Kitchen features

Our built-into-the-countertop gas stove by O'Keefe and Merritt.














The controls. The one on the right works the front right burner, which you can set by degrees. I have no idea how to use it!











I like the little stars in the middle of the burners.








The matching aqua vent hood with light. 4 x 6 rectangular tiles in the backsplash.
My grandma's KitchenAid mixer, my small collection of iron trivets, and a paper towel/aluminum foil/wax paper dispenser on the wall (ebay find).

The Living Room

Finally got the living room clean enough to photograph. This is from last night after
my sister Margaret spent the day helping me declutter, vacuum, and rearrange.
On the left is the piano that's been in my family since I was about 6 years old. My
siblings and I all learned to play on it, and now my daughters are enjoying it.
I would love to learn more about the furniture I acquired free (again, thanks to Margaret!). The sofa is not shown (yet), but the two brown chairs and the green lounge chair (minus its footstool, which is in the garage awaiting post-moving repairs) are part of this set. The story that came with them was that they were bought in Denmark in the 1960s by the owners of the mountain getaway cabin where I got them. I believe they have their original upholstery. The rocking chair was another freebie and is going to be spectacular someday when I can afford to get it reupholstered. The square table, standing in for a coffee table, is teak, I think. The rust-colored carpet is protecting the original hardwood floors, which we plan to uncover in the future. The small telephone table holding the lamp was my Grandma's. I have to get some close-ups of the various pieces of furniture and decorative items - that lamp is amazing (but you can't see it well here).

The fireplace by the front door. It has a built-in cabinet at a right angle, forming a sort of
entryway. We use it for shoes and outgoing items. The fireplace is gas/woodburning, brick with a black slate hearth. The tiles across the top are just perched there as an experiment to see if it would be a good idea to affix them permanently. More on them later. The clock and artwork deserve close-ups and details in another post.








Crewel-work by my Grandma, recently framed with an unused vintage frame I found for
50 cents at a thrift store. I got the wall sconce on ebay, and the aqua phone at an antique
store's parking lot sale in Yucca Valley for 8 bucks! Our fish live on the counter below.
I like how you can see the original phone number!

Cool original features of our house

I've never seen faucets quite like this before - I think they're certainly eye-catching. The pull-up knobby-thingy that plugs the sink doesn't work, and the drain chrome rings are looking bad. Anyone know how to fix these??


Our tub handles are neat-o, too. Even if they are a bit difficult to turn (impossible for the kids) with wet hands. Almighty Hubby had to replace the stopper, because it just wasn't holding water (he he he!).




We have salt-and-pepper tiles around the tub and sink. The interesting thing about the tub tiles is that they are rectangular, which I've never seen in a mid-century house before. The sink in this bath, all the tile in the master bath and the countertops in the kitchen are all the standard 4 x 4 square. The kitchen backsplash is rectangular again! Pix to come....




Original vanity and drawer pulls. Paint job is just okay, but I'm just thrilled to have the cabinet!!

My entries into Retro Renovation's cool contest for Found Art/Found Objects. The prizes are just too cool! And I just lurrve Pam's blog! This is what I wrote about my photos:

First, I have a sample of some of the booklets and pamphlets I kept when going through my mother-in-law's belongings after her death. She was quite the hoarder, and I was delighted to find these little glimpses into the past. The pamphlet for polio and the Salk vaccine is quite poignant to me. It has the handwritten dates of the three shots for my m-i-l and her two brothers and "me", which I assume is their mother. This all reminds me of my father's stories about how his mother was just so terrified by polio, and wouldn't allow him to eat the ends of bananas because she had heard that it was a cause of the disease!

I love the woman who is so excited about her Farberware aluminum griddle, the industrious woman who knows all the smart things to do to make her ironing job "modern", the beauty queen with her Q-tips (inside, the tips include "Finger Flattery" and "Dainty Do's"), and the rarely-seen serious (but immaculately coiffed) housewife who asks us to please, please, just listen!

My other photo is of some of MaryAnn's old cake decorating items I found buried in a box. I wonder why she kept them for so long (a few with crumbs attached!), and whose celebrations they attended. Were they hers? Friends? For her sons? Since the one graduate is female, and she had only sons, could it have been for her high school graduation? I'm sure the pious little boy and the altar candles must have adorned First Communion cakes for her good little Catholic boys. And I couldn't understand why one of the storks had a pipe cleaner sticking out of him until I found this one with naked baby attached by his own pipe cleaner. Little baby bottles - so sweet, and the rattles actually rattle!

I miss MaryAnn so much, and it's been 12 years since her passing. Although it's bittersweet not to be able to ask her these questions and talk with her about her memories, I love to have her things and to imagine what her life was like as a young housewife and mother in the early 60s.

Random fun images!

Every workplace should have one:


Sylish ladies with glasses


why the Mayan pyramid?

Our Newest House

Our first home was in Covina, the second in Yucca Valley, and our current (and hopefully long-term) home is in Upland. All in Southern California.

This is not the best head-on-type shot, but I was trying to capture the beautiful snow on the foothills above us, and our sugar maples in fall color. For SoCal, this is as wintry as it gets!

I will post before and afters photos of this house, and I would like to have sections on the other two as well. We've learned a lot from our adventures in home-ownership. I'm very lucky to have a highly-skilled husband who knows how to do lots of remodeling projects himself!

Here it is - my very own blog!
The image above says it all for now....