kitchen update.

nothing much to say, but here's a preview of what the kitchen might look like when it is done. (and please ignore the command strips holding the bin pull in place - i was still figuring out where i wanted it! classy as always...)

oh, cr*p.

so, while there are many, many, MANY projects still on my list for this here ol' house, for the most part i do like it in it's current state.

the only real exception is the kitchen. while we are extremely lucky that it had been upgraded for modern-day life, it is clear that it was done without any thought about how it would integrate with the rest of the house.

remember, our house was built sometime around 1865-1880, so THIS (seen here on one of our walk-throughs in 2009) is not what i would have chosen to do with the kitchen.



so, now, i'm finally going to go for it. cabinet transformations in "pure white" and vintage hardware are at the ready - and i am steeling myself for several weeks of painting and frustration. i'll tell you later if it was actually worth the effort!

wish me luck!

guest room PWN.

that's right, my guest room got PWNed! jen FTW! (do i sound dorky enough today?)

it's been far too long since i have updated y'all on this sweet little treat of a room.

funnily enough, when we moved in, this room was my absolute last priority. many of you also know that i chose the color on a whim (read: panic) one night before some of my friends (read: free labor!) came over to help paint.

shortly thereafter, by the grace of the god of decorating, it turned out to be one of my first finished and most-loved rooms. and the reaction to it has been universally enthusiastic - even from men who surely, i thought, would HATE the color scheme and ruffles.

to remind you, we started here. bad paint. bad carpet. bad bad bad!
a lil' paint. floor recovered from years of abuse...and then we were here. but no nightstands! quelle horreur!
and now, thanks to my LOVELY friend aviva for these pretty pictures, i can show you where we've landed...

welcome, dear guest!
ahhh... so RELAXING!
a book for your pleasure?
or a freshly plumped pillow?
maybe a lollipop the size of your head?
and then off to dream about your next escape...

yup, this is how we do in fog city. ;)

i'm on a boat!

okay, i'm not (but who doesn't love an excuse to watch this video), but I AM on brooklyn limestone!
the lovely stefanie, keeper of one of my most favorite-ist blogs, allowed me to guest post today while she's on vacation. it's still a thrill to see my rooms on her massively popular blog (the times even named her one of their top 50 design blogs)!

jump on over and leave a comment so she'll have me back soon!

the first time....

"can you tell from the look on my face that i... love you more TODAAAAAY..."

one year ago today i walked into this house for the first time. i didn't know it at the time, but i had finally come home.

this year has been a whirlwind - and rather like falling in love. joy, doubt, fear, butterflies, and hard work. and i wouldn't trade a single second.

here's a quick look back at that first day. these are the photos i took at the open house (click the photo to see a larger version). and click here for an intro to this crazy project.

we've certainly come a long way!
(top row, l-r) entrance, downstairs hallway, formal dining room, living room

(2nd row, l-r) downstairs (illegal) bathroom, kitchen, view of city hall from kitchen, upstairs hallway

(3rd row, l-r) master bedroom, master - 2 closets. w00t!, view from master (you can see the bay!), guest bedroom

(4th row, l-r) upstairs bathroom, office, view from office, backyard

(last row, l-r) backyard, backyard entrance to basement, basement

"although sometime has passed
i still remember just like it was yesterday.
the time is moving fast.
the love i have for you
time won't ever change -
i'll always feel the same
now until the end..."

you gotta fight!

for your right! to parrrrrrr-tay!
whenever i have a party, i find that people end up congregating in the family room. it is one of the smallest rooms in the house, but i think it turned out to be a pretty cozy and hip little space.

i've teased you with some previews along the way, but here it finally is!

this is what i started with:
those of you who have been following our progress here in fog city know that the house interior was covered from head to toe in the most hideous yellow paint. in these photos, from the open house, it almost looks... nice! i assure you, though, it was terrifying. especially all of the inexplicable wall stains created by 4 college-aged boys with no supervision. *la dee da* putting those pictures right out of my head...

we had the floors stripped down to the originals (YAY) and then we painted, painted, painted and painted some more. the door to the downstairs bath got a coat or two of chalkboard paint as a part of my project doorway.
it has become one of my favorite things in the house because it is covered in love letters from family and friends.

i also painted the cast iron hearth and corbel on the fireplace in high-gloss black for more contrast.
and then it was time for the fun stuff!

