Moving to Wordpress

In an effort to be here more often and to make this site more informative and fun to read I'm moving it to Wordpress.  http://kriselkeeper.wordpress.com

It's taking a bit more effort than I anticipated but I hope to be fully up and running soon.  Thanks for your patience and I hope to keep seeing you all around.  

Hose Reel

We were in desperate need of a hose reel for the back yard.  Our 100ft hose was constantly snaked around all over the place. This was the hose on a good day:

Everyone tripped over it because it's in a high traffic area.  However, I didn't want to settle for a cheap plastic reel from Target or Home Depot. I wanted a nice one that would last for years and not degrade every summer.  I wanted an industrial looking, wall mounted, pivoting hose reel. And so I found this one at Gempler's .

I've loved it!  The pool area and side yard are in two different directions; the hose unwinds easily either way. It's effortless to reel out and reel in.  I would love to have a bright yellow hose to contrast against the grey wall...one thing at a time.   

Nelson Clock

A year ago we bough a Nelson Clock from here.  For $80 + shipping I thought it was a steal.  It's not an original but for right now I'll take what I can get.  This one piece, coupled with our Eames dining table, has really changed the feel of the living/dining space.  It's taken me a year to share it because I have not been able to get a good picture. I haven't been able to showcase it's detail and beauty while showing it's significance in our space. I recently found this picture of P moping and I don't know but I love it.  I love how she looks and I love how the clock looks in our space even when were in the middle of cleaning.  

PS. Apparently the clock isn't selling for $80 anymore, but $110 is still awesome!  

6235 Lubao: Entrance

I've been looking at Zillow lately.  It's depressing. Not that we're moving but I'm always curious. Most houses in the Los Angeles area, priced in the $500 -900,000 range are very...well, I have to say it: ugly.  It's a clash of architecture styles with no eye for design. I usually have to go on a design blog afterwards to get the taste of ugly out of my mouth!

This house is unique. It already sold and I hope the people who own it now bought it for how amazing it is. It was sold under asking price which is amazing because the owners got a house with the kind of attention to detail only found in homes in the $3-4 million mark.....or in homes designed by their inhabitants who happen to be architects or designers. 

This is the entry.  Same tile from outside to inside really gives it continuity and flow.  Seamless! 

As you walk in, the courtyard is on the right. The frosted glass is completely opaque. You can't see in at all. But if you were sitting on the inside you know someone is there.  Smart detail. 

This is the only house in our three block neighborhood that has a second floor.  The stairs are right in the entry way.  In the rest of our homes with this layout, we have a bathroom where that closet door is now.  

Beautiful floating steps. 

The garage is very smart.  The window in the corner gives it both light and ventilation, both of which are always welcomed in a garage space. The far west wall has tons of storage. I love that there is again both light and air coming in over that wall with the way the beams descend. Without those two details for added light and air the garage would feel very enclosed.  Smart details when you consider how many chemicals we store in garages with warnings like "open in a well ventilated area". 

 This is what the above wall looks like from the outside. 

 Another smart detail, the ramp to take the garbage cans in and out.  On the other side of the gate in front of P is where the cans stay during the week. There is easy access to them from the kitchen...the one place where you are constantly taking garbage out of!  Smart placement. And then on garbage day it's an easy roll to the street. This kind of detail, so stylishly done is only found in expensive homes!  

6235 Lubao. The bedrooms.

Finally, here are the bedrooms for the house on Lubao!

 I love the simplicity of the door molding.  Dying to take ours off and make it simple!

Great built ins and I love that you can open the closet entirely.  No sliding back and forth! You can have full access to your entire wardrobe with the folding doors. 

I'm not sure if this is a style of the era or one of his designs but what a great way to make the space feel bigger. The door looks taller while making a space for the AC vent.

So many homes in this area have had the windows shortened and it kills the space. These floor to ceiling windows make the bedrooms feel bigger and open. 

Another detail I found interesting was the height of the light switches. They're lower than the standard height today.  I like them lower. If you notice they are at the same height as the door handles making the overall look cleaner. 

This is the master bedroom. Again, great built ins.  The spot lights into the closet are brilliant. The wattage was dim which I imagine is perfect for when you need to turn on the lights in the dark while your spouse is sleeping.  Otherwise the natural light in the room is perfect for picking clothes out. And the hanging pendants are also perfect and brilliant. 

Great pendants! I want something similar in our room.....Not the style per say but the elegance of zero visible wiring with hanging pendants. 

Master bedroom sliding door to the garden and door to the master bath.

Built ins!  Simple. Elegant. Storage without cluttering with furniture. 

This is a horrible picture but it was the best I could do and I wanted to show you all this great tub with a view. Although in my house I'd have two little girls on the other side smooching their noses up to the glass if they knew I was realizing in the tub.  

This detail above the tub window is so smart. It lets air in and out which I feel in a bathroom is key. 

Google Yourself

Ever Google yourself?  If I Google my maiden name vs my married name it's as if I Googled two different people.  It's a little weird. It's also fun to Google map your own home.  This is what shows up if you Google us now.  The picture has to be from at least a year ago.  Dave has a different Prius, our house isn't painted, the front yard is freshly done and the side yard still has the grasses.  It doesn't feel like much has changed in the last year and a half but then I look at this and I see we've been busy.  I guess these would be considered a #tbt, if there was a Facebook for homes. 

