After my house tour at Design Mom ran last month, I got lots of questions about the house that I’m going to attempt to answer here over the next few weeks. The most common thing people asked about - and this happens with guests in our home, too - was about all the art. (Though no one asked about the nudie art. Thank heavens.)
What you put on the wall is the most important decorating decision of any room: the paint, the wallpaper, and of course the art. Color and texture sets the tone, and original art takes any home from generic to unique.
We had a couple months notice before we shot the show Tanked at our house. We were away for part of that time, but I hustled and flowed some of our ongoing projects like the kitchen remodel. We revamped part of the guest room and gussied up some things in the pink living room, and wouldn't you know it they didn't shoot a single scene showing any part of the house where I fluffed pillows.
Of course the majority of the show was shot in The Gorilla's man room, a space he had decorated almost entirely himself. (Maybe I was responsible for the green zebra pillows, I don't remember.) But as we moved forward with plans for the tank, we decided to shift our main living area to the man room. We spend time in both rooms, but I was hoping to contain kid clutter and toys and general craze out of sight from the front door.
So after the tank was installed, I went about making the room a bit more home-y. The Gorilla would say I made it more girly. I retort that he regularly wears a pink sparkle helmet. Argument over.
The first time Katie hosted our book club in her Silverlake home, I was in awe of its beautiful views, it's quirky character, and the obvious style she and her husband Eric put into it.
The most recent time I arrived for our Saturday morning meeting, I just couldn't get over what a thoughtful and layered home they had created.
Yesterday I revealed the recent kitchen remodel to our 1920's Hollywood Hills home. This was our second kitchen remodel (our first one in our former home can be seen here), and we had learned a ton that we put into practice this time around.
Our beautiful kitchen remodel is finally 100% done! It's really been done for nearly two months, but we were waiting on the final piece (the custom hood over the range) before I could show you.
Carrie and Brendan are college friends of mine. Carrie was in my sorority and they have the sweetest relationship and sweetest love story. After college, we all moved to California and I ended up seeing them more when we lived on the west coast than when we were at OU.
A few years ago, this fun and hilarious couple moved back to our home state and started a family. As long as I have known them both, they have been full of style and ideas. Carrie started a synthetic grass company, Always Greener, and it has taken off. You won't believe the awesome ways people are using this product! Brendan has always been an incredible songwriter and he's found so much success as Spaghetti Eddie. Your little ones (and you!) will love his CDs and DVDs.
So, with that amount of talent between them, you can imagine that they have a great place to live.
This is not a coupon blog, and I don't even consider myself that savvy of a shopper. But I do love a good deal, and I think I have a decent eye when it comes to picking through the less-than-glamorous items to find a gem.
Here are a few things I've found lately that I'm swooning over, both in quality and in price.
We have been so lucky to make amazing friends in the town where we have our lake house. The first friends we made were with the builder of our house and his wife, and they've become the kind of people we will know for the rest of our lives.
We knew when we bought our house in summer 2010 that we wanted to do a few cosmetic things to the kitchen down the road. After a complete demo and remodel to the kitchen in our former house, we are totally spoiled and want to be just as in love with this kitchen. It is where we spend the most time as a family.
It's a great space. It has beautiful light throughout the day and we don't mind the layout. It just needs some updating. Here is what it looked like when we closed on the house:
I've been working on adding some color and interest to my home office mantel. I've held onto this Blood Is The New Black t-shirt for years, long after I've stopped wearing it, because I love the design of a little boy wheeling a heart in a barrel. But it wasn't doing much good folded in a drawer for months on end, so I decided to display it more promimently.
I am an Oklahoma girl somewhat misplaced in the City of Angels. I spent six years working in reality television, but my true passion is writing.
I live in Hollywood with my toddler daughter, infant son, & my producer/director husband, who is nothing like you'd expect. I hope I bring a little southern grace to this crazy city.
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disclosure
Hollywood Housewife contains sidebar advertising and some contextual affiliate links. An affiliate link means that if you click through and purchase an item I have featured, I may receive a commission on the sale. You would never pay more for for the product, the commission comes from the regular retail price. I only feature products that I either already own or genuinely like, advertising is never part of my content decisions. On the occasion when a post or giveaway is sponsored, I will always note that in the actual post. If I refer to an item as "courtesy of," that means I received that item gratis. I do not blog about everything I receive, but when I do my opinions are always my own.
