San Jose « Lookiloos

San Jose

Vintage End Table-Bar Cart Doesn’t Solve Dilemma

Tuesday, February 23rd, 2010

Ever watch “What Not to Wear,” where fashion mavens Stacy London and Clinton Kelly give style advice to unwitting fashion faux pas victims, but until the very end of the show, those victims still pick out the least flattering outfits on their shopping sprees?

Well, I kinda feel like I’m one of those victims, when it comes to my home decor dilemma. I’m getting great advice, but I’m not executing well. In my last two Mud Room posts, I have received several comments from loyal readers giving me the thumbs up and thumbs down about solving my end table and lighting issue in my living room. One in particular, from Val at Retro@Home in Emeryville said that because I already have heavy pieces in my smaller living room, I should get a “lighter piece. ..something two-tiered, perhaps with a nice leg detail, and glass topped would open up the space and compliment your lamp!”

Well, that sounded good to me, so I stopped by Not Too Shabby on Bascom Avenue in San Jose, and there was a vintage bar cart, or tea cart, in the window. It was glass topped and two tiered! (I felt like I should have a camera crew following me and Clinton and Stacy shrieking in horror as I say how this is exactly what they suggested!) It has plastic wheels and a Greek gold key motif circling the edge of the oval glass. I liked the idea that it had a retro “Mad Men” feel and had a dual use. I really thought it had possibilities. But just as my first end-table choice was too heavy (and now appears headed for my den), I’m afraid this one seems too light. My husband, Chris, and my parents and a good friend, think the lamp is too heavy on top and the cart seems a little flimsy. What do you think? I know I can count on you to be honest. It’s only on approval ’til this afternoon! Julia Looking Left - Lookiloos

Here are my previous posts on this weighty issue:

Light my Living Room: On a Mission for Style

Retro Furniture Search Ends in Husband’s Ploy for New TV

Posted in Antiques, Decorating, Furniture, Home Decor, Interior Design, Julia, Julia's Mud Room, Lighting, Living Room, Modern, San Jose, The Mud Room | 9 Comments »

Valentine’s Weekend Sale of Refreshed, Re-Purposed Decor

Friday, February 12th, 2010

In a little storefront next to the old Burbank Theater in San Jose, Mary Schlichting Francis is pulling together all her favorite finds that she has recycled, re-purposed and refreshed for a three-day Valentine’s weekend sale.

“I love changing something old and giving it new life,” she said.

The space used to be part of the venerable Stan’s Scuba Shop and has been empty since Stan retired some time ago. Mary first came upon the shop with a friend who was looking for space to open a bakery. But when Mary saw it, she had ideas of her own. From 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday through Monday, ”Metamorphix” will be open for business.

She will be selling everything from fresh floral arrangements in vases that she has painted, to vintage leather chairs, daybeads and end tables. Although the shop will only be open this weekend, she hopes to find a nearby space to have periodic sales. So stay tuned!

You can find Metamorphix at 554 Bascom Avenue. Julia Looking Left - Lookiloos

You can see a story and photo shoot Lookiloos did of Mary’s garden patio by clicking here.

Posted in Antiques, Decorating, Featured, Furniture, Home Decor, Home and Garden, Julia, Looki What I Found, San Jose | No 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 »

Just Listed: Cute Cambrian Home

Wednesday, February 3rd, 2010

Front

This House reminds me of my grandmother’s. She lived in the Cambrian Neighborhood as well. What I loved about this house was the huge wrap around counter in the kitchen. Perfect for a buffet! And, I also loved the screened porch with fireplace. I can imagine that would extend the California outdoor living season to pretty much year round. I can tell you I met one neighbor who flagged me down because there was something under my car. I pulled over and she climbed under to pull it out! So thumbs up to the neighborhood.

Bedrooms: 3

Baths: 2

Square Footage: 1639

See the full tour here.

Desiree Looking Left - Lookiloos

Posted in Cambrian, Desiree, For Sale, Just Listed, Open Homes, Open House, Real Estate, San Jose, Uncategorized | No Comments »

Just Listed: Sunnyhaven Home

Tuesday, February 2nd, 2010

Front

This cute home is right on the border of Saratoga and San Jose. The open floor plan makes it feel so spacious as you enter. The staging is great. I love those dining room chairs. The wood floors add such a depth and warmth to the living, dining and kitchen areas.

Bedrooms: 2

Baths: 2

Square Footage: about 1163

Take a peek at the virtual tour here.

Living Room Dining

Desiree Looking Left - Lookiloos

Posted in Desiree, Just Listed, Open Homes, Open House, Real Estate, San Jose, Saratoga | No 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 »

On a Roll and I Can’t Stop Now!

Friday, January 8th, 2010

Don't mind the seamless green screen---working on a different project

Three weeks ago I purchased a set of 4 iron chairs to go in my backyard for $39 each. They are wing-backed in style with great fret work. They need a little cleaning up, a coat of paint and some cushions. Oh how I wish Laura from ShorehouseChic lived on this coast—she is a seamstress extraordinaire!

