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Archives for November 2019

Midway Hollow Stunner

If you know me at all, you know I LOVE a beautiful fireplace.  Scott and I had the opportunity to redesign this fireplace for one of our favorite families.  They have an amazing home in one of the best neighborhoods in Dallas.  This mid-century home was renovated and expanded in 2008. It already had all the elements of a very modern floorplan.  It didn’t need a huge renovation; it just needed a little design flare.   The family room was already very spacious, but it needed a focal point and some color to warm the space up, no pun intended.

 

We recommended framing the fireplace out from the wall to create dimension and finishing it with a beautiful handmade Ann Sacks Tile.  The design was challenging because the TV opening and fire place had to be at least 16” apart to keep the heat from the TV.  We also didn’t want any tile cuts around the edge of the fire place and the TV opening. We spent a lot of time drawing this project on paper before we started to ensure all the details had been carefully thought out.  The TV insert was hand built and painted in a Benjamin Moore paint to match the tile.   When laying handmade tile you have work slowly because each tile is a slightly different size.  It is very much like putting a puzzle together.

 

The fireplace turned out to be one of my favorite projects we have ever worked on.  And when I got a text of this incredible family enjoying it on a cold night,  it warmed my heart

Pinocchio House – A Mid Mod Renovation “The Before”

November 13, 2019 at 7 a.m.

 

Dear Design Diary (DD),

We finally did it!  We purchased our next Mod Haven renovation project.  After looking at several homes we finally found a mid-century modern that we feel excited about.  I didn’t even have to convince Scott on this one.  It had me at the pool…swoon!  It is an original mid mod atomic gem.  But it needs some renovation help!

People often ask us how we choose a home.  We try to find the right balance of the following features:

  • Mid Mod or Mid-Century architecture is preferred
  • Floor plan that can be easily modified for current lifestyle
  • No recent bad renovations that drive the price up
  • No bad additions on the home
  • Location, Location, Location
  • Good trees
  • Avoid busy streets
  • Good lot size for the neighborhood
  • The right price

It is nearly impossible for a home to meet all this criterion but we try to find as many of them as possible.

We are calling this project the Pinocchio House.  And no, it doesn’t grow a nose when it lies.  Or at least it hasn’t yet.  I do think it is perfectly magical though.  And I imagine we are going to find it has a few hidden secrets when we open up the walls.  It is in nearly original condition, so we will gut it to studs and replace all the mechanical and electrical.  This is super important! We believe it is actually more important to have a safe home than having a pretty home.  But in the end it will be both!

I believe that sometimes rules are meant to be broken, this house has a bad addition on the side that will have to be removed and rebuilt as a fourth bedroom.  (the architecture was good enough to overcome a bad addition in this case).  The home is very hidden behind the garage so the garage will move and the front door will be placed back on the front (as it was originally) vs. the current side entrance.  It will get NEW everything and it is going to be a Mid Mod dream home. Scott says he might move in so I better keep an eye on him.  I am already feeling anxious because we are about three months behind on this one to have it ready for the 2020 selling season.  So much to do, so little time.

I am off to design the kitchen today.  What do you think people will like most?  Wood or painted cabinets?  Upper cabinets or open shelves?  Sleek Mid Mod or casual throwback?  There are so many options, but I have been secretly dreaming about a certain kitchen backsplash.  Often I end up designing around one element that I can’t live without.  Don’t tell Scott, it is a little bit high for the budget but I can NOT get it out of my head, and it is on SALE!  Woo hoo!

I have included some before photos so we will always remember how much work this one needed.  Sometimes it is actually hard to remember the “before” after we are done.

Talk to you soon.  Has anyone ever told you that you are the best listener?

Christine

Lomita House – Fireplace Facelift

Welcome to this week’s version of Throwback Thursday for the Lomita House.  It was an incredible project but it was a renovation challenge because we decided to live in the house the entire time.  I giggle when I hear people say “patience is a virtue” because it really is!   Dust, sheetrock, open walls, open floors, and a refrigerator that traveled to every room before it was done, who does that!

We decided to start in the main living area of this typical 1950s ranch style home.  There was so many walls and rooms that were tightly enclosed, it felt dark.  It was begging to be opened up for today’s modern lifestyles.  To accomplish this, we had to remove 20+ feet of load bearing wall and knock out a non load bearing wall between the kitchen and dining room.  This meant that a huge engineered beam had to be installed in the attic to support the ceiling rafters.  The ceilings were only 8 feet tall, and it was cost prohibitive to increase the ceiling height because the room pitch was low.  So it was essential to hide the structural beam in the attic to create a completely open concept that drew the eye as high as possible.

