Light my Living Room: On a Mission for Style

Friday, February 5th, 2010

My living room. I've since moved lamp into corner.

I’m on a mission. I need more lighting in my living room. (Even this photo is dark!) The only lighting is lamps — and since we’re not going to do any budget-busting recessed cans, I’m looking for more lamps and end tables (or a slim sofa table) for them. I’m heading to Move It Elsewhere in San Jose today (a giant estate sales open only one weekend a month), hitting up the annual St. Christopher Antique Show, and checking out Emily Joubert home and garden in Woodside, which is donating its proceeds from this weekend to Haiti relief efforts.

Sounds easy enough, right? Wrong!

Asian-style credenza with leopard skin lamp

The problem is, I’m in the midst of a decorating identity crisis. It’s just too easy to call myself eclectic. I consider myself a modern girl who loves clean lines (I’m an architect’s daughter afterall!). But look at my living room and you’d never know it. Still, it’s filled with things I love: an antique jewel-tone rug in reds and golds, a faded brown Belgian tapestry behind my French writing desk, and a black credenza with an Asian-style fretwork motif. I even love the lamps I have, including my grandfather’s cloisonne floor lamp, a small marble lamp with a leopard skin shade (from our days in Dallas), and a tall table lamp with a funky mid-century shade in gold and white I salvaged from a throw-away bin. Love it! (I even repainted a rattan chair from white to black that my mom sent me away to college with.)

My crisis continues when I try to figure out just what look I’m going for here. I get so excited about vintage mid-century and ’60s things. I go ga-ga over Kelly Wearstler, who can take a 1970s heavily carved buffet table, paint it lime green and voila! But I need to get down to business. So, I’m looking for end tables on which to place lamps. I saw some at Not too Shabby in San Jose — bright gold boxes with glass tops (so Wearstler, I thought) but when I came back a week later, they were gone, of course. I saw some white Asian-style end tables, kind of retro, but they might be too stark.

A Kelly Wearstler living room. Why do I see myself as this?

And here’s the red herring. Out of my parent’s attic came a lamp from my grandmother — a 20-pound ceramic-but-looks-like-wood painted piece from the 50s or 60s probably with one of those huge conical shades. I’m thinking sentimental funky, and maybe that’s a good thing. Take a look and tell me if I’m crazy to keep it. Or, perhaps with a new shade, someone might say, “You can pull it off, girl!”

The lamp from the attic. Be honest! (but remember it was my grandmother's)

I need help. Serious help.

Julia Looking Right - Lookiloos

Posted in Antiques, Architecture, Art, Decorating, Featured, Furniture, Home Decor, Home and Garden, Interior Design, Julia, Julia's Mud Room, Lighting, Living Room, Rose Garden, Salvage, San Jose | 7 Comments »

Modern Living in a 1927 Spanish Colonial

Tuesday, February 2nd, 2010

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When my contractor invited me to an open house to view his latest
project–a renovation and addition to a 1927 Spanish Colonial home in Palm
Haven –I jumped at the chance to legitimately snoop around one of the most
historic, eclectic neighborhoods in San Jose.

009 A neglected two-bedroom one bath in disrepair when acquired by John
Ammirato of Ammirato Construction is now a four bedroom, two and half bath
dream home. While it has all the modern creature comforts, including an impressive
master suite, renewable resource cabinets, solar panels, and data networking
throughout, painful efforts were made to preserve the home’s original
architecture.
Like re-roofing the composite roof with reclaimed vintage clay tiles.
And keeping many of the home’s original features: the living room sconces,
fireplace mantel, arched doorways, built-in hutch, and coved ceilings.

“The living room hasn’t changed,” said Rita Strena, whose family owned
the home for more than 60 years before selling it to Ammirato. “But John
improved it. It has a new life now.”

Ammirato worked extensively with Stonelite Tile–which has been in
business in San Jose since the 1920s–to design the detailed tile work 023
throughout the house. Some of it was hand pressed and painted using
original plates and molds from the early 1900s.
Ammirato, who has built several Spanish-style homes in Palm Haven, made
design decisions along with his wife, Linda, referencing books like Red Tile
Style, California Romantica, Casa California, and George Washington Smith:
An Architect’s Scrap Book.
The result is modern, stylish living while honoring the home¹s historic
past down to the gutters and porch brackets.

By Kim Kooyers, a freelance writer and blogs at gratitude365 and SpiroChicks.

