When De Mattei first bought the property, the house was even smaller — 1,300 square feet, and faced the busy University Avenue. To take full advantage of the corner lot, he lifted up the house, built a new foundation and turned it to face Town Terrace.
From the outside, you appreciate that this little house retains all its charm –including original arched windows at the front. But every inch, inside and out, is maximized. The front garden, designed by Tamura Designs of San Jose, with gravel pathways in a lovely geometric pattern with pea gravel and planting beds makes me want to do the same in my yard. I love the big urn as a centerpiece in the middle with herbs and vegetables growing in the beds –in the front yard no less.
A side yard leading to the sidewalk and busy street was also put to best use with a deck right off the dining room. A
One of the tricks to making a small space seem large, De Mattei said, is to keep spaces open. From the front entryhall, you can look right through the living room, dining and kitchen to see the lovely back courtyard. Wide wooden floors run the length of the house, fooling your eye to think the floorplan goes on and on.
Instead of dividing living spaces with walls, different ceiling treatments do the trick, from a flat 8-foot-ceiling in the living room, to a higher, beamed-ceiling in the dining room.
And you can always count on Sunset to have beautiful decor, from handmade tiles in the kitchen to my favorite thing: the gray trefoil tiles in the masterbath. (Those might be lovely in my pending bath renovation!) Room and Board supplied most of the furnishings, and Anteo Home in Los Gatos brought in the dining room chairs and special pieces.
If you want to see the house for yourself, it’s well worth it. Here’s the skinny:

Friday, Saturday and Sunday
July 23 – August 15, 2010 Time:10:00 am – 5:00 pm Tickets (purchase on-site):$15 adults
$12 seniors 65+ Fridays only
$5 children 12 and under Location:100 Towne Terrace
Los Gatos, California 95032

Here’s the complete slideshow:

My husband, Chris, and I are finally ready to bite the bullet on our so-called master bathroom. Ever since he took the sledgehammer to our tiny shower eight years ago because the pan leaked through to our laundry room, we have been using the kids’ bathroom down the hall. Our shower became storage for our Costco supply of bath tissue.

In those eight years, our 1970s-era irridescent green tile on the floor and walls has come back into retro-fashion. But it’s too late to salvage. The sledgehammer took to the bathroom floorboards as well when we replaced the plumbing with copper piping some years ago.
What remains is a funky patchwork of neglect and afterthoughts. Like an unhappy housewife, our master bathroom has “let herself go.” One of the cane doors on the cabinet beneath the sink has a hole in it. The towel rack fell off the wall long ago leaving big holes where the screws once were. And even though the entire space is barely eight feet by four feet, I still manage to have three separate piles of Vanity Fair and Elle Decor magazines: on a book shelf along the wall, a rolling cart between the sink and toilet and on a vintage rack on the floor. A once-special Navajo rug I bought from a shaman’s wife seems contrary and disrespected underfoot. And as much as I like a newly-purchased, vintage mirror with an Asian motif, the whimsy I was going for falls as flat as a bad joke. And please forgive me, my fellow Lookiloos, the metal blinds. (I can’t believe I even committed that to print!)
Our bathroom needs a makeover and we need help!
Our house is 1938 unadorned art deco-style. It is angular and asymetrical, with windows meeting in the corners. The only special touches are the glass block on either side of the front door, which has a chevron pattern matching the garage doors. When it comes to the bathroom, we want simple, clean lines. Nothing tumbled. Nothing too trendy. I like the idea of gray and white (I’m thinking Deco cruise ship) with pops of accent color. Chris likes a warmer palette, perhaps yellow tile.
We need storage and two “stations” in this tiny, one-sink bathroom: one for my husband shaving at the sink, another for me drying my hair right behind him (cheek to cheek so to speak.)
We’re open to ideas. Please share!

Strawberry lemonade never tasted so sweet!

Ten years ago we remodeled our cute little home, because the duct tape we were using to hold it together was starting to peel. I never really gave too much thought about a front porch—but thank goodness my fabulous architect did! When we got the first round of plans, I loved the front porch. I could hardly wait to be sipping my first cup of coffee while perusing the morning paper on MY front porch. Now, funny thing is it never was MY front porch. It belonged to the skateboards, freebords, roller blades, razor scooters, bikes, the very stinky hockey gear and the random welder (don’t ask). Yes, I have 4 active boys and the front porch was the proof. I needed a space that I could call my own without tripping over all the hazards.