I remember the day I walked in and suddenly exclaimed “what is that, it HAS to go!”.  Imagine my agitation when Scott said it had to stay!  He claims it is structural.  After 5 minutes of me offering every possible alternative to fixing this situation, he held firm and insisted there was no other option.  Scott likes to refer to these moments as design challenges for me, which I don’t find quite as funny as he does, lol.  Not only was this open concept supposed to result in a smooth open ceiling, the interior walls were supposed to be gone leaving a continuous outside wall.  So imagine my surprise when I walked in and saw this!  A stupid beam sitting about 3 feet away from the wall in the most awkward place any post could ever chose to be.

It was horrible!  I included this photo so to see how ridiculous it looked!

I remember loving the original fireplace so much but this new “design challenge” was making it nearly impossible to keep.  Plus, where is the TV and equipment supposed to go? So, plan B.  Tear out the original fireplace brick and hearth.  The redesigned fireplace had to be functional and fit the new overall mid-century modern design.   This new fireplace design offered storage (which is always a complete bonus in an old house) and somehow hide this horrible post.  I chose walnut wood veneered frameless cabinets because they bring the warmth that the mid-century modern design is known for.  The hearth was done in Pure White Caesarstone Quartz to match the kitchen.  And a gorgeous cut quartz stone from Porcelanosa was added as the accent tile to bring back the original brick look.  We also made use of the space between the posts to create storage for beautiful glasses in the dining room.  Because who doesn’t need 40 glasses for every type of occasion when in the end you only use the same 10 glasses over and over again, ha!

In the end, I was grateful to the ugly post, it pushed us to create a better design.  And I could purchase more glasses! Bonus!

Isn’t that how it usually works in life, the challenge is what usually leads to the better outcome?

We have learned to appreciate the design/construction challenge.  When you renovate old homes, you can ALWAYS count on something NOT to go as planned.  But staying true to construction quality and the desired design is essential to the whole renovation coming together in the end.  Fireplace design challenge? Solved!

 

 

Dallas modern interior designPhoto Credit:  Shoot 2 Sell

Mid Mod Inspired Living
@MODHAVEN
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I am not usually at the home we are remodeling aft I am not usually at the home we are remodeling after dark.  We had some really strong winds yesterday so we went back to check on the pool and clean it up.  We took our Sophie girl.  She thought is was so much fun and I honestly just wanted to sit and stare at the peaceful water for hours.  This pool, yard and house are just cool.  I don’t know what else to say.  Sophie wanted to move in, as she was peaking through the windows.  #cliffmay #pinocchiohouse
Working on some staging concepts in my own backyar Working on some staging concepts in my own backyard for another house.  This green wall hedge is still an undecided for me.
We are at a complete standstill until the shelter We are at a complete standstill until the shelter in place order is lifted because the City of Dallas isn’t issuing permits during this time.  So,  we decided to make use of this downtime and do a little spring cleanup on the Cliff May Pinocchio house.  We gutted nearly all the landscaping ourselves around the pool to increase the outdoor living area.  We pressure washed the pool coping and decking today and started on the fence.  It is beginning to look like a whole new space.  I absolutely love to pressure wash.  Scott has to leave me in my happy place while I make it all pretty.  I am getting really excited about this outdoor pool area renovation.  We have lots more to do in the next 2-3 weeks.  We hope all of you are finding things to do to not go crazy during this challenging time.  Hang in there!  #cliffmay
Welcome to our home. We have been working on the Welcome to our home.  We have been working on the yard and pool at the PINOCCHIO house and still waiting on building permits.  And practicing social distancing while waiting for this virus to pass to get back to work. We know everyone has a lot of anxiety about this situation and we want you to know that we are thinking about all of you! 
This is a strange time and we will ALL make together. 
We are starting to laugh about silly things around our own home.  And like you, we have gotten very close in our home.  Scott and I purchased this home almost 2 years ago planning to completely renovate it, but in the meantime we have been so busy that we love it the way it is.  We are embracing this time to hang out in it and on 3/4 of acre we feel blessed. 
Sometimes it is the small things.  We are celebrating at our home that our silly dog Sophie got off leash restriction this last week post ACL surgery.  She did 10 weeks tethered to us all night and any time we were home.  And while we are home a lot these days we feel a little more free than before, however, Sophie is sneaky and back to her good ole ways of conning us into people food, which she doesn’t get except rarely.  She is cracking us up!  See her sneaky ways! ... and we have a lot of carpet tiles(bad design) for our 14 year old sweetie dog Lilly that can’t walk on hardwoods.  please share with us how your family is doing and  funny things you are celebrating around your house in the comments.  We want to hear from you!
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