i anchored the room with my sofa - it's HUGE and comfy and far too expensive to throw away. the lines are curvy and victorian, but the fabric is modern and neutral so it works. i also kept my antique mahogany coffee table, heat stains and all. it's been with me forever and i love the color - especially in this room because it picks up the darker hues in our floors.

then i trotted off to ikea to buy out the store - picking up the trollsta sideboard to use as a tv stand and a great b/w rug, the stockholm rand.
and then to pier one for a couple of great oversize faux bamboo chairs. the room, with the addition of the chairs is very full but, because it's such a small space, i decided to embrace it and to try to make it feel as homey and intimate as possible.
the topper is this fantastic chandelier i robbed from lamps plus (originally $1350 and i got it for $186!). most folks think it's original to the house (which was built in the late 1800s) - it just seems to fit. and it is GORGEOUS at night.
and assorted tchotchkes i have collected at all of the fun antiques markets up north. (i'm sure you've guessed by now that i am of the "more is more" school of thought when it comes to decorating.)

red carnations and a hand thrown clay taxi cab from cuba.

a vintage "go" lamp from a streetlight and a big, lighted "C" for evening

vintage kit cat clock with rhinestones

add some colorful (and SHINY) pillows and voilà! CLICK ON THE PHOTO FOR A CLOSE-UP.

please excuse the puzzle effect here - it's my bargain substitute for a wide-angle lens.

now i've just got to get some art up behind the sofa and we'll be all done (for now)!

hope you've enjoyed this little peek into my favorite party room!

check ME out! i'm on brooklyn limestone!

how very exciting! i've been an avid follower (along with thousands of other folks) of "a brooklyn limestone in progress" since stumbling upon it a year ago - just when i was starting to daydream about how this old house would take shape.

aside from being insanely talented (seriously, check out her before-and-afters on apartment therapy), stefanie, the author of brooklyn limestone, is so lovely and gracious with her feedback and time.

today i am thrilled to be included on her blog, filling in as a guest poster while she is away on yet another glamorous trip.

please stop by and check out my post -- and leave a comment so she'll consider having me back!

jen x

what?!

omg! i just realized yesterday that i haven't written a thing on the completed family room!

you all saw this preview (well, maybe not all of my lovely new readers!)...


but i'll try to get some photos of it this week (if we aren't drowned in rain and grey clouds again) and show you how it turned out.

stay tuned!

come sail away, come sail away...

come SAIL AWAY WITH ME! (to slumbertown, that is!)

so, finally, the big reveal! after months of teasers, my master bedroom is finally "done enough" to share. (*w00t!*)

to remind you, here's what we started with:

so, i searched and searched for a photo with a better angle, but this was the best i could find (see more "befores" here). like the rest of the house, the master bedroom was dingy and painted in a color best described as "resembling the contents of a baby's diaper". it was also carpeted and covered in stains. this hid 8-10 layers of paint and (miraculously) the original floors.

first we got down to painting (and painting, painting, painting). for this room, i chose "solana beach" from ace hardware - a gorgeous grey-blue. my tastes tend more toward the wild, but i wanted my bedrooms to feel relaxed and serene.

after the painting was done, minus all of the touch ups (will. they. ever. end?!), we could remove the carpets (or "built in drop-cloths" as i liked to refer to them) and restore the floors. here's what we got - yay! wide-plank, old-growth pine i think. *SWOON* (sorry for the bad photo quality - i took it with my phone and was VERY, VERY tired at this point.)

more on that process here and here if you're curious. (including fun photos of the "lee press-on" nails and sunflower seeds we found, *gag*.)

and, now, TA-DA! here it is!

the bed (ikea), like in my guest bedroom, is outfitted almost exclusively in white. i like to feel like i'm jumping into a cloud, whether it's bed time or daytime nap time (which happens much more frequently than i should really admit).

i added the silver throw from west elm for a bit of shine (i'm a TOTAL MAGPIE and collect as many sparkly things as i can) and used various white patterned sheets for texture.

and for height and a bit of glamour, i made silk curtains to match the walls. i think it makes the room look almost like it's floating - in a good way! (and here's the 10-step tutorial if you'd like to make some for yourself.)

the nightstands were my grandmother's. i toyed with the idea of painting them but, in the end, i like how they ground the room and bring the floor color up to eye-level. just need to find the right lamp(s) to add. maybe this one?

my dressers are both from ikea. i loved the soft grey finish and the curvy legs. hated the pulls they supplied, so i trotted down to anthro and picked up some "diamond gal" knobs to finish them. love that they manage to look both luxe and organic at the same time. and i placed my grandmother's sewing machine (cleverly disguised as a side table) next to the low one for extra table-top real estate. it makes me smile.

