With as much demolition and construction as we’ve done since moving here four years ago, we haven’t had much time (or money!) for furniture shopping. Thus, many of our rooms are fairly empty. So when my mother-in-law announced that she was planning to downsize and asked if there was anything at her place we might be interested in, I didn’t hesitate to ask about her wicker furniture.

Family folklore has it that when Julio’s great-grandparents bought their summer cottage in 1920, the previous owners left behind a five piece set of wicker furniture.  This same wicker suite has been passed down through several generations. In fact, our daughters will be the fifth generation of kids to claim the petite rocking chair as their own. Unfortunately, back in the the 1970s, the third generation painted everything shamrock green.  (Pleased to meet you - I’m Paddy O’Furniture!  Sorry - couldn’t resist!)

1920 wicker wearing 1970s paint

Julio couldn’t understand my interest, mostly because he had a hard time seeing past the bright green paint.  But I knew it would be a lovely addition to our home.  First of all, it’s roughly the same age as our house, and I really loved the idea of having something of the same vintage.  Secondly, the scale is absolutely perfect.  While our house is roomy by bungalow standards, most modern furniture is too large to fit comfortably in our living room, but this wicker set fits as if it was made for the room. Lastly, I’ve always loved the interior photographs I’ve seen of Gustav Stickley’s Craftsman Farms, in part because of the unexpected juxtaposition of curvy wicker chairs and settees against Stickley’s masculine, rectilinear wooden furniture.  Beautiful!

Of course, Stickely’s wicker was natural wicker, and our recent acquisition was bright green.  Since you can’t easily strip wicker, we decided to go with a deep espresso colored paint that seemed at home with our dark tables and woodwork.  Next on out list will be finding an upholsterer who can recover the cushions in something more bungalow-appropriate, but for the time being I suppose I will have to live with the existing cushions.  Eventually I would also love to add a small tabouret table next to the large rocker, and an area rug to serve as a room anchor (Oak Park Home and Hardware has a few drool-worthy contenders) but since we need a few slightly more important items before we can purchase a rug (new roof, anyone?) the rug won’t be joining the family any time soon.

And so, without further ado, here are some snaps I took of our recently painted family heirlooms. (Julio, who is quite particular about photography asked me to specify that I took these photos, so that if you find them less than technically flawless, you won’t blame him!)

Living room as viewed from the front entry

Wicker furniture - close-up view

Living room - alternate view

It seems as though there’s a lot of confusion about VOCs. I’m hoping this post might, if you’ll excuse the pun, clear the air a bit.

The term “VOC” stands for “volatile organic compound.” The definition of a volatile organic compound really seems to vary depending on who is doing the defining, but basically, a VOC is an organic (carbon-based) chemical compound that will evaporate at room temperature.

As volatile organic compounds evaporate - changing from liquid form to gas/fumes - they will enter the atmosphere and contribute to the formation of ground-level ozone and smog. They will also enter the lungs of, say, someone who is painting. What’s the big deal about that? Well, here’s what the EPA has to say about the health effects of VOCs: Continue Reading »

Most bungalow-lovers are familiar with the Sherwin Williams’ Arts & Crafts color collection, the Eddie Bauer Home Bungalow Color collection at Lowe’s, and Pittsburgh Paints’ Chicago Bunaglow color collection, but there’s new color collection released earlier this spring that may also be worth a look.

Kelly-Moore Paints has introduced a new palette called “Historic Lifestyles of the West.” Developed by respected color expert Robert Schweitzer (who wrote the book “Bungalow Colors Exteriors“), the collection contains 106 lovely, mellow colors inspired by the architecture of the late 1800s and early 1900s. The collection is dived by era/architectural style and includes shades appropriate for Victorian, English Revival, Spanish Revival, Arts and Crafts, Jazz Age and mid-century modern homes.

Kelly-Moore Paints are available in Arkansas, California, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, Oklahoma, Oregon, Texas and Washington.

Has anyone out there tried the new Freshaire paint they’re selling at Home Depot? If not, here’s your chance to try it for free… Continue Reading »

Attention Portland-area bungalow lovers! The second annual Portland Bungalow Show is just around the corner and is sure to be chock full o’ bungalow goodness, complete with fabulous vendor booths, informative lectures and hands-on window restoration workshops.

