what a difference a year makes

I have long been obsessed with having a studio space separate from my home (but still on my property -- I love solitude and I love to come to work in my bathrobe).    My design business has been up and running for nearly 5 years now, and pretty much after year one, I was exhausted with working out of the spare bedroom in our little house.  I coveted the tiny garage that was behind the house (made more painful by the fact that my landlord used it for his personal storage) but knew it would never be mine.  I lusted after the detached garages of all my neighbors, too, even if they (gasp) stored their cars in them instead of tricking them out for studio space.  The worst was when I'd be walking my dogs past an open garage door and see that the inside was packed, hoarders-style, from floor to ceiling with stuff.  That happened more times that I than I care to recall.  Totally heartbreaking.

When Drew and I started shopping for a house, I figured that it was the perfect opportunity to satisfy my longing.   I added that item to our must have list.  Detached garage.  Check.

Here's what we got:  
When we moved in, the garage had zero windows and a single door to the backyard that was so narrow that we had to step out sideways if we were carrying anything at all.  Luckily, it was a sturdy building, and after seeing lots of homes with rickety old garages that we could have easily pushed over by leaning too hard on them, I was glad to have a structure that wouldn't fall apart when I tried to remake it.  Plus, it was a big, blank space.  To someone like me, there is nothing more exciting.

Removing the metal awning and the concrete are projects we tackled this spring (photos of that day here), so the next step was taking a sawz-all to the spots where the new windows and door would be. 

Demo day is always my favorite.

After framing the windows and door and hanging them, we had to rebuild the space in the wall where the old door had been and to repair all the stucco.

The old door was half as wide as the new window.

Stucco!

 



























Here's the after shot.  Did I mention that Drew and I painted the whole building in the happiest, most vibrant red I could find?  Drew built the fab little deck and patio (with the last of our concrete from the demo), too.

I am absurdly excited about this joint becoming the new MMD HQ.

I've done so much research about remaking garages and home studios this year.  My favorite is a post from Tue/Night written by a fellow Angelino creative-type named Jenna Briand.  You can (and should) read it here.  I'm not a mom, and my offices in the past decade haven't been quite as fancy as Jenna's, but I relate to pretty much everything else she expresses here.  In the decade before I started working for myself (in that tiny spare bedroom), my offices have been in a guest room of what was originally a motel built for the Seattle World's Fair, a 10th floor corner cubicle with a view into downtown Seattle, a desk in a design and architecture studio a block from Venice Beach.  As interesting as all of those experiences were (some definitely more than others) I can't help but be reminded that to do my best work I need my own kind of space -- something of my own creation and in my own control -- where I can go and make stuff.  I've also long subscribed to the idea that if I had the right space to do my work then lots of it would come my way.  Now there is a little red studio in my backyard, and I already know that its going to be a space where my business, my creativity, my life, will flourish.

And that leads me to gratitude. 

Drew and I moved into our house on December 30, 2012.  It has been a crazy blur of a year filled with so much change and so many moments of joy and satisfaction.  I can't believe what we've managed to accomplish here so far, and I'm so grateful for the awesome community of people in my life who love me, dream with me, and help me make things happen.  I'm grateful for the opportunity to live and work in this amazing city and to feel, after so many years on the move, that this is my home.  I feel incredibly lucky to have this life.   Each time I have that thought I am reminded that the best way to express my gratitude is to put something, anything,  positive into the world.  So that's the plan, for the year ahead and beyond.

I am already dreaming about the interior design for the studio, so I'm all up in Pinterest.  If you're a Pinterest person and would like to take a peek at what the studio interior might look like, take a look at my MMD STUDIO board.

And so I'm on to the next.  Lots of stuff in the works for 2014.  I can't wait to see what sort of surprises are in store as well. 

its all just a bunch of vibrations

 

It has been forever since my last post.  

The summer has been a blur, and since its now the last day of September, an end of summer wrap-up is an imperative. I've been working on two really cool homes these past months.  Plus, I'll throw in a little summer vacation design inspiration for good measure.

In Santa Monica, I've been remaking a living room, kitchen office and lounge for a family of six.  Since lots of people live here, and they are all musical or artistic, we needed to make these rooms beautiful and functional as well as making space for all of their stuff in some not so big spaces. 

Here is where we started:

A big room with all the wrong stuff in it.  You can't see the fireplace because its the same color as the walls.  The beams in the ceiling are sage green.  There's a GIANT sectional sofa blocking your path into the room. A favorite old chair is covered with a blanket because its stuffing is coming out. The sconces are a bedazzled mess that don't have anything to do with the (beautiful) iron chandelier.  

Now, this room is perfect.

There's a creamy new white on the walls and the fireplace and beams got lovely new colors, too.  And those hand-painted cement tiles are the star of the show. That's the old favorite chair, reupholstered.  The triptych on the wall is from the clients' collection.  The new sconces and floor lamps make much more sense with the chandelier.

Too beautiful.

A small sofa and the big lounge under the window replace the sectional sofa.  The draperies are natural linen.  Lots of space to play games and display the family's musical instruments, too.