Here’s the complete slideshow:

Get the flash player here: http://www.adobe.com/flashplayer

Posted in Antiques, Architecture, Bathroom, Bedroom, Dining Room, Featured, Green Design, Historic, Home and Garden, Kitchen, Landscape, Living Room, Peek of the Week, Remodel, San Jose | 2 Comments »

Prairie-Style House Gets Modern Makeover

Friday, January 29th, 2010

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Hillary Fox and Matt Jacobs had lived in their 1920s Prairie-style home in Oakland’s Rockridge neighborhood for eight years before they remodeled. They loved the bones of the house, but they had to walk through a warren of rooms to get to the dark, galley kitchen.

4171100966_8a3c11ea47_b “We wanted to open it up with more light,” Hillary said. And she wanted it to be more modern, “but consistent with the principles of the house.”

Two years ago, they started the remodel. With two living rooms, they turned one into a dining room.

In the kitchen, they opened walls and added a new family room that stepped up their hillside lot. That gave them more space for their growing family.

4170346307_1d0a84c2a8_b The couple love clean lines and neutral colors. In the kitchen, they installed white Caesarstone countertops with translucent, white glass subway tiles, then added red-topped stools for a splash of color. They opened their home to the Rockridge Kitchen Tour last fall.

The family decorated with Matt’s original paintings, inspired by Modigliani.

Julia Looking Left - Lookiloos

Here’s the complete slideshow:

Get the flash player here: http://www.adobe.com/flashplayer

Posted in Architecture, Art, Decorating, Dining Room, Family Room, Featured, Historic, Home Decor, Home and Garden, House Tours, Julia, Painting, Peek of the Week, Remodel | 5 Comments »

Original artwork adds zest to decor

Saturday, January 23rd, 2010

chairs-table

Catherine Richardson is a former editor at Architectural Digest with a penchant for interior design and decorative objects. Erin Lee Gafill is an artist from Big Sur who paints impressionist landscapes along the California coastline. When Catherine discovered Erin’s artwork at a gallery of the famed Nepenthe restaurant, which Erin’s family has owned since it opened in the late 1940s, a creative collaboration began. Red-Wall

“I wanted to incorporate beautiful works of art along with beautiful objects to place in people’s homes,” said Catherine, whose design business is called “For Love of Home.” (www.forloveofhome.net) When she came up with the idea to have seasonal shows in the backyard and tiny cottage of her southern California home, showcasing vignettes of antiques and vintage pieces she had collected, she called Erin for help.

“I told her my theme and the colors I was using and asked her if she wanted to send beautiful little artworks,” she said.

And that’s when the fun begins. Together, they place Erin’s work in groupings on tabletops or a ladie’s desk, for instance, “that best show the quality of her work and work with interior spaces and sacred vignettes we’ve created,” Catherine said.

Orchid With Erin’s paintings, she artfully arranges Chinese and French porcelain, mid-centery Italian artglass, special Buddahs and other decorative pieces. She invites her friends and clients, who often are so inspired they want to bring home the entire vignette.

“It’s joyful. We love what we work with,” Catherine said. “It’s a labor of love.”

(to see more of Erin’s work, go to www.eringafill.com Photos by Tom Birmingham.)

Vintage Garden Statuary of Carmel: Just Perfect

Wednesday, December 2nd, 2009

carmel statuary 002

While wandering through the sidestreets of Carmel, I came upon a lovely little tudor home — a house that was obviously new, but doing its best to look old. What captured my eye more than the architecture, though, was the vintage garden statuary in the front courtyard. Entwined with flowers and vines, the statues gave this new house had been here a long, long time.

carmel statuary 013

The courtyard, even on this tiny scale, reminded me a bit of some of the tricks of the famous 18th century English landscape designer “Capability Brown.” Although he was known for his naturalistic landscapes surrounding the finest castles, what I remember most about his work were the little “surprises” found at the end of walkways and curving paths. Brown would often punctuate hidden spots with garden statuary so the wanderer might happen upon something unexpected. That’s the way I felt as I passed this Carmel gem — a statue here, a bird bath-turned-urn there. carmel statuary 007

And the homeowner also had a sense of whimsey, adding a garden nome here and there.

carmel statuary 011 Julia Looking Left - Lookiloos Carmel never disappoints. And neither did this lovely little garden.

carmel statuary 004

Posted in Antiques, Architecture, Art, Carmel, Featured, Garden, Historic, Home and Garden, Julia, Landscape, Peek of the Week, Yard, courtyard | No Comments »

Holiday By Jose: Non-traditional Thanksgiving Decor

Saturday, November 28th, 2009

Thanksgiving Table

The French-inspired San Jose home has an “antique chic” sensibility with a textured, neutral palette. And that’s all Jose Ibarra needed for inspiration when he decorated the home for Thanksgiving. You’ll find no bright orange here.

