Renovation Update 5: Living Area

Our living area has been sort of in flux since we moved in almost two years ago.  Even though it was probably the room that needed the least amount of renovation, several pieces of furniture needed to be reupholstered and we didn't get around to having the last two finished till this past December.  At this point, I'm considering the living area "done"...which in home renovation terms probably just means "for now."

Here is the space today, viewed from the adjacent dining area (blogged about here):

The MLS photos of the living area were probably what drew me to want to check out the house most.  I fell in love with the angled brick accent wall and the huge picture windows before I even saw them in person.

We weren't crazy about the green wall, the black ceiling, nor the funky light fixtures.  This is a picture I snapped shortly after we took ownership, and moved a couple of pieces into the space:

CT's mom painted several coats of clean, bright white over the green and black surfaces, and CT and his dad replaced the two awkward lights with a pair of ceiling fans - a must in this space in the summer when the sun is shining in through the large windows.

We also sprayed a flat black over the brass fireplace surround for a more modern look, and CT built a new white mantle to replace the clunky one that was falling loose.

Here's the fireplace right before painting (clearly we had a professional set-up going on):

And after painting and mantle installation:

I picked up five of these turquoise candle holders at a West Bottoms thrift store one weekend and they found their place anchoring family pictures on either side of the mantle:

The woodcut print centered on the mantle was made by Montana artist Gennie DeWeese, for whom CT was a studio assistant when he lived in Bozeman, MT during his grad school years.  She also painted the beautiful abstraction in our dining area.  The "t" was purchased at a River Market antique store.

The one new piece of furniture in the room is our couch, which we bought at a local furniture mart.  While the legs are decidedly not MCM, we felt the curved armrests had a vintage vibe and with the addition of the matching ottoman, the couch has plenty of space for both CT and I to lounge comfortably.  We decided to use the couch as a separation between the dining/living areas and shortly after I bought a funky Mid-Century sewing table which I found on our local Craigslist to use as a console table behind it.

Our round coffee table was thrifted in the West Bottoms for $45 and our geometric rug was purchased at West Elm.  My favorite piece in the room, hands-down, is our gorgeous walnut credenza with tambour doors that I found on Craigslist.  Not only is it my favorite piece of furniture in our home, it's also the one I travelled the farthest to pick up.  I drove a total of six hours one Saturday with my parents to Wichita, Kansas to buy it.  Truth be told, I didn't actually know how far away Wichita was from KC when I called to inquire about it, but regardless, I gladly made the road trip and can't imagine anything looking better.

As I've mentioned in previous posts, while I don't claim to have the greenest of thumbs, I do enjoy having plants in the house, so to the left of the credenza is a snake plant in a woven basket I purchased at Urban Mining here in KC.  To the right is a dracaena that is planted in a ceramic bowl made by our undergraduate ceramics professor.  It sits on a refurbished hairpin leg stand I bought in sad condition at a junk store near my hometown.  The lidded ceramic vessel was made by the one and only CT.

We found the armchair in the West Bottoms one weekend and had it reupholstered with West Elm fabric.  The throw pillow is also from West Elm.  The magazine holder was found in the River Market.

Here is a before of the armchair, and a swatch of the fabric in which it was previously upholstered.  CT stripped the legs (which we believe to be rosewood) of their dark stain before reupholstery:

Finally, against the previously green wall (which would have worked well with the armchair pictured above in it's original state, no?), sit our matching pair of Mid-Century lounge chairs (found on Craigslist), which are the most recently reupholstered in a gray tweed fabric from West Elm.  The chair cushions were originally a groovy 70s plaid that also would have matched the green wall, had we chosen to leave them as is:

The chairs in their current state are pictured below.  The lumbar pillows are from, where else, West Elm.  In between is a large side table purchased in the West Bottoms.  The simple lamp (and it's taller sister, that sits by the couch) were two of the only things we moved over from our previous apartment. 