Continuing on my roll, after the holidays I stopped in at a local nursery. I was desperate for all white cyclamen for my front window box. My decorative cabbage had perished in the frost earlier and I had guests coming over. Isn’t that how it always happens you walk past the dried-up and shriveled plant for days thinking “I gotta take care of that” then your hosting a last minute dinner party and you send your son out into the cold to re-plant.

“Seriously, Mom. Who is gonna see it? It’s gonna be dark and it’s freezing out there,” said my youngest. Freezing??? C’mon you don’t know freezing. Try winter in Connecticut. I did that once and I learned my lesson. The next winter was spent in Florida. I kid you not. Chandelier

“Never-mind that. Plant away—you can warm up when you’re done” I replied, with a chilly tone in my voice. And here is the part you have all come to know about me and hopefully find it quite endearing—I digress. So, back to the nursery, I spied a little one light chandelier for $5. You can’t walk away from a 5 dollar chandelier. It will be perfect on my front porch! 5 dollar tag

So my point is and yes I do have one—I’m on a roll finding the perfect thing for my home at a super cheap inexpensive price! This weekend Move It Elsewhere is having their once a month sale and I’m going. I feel like I can’t miss. I’m not sure what I will find or what I need to transform my living space, but one thing I do know I’m on a roll!

Desiree Looking Left - Lookiloos

Posted in Antiques, Desiree, Desiree's Mud Room, Home Decor, Home and Garden, San Jose, Shopping, The Mud Room | 3 Comments »

Vicki Does Christmas with Succulents, Cabbages and Magnolia

Thursday, December 24th, 2009

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Vicki Petulla likes to call her California decor “Donner Party Chic” for her penchant for mounted antlers, magnolia leaves and willow branches. But she has a knack for reinventing her home every season so old things looks new again and hidden pieces are brought out of the shadows.

4207145081_8f469cba13_o “You know me, I get so bored, it’s sad,” she joked. Before Thanksgiving had even arrived, she was already anxious to start her Christmas decor.

In her living room, she added rich foliage and pomegranates into vintage cement urns she picked up at the Alameda Antique Fair that is open the first Sunday of each month. She drapes a male portrait with fresh cedar. And on her chair, which until recently was red velvet, she rerecovered with an old white linen table cloth.

4207904770_3ff909f958_o In her dining room, leave it to Vicki – the daughter of a decorator — to turn a liquor basket she keeps on the side board into a Christmas floral display with succulents, pink cabbages, white hydrangeas and lemons on the branch. It’s an unexpected display with surprising bits of sparkle as she tucks in vintage ornaments here and there.

From the chains of her dining room chandeliers, she hung eucalytus leaves and berries. A bay wreath hangs from the mirror.

4207929590_c821922b58_o Visiting Vicki’s home is always a treat, no matter the season. Thanks Vicki for opening up to us again! We want to come back! Julia Looking Left - Lookiloos

For more of Vicki’s Vignettes — and to see how her house looked in the fall — please read these stories and check out the gorgeous photos:

Fall Decorating Ideas, with Vicki’s Vignettes

A Decorator’s Daughter

Before and After:An outdoor Fireplace Transformation

Vicki’s Vintage-Inspired Holiday Party Favors

Here’s the complete slideshow:

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

Posted in Books, Decorating, Dining Room, Featured, Garden, Home Decor, Home and Garden, Julia, Living Room, Painting, Peek of the Week, Rose Garden, San Jose | 5 Comments »

Winter Wonderland in Almaden Valley

Sunday, December 20th, 2009

Almaden Nursery: Winter Wonderland

A Lookiloo reader contacted me about a nursery that has a home and garden gift shop as well. “It’s so wonderful. When I need a hostess gift it’s my first stop”, said Judy.

“OK, Mom I’ll check it out” I replied. Since this was my Mom’s hot tip, I figured we should go together and then maybe a little lunch to finish the day.

The Coveted Snowman Platter

What a winter wonderland! I can see why my Mom loves Almaden Nursery. Christmas ornaments range from adorable to elegant. I found so many things I’d love to “give” to my favorite hostess. The hard part would be parting with the magical item. Seriously, I’d have to buy two. The items to top my list would be this snowman platter for $39.99 and this completely adorable white reindeer for $44.99. Just look at that face!

White Reindeer

I also loved the giant penguin and I mean GIANT. He stood at almost 5 feet tall and was very generous in the width department. Now , far be it from me to comment on someone’s girth, but this guy was obviously a very good eater. I didn’t even ask “how much”, because I think I would have somehow figured out how to swing it and well I know the kids would love him. The husband—not so much. I can hear him now, “Where does he sleep the other 11 months of the year?” And, yes even I couldn’t answer that.