“They’re going to have turkey for dinner and that’s as traditional as they get,” said Jose, a San Jose floral designer.

He started with the things the homeowner loves: a burlap tablecloth topped with mirrored glass. The combination of rustic and glamorous provided the perfect foundation for Jose’s tabletop design. He strips of heavy, woven vintage ticking as napkin rings. The homeowner planned to top each coarse napkin ring with a rhinestone broche – adding star quality to peasant stock.

To complement the homeowner’s love of simplicity, Jose adorned the mirrored table with roses — not in the traditional fall colors, of course. Instead, he cascaded cream-colored roses — Sahara and Quicksand — down the center of the table, dripping pedals and “skeleton leaves” he picked up at the San Francisco Flower Market.

Since the living room was converted to the dining room for Thanksgiving — and the long narrow table positioned in front of the fireplace — Jose also was charged with rearranging the living room furniture throughout the house and adding simple, elegant touches throughout.

Wave of Roses

Take a look at the slideshow for glimpses of his holiday decor as well as other wonderful rooms — including a fabulous kitchen — in this lovely home. And then stayed tune. Jose will be redecorating this same home for Christmas — next week in fact. And Lookiloos will be hot on the trail.

Julia Looking Right - Lookiloos

Posted in Antiques, Architecture, Art, Decorating, Dining Room, Family Room, Featured, Food and Drink, Furniture, Home Decor, Home and Garden, Interior Design, Julia, Kitchen, Peek of the Week, San Jose, Willow Glen | 4 Comments »

Soul Salvation: Sonoma’s Artefact Design

Friday, November 20th, 2009

Bicycle Taxi

Recently, I was in Northern California’s wine country. Sonoma is a beautiful and tranquil town. Now, as much I enjoy drinking wine, especially the Petite Syrah varietal, I wasn’t there for the wine. I had heard from a friend of a friend about an amazing interior design shop. So, of course I traded cars with son number 2. He got the convertible with zero trunk space and I had the “old” but very trusty suburban. You can’t be too careful when it comes to purchasing things for the home or garden. Who knows how large and bulky they might be? Now, when I purchase something for my home, it MUST come immediately home with me. I have no patience for waiting. Seriously. Ask any family or friend and they will rat me out! So, I filled up my “green” economic car to the tune of $100 and headed north.

Bowling Set

Artefact Design Salvage is on the edge on Sonoma. Salvage yard doesn’t quite do it justice. I expected something a little more “junkyardish”. Actually, Sanford and Son came to mind, but Artefact couldn’t be farther from the sitcom. In fact it was more like Soul Salvation. They carry relics from a different time and place and it’s absolutely wonderful.

Greyhound Protectors

Some of my personal favorites were the statuesque Greyhounds. If I had the proper estate and bank account, these two would be my choice in protectors. They’re priced at $1150. each. The teak scrap spheres are so mesmerizing and at $ 195. I almost brought one home.

These light fixtures came from a milk factory in Belgium. They have both a rustic andindustrial feel to them. I can imagine a Belgium milk maid sitting on a little stool. The cows are munching on hay and she is working away milking the cows. Fantasyland…yes, but that is the picture in my mind when I see these fixtures. I think they could work well in any kitchen or even a workshop.

Milk Factory

One of the most interesting things I came across was a Medusa panel. It came from the last cast iron building in San Francisco. It was originally built in 1873. The detail in the panel is stunning. Thinking of the time that this was made and the tools available, I am amazed by the craftsmanship. And, for me makes it that much more fabulous.

The tables are original designs by Dave Allen, the owner of Artefact. He uses reclaimed wood from truck and train beds. So, being “green” can look wonderfully chic.

Now, was it the perfect California weather or this interior design mecca? I can’t say for sure, but my head was spinning with ideas. If you are within a hundred miles a road trip in within order. Artefact will inspire you, it will rejuvenate you. And before you head home, stop and have a glass of wine to reflect on the day. You’ll be glad you did!

Artefact Design and Salvage

23562 Highway 121

Sonoma, CA 95476