Sometimes...

...just fixing a blind so it rolls again feels like a giant accomplished. I was on the phone with a friend when I started looking at how I could take it apart.  I got mad multi-tasking skills! Opening the blinds and windows first thing in the morning makes me feel alive and ready to start the day! This was big on my to-do list!  

6235 Lubao: courtyard and kitchen

The house has a beautiful courtyard adjacent to the den, the garage and a breakfast nook area.  The fourth wall/boundry is frosted glass and makes up part of the entry way path.  

We left off with the backyard. This is a picture I posted before. The sliding glass door on the right has the breakfast nook on the other side of it. 

This is a view in through the sliding glass door. The kitchen in on the right and the breakfast area is on the left. You can see the brick that carries through from the outside all the way to the courtyard. 

And this is the reverse view looking out. 

As I mentioned before, my girls were with me so you'll see them quite often in these pictures.  So now here you can see the sliding glass door to the right leads outside. The door where my daughter with the purple hat is standing, leads to the courtyard and my youngest is in the kitchen.  The bright overhead light in the kitchen is a skylight. The skylight was an add-on Rudy designed. None of the other homes originally designed by Krisel have skylights.  I love the transition of these spaces.  And remember Rudy had an herb garden right outside the door that goes outside. How amazing to pick your basil for pesto sauce right outside your kitchen door?! You can even do it in your slippers because you're not trampling through an entire muddy garden. 

Here in this picture you can really see the brick leading all the way through from the courtyard to the breakfast nook and it continues past the other door/window. 

The courtyard made the entire house feel zen.  There was another couple looking at the house when I was taking pictures and I heard them mention a few times how calming this space made the house. The choice of plants and stones was perfect of course. On the other side of the frosted glass wall is the entry to the house.  

This door to the garage provides a short cut directly into the kitchen. I thought it was so brilliant for when you come home fully loaded with groceries!  

This kitchen is so well designed. Remember this was done in the 70's. Look how well it translates into 2014. It fits with the era of the house while still looking modern.  I love the details like this pull out cutting board. I've seen these in many kitchens including my childhood home, but the boards are always rather small.  This one is nice and big.  Another detail not missed!  

Ok, thats it for today but more pictures to come! 

6235 Lubao Interiors: backyard

I couldn't resist the opportunity to photograph this house!  Who knows who will buy it next and I want to remember it as Rudy (the owner) had left/designed it. This is exactly how it was intended to be!  I'd also like to copy many of his details for our house.

I took many, many pictures.  With Dave out of town I had both girls with me.  You will see them quite a bit.  You will also notice many tilted shots and other peculiarities but this is as good as I could get it on a Sunday afternoon after a long weekend.  I'm so grateful to Hilary and Debbie for letting me come in at the tail end of their open house! 

Because I shot so many pictures, all worth sharing imho,  I'm dividing them up by sections. Today will be the backyard.  The first thing I noticed in the picture above was the great large tree at the southwest corner of the lot. It was giving the backyard amazing shade at 3pm when I took these pictures. The tree is ideally placed. 

You'll also notice that the back patio isn't parallel to the house. Instead it jets out and I'm not sure why but this positioning propels you out into the yard and also draws you back into the house. 

 There's a path that circles the backyard and it starts off with a perfect fountain!  Perfectly placed and perfectly designed. 

Outside two of the bedrooms there is a row of olive trees and just past them is a rose garden. From the inside you feel shaded by the trees with highlights of the roses. The brick pathways seem to "announce" the outside. In a portion of the house that integrates the inside and outside you will see how these particular bricks play a part in the continuation and delineation of spaces. 

I love the garden art. 

I love the lines of the house from all angles. 

At the far northwest corner of the house there is a huge silver dollar eucylaptus tree. When you look out towards the back yard  the two large trees at each corner anchor the space. Then there are two sections with multiple trees that have obviously been kept shorter and the same height.  I'm not sure if the electric/phone wires are dictating the height or if it was a stylistic choice. 

I love the different heights of the garden. So smart!  And I love the hanging vines! 

These cement rounds line one fence. Not sure why. I sense it's a function thing and I like the solution.  

I love the different types of brick and how they coordinate/complement one another. 

This is the north wall of the house. The kitchen and dining are on the other side. The dirt patch is where they kept an herb garden. I love the genius placement of the herb garden and how useful, not just ornamental, the outdoors was to them. 

This is part of the area I mentioned where the brick integrates indoors and outdoors. Inside the sliding glass door is an indoor patio that follows through to a courtyard. The brick sets the three spaces apart and unties them: the outdoors, the indoors that feels outdoors because of all the floor to ceiling windows and the outdoors surrounded by indoors. Brilliant!

A fence detail.  Just having redone part of our fence I loved seeing that this is the same fence style we used for the back.  Except, he capped it with a plank which makes it more refined and Mid Century. The plank might also help keep water from going inside all of the wooden planks below.  Better to replace one plank than all of them! 

Details of the recessed exterior lighting in the patio. 

This is sheer genius. He left spaces where the wiring could easily hide instead of it hanging out and messy. 

I love his philodendrons. I love his pots. I love the brick. I just love it all!

If you love Mid Century architecture and you want to see the house call Hilary and Debbie!  

I'll post more of the interiors tomorrow!