I decided to clear out all the “gear” and reclaim my space. My first thought was French Country. Maybe a Toile in a cheery yellow for the seat cushions. White and blue for accent pillows. I thought they would go so nicely with 2 wicker chairs that I recently painted black. I headed to Home Goods and wandered the rows of chair cushions and pillows—nothing in yellow, but these coral patterned cushions caught my eye and I never looked back. Next, I found a solid Ralph Lauren ($14.99) pillow and a cream based embroidered with a coral pattern pillow ($16.99).

The only thing I needed now was some sort of fabric to re-cover the ratty sea grass ottoman. I hit the jackpot when I found this Tommy Hilfiger duvet cover for a whopping $29.99. And, I only needed half of it.

Once the color scheme was in place, I headed to Summerwinds Nursery to pick out my perfect posies. I have to admit I love walking through the nursery. It’s never a quick trip for me—ahhhh, wandering the aisles. Getting back on track, I loaded up the convertible with a few jumbo packs, a couple of daisies and impatients and a gerber daisy.

I loved putting it all together. I got the tray from Soltice, the orange vase came from Summerwinds, the bird house was a true find at the Alameda Antique Fair and the watering can was left behind when we bought the house. One of my favorite things on the new front is that old watering can–that doesn’t hold water anymore. I’d like to take credit for putting that gerber daisy in it, but I got the idea from another blog Hoosier Homemade. My only big purchase was the aqua pot and the hydrangea—for just under $70. But, I’m a sucker for hydrangeas and that aqua color was to perfect to pass up.

Impatients and the very stinky hockey gear!

Now, it’s been a whole week and all that “gear” has stayed away. OK, one exception has been made—the very stinky hockey gear is staying—but at least it is much neater. And, that I can live with. Sipping my first glass of strawberry lemonade with my feet up on the ottoman was pure heaven. We have spent nearly every evening out there—pure bliss.

My front porch does seem a little on the girlie side, but in my defense I do live with a lot of testosterone and a balance was needed. Now MY universe is balanced!

I’m linking up with Show and Tell Fridays and The Shabby Chic Cottage.

Here’s the complete slideshow:

I wanted a quilt or blanket to take to the beach. I had a great one that somehow went missing. My professional mom guess?—a teenager went to the beach with some friends and somehow that blanket was left behind or left at someone else’s home. And, I’m sure that mom, like me has asked “Who does this belong to? It’s not ours.” And, I’m sure the usual response was ” Huh? What? Ya, I don’t know.”

This is my color inspiration for my denim quilt. I love the pink and coral with denim. It seemed to be the perfect combination.

I cut the jeans into 6 inch squares. I used left-over fabric that I recently used to re-cover an ottoman to go in between the denim squares. Stitched the whole thing together. I added a small layer of cotton batting and a fun tie-dye fabric for the backside. I’m not a seamstress or a quilter—so I know that how I put this sucker together was very unconventional. I didn’t use a pattern and when something didn’t line up it stayed that way. I love the results. The reason—I look at all those squares and know that they came from one of my kids at some point in their lives. I did save one pair I just couldn’t bring myself to cut up. All four of my boys wore that single pair of jeans when they were toddlers. Let me tell you, those Baby Gap jeans that I purchased back in 1989 for my oldest son, have held up. And, to last through 4 boys now that is some feat!

Linking up with Romantic Home.

Well, Stephanie Peters did when she invited Linda Marx, an independent-minded bargain-hunting maven, to have at it.

“I wanted the challenge to do it as inexpensively as I could,” said Marx, who loves nothing better than finding a cast-off sofa here or discarded end table there. “They’re little orphans. I like giving them a home.”

Peters, a Sunnyvale marketing consultant, wanted a home makeover that “shows my personality,” emphasizes comfort and reflects her penchant for all things Asian.

She lives in an Eichler, the 1950s-era, one-story homes with open floor plans, atriums and courtyards. Mid-century modern furnishings are experiencing a resurgence of popularity these days, but Marx was reluctant to shop in that direction: “I lived through that” era of design, Marx said, “and I didn’t particularly like it then.”

And with popularity often comes a big price tag, and that simply is not Marx’s style. Marx promised she could completely swap the decor of the living, dining and family rooms for a grand total of $4,000, which included everything from furniture delivery to moving lighting fixtures. (That would buy mid-century purists one Eames lounge chair and ottoman, thank you very much.)

The last time the house had a makeover was in the early 1990s, a few years after Peters bought it. As was the style at the time, she decorated with a palette of black, white and chrome, including white marble flooring in the living and dining rooms. But over the years, the space had grown tired and cold. And Peters had little time to pay attention to it. She made brief attempts at repainting the interior, but when her artwork came down, including her collection of Asian masks, she never put it back up. In her entry hall, all she had was a plant.

