Kelley & Malcolm McDowell's Ojai Hacienda

This wonderful home was featured in House Beautiful a few months ago and I have to say I thought it was a great renovation  

Kelley and her actor husband Malcolm McDowell live here (some of the time) with their three little boys.  I see them around town a lot and the next time I see Kelley....If I have the guts...I want to tell her how much I love her Ojai home!

It is a 1920s ranch house and somewhat small at 2800 square feet. 

 I believe it was originally designed by architect Austin Pierpont...but I might be wrong about that.  

What I really enjoy about this house is the calm and casual look that it has but it's also really quirky and unique.  Kelley and Malcolm McDowell are avid collectors of folk art and have had their LA home featured in Architectural Digest here.

I am now thinking about how I can use some red leather chairs somewhere...so interesting and sort of art deco maybe?

It's very old California. Nestled in the middle of a large orange orchard on the East end of the Ojai valley.  The temperatures can be much hotter there for some reason, than where we are at in the old Arbolada area.

She really did such a wonderful job combining all sorts of different fabric types and textures. The Native American rugs are a perfect fit. 

The rocks all came from the property and I can vouch for the fact that if you put a shovel in the ground here, you will hit a rock.  We built our entire front wall almost entirely with rocks from the excavation during our landscaping project last summer.  It's 280 feet long!

There is something in the brightness of the sun, the Oaks and the orchards in Ojai that allows for big colors..... And  she used a Benjamin Moore primer for all of the white painted interiors, which I think is a great idea...it's a super white ...white!

The floors are a reclaimed wood with a pickled stain and they really make the rooms 

The kitchen is really open and airy and I love the concrete counters.  The chandelier looks almost French inspired but I love it here  

Blow the bathroom with Ojai river rock floors and a unique metal shower door

Love that chandelier too

Pottery Barn did a photo shoot at this house a few months back and if you browse through the current catalog you can see glimpses of the house re-styled with PB stuff

Her use of Kilims, suzannis, old Mexican pottery and just plain good crusty painted antiques against the white back drop is so refreshing.

Kelley McDowell is my new muse for my little rancher in Ojai

I will keep you updated on my progress... : )

have a wonderful weekend

~kelley~

Ofiice design

I was going through a bunch of old photos in my portfolio and came across these.

  

This is an office I did for a client back in 2000....10 years ago!

The building was one of those old concrete, tilt up, ugly things with drop in ceilings and flat grey carpet.

Oh...but...yes

such potential!!!

Enter into a 1950's era office circa 2000:

I remember finding all of this old metal furniture at a store in Costa Mesa, CA, just a stones throw from the office.

 We had all of the furniture stripped down to the bare metal and then sprayed with a clear coat to prevent any rust or corrosion.  

The chairs, which if I remember correctly, were actually new/reproductions.

 I did them in black vinyl and the seats in a wild lime green  poly/ wool fabric. 

 I know it sounds weird, right, but what a fun pop of color,

 in an otherwise horribly drab office space.

The now famous Aeron chair, designed by Herman Miller, had just made its way into the main stream and we used that for the desk chair.

 The little green cabinet next to the credenza (another smaller metal desk) is actually a tool chest.  

It was the only piece that I left the paint on. 

The prints on the wall I found in a catalog. 

 They were these great big bright blue ferns and  we framed them out with black matting and used a mottled metal frame.

The only item that was really "new..new" and not retro inspired was this large table, used for looking at blueprints or having a group meeting. 

The green glass top is actually panels/extensions that could be pushed under  one another to make the table smaller if need be. 

 It was actually a dining table I found at a discount furniture store.

The lawyers cabinet was perfect for manuals and guy/office stuff. 

 I remember thinking how many uses that cabinet could have and all of the other places I could put it...like my own house!!!!   

I still love the oil drums, even today, and they always make for a great planter.

No office is complete without a jar of jelly beans!
  

And look at the desk!  

So cool and retro.  

Not too bad for 10 years ago!

what do ya think?

~kelley~

The "cooks" kitchen

So you like to cook?  

Yes, I do too...but what are the elements that make spending time in a kitchen enjoyable?  And what do great cooks like and need in order to whip up a wonderful meal?

Above is my kitchen and it seems to have most of the elements that an avid cook would want....but the layout is a bit odd with the stove on one end and the fridge on the other.

Is there actually such a thing as the perfect "cooks" kitchen?

Yes.....you bettcha

Lets take a look, shall we!

This amazing kitchen is the work of cookbook author Judith Barrett and she's got it all

Item #1

lots of natural light paired with great industrial fixtures

Item #2

large expansive work surfaces

Item #3

the Wolf stove!  

Item #4

storage, storage and more storage.
Notice how well used the pans are... a sure sign of a  avid cook!

Item #5 

organization

Item #6

easy efficient clean up

Yep, she's got it all covered

So here are a few more "cooks" kitchens with the same elements:

Above is the kitchen of Carole Lalli, former Editor in Chief of Food and Wine magazine...

natural light, large work surface, ease of clean up

there's the Wolf stove again

big huge sink

Carole has a Tuscan grill and a pizza/bread oven which she uses all throughout the year

Here is Ina Garten's famous barn kitchen

And here is the kitchen reproduced in Rockefeller Center by House Beautiful

natural light, large work surfaces and big sinks

organization and storage galore

There is one last element I forgot to add:

#7 a nice spot to sit

Thanks for stopping by

&

here's to the start of a great week!

~kelley~

The Front Porch: A country icon

 Porch: noun

A covered and enclosed entrance to a building

Our front porch in Ojai is a wonderful spot. 

It didn't always look like this. 

Here are a few photos of the front porch and how we changed it.....

Below the original...not much to look at, but still a nice spot.  

The little lady who owned this home before us loved to sit out here too, I am told

I designed the front walk and the porch with local stone and used some rather unconventional rock to add to the whimsy of this area

The stones running through the center of the porch are ment to represent the arroyo running through the heart of the Arbolada in Ojai

 

Rock is a wonderful way to express different aