Velvet & Linen

pools

I am sure all of you (especially you Aussies) are thinking about a swim on this lovely February day. I thought you might enjoy these pools that we have designed. Feel free to take a dip.

How about a swim over looking the Pacific Ocean? Our client's two boys and their friends love jumping off the wall through the fountain streams.

I'll hang out on the patio while the kids play in the pool, or maybe by the fire pit!

Will you join me for a snack?

If you join us at this client's pool we can spend some time in her lovely pool house by the fire (it is a little chilly this time of year!).

We can either look at this view from the pool house or jump in the pool and swim in the man-made grotto.

How do you feel about relaxing by the pool over-looking the country club and onto the ocean.

If it gets too hot by the pool, we can sit here.

If Mediterranean homes are more your style, come sit by this pool Steve designed for this Wallace Neff beauty.

  

We can stay warm in the jacuzzi.

You can step out of your room and take a dip in this pool outside your guest room door.

If you like a more traditional style home, this is the pool for you.

Or you can stay in this guest house and take a dip in the pool near the beach.

What about a rinse in this pool to get all of the salt and sand off you after a day at the beach.

Of course, you can always join our family for a swim at our pool.

How do you feel about a swim over looking the city of Los Angeles?

All pools designed by Giannetti Architecture and Interiors.

xo

Brooke

our home

Several of you have asked to see the inside of our home. Although I have done several posts about parts of our home, I have never given you a tour in a single post. So here it is...

The stacked cement pillars as well as the pathway are made up of the broken concrete pieces that once were our old driveway. I found the vintage gate and the pair of urns at a the Santa Monica Flea Market.

Our little green dutch door allows us to open the door without losing our pups.

It also works well on Halloween!

Welcome to my home! It is a casual place. We built it 7 years ago, but Steve and I wanted it to feel like an old beach cottage. 

We incorporated many vintage architectural pieces in the design including these old columns and the blue corbels. Everyone in the family has their own "locker" for their stuff by the front door.

There are actually 3 of these Murano glass ceiling fixtures that illuminate the downstairs. I found them on 1st dibs when Michael Bruno first started his wonderful site. We have no recessed ceiling lights, so our whole home is lit with ceiling fixtures, wall sconces and table lamps.

The living room is in the front of our house. It used to be all white, but I wanted it to feel cozier. I warmed up the space by putting grass cloth on the walls and painting the back of the bookshelves Vert de Terre by Farrow and Ball. The color matches the green stripes in my Bennison drapery fabric. The bound sisal carpet  with a small hook rug on top also added warmth and texture. 

Here is a close up of my Bennison pillows. I found the painting on the wall at a flea market. I just love her.  I have several English bamboo pieces in my home, like this book book case. 

Behind the living room is my dining room. 

Here is the another view of the dining room. As you can see, our home has a very open floor plan. It works well for a home this size and makes our home feel nice and airy.  

The big mirror on the wall was once a church window, and the ornate corbel came from an old home in New Orleans. I found both elements at a flea market when we were building our home.

My kitchen is behind my dining room. We lit the kitchen with school house fixtures and old holophane pendant lights. The ceiling is covered with tin ceiling tiles painted white. Windows behind the cabinets allow the light to illuminate my pink depression glass. Cups and plates are displayed on open shelves.

The counter tops are honed Carerra marble, and the backsplash is white subway tiles.

We paneled the refrigerator and used a Victorian screen door for the pantry.

The island is painted a light green and has a butcher block top. We inset Carerra marble around the island sink to keep the wood away from the water. 

My little desk is to the left, but it's always so messy that it never gets into the pictures!

We used all green glass knobs and pulls on the cabinets.

I love my little skirted farmhouse sink.

Across from the kitchen is our family room. My globe collection sits above the TV.

My 1920'a carnival chalk dog collection found a home in the shelves by the window. 

A little computer desk sits in a nook to the right of the TV.

The window seat to the left lifts up for game storage.

 

This enclosed garden room used to be my back porch.  We added all of the windows about a year after we built our home when we realized it was too chilly to eat outside most of the time. The farm table is huge and allows the kids to have tons of friends over for dinner.

This cozy seating area is at the other end of the garden room. It is a great place to sit and watch the kids in the pool or just read a book. I keep dreaming of putting  a little desk in here. I would love to work and look out into the garden.

In case you were curious, this is what the back of my home looked like before we enclosed the porch.

Time to go upstairs...

I recently did a post about my wallpapered  laundry room, but I will include a couple of images here as well since it sits at the top of the stairs behind a pair of french doors with frosted glass.

