March 2012
7 posts
kitchen recession remodel
“Recession Remodel” was just the ticket for this homeowner who wanted to rent her condo, but didn’t have the funds for a full-on remodel.
We oversaw the work — doing most of it ourselves and then a little subcontracting for the tile work and carpet install. Here’s a quick recap of what we did for this kitchen: New paint on walls and cabinets, new flooring (which...
February 2012
19 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...