“All right, enough,” Peters told herself. “I entertain a lot. I’m sick and tired of people coming over and I’m embarrassed.”

She called Marx, who calls her fledgling redecorating business “Shoestring Design.” The women became friends through Marx’s son, who worked with Peters years ago. Peters had been to parties at Marx’s house and while there, couldn’t help but admire her home. She asked for help on hers.

“I said I wanted modern and Asian,” Peters said.

“I wanted the house to feel warm and nice,” Marx said.

“I wanted chrome bar stools,” Peters said.

“I didn’t bother with it,” Marx said.

“Never mind,” Peters conceded. “Do it.”

With that, Peters cleared out the entire living, dining and family rooms of furniture, handed Marx the key to the front door, and took off for three weeks.

“I had never done Asian before,” Marx confessed.

She began her thrift store circuit up and down the Peninsula, stopping in the Salvation Army on Winchester Boulevard in San Jose, where she found a dining room table and chairs for $149; to the Consignment Store in Westgate Mall in Saratoga, where she landed a living room sofa, and the Goodwill on Almaden Expressway in San Jose for the Asian bar for $89. She bought a bamboo wall hanging at Cost Plus World Market for $49, Asian coin wall hooks for $3 from Savers in Redwood City for the entryway, a coffee table from Not Too Shabby in San Jose for $49. A large Persian rug ($120) that covers the cold marble floor came from D.G.W. Auctioneers and Appraisers in Sunnyvale.

Marx mined Peters’ garage for lost treasures, pulling out her old trunk and a collection of masks. She hung Peters’ prints and some Chinese silk panels she had bought at auction and arranged everything just so. For finishing touches, she displayed martini glasses on the bar and filled a glass vase in the kitchen with fortune cookies.

Then she waited. “I was sweating bullets when she came home,” Marx said.

“I stood in awe in the entryway for 30 seconds,” Peters said. She barely recognized the place. “I walked back in three or four times. There was so much and it had changed so drastically.”

Peters loves her new decor and “everyone who comes to my house is flabbergasted. I’ve had wonderful feedback.”

Now on to the bedrooms! As soon as Peters leaves town, Marx will be ready.

If you like bargains and didn’t see the story Desiree and I wrote about the Asian fretwork chairs we bought for a bargain price at Not Too Shabby, read this:

Smackdown:Lookiloos-style

Here’s the complete slideshow:

With a number of summer parties planned, from a graduation to a school fundraiser, Kristin Savini wanted her backyard to look beautiful. But when she gazed outside, “everything was beige and brown.”  She loved her pool. patio and brick fireplace, but her flowerbeds and the cushions on her outdoor furniture  seemed overwhelmingly  “blah.”

So she called in the pros. First, Steve Gilbert from Willow Glen Home and Garden suggested using the color of the pool as inspiration. He brought in bright turqoise cushions for the furniture and no fewer than 11 ceramic urns. To Kristin, it all looked “elegant and fun.” But that was a lot of urns to plant. So she called in her friend and container gardener Dhelia Fahrner of La Jardiniere.

With the bright cushions and pots, she knew the plants needed to be one thing: saturated with color. “It couldn’t be pale,” she said. At Summerwinds Nursery in Campbell, she and Kristin pulled out bright orange-gold “Easy Does It” standard roses and a big chartreuse ginger plant for height in the middle of some of the taller pots. They also added purples, fuschias and oranges with geraniums, lantana, verbena, petunias and alyssum of various heights and textures.

The results were spectacular. Here are some tips for vivid container gardening from La Jardiniere:

1. Before going to the nursery, take measurements of your pots, both width and height, to figure out how many plants are needed to fill each pot and how tall the plants should be to balance the size of the pot. At the nursery, find an empty corner to arrange your chosen plants to see how they would appear together in the pot.

2. Know the sun exposure so you know whether to get sun-loving or shade-loving plants.

3. Choose a style — tight, loose, abundant, minimal — to fit your style or the architecture of your home.

4. If you’re planting several pots, purchase some “foundation plants” that are perennial and can last from season to season. Buy colorful annuals in six-packs that are less expensive to replace.

5. Use quality potting soil and fertilizer and water, water, water.

To see what Dhelia did to her own backyard and another project open these:

Dhelia’s Dahlias

Before and After:Spanish Courtyard Gets Makeover

Here’s the complete slideshow:

I have always adored this park, even though it was in disrepair for awhile.
My mother-in-law, Joan grew up in this neighborhood.I love the story she told me about how she remembers the day the fountain was installed. One of my favorite photos when I first decided to jump ship and become a photographer was taken at the fountain. This park has held so many memories for our family.

