February 2012
18 posts
two home decor pieces born from one vintage mother
henever we’re looking for vintage pieces, we also look to their usefulness on many levels. For instance, how many different ways could this piece be repurposed? Could we make two items from one? In the case of this vintage print we found for $10, it was the latter. Out of one simple framed abstract Georges Rouault print — whose dismal brown frame was in questionable condition —...
little footstool: forlorn no longer
love a cute footstool, and this one was no exception. I found this diminutive traditional footstool for around $7 at a thrift shop and we’ve used it in a staging already. I loved it, but wanted to freshen it for spring, so I decided to paint it coral red and cover it with the same fabric with which I covered a chair last week. Here’s the tale of our forlorn little footstool, looking...
jc penney ikat curtains - who knew?
n a search for curtain panels for a client, we found an alternate source for the stunning ikat ogee curtain panels we’d seen at West Elm. A similar style can be found at — of all places — JC Penney. The best part is that the 84” size is only $35 at JC Penney compared to $74 at West Elm.
The West Elm curtains
The JC Penney version
fresh chair makeover
reshening up a vintage chair is sometimes just a matter of a new coat of paint and bright new fabric upholstery. We loved the lines of this red chair, but we thought it looked a little “grandma,” with its dark red paint and black needlepoint seat cushion.
It was also in a bit of disrepair, so we fixed it with wood filler and a good sanding. Then, all it needed was Rustoleum 2X Cover...
sneak peek of rachel's apartment
achel and I did a little photo shoot project yesterday and got some new shots of corners and pockets of her eclectic Silverlake apartment. Take a peek inside with us. Rachel has painted her living room wall the most delicious shade of peacock blue, and she has a full-wall photo mural of a mountain scene in her bedroom. Look fast because, knowing Rachel, all of this could change at a moment’s...
my afternoon at kate's: a house tour
y dear friend Kate lives in the Pi-Ro (Pico-Robertson) district of LA in a gorgeous Spanish style duplex from the early 20th Century, and she invited me to lunch today. It was a beautiful sunny day and I told her I had to blog about it and give a house tour of her lovely home. Here it is.
The front of her duplex.
She made us a salad with fresh snipped dill.
and she whipped up a mushroom...
from ho-hum to oh-yum!
ittle green tables that have gone unloved for awhile tend to gather at our doorstep. They’re just naturally drawn to our DIY spirit, in hopes that they, too, will one day end up on the blog. Such was the case with this sad (but cute and full of potential) little thrift store find for $8. A little love, some spray paint and a DIY coral stencil later, this table is ready to grace...
it's nautical wednesday
nchored in the reality of needing to create our own unique and low-cost decor, we’re always trying new things. Today, it’s nautically influenced design elements handmade from what we already had on hand (isn’t that what handmade means?). In this case, a couple of trays. One, a simple round bamboo tray from IKEA, which we gave a fresh spin to by painting it in Rustoleum Heirloom...
madison hearts chevron
hevron is a pattern we’ve been loving lately. So, we decided to make a large art piece to use in place of a headboard or on a focal wall. We had a painting we didn’t like so much. But instead of painting over it, we decided to stretch a yard of B&W chevron fabric we found for $11 over the canvas and glue it on the edges with “Sew No More” fabric glue. It worked like a...
DIY gift for our realtor friends
Just made some DIY gifts for realtors that we are hoping to do business with. I was inspired by St. Patrick’s Day and of course our Madison Modern Home green!
I found Mason jars at Michael’s for $1.25 each and filled them with the new coconut M&Ms (yummm!) in green, white and brown. Then I put a business card inside, cut out a piece of paper with our logo for the top of the jar,...
i always say...
today's guest blogger: natalie moore
oday we’re visiting with Natalie Moore, whose studio apartment has been featured on Apartment Therapy and many other design blogs. She made it into the finals as a runner-up in the Small Cool Contest in 2010, and is a design contributor to Madison Modern Home.
The AT House Tour features a close look at Natalie’s DIY space and says: “Natalie has managed to create a glamorous,...
from humble beginnings...
any of the decorative accessories and furniture that we use at Madison Modern Home had very humble beginnings: A dusty table shoved into a dark corner of a thrift shop. A broken chair just needing someone to sand it, paint it, reupholster it and give it love. Some of our favorite finds have been the result of picking through a lot of junk to find the piece that sings to us. Here are a few of our...
love the hollywood regency look?
o you love that Hollywood Regency look? Have you always wondered how decorators achieve it? Here is a room we designed at Madison Modern Home that illustrates some of the basic themes of Hollywood Regency style.
Start with a large modern, simple piece of furniture. In the case of a bedroom, the main focal point is always the bed. If the bed has clean modern lines, it leaves you some latitude to...
another before and after
BEFORE
AFTER
BEFORE
AFTER
BEFORE
AFTER
orking with a client’s existing furniture and accessories is sometimes simply a matter of evaluating what the rooms have too much of… and what they have not enough of.
