At this point in time....

...this is what our house looks like.  When I photograph our house I make sure it's cleaned up.  Today I decided I'm through with the facade.  The following are pictures of where we are today, how we live with a 2-year old, and commentary of what I'd like to change.


The hallway.

Over the past year I changed the hardware on the closet doors, added the rug and stainless, hooks under the mirror.  I'm currently working on a bench for under the mirror.  I'd like to find cool bins or baskets to hold our shoes.  We would also like to change the front door. Not happy with our current one.  A door sets the tone for the house and this one is not mid-century.  But overall at least its clean and inviting and you get were into the more modern style with the mirror.


The living room.

Our furniture, as I posted before, is a blend of pieces my husband and I had before moving in together.  We lived in a high rise apartment for three years before moving to this house.  We never bought anything new because we've been holding out to redecorate for our new home.  However, our current styling budget is zilch after the house purchase and a new kid all within two month's time.


The two couches are actually a sectional I split up because it fit the space better.  The only new items in this space are the red clock and the play table.  In the next 2-3 years we plan on knocking down the wall behind the TV(the big black box).  I hope the living room will flow better with the dining and kitchen when entertaining. The two rooms on the other side of the wall will be the tv room and play room.  As the kids get older, and even now, I notice they like having a space near us but of their own.  When entertaining it would work better if the living room was more "adult" and the kids had their own open play area. The furniture I'd like for the space it will be is very different from the kind of furniture needed for the space as is, so I continue to wait.


So, here we are in our reality.  Bags, shoes, sweaters a lot of mess in the hallway. Our living room has toys and clean laundry spread around on a daily basis.  We have a training potty in plain view.  I cringe but I know when my kids are off to college I'll look back at these pictures and probably wish for this kind of chaos again.  

My husband's work

My hubby is a location scout for commercials,  ie, he finds the locations where they film the commercials.  He's searched for everything from cool modern houses to a cheesy 70's drive thru. I guess some of those are still pretty cool.

One great perk of his job is that he's been in every single quintessential modern or mid-century home here in Los Angeles.  Sometimes I like to look through his files and see the homes though his eyes.

Here's a home I liked recently.  I love the doors, the floors and the amazing open floor plan, the sunken lounge area and the floor to ceiling windows.  I hope to put those back into our home some day, along with wooden floors.  I thought the sunken area would have been perfect when our kid wasn't walking but not sure how great it would be now.  She'd probably be jumping into it and giving me a heart attack!

A little Closer

This weekend we made good progress finally. Two weekends ago I primed everything except the three main beams with rot and last weekend was Halloween.  So, not much has been accomplished lately.


Friday I went to West Marine in Marina del Rey to get marine grade resin epoxy.  The salesman was amazing in helping me understand a product I've never used before and requires three parts to make it work.  As he was explaining  I was holding a squirmy,  almost-two-year old the whole time so imagine my focus.  

Saturday and part of Sunday hubby finished pulling out the rotted moulding and replacing it with a fresh piece of wood.  He also sanded and prepped the second set of window moulding so all I have to do is prime and paint.  


Today I bit the bullet.  The process of rebuilding the beams is freaking me out.  I'm worried about making a gooey mess and having to cut the end off and replace it with and end cap.  I've been told it's not the best method for extending the beams.  

I started with the beam with the least amount of damage so I could get a feel for working with the product.  It turned out ok.  I feel I need to add more in some parts but overall I think it'll look great once I sand and paint. Right now it looks like white snot.  

Next time I will work with smaller quantities of epoxy.  The stuff placed on the beams took time to solidify but what was left in the plastic cup hardened pretty fast.  I will also make the epoxy thicker so I can work with it easier as I have to fill in huge gaps.  


Today I tackled what is the scariest part of this project to me.  I feel good. One more weekend and we should be finished!  

I'm so over it!

Ugh, with Halloween this past weekend and Hubby and I being fatigued beyond comprehension the project is put on hold again.  


I'm over it.  It's not the work that I'm over, its the thinking about how to repair the problem well.  Our initial solution for protecting the moulding has been nixed.  Aesthetically we think it looks bad.  Not bad, just ok. But ok wont do.  It's all in the details.