Every June about 7 high schools hold their graduation ceremonies at the park. I know the parking is a nightmare and quite often I’m picking up trash left over from my lawn–but to be honest with you–I wouldn’t trade it for one minute. We have parked our cars on the street to save parking for families we know who have a student graduating. The requests come in via my older kids–so and so’s “little sister is graduating on Tuesday—Mom who has the driveway”? This year our driveway was reserved on three different days and I wouldn’t have it any other way. I love hearing the pomp and circumstance playing, the names being called and the cheers! I am anticipating the twins graduating in 3 years form this very spot! So here I am on bended knee—yes really on bended knee asking you to please vote for The San Jose Municipal Rose Garden. I promise to hold my driveway any time you need it! I’m attaching a slideshow of some of my personal favorite photos I’ve taken of the Rose Garden and you need to check out the links to movies my kids have made at the park as well. What would I do without this wonderful space.

So, I am here with a shameless plug. Yes, I know what your thinking “how could she? This is blog-land darn-it full of honor, trust and no shameless plugs”. But it’s not like that–really!

Here’s the complete slideshow:

Will this be the year my so-called master bath gets a makeover? My husband took a sledgehammer to our shower seven years ago when the pan leaked into the laundry room below. Silly me, I thought we were going to re-tile!

A tour through Willow Glen homes earlier this spring certainly gave me some inspiration. Desiree took some nice photos to study…  I love the simplicity of this one above. with the grey marble and black detail.

I love Asian, with this big soaking tub. But I can tell you right now, it would never fit in my tiny bathroom!

Another simple marble slab top. Lovely. And those orchids are gorgeous.

I like the idea of going with a neutral palette and adding a splash of color with great accessories.

Adding color in the border is fun. I also like artwork on bathroom walls to add personality.

Which do you like best?

It wasn’t until Suzanne Comaroto’s sister came down from Washington that she got serious about improving her backyard. The old oak tree had died. The roses weren’t doing well. The dirt was so hard, the plants were choking.

“My sister made a honey-do list for my gardner,” said Suzanne, owner of Move It Elsewhere, a warehouse filled with estate sale furnishings in San Jose. (It’s only open one weekend a month, and it’s open this weekend, June 11-13.) She rented her 1920s craftsman bungalow for 14 years before convincing the landlord to sell it to her three years ago.

Top on the list was replacing the brick on the curving path that was caked with old mortar, probably from a demolished fireplace. They handed the list to Suzanne’s longtime gardner, Carlos Arrioja, who owns the  Los Gatos landscape business, “A Touch of Quality.”

He prepared the soil, lifted and replaced the brick, widened the path and mounded soil into berms to give the plantings some visual interest. He built a trellis at the back of the property to mirror the trellis attached to the back of the house.

“When I moved here, they touted, “Oh, you have an English garden,” Suzanne said. “Everyone said it was pretty. But it wasn’t interesting. There were no gates, no benches, no hand.”

The hand is a sculpture Carlos came across. He had to re-attach the broken thumb. And it has become the signature piece in the garden, adding a bit of whimsy.

“I really like that hand,” she said. “I had to have it.”

As owner of Move It Elsewhere, Suzanne  has access to an endless parade of home and garden furnishings. And true to form, she bought her patio set from a client and painted it black. She also bought a broken two-tiered fountain that was cracked and didn’t hold water, and turned it into a planter.

The work was completed last September. This is the first spring to enjoy the blooms on her new flowers, including roses and bearded iris.

The only problem, she said, is that she’s so busy, she doesn’t get to spend much time relaxing in it.

“It’s beautiful,” she said, “ from my bedroom window.”

Here’s the complete slideshow:

I’ve been anxiously watching my salsa garden grow – tomatoes, cilantro and jalapenos. While my garden is tiny, been thinking about how to spruce up the containers as my garden grows – Garden Markers! Take a looki at these unique stakes I found on Etsy.com.  Perfect gifts for the gardner in your life or an homage to your tomatoes, ’cause everyone (even your veggies!) can use a little bling. 

These stamped Vintage Silverware Garden Markers are made by Wooden Hive.  The set of 4 is $21.00

Takit from Michigan makes these Copper Plant Markers. (Set of 10 for $30.00)

For a little pop of color, these Artisan Hands’ Veggie Garden Stakes (3 for $20) would fit the bill.