 

My favorite thing about this room is the combination of colors and patterns.  And that beautiful red pie safe -- I found it hidden away in another room and it gave it a new home here.

The small sofa is cushy and cute.

The family needed an office and workspace.  There was a spot in the kitchen, so I designed a nice, big desk to mimic the style of the kitchen cabinetry. 

The new desk has lots of desktop space as well as storage for office and art supplies.  The magnetic board above it captures the chaos of a family of 6 in an ever-changing exhibit of photos, kids' art, schedules and notes.

I love designing chairs, and this niche in the dining room was dying for this pair.  My clients had some really fantastic art in storage, in the garage,  and elsewhere around the house.  THE CARESS OF YOUR GLANCE is my favorite piece from their collection, and has finally found its perfect home.

At the house in Las Vegas, some simple but dramatic changes have occurred in the living room and the office.

This is the living room built-in before.  Like, way, way before:

When we started working on this room, we nicknamed this built-in "the beast."  You can't really get the scale from the photo, but its about 11 feet high and 13 feet wide.  It was also not centered on the wall and made the room feel slightly off balance.  And the speakers.  And that giant, old TV.  Ugh.

This is the way, way after: 

Beautiful zebra wood is the perfect material for the clean lines of the new design.  Although its nearly the same size as the original built-in, it fits the space much better because it is centered.  The TV is smaller and will float in the niche in the center.  The speakers are now elegantly camoflauged in the ceiling.  The luxe furnishings and accessories help the fab new look of this room, too.

A couple of years ago when we started the design process for this home, I suggested diptych by the artist Janet Bothne, and my client became a fast fan of her work.  Her paintings are lush and colorful and the perfect scale for the office wall behind his heavy, carved desk.

The warm yellow is the perfect backdrop for this piece, called MEASURING LOSS AND GAIN.

The library, still in progress but fast becoming my favorite room in this house, is just across the entry hall from the office.  There's a fantastic view of the new art if you're sitting in here, too.

I took my first trip to King's Valley, Oregon this summer, and it was a magnificent reminder -- and a huge shock for an L.A. girl -- of the power of nature.  Nothing but trees and water and mountains and quiet.  The stars had more wattage than the city lights, too. 

Here are a few shots of the beautiful home of our fabulous hosts:

A reminder each time the switch is flipped.

A little red cottage with a purple front door.

I was also lucky enough to get back to my beloved Seattle, where I find it impossible not to be inspired by all of the flowers and food and art and architecture and music.  I found some of the coolest design details in the homes of my family and friends.

Little details like the built in planter are what give my sister in law's little craftsman bungalow so much charm.  Plus, I love this vintage sofa and I'm a sucker for the orange-red color combo.

 

Accent pillows with fantastic color and texture.

Fab shag.

This glorious, ever-evolving magnetic chalkboard wall was one of my favorite things in a BFFs new home.  Everyone who comes to the house leaves their mark.

So.  Now I'm back in Los Angeles and back at work.  There is lots more to do before the year winds down.  But, I have to add, so far so good.  I'm excited to see what the rest of 2013 has in store.

reconstruction

After three months of tearing apart the garden at the Alviso house, we’ve finally begun to build it back up again.   Springtime renewal is the name of the game around here.  It is pretty darned exciting.

First item on the reconstruction list was the deck.

We designed a deck that floats off the house and is accessible through the laundry and studio doors.

The redwood is termite resistant and it has a beautiful grain when sealed.

Here's the after photo.  Drew added a step into the laundry door for Ruby.

One of the things we were most committed to was re-purposing the concrete (there is SO MUCH of it) from the old garden into the new one.  So after the deck had a couple of coats of sealant, Drew started placing the recycled concrete pads to create the path around the garden.  We'll fill the gaps in with more soil and grow some mosses and small grasses there so that its green.

Who knew that chunks of old concrete could be so beautiful!

And did I mention that we have kick-ass friends who were willing to spend the day in the dirt, removing a giant patch of the grass in the backyard and helping to construct the redwood boxes for the vegetable garden?  I hope to be able to reward them handsomely when the garden starts to produce.

I've got 3 types of tomatoes, 2 eggplants, strawberries, hot and sweet peppers, squash, green beans, zucchini and cucumbers, carrots and radishes in these 2 5'X5' boxes. 

 

Old wooden flower boxes re-imagined as the salad garden.  I love coming outside to pick leaves just before we eat them.   Faves are the red romaine and the "freckles" spotted lettuce.

 So.

There is still a stack of concrete pads, brick, rocks and rubble to contend with, and a corner of the backyard is made uninhabitable by bamboo, but I am determined to worry about those things later.  I am ready for cocktails and dinner and parties and picnics on the patio all summer long.

in the dirt

It has been a time of destruction in the backyard.

Here's what it looked like the day we got our keys:

The view from inside the side gate to the far back corner of the backyard. 

The house we bought was given a 6 week makeover by a house flipping company. The flippers spent all of their landscaping budget on generic curb appeal and on cleaning and pruning the giant rubber tree in the front yard.  When it came to the back of the house, well, they ran out of steam and that turned out to be okay with us.  The back garden was overgrown,  but large and bright.  We could see that there was some great stuff already there, but knew we'd have to do a LOT of pruning and cutting and digging and cleaning before we could begin to create anything like what we envisioned. 

