House Beautiful: My Own Home Tour - I

This is my first post of a series on homes my husband and I have shared over the years. We lived in lovely apartments in beautiful cities. Whatever furniture we had, always worked for us and the space. Throughout our transition, one thing in common was our determination to buy everything pre-loved.

This was our first apartment just after I moved out of my Grad school.  It was a 700 square feet one bedroom apartment with a small patio, and ample light and ventilation. We made a cozy eclectic looking place for ourselves on a shoe string budget :). We, however, did not stop exploring the city for our kind of furniture.

Loved the wonderful morning sun in the apartment 

A Re-purposed Green patch in the small patio

A simple DIY bird feeder very organic and sleek

My first bentwood

I went rocker crazy for a while and bought a Rex Rocker

 First MCM find, a slat bench :)

I bought this patio furniture which moved all the way to India now.

It was in this house that I started my blog. The entryway picture which later became my blog header.

we made some wonderful memories in this apartment before we moved to another one bed one bath

Clean line pencil legged furniture, geometric shapes appealed to me even before I knew the era and design timeline these design styles belonged to. Most homes in India got such furniture custom made by local carpenters and were inspired by what was seen in movies. (Do check out my series on art direction in Movies - Movies, Masti and Magic). It was only a blessing when I moved to Graduate School and was exposed to the whole array of garage sale finds, flea market and charity store treasures. The next few posts would be a peek into my living spaces over the last few years. So stay tuned :)

Hello :)

Hello everyone!
My sincere apologies for being away for quite a while now. Been sick and recovering. I had promised myself to be regular with the blogs, and I haven't been able to :-(. 2012 has just begun and its never late :). A huge thanks to all you lovely people for being so patient and sending in your love.

In the two and a half or so years of DE's existence, I grew as a design researcher and vintage lover. Met so many wonderful people and each one of you has a special place in my heart. I wonder how at ease I am with people I never met in person. Blogland is amazing!! Each one of you is precious and your comments make me smile. I sincerely look forward to opening my email each day for more love from you all. Design Enthusiast (DE) being a research centric, vintage loving blog, its ever growing friends circle is a definite morale booster.

Thanks for all the love!!

Plans for 2012

Looking forward to showcase many more artists, visit and profile beautiful stores, share a lots more vintage love. Also, we shall continue our tour of lovely homes, document many more amazing antiques and find stuff on fridays :). Design Enthusiat also hopes to have more guests over with their lovely thoughts and design/decor ideas. Fingers crossed! :-) All I need is a little prayer and lots of love to keep going

Wishing Peace and happiness for all

PS: I hope to click more pics and share my tiny apartment with all you lovely people. I have been delaying sending my pics to other lovely blogs. I promised myself to do that this year.. :)

Vintage Love ~ Danish Bookcase /bookshelf

Lack of space, else this beauty would have been in my house right now!!

source:craigslist

unmarked, but so well made!..I fell  in love with those legs :P

House Beautiful ~ At Home with Marcy

I am back with another very beautiful home from San Fernando valley, LA, California.


Marcy, a very inspiring blogger, calls herself an admitted addict; to all things vintage, with a super soft spot for mid century modern. She says, she cannot resist thrift store, estate sale or flea market, neither can I..:-). Marcy loves and appreciates old wares and always saves vintage furniture. 


She lives in a 1950's, 1600 sq feet - 3 bedrooms, 3 baths, and a pool. Lets start our tour with the Welcoming Exterior...

Planters picked up at estate sales  

A beautiful set of 50's metal chairs with wonderful back detail. She stripped and painted them and added new upholstery..


Another pair of pretty chairs ...

And now lets move on to the pool side, shall we!!  

Moving indoors ~~ Living Area ~ can't stop admiring the wood panels on the ceiling, and the fireplace.. The house went through a few renovations.  It was not original 50's fabulous when they bought it, but had a few 70's updates.  The previous owner had put up a popcorn ceiling and Marcy tore down the popcorn ceiling to reveal the original wood on the ceiling.

I LOVE her furniture pieces, all so carefully chosen and well put together...:)

and now to the other part of the living room

I am in love ~ with that wall sculpture, that super cool day bed, the slipper chair and the teak lamp!!! oh my I could go on...

Dresser close up!! Dont you love the dresser and its presence in the family/living area

The dining area folks ~ Love the dining set and the hutch... :-)

And then the bedroom :-) ~~   so calm and serene....I love the little birdie decal 

Before you can gulp in all the homeyness in this house, wait to be swept off your feet ~  her amazing kitchen

I could cook and eat in here...all day :)

A delicious tour isn't it. I am still waiting for all the goodness to sink in :-)......


Marcy says "My choice of home would be the quintessential 1960's mid century modern minimalist with beamed ceilings, wide open spaces and floor to ceiling windows. Hopefully our next home is just that!"  


I wish her all the best and hoping that her wish for her dream home comes true. Thank you Marcy for sharing your beautiful home on the Design Enthusiast. 