Like the kitchen, the counter top is Carerra marble and the backsplash is white subway tiles. All of our faucets in the entire house are from Newport Brass.

For Leila, Steve designed a little bed nook with shelves for her books and stuffed animals. We found some corbels to put in the openings.  I bought the lighting on E-bay. We used lined match stick blinds in all of the kids' rooms.

Leila's bathroom was in the wallpaper post as well, but it is too cute not to include in the tour.

Sorry, the boys' rooms were too messy for photos....

My bedroom is my favorite room in the house. It really does feel as if you are up in a treehouse. I found all of the rugs at flea markets, and all of the chandeliers were either purchased at t flea market or on Ebay. It was a wonderful way to furnish my home, but an impossible way to furnish anyone else's home. Because Steve and I are early risers, I was able to use unlined white linen to cover all of the windows. 

I found the mantle on Ebay as well (again, something I could never do for a client).

The doors lead out to a small balcony.

My pretty little antique vanity sits on this side of my bedroom. The wall is covered with Steve's beautiful drawings.

Thank you for stopping by!

xo

Brooke

 

a lovely living room

I am at the final stage of designing a client's living room. This project has developed over time. We waited until all of the furniture was selected before deciding what to do for draperies. I thought I would share some pictures with you of how the room looks now and what elements we are deciding to add.

No, this isn't what it looks like now! This is what it looked like before I got my hands on it. Ms. J has two boys, and her living room was being used as a game room. She finally decided that it was time to move all the foosball and pocket hockey tables out to the garage.

Yes, this is the "after" picture taken at a similar angle.  We chose a comfy couch from Brenda Antin and upholstered it in a cream linen.  A chandelier will hang replace the center can light and hang over the main seating area.

This pillow is covered in my favorite Robert Kime fabric and a Claremont onion fringe.

The stripe is  from Claremont. We added a little texture by using pink velvet (left over from her benches) on the little round pillows and a crochet throw from Anthropologie.

Here is a closer image of her Swedish benches. Usually we keep Swedish pieces upholstered in cream linen, but I think they look fantastic in pink silk velvet!

We found a pretty gray Samuel and Son gimp to use as trim to hide the fabric's rough edges. It was quite a challenge to find just the right trim!

Her ebony and cane chairs are upholstered in a Robert Kime floral and a Bennison stripe with a flat welt detail. I love the subtle chinoiserie feel of these chairs.

Ms. J's ebony oval coffee table is also from Fainting Couch. It adds some curves to the room.

The vintage hook rug was a great flea market find. It pulls all of the colors in the room together.

Another "before" picture. 

We put this pretty Swedish table and chairs in the corner. We plan to hang a small chandelier over it. 

We used the same sweet Robert Kime bird fabric on these gorgeous chairs. 

We installed Madagascar grass cloth on the three unpaneled walls to give them some texture. The Swedish cabinet serves as a bar. We are planning on hanging draperies in a Swedish blue gray striae fabric on antique brass rods.

On the mantle sits a vintage mirror and sweet antique lights found at an antique collective.

I promise to post more images of this room once the draperies are up and the chandeliers are installed.

Happy Sunday.

xo

Brooke

a valentine

When I was 21 years old, I was a student at UCLA here in Los Angeles.  I was an English major, and I thought I had my life figured out.  I was certain that I would take the LSAT, apply to law school and become a lawyer. Then I met Steve.

My friend, Sherry and I went to the Cheese Cake Factory in Marina del Rey before we went to a party at her boyfriend's home. As we were being seated at our table by the water, I noticed an adorable man sitting with two women, who were obviously twins.

He wore these round glasses, and as Sherry and I walked by, he gave me an irresistible smile. 

This man and I smiled at each other for the next half hour. It felt like we were having a conversation with each other without ever speaking a word. When it came time for Sherry and I to leave, I walked by his table and we both said good bye. Sherry and I got into my white convertible VW Rabbit and left the parking lot, but something was wrong. I told Sherry that I needed to go back. I went back into the restaurant and introduced myself. He said that his name was Steve and that he was with his twin sisters who were in town from Maryland. I asked him out and he called me the next night to plan a date for the following weekend.

Steve picked me up at my parents' house, where I still lived, and we  spent 11 hours with each other. It was as if I had found the other half of myself.

We were married a year later and have been living a dream every since.

Happy Valentine's day my dear Steve. Thank you for being my partner in this crazy ride of a life.

xo

Brooke