Drew started the whole process by attacking the giant pink bougainvillea that filled the entire back corner and completely obscured the neighbor's garage wall.  Over the last month he's been removing chunks of flowers and leaves and dead vines and thorns, just enough each week to fill the green waste bin and get the debris out of the garden.   Its now completely gone - cut to the ground and ready to grow back only in the spots that we want it.

Bamboo removal is a trickier endeavor, so Drew spent many hours over the course of several weekends cutting through a wall of plants 3 feet deep and 8 feet tall, leaving giant piles of bamboo waiting to to be cut into chunks and deposited into the green bin.

Our neighbor's garage and our back wall are now visible.

Bamboo - some as tall as 10' - ready for reuse elsewhere in the garden.

The big bottle brush tree was next.  It started out like this:

Another overgrown bouganvillea next to an even more overgrown bottle brush tree.

 Here's what it looks like now:

A lovely canopy and a view of the neighbor's cypress trees.  And I can't wait to paint a mural on the side of the garage.

I had every intention of completely removing the teeny lime tree placed randomly near the middle of the backyard, but it was in bloom when we started demoing and it smelled too good to cut down.  It has been so happy since being pruned that it has started producing tasty little fruit again.  I will be making Margaritas.  And ceviche.

The lime tree is covered with sweet-smelling blooms and the bees who love them so.

The giant aluminum awning.  It had to go.  Luckily it was no match for Drew and Fred.  They unbolted it from the concrete, pulled it down and cut it into pieces.   It took them about 2 hours, beginning to end.   The scrap metal guys took the remnants away and its almost as if it never existed.   Now the back yard is a lot sunnier.

Two men and a Sawz-all.

At last, it was time for the concrete.  I have been dying to remove it from the moment we got our keys.   A jackhammer was rented.  Luckily, there was no rebar inside, so the big pad was was broken into paver-sized pads that we'll use elsewhere in the rebuilding of the patios and paths. 

Two men and a jackhammer.

It looks like a bomb exploded here, but all I can see are the possibilities.

Its been a blur of happy change and it is so exciting to have the garden in a really raw state.  The reconstruction, which we've already begun to plot and plan, is going to be even more fun.

Happy spring.  Enjoy the transformation!

what a difference a month makes

I am my own client these days.

I should mention that Drew and I have been on the hunt for a larger house since July, so much of my focus in the second half of 2012 was finding it.  Like every other buyer, I had my list of the things, necessary and desirable, to make the house work for our lives. 

Well.  Let's just say that I was completely unprepared for how overwhelming and stressful the hunt and the process of buying would be.  

The market here in Los Angeles is absurdly competitive.  Low inventory plus our modest (at least, for L.A.) budget equals a LOT of hustle.  Liza, our  rock star agent, got us in to see houses in many, many neighborhoods the very moment they went on the market.  If we liked a place, she'd often already be writing the offer before we were out the door.

 In total, we toured about 50 homes, made offers on 5 of them.  We were outbid by buyers with cash a few times and we turned down a couple of accepted offers when the places (and the sellers) didn't seem right.  In the end we got our little piece of Los Angeles, and to say that we are lucky is an understatement. 

This is what I see as I come down the hill on La Brea Ave.  Its a whole new view of Los Angeles after a decade at the beach.

We moved in on December 30, 2012 and hit the ground running.  I’ve been working on the layout, the furniture, draperies, and organization since the moment we got our keys, and what a difference a month or so of actually living here makes.  Not only have I been doing my best to make the new stuff work with what we brought from our last house, I've been figuring out this house's quirks, meeting the neighbors and figuring out my new 'hood.  I’m starting to dig in and work out the design for each space inside (We need paint and wallpaper and flooring and tile and SO much more) as well as the back and front gardens (can't wait to get the tomatoes into the ground).  This house has lots of what feels like luxuries to a city dweller used to living in small spaces (like a big backyard and a guest room for all of the out of towners we’ll have visiting).  Both Drew's and my parents have visited from afar and we've hosted two big gatherings for visiting family in this very first month.  Now that I know we can throw a good party here it feels like home. 

I'm loving the open concept and the corner windows in the dining room.

Bay windows in the guest room look out
 at the big tree.

Guest room drapery fabric.

This is the "before" photo, taken the day we got our keys.  Whether the giant rubber tree stays or goes is a matter of great debate right now.

One of of our main search criteria was a space for my studio, and I'm in totally in love with my new spot.  The new MMD HQ is bright and open with a view of the palm trees and bamboo in the backyard.  Its been energizing to start the year doing for myself what I do for clients. 

My desk is still messy, but now with a much better view.

The banana table finds a home in the studio.

The great wall of graphic art has begun.

So.  Now I'm home and I've got a place to do my work.  I am ridiculously excited to get down to it, and watch this place transform in the year to come.

Something else I should mention is the design shop I've been curating on Project Decor.  If you're even a little interested in home design, join the party and you'll have access to great stuff chosen by designers like me.  You can check out my store here: Melissa Mascara's Design Shop


Happy, lucky 2013.