In this case, we told our client that there were “lights and darks, but no middles,” in terms of color. Lots of high contrast darks against lighter colors. But all the...
a pair o' chairs
airs of chairs are irresistible to us. In fact, we’ve been told that if you can find a pair of matching chairs or lamps in a vintage store, you should buy them. Things are always better in pairs… and much more useful in decorating!
We found these vintage 1980s Thonet cane-back chairs for $8 apiece. Loved the styling. Didn’t love the hunter green vinyl seats (ugh). And we thought...
DIY apothecary terrarium
We had found a tall apothecary jar at a garage sale for $5, and had been wanting to do something interesting with it. A terrarium seemed like a good idea… So, we bought some peat moss, a few houseplants, some dried moss and some coarse small stones. You just layer them like a lasagna… and add plants.
fab vintage and budget finds
We’re always on the lookout for unique items, and here are some of our faves… all found at either thrift or budget sources. Some of these we bought and have used, and some we’re still pining away for.
Can we see a show of hands?
Miscellaneous finds at stores like Ross (a surprisingly design-savvy selection)
A cute set of vintage recipe boxes.
John Derian melamine...
January 2012
9 posts
one room. one afternoon. one makeover
ecently did an afternoon makeover in one room of a friend’s house. She lives in a sweet Craftsman style home with loads of charm, and she has a lot of cool vintage pieces. She just needed someone to help her pull it all together to create a comfortable guest bedroom. We accomplished just that — in one afternoon, and using just what she already had in her home. We didn’t bring...
by the numbers
t’s a numbers game when it comes to freshening up home decor. From time to time, I like to paint and re-tool some of the accessories we use in home stagings and interior design projects. Numbers are popping up everywhere right now, so I decided to add a few numerical details to some vases, bowls and plates. I started by painting some of them, some I left natural wood. Then, using a simple...
found: vintage ikat plates
Found these graphic B&W vintage English Ikat plates at a thrift store today. They’ll be perfect for a plate wall we’re creating for a client. They’re made by Ringwood Ware, Wood & Sons, England and the pattern is called “Ebonette.” I’m in love.
before and after gallery
Click here to see our Gallery of Before and Afters
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we've been featured on betterafter.com!
We’re so excited to have been featured on one of the most popular Before and After DIY websites, betterafter.com. Its founder, Lindsey, has featured several of our room and furniture makeovers.
Search “Madison Modern Home” to find her posts about us.
Click here to go to Better After’s website
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for sale: a vintage demijohn
Genuine antique demijohn wine bottle with wicker basket wrapping. Large, measures 20” x 11”. $98. Click here to see all our items for sale
touring a california modernist classic
n a stunning Los Angeles winter evening recently, J and I toured a modern icon - Case Study House #22, designed by Pierre Koenig and built in the 1950s onto a Hollywood Hills cliffside lot. This spectacular glass box has been celebrated in photographs by the legendary architectural photographer Julius Shulman, below.
Our tour took place at 4:30 in the evening, just as the sun was starting to...
December 2011
2 posts
french macarons from scratch
rench macarons are not easy to make. Just ask us. OK, but we made one perfect batch (see pic). After visiting several macaron trouble shooting blogs (yes, there are many), we discovered the reasons behind some of the issues we experienced (e.g., cracked tops, etc.) But we enjoyed getting the green color matched to our business cards, and, of course, eating the spoiled ones. We heard that even...
creating casual california coastal
apturing casual California coastal style in a living room is more than just an exercise in alliteration (although I couldn’t resist). It’s all about “getting it right” with the colors of sand, sea, foam and sky - while avoiding cliches (like lighthouses).
Madison Modern Home had a lot of fun making over this living room, and taking it from blahhhh to spahhhh… All...
November 2011
3 posts
designing a living room around a piano
love a challenge… And this room design project was nothing if not a challenge: Our client had inherited a baby grand piano and it was inhabiting a corner of his living room. But with its Victorian carved wood detail, it didn’t tie into anything else he owned, which was mostly a modern mix of furniture and accessories. The piano was, in short, the proverbial elephant in the room. The...
and now for something completely different
e love a cute traditional house with good bones. And we had the opportunity recently at Madison Modern Home to stage a home that had all of that… and was cute, cozy and charming at the same time. The only problem: it was also empty. So the owner asked us to warm it up with our signature mix of traditional and modern. Here are the results, told in a before and after sequence…
...
staging an architectural spanish style home
very now and then we at Madison Modern Home get to stage a property that we feel we could pretty much move into right away. That was the case with a staging we recently did in Highland Park.
The 2,000 square foot new-construction home offered many staging opportunities with its elegant Spanish architecture and grand sweeping staircase. We were inspired to reach into Moorish design to play off...
October 2011
6 posts
from motley menagerie to smart set
Found these animal figurines at a thrift store and I thought they could use some unifying to become a sophisticated set. White spray paint (or magic in a can, I call it) made all the difference.