Pictures copyright: Marcy of Rhan Vintage - the blog and the etsy store : Please do not use /copy with out permission

House Beautiful ~ At Home with Dana

As promised, I am back with a home tour. Starting the series with a peek into Dana's beautiful mid century home. Infact, Dana is the one who suggested the title for this series. 

She is my Research guru and has an amazing blog which is my go to guide for everything mid century. She is a mini celebrity :-) (her home was featured on HGTV's rate my space). I always knew this was the house I needed to start my home tour series with. 


Thank you Dana, for the pictures and a wonderful write up. And now, over to Dana.....

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I’ve been reading Sudha’s beautiful blog, The Design Enthusiast, for quite some time now, so I was honored when she told me she wanted to do a home tour series and would like to start with my home.

I live in a mid-century ranch style home which was built in 1950. It is very small…only 1200 square feet…but it’s the perfect size for me and my two sidekicks Mister Ming (a Shih Tzu) and Isadora (an Italian greyhound better known as Izzy).

My 1950 ranch style house in Fort Worth, TX

Ming and Izzy

Bright colors greet you as soon as you walk into my entry. The varying shades of red, orange, green and turquoise are used in some combination in all the rooms of my home. The art is a large Miro print and two smaller Brian Andreas StoryPeople prints. I’m in the middle of a DIY upholstery project on a “new” vintage bench which will soon be where you see the leaning shelf. 

Small entry hall sets the tone

  

My living room is a long, narrow space with French doors at one end and a small alcove at the other. One wall is lined with the original built-in shelves. The hardwood floors are also original to the structure, but the slate tile in the alcove, which also extends into the dining room and kitchen, was added by the previous owner. The alcove, along with the master bedroom and the dining room which all extend across the front of the house, have ceiling-to-floor windows with wood blinds. My living room is decorated with mid-century modern furniture I found on Craigslist, at estate sales or at auction. 

Living room furniture is all vintage, except for my one concession to pure comfort, an Ekornes chair

Alcove with Carter Brothers scoop chair, Jens Risom credenza, which holds Kosta Boda and Blenko glass

Original built-ins which contain Haeger pottery and vintage pewter

My dining room furniture is a Drexel Profile set that I found on Craigslist a few years ago at an unbelievable steal of a price. The china cabinet houses my collection of Russel Wright Iroquois Casual.

Drexel Profile and Russel Wright china

Corner cabinet with more Russel Wright, as well as a collection of Harvest Time by Ben Seibel

I was born in 1948, so I am a "genuine" mid-century gal, and it only seemed appropriate that I use turquoise, the signature color of the 1950s that my grandmother loved so much. The room developed around a vintage bedroom set that I found on craigslist, and it soon took on a life of its own with a 21st century twist to the turquoise color scheme. 

Crate and Barrel bed and bedding with vintage bedside tables and chest

Vintage saucer chair

My second bedroom is a TV room for me and playroom for my grandsons. The closet hides toys, play mat and bouncer when they’re not visiting.

Yes, more vintage furniture...but I made the barkcloth pillows

The bathroom was already “updated” when I moved in. I would have loved to find it in original 50s condition, but the previous owners had opted for more of a spa look. 

The spa look isn't quite my style, but the previous owners did a nice job.

The previous owners installed stainless steel appliances, stainless steel countertops and slate flooring in the kitchen, but I’m planning a redo in the near future, so I won't show it yet. Maybe that will get me invited back to do another guest post on The Design Enthusiast.

Thanks again for the invitation, Sudha. I hope your readers enjoyed the tour of my house as much as I enjoyed sharing it.

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So folks,you see why I started the feature with her home right!! I strongly recommend Dana's blog and store for further design inspirations. Can't thank her enough for the wonderful post. Watch this space for a guest post from this wonderful lady and my major source of inspiration. You can leave comments and questions for Dana.

Pictures courtesy: Dana

Sunday Special ~ Introducing Home Tours

Home tours are my favorite, be it on any website, TV show or on the blogland. For me, sneak peeks are a wonderful means

• To get some amazing decorating ideas
• Decide on what works or does not work for me (without a trip to the store)
• Visualize my dream home, or
• Just feel pleased to have seen a well put together space

People all over the world share their love for their home. It would not be an understatement to repeat the saying - "Home is where the Heart is!!".  I feature amazing kitchen tours on my food blog and now extend this pleasure onto my design blog as well. 

Having said all that, let me introduce the new series on the Design Enthusiast - Home Tours and Sneak Peeks. ~ At home with **** :-). *** to be filled with the home owner's name.


Beginning this Sunday, I was all set to share some fascinating vignette and corners of wonderful homes. However, my health issues kept me from doing it. So please watch this space for a wonderful home tour. I appreciate your patience. Before I leave, here is a preview :)

Ruba Designs ~ Green Design

Post on the Green Crusader

Ruba designs >> over my Post on the Green Crusader

Brass love!

One from our collection....

How about a kitchen tour ~ Heart(h) and Home

Its been a while since I updated my food blog. What could be better than refreshing the archives with an inspiring kitchen tour. So hop over to Avial and Rasam, (my food blog) to devour this eye candy...yum!

Here is the link to see more.. Do leave a comment..I am sure you will love it as much as I did :-)