We love how cozy our living area has become.  It is definitely the space in the house where we spend the most time.  Hope you enjoyed the tour!

KC MCM For Sale - 123 NW Greentree Lane

One of the things that really sealed the deal when we were considering buying our home is the surrounding neighborhood.  Our neighbors are great, it's a quick drive to downtown Kansas City, a quick walk to beautiful parks and trails, and there are a handful of Mid-Century Modern gems scattered throughout.  On a walk this past Sunday, CT and I noticed that one such house - really more of a diamond-in-the-rough than a "gem", per se - is going up for auction soon.

It's two houses down from the first house we toured in this area (blogged about here).  That house ended up selling at auction as well, then unfortunately was flipped to entice a generic buyer.  We are hoping for a different fate for 123, and we're trying to get the word out to fellow MCM enthusiasts in the area that could restore the home to it's former glory.

123 was designed and custom-built by it's only owner since 1958. It's very large (around 3,000 sq.ft.) with 3 bedrooms, 2.5 baths and 3 living spaces. The basement walks out to a large patio surrounded by green space.  Admittedly, it needs A LOT of work...but with an opening bid price of only 15k, there would be room in a budget for a thoughtful and significant restoration.

The MLS photos aren't great, but they give an idea of this house's potential: 

Renovation Update 2: Exterior Progress (Back)

The backyard still has a long way to go, but as of August 2015, we have continued to learn more about pool maintenance, and have really been enjoying the fruits of our Caleb's labor.

Backyard, Summer 2014, post pool maintenance, pre-paint:

Backyard, Summer 2015, after painting and removing the half-dead crabapple tree that once took up space to the right of the pool:

We love how the gray blends with the brick, rather that popping out against it, as the bright white did before.  We have gotten so many compliments on the bold blue accent, even though there were some skeptics when we first unveiled the color.

I tested out my green thumb by planting some hostas around the lower patio area last summer.  They came back this spring and have been big and beautiful despite the horrible clay soil that is prevalent in our area.

Sitting up on the deck is one of our favorite things to do when the weather is nice, because it's like being up in a tree house.  We scored a vintage wrought iron patio set on Craigslist that we have used more than our dining room set inside the house.

A beautiful impatiens plant from one of my students has doubled in size since planting it in an old ceramic casserole dish CT made in college:

A dear friend brought us this amazing planter brimming with succulents on the 4th of July.  It has been such a cool addition to our deck this summer!

Renovation Update 1: Exterior Progress

Being a very handy guy, CT planned on doing most of the renovating himself, with the help of his parents.  They began by taking on the removal of the bushes that blocked the windows to the left of the door and the glass block on the right, as well as a dead dogwood.

One thing that CT, nor his parents, wanted to tackle was painting the exterior of the house.  We chose the colors (two sleek shades of gray to cover the previously white trim, with an accent of modern blue) and let the professionals get to work.  We love how the blue pops against the brick.

We also changed out the giant colonial-style light fixture for a modern globe sconce from West Elm:

One of the most exciting projects we tackled was cleaning the pool in our backyard.  First that meant raking and bagging years of leaves that hadn't been cleared away by the previous owner.  After removing the tarp, a local pool company suggested dumping chemicals into the mess to see if we could shock and filter the water so that it would be fit for humans rather than the toads and mosquitos that had been calling it home.

Eventually, we realized draining, scrubbing, and refilling would be the only way to start enjoying the backyard oasis of our dreams.

We then cleaned up the little cabana next to the pool, and painted the adirondack chairs we had moved from our apartment patio the accent blue we had used on the house.

Moving: June 2014

We officially moved out of our apartment in the Southmoreland neighborhood of KC the last weekend in May, 2014.  It was a beautiful space with original 1920s charm, and it was full of great memories from the four years we lived there.

We opted to sell most of the furnishings we had owned since we moved in together in 2008 in order to purchase period-appropriate items for our new home.  The nice thing about selling our old furniture is that it meant much less to move, though it still took us several days to haul everything north.