and, because i love color, i painted the insides of my closet doors in "hot lips" (or something like that). you can check out more on project doorway here.

finally, i added all of my favorite jewelry, one great piece of artwork that i picked up at auction...

and that notorious (and polarizing) ship chandelier from zgallerie.

like you've undoubtedly guessed, i love quirky things and wanted one piece that really SAYS SOMETHING in this bedroom. i think this one says it well. come on and sing along...

paint it black.

oh, man, i LOVE this song so much. really, it may be the best song ever written.


i wanted to do something VERY dramatic for the entrance to the house, so here's my ode to this most awesome of songs - i have painted my entryway, and the newel post and banister (though the balustrade remains white), high gloss black (yes, you read that right!). and i painted the door red, which i know mick explicitly warns against but, well, screw it. i like the pop of color.

so sorry, mick!

what we started with... (more puke yellow in this house than you could ever have imagined, right?)
and now!

as you can see, aside from needing a few touch-ups, i'm playing around with possible patterns that i will add in white. i'm leaning towards bare tree branches.

have any brilliant ideas? send 'em my way!

be our guest! (guest room reveal. sort of.)

"be our guest! be our guest!
our command is your request
it's been years since we've had anybody here
and we're obsessed
with your meal, with your ease
yes, indeed, we aim to please..."

with gina moved out and the holidays upon us, it was time to do a bit of "sprucing" in the guest bedroom. and, while it's not completely finished (there are more furniture pieces to find and acquire), it's done enough for guests and, thus, for this unveiling.

if you recall, this is what i started with. yes, the entire house was this color, including the ceilings in many places (and this room was one of them). *ugh*

and, you may also recall, by a stroke of luck (or, as i prefer to refer to it, GENIUS), i made a game time decision and chose to paint the room in a lovely shade of greeny-blue - "beach water" by ralph lauren. it looks like a pistachio ice cream milkshake and it's SO lovely.

from there it took some time to develop the look and feel of the room. i had lots of conflicting thoughts on everything except for the bed.

the bed was to be white-on-white-on-white-on-white. something that guests could sink into like a cloud and really feel at home in. luckily, ikea has a lovely vintage-feeling wrought iron scrollwork bed, the "leirvik", and at $80 (on sale) for a full it's a steal.

bedding is a mix of whites as well. jacquard dot sheets from both martha stewart and target (theirs are sold out online, but you can still find them in-store) for a mix of textures and sheens, paired with a big fluffy down comforter from pacific coast down (a DEAL at costco), and a coverlet from target for warmer nights (or nights that require extra warmth) - all of these make for a nice hotel-like bed to burrow into.

the room was still missing some ZING though and i was lacking in inspiration. so, a couple of days ago, while mourning the loss of my favorite candy store in the city (the AMAZING miette on hayes), i decided to go for a vintage candy shop feel.

as luck would have it, i was returning some gifts at anthropologie that day and a shower curtain that i'd been flirting with for months caught my eye. our windows are 70" tall (HUGE) so a shower curtain is actually the perfect height for them. (and i don't think there should be any rules in a house about what goes where, so why not a shower curtain in a bedroom?).












as you can see, this curtain adds so much punch to the room, both color-wise and in terms of texture. in the daytime, with the sun streaming in behind it, it literally lights up the room with all of those lovely colors. and it provides a much-needed palate for the remaining furniture and accessories purchases. (note also the switch plates and outlet covers that i agonized over.)

i also had to choose a color for the closet interior, to continue my "project doorway". it was a tough choice - i wanted something cheerful but not distracting. i ended up choosing a blueish-emerald to bring out the tones in the wall. it's behr's "precious emerald" in high gloss. i love it.

and, finally, to make the room habitable, i added just a couple of temporary touches. a small rattan bench seat that i have had since i was a little girl. a potted plant for freshening the air. and some GORGEOUS lollipops in blue and green as a nod to my initial inspiration (they will eventually end up upright on a desk - i have one just like this, it was my dad's homework desk when he was a boy - or table).

hope you all like it! please let me know if you have any fab ideas for accessories or furniture - i'm hoping to poke around the local antiques fair next month!

oh - and start booking now! san francisco is super this time of year!

jen x


p.s. i know i am SUPER behind on posts, so i'll plan on two next week: "best holiday pie ever" (bookmark it for next year) and my master bedroom reveal because *YAY* i've finally received my chandelier!

lights out - nap time!