A separately-ticketed wine-tasting and lecture event is scheduled for the evening of Saturday, May 17 from 7 - 10 p. m. and will feature presentations by the astoundingly talented CJ Hurley and renowned bungalow photographer Alexander Vertikoff.

If that isn’t quite enough to pique your interest, we have one more little tidbit of information to share with you. The “Painting Your Bungalow” lecture scheduled for 3 p.m. on Saturday, May 17 will be delivered by none other than Stephanie Brown of Local Color - otherwise known as Mrs. Bungalow Insanity.

Hope to see you there!

We’ve been asked on a couple of occasions for the names of our paint colors, and we thought it’d be best to dedicate a post to them. So now if anyone is ever curious about any of our colors, they can just check here. One of the perks/punishments of being married to a designer is our extensive color palette. While, yes, it would be boring to use the same shade of off-white in all your rooms, sometimes I have found myself wondering “do we really need 17 unique colors in every house we’ve ever lived in?” I can barely coordinate two colors, so I’m always amazed at how Stephanie is able to see how all the colors will relate to each other, even before they’re on the wall. My brain doesn’t work that way, so I just don’t get it. I can recall only twice where she wanted to change a color after getting the room painted…and that’s probably out of at least 40 paint jobs (scarily, we’ve lived in 4 different houses in the last 12 years). Anyway, here’s what we’ve got in this one. By the way, I copied much of this from a reply Stephanie left on another post, so if you want more detail, check here.

Foyer: the red looks much richer in real life than it does in the photo. It’s Sherwin Williams Rembrandt Ruby SW0033. This is probably my favorite color in the entire house. The ceiling is Sherwin Williams Hubbard Squash SW0044.

Living room: walls are Miller Paint Green Acre 8144M (Stephanie chose this one to match the green in the shades on our light fixtures - bungalow greens are usually a little more olive-toned.) Ceiling is Sherwin Williams Hubbard Squash SW0044.

Dining room: Walls are a Miller Paint custom mix (recipe: 05M0470,B - 6,C - 2 x 44, F - 3 x 28,W - 5 X 32, P/G). I have no idea what that all means, but supposedly it results in a pretty cool color. Stephanie says that Miller Sunburst 7845D is pretty similar to this. Ceiling is Sherwin Williams Hubbard Squash SW0044.

Kitchen: Walls are Miller Paint Fog Buoy 8574M. Ceiling was “a very custom mix - we mixed some buttery yellow paint we already had with ceiling white to achieve a creamy color that matched the caramel-swirled art glass in our kitchen light fixtures”

Bathroom: Lowe’s Spongebob Squarepants collection Seaweed. Ceiling is just standard “ceiling white” paint.

Upstairs, main room: Sherwin Williams Pekoe Tea 7673M.

Chloe’s room: Not recommended for anyone other than 4 year old girls! Sherwin Williams Impatient Pink 3854. I never knew the name before looking it up just now, and somehow it seems very appropriate for Chloe!

Luckily the baby held out through another weekend, so I got two more days in on the upstairs. I finished up the caulking of all the trim, got it all primed and even got a first coat of gloss white on some of it. Our friend Jason of the Jasonian Institute even came over to pitch in a few hours of help. That was an unexpected surprise and helped push things forward today. Next Saturday is the baby’s due date, so our borrowed time will likely have to be repaid in full before you see any more updates from us…

After my past experience of working with my dad on painted trim, I find that it now takes me twice as long to get it done. The tradeoff, though, is that it looks at least twice as good. I never used to bother with caulk, and the result was gaps all over the place. Unlike stained trim, which camouflages gaps quite well, white trim appear to have all of these dark lines in it. It can really cheapen all the hard work you put into carefully cutting and installing the trim in the first place. While my dad potentially uses caulk to the point of overkill, working with him on our bathroom wainscoting showed me how good painted trim can look. Caulking ever single visible seam makes it look so much more professional and substantial. While I “wasted” at least an entire day’s worth of time caulking this trim (not to mention the day I spent with the spackle and wood filler), it looks really, really good.