A Whale of a Tale
Across from the front doors sits a console table, and for years its centerpiece was a bunch of artificial flowers stuffed into an old broken…
Category: Interior
Scanning, Shredding and Rethinking
This past year, my goal was to reduce the seven filing cabinet drawers of paperwork for stuff here down to “fewer.” All the drawers were…
More Chairs
What I didn’t mention in the previous post is that, on that same trip to World Market where I scored the cute chair for the…
A Chair for the Guest Room
A couple guests have mentioned that a cozy chair in the guest room would be a welcome addition. While we have a nice queen bed,…
Changing Colors for Better Sleep
We cannot remodel the master bathroom because of the Santa Clara County Department of Planning’s inability to do its job in a timely fashion. This…
End Table Ending (with Lamps!)
As detailed in the last two posts, I had some tables and lamps shipped out from my parents’ house in late 2021. A little over…
Another Eagle Landed
A mini-story. Back when I first started buying stuff from auction houses, I found a gorgeous steel wall sculpture. It went for more than I…
Even More Auction Finds
I’ve continued to find bits and bobs from auction houses for the house. Over the last year I picked up some great bargains. Like this…
More Auction Finds
In addition to giant steel bird statues, a couch, dining table and various other large items, over the last few years I’ve used auction houses,…
One More Studio Innovation
When we lived in SF, we had two couches in the living room. Agent Smith purchased them for his first place in SF before we…
Wine Room Redo
Carrying on from the last post, the studio building also has a wee wine room. When we first viewed the property, there wasn’t much wine…
The Studio Building Today
Back in 1999 the previous owners built the studio building. As documented in past posts, it’s just a weird building. Comprising three actual rooms and…
Blank Walls in the Studio No More
For a long time, the walls of the studio building were barren. I have been adding things into the space over the last few years…
Being Creative with a Fireplace
When we were in escrow, we had the chimney inspected as part of all the other inspections (well, septic, house, etc.). The inspectors told us…
Sewing Round Things is Tricky
Another small detail I crafted for the great room are four round cushions. They’re pretty nifty, as they not only continue the round motif, but…
Evolutions…the North Office
My office, formerly used as a family room by the previous owners has gone through many changes and shuffling since we moved in to the…
The Blue Eagle and Friends
Or “how to find interesting art for your home.” Auction houses haven’t been just a good source for interesting furniture and giant steel birds. I’ve…
Old Windows
When the house was built, the original configuration of the bathrooms opposite the linen cabinets had half-baths on each end with two smaller rooms, one…
Sunday Panorama
North office
Sunday Panorama
North Office (stega’s office)
Extra Foyer Bits: “Custom” Shelves
Just like the walls and chimney in the great room, the foyer needed something on the walls on either side of the front doors. I…
Extra Great Room Bits: Fun with Mirrors
It seems I’m still fine-tuning the decor in the Great Room. When we had the awful yellow paint stripped off the chimney column, the pretty…
Related to the Great Room: Kitchen Touch-ups
While painting the great room, one extra thing our painter tackled for us was covering patched areas in the kitchen–where the old furnace register once…
Unifying with Circles
Carrying on from the last post and finally finishing the super long tale of the redesigning “process” for the look and feel of great room……
Great Room Note–Outside Design Service
During our random discussions about what to do paint- and furniture-wise in the great room, Agent Smith pointed me to a website that promised to…
Making the Great Room Great, Step Eight: Wall Lighting
When we had the main electric panel redone, we decommissioned the monument outlets in the great room and outside areas. We knew there had been…
Making the Great Room Great, Step Seven: Plants and Bits
I always intended plants to be the main decorative ornaments in the foyer and great room, instead of random knickknacks (although we do have a…
Making the Great Room Great–Step Six: Finding Art
In addition to finding furniture for the great room, over the last two years we’ve managed to find interesting items to hang on the walls–mainly…
Making the Great Room Great–Before and After Painting
Some before and after shots of the foyer and great room, once the painters were done but before any furniture was put back. Even sans…