$12 chair makeover: before and after
behold the before and after
vintage footstool - before and after
otta love before and afters. Here’s another one. I found a small footstool at a thrift shop and loved the overall shape of it. But the fabric left a lot to be desired. So I found some fresh green zebra print fabric and covered the top. It’s just that simple. Staple gun. Fabric. Phillips screwdriver. Patience.
making vintage book bundles
intage book bundles are about the easiest, quickest way to create instant charm on a budget. These cute book bundles were made for a total of $2.50 for all three. Pottery Barn sells bundles like these for $39 (see third photo). The big difference between ours and theirs? They glue their pages together. But why bother, when no one’s going to un-bundle them anyway? I also noticed that their...
what a difference a day makes
t’s amazing what can be done in a day when it absolutely has to be done! We got a call day before yesterday from a real estate agent to stage a Studio City home on very short notice — less than 24 hours, to be exact. What followed was a whirlwind of activity: choosing which furniture and accessories to bring to a home we needed to stage the next day, and making sure it was all packed...
before and after: a tale of three chairs
ery happy to relate our latest makeover story, which we call a tale of three chairs. A family member gave us these chairs for which they paid about $2.50, knowing we could rehabilitate them and return them to society, clean and sober. They suffered from neglect, a sad dark brown paint job and unfortunate brown velvet cushions.
A couple of cans of antique white spray paint and some black and white...
September 2011
4 posts
beachy modern condo staging
am loving our latest Madison Modern Home staging — a Marina del Rey Peninsula condo just steps from Venice Beach. We staged it in a mod beachy way, without being “themey:” An overall color scheme of neutral sand tones with muted aqua accents, shells in glass jars, a rope knot accent, small nautical touches like a round mirror resembling a ship’s wheel, a shell-white dining...
repurposing picture frames into chalkboards
great way to make creative use of a vintage print you find in a thrift shop is to re-purpose it into a framed chalkboard.
It’s so easy and takes just a few steps. Purchase a print with wire hanging hardware on the back and a chipboard backing secured with brads or framing points that can be easily pushed aside.
Carefully remove the print and chipboard backing (you can save the print to...
from a little bit vegas to mucho elegant spanish...
ecently refurbished a small round glass-top table that I found for $20 at a thrift shop. It started out with a dark bronzey-gold wrought iron base and the glass was filthy. It looked a little “Vegas-y,” but I wanted to use it in a Spanish style home staging we were doing, so I painted the base with semi-gloss black spray paint and cleaned up the glass. It ended up fitting into our...
our latest staging - sunshine terrace in studio...
appy to share with you our latest staging project — a super chic family home in Studio City. Located just above Ventura Blvd. on Sunshine Terrace, this two-bedroom, two-bath, 1,300 square foot home has “Modern Family” written all over it. In fact, the TV show Modern Family was the inspiration for our design. That, and a Picasso print with the most lovely shades of red, deep blue...
August 2011
5 posts
Madison Modern Home. More Style Per Square Foot
Home Staging Sells Homes Faster
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It’s a fact. A staged home sells faster. And for more money. Madison Modern Home specializes in home staging and interior design for clients who want stylish and affordable design — whether you’re…
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from shabby chic to shab fab
epurposing furniture, lamps and home decor is a great way to be environmentally conscious. So, next time you see a shabby, beat up table on the side of the road or spy a curvy lamp at a thrift store that’s just screaming out to be chartreuse, take it home and give it new life. The vanity table/desk was a $12 find, and all I had to do was spiff up the drawers with a coat of gray paint and...
west hollywood condo remodel
ow, at last, we present the West Hollywood condo on Westmount Drive that Jerry has been remodeling (with my and Rachel’s help). I’m including the before pix as well, so you can see what we started with. Every single surface in this place has been redone, from top to bottom. Then I staged it. We went for a shagadelic feel, kind of a beatnik beach pad. It was fun, and we’re pretty...
before and after - wilshire boulevard condo...
ery excited about our latest staging project — a high-rise condo in L.A.’s famous Wilshire Corridor, home to many upscale condos and apartments. We staged this corner unit in the prestigious Wilshire Thayer Building in a European style, befitting its clientele. It reminded us of a Parisian hotel suite, so we went with that vibe. Oh yeah, and round-back, white leather Louis-style dining...
July 2011
3 posts
studio city staging photos - at last!
We have been waiting a long time for these photos… and here they are, at last! Our Studio City staging project has been photographed professionally and we’re so proud of our staging work on this project that we couldn’t wait to show everyone. We’ve been inundated with staging jobs lately (another Studio City property, one in North Hollywood and a high-rise condo on the...
staging a california spanish home
uper excited about our latest staging project - an adorable 1929 California Spanish home that just “spoke” to us! It’s at 2809 North Coolidge Ave. in the Elysian Park neighborhood of L.A., right next to Atwater and Silverlake. Open House is Sunday, July 24, from 1-4 pm. Don’t miss it - this fully remodeled cutie will go fast at $389,000!
Our staging skills were put to...
sneak peek at our latest staging project
ou may have been wondering what’s up with us lately. Well, we’ve been very busy staging homes. While we’re waiting for our professional photos and video to be completed, we thought we’d post a few sneak peek photos of our latest project - a beautiful home in Studio City that sold for $25,000 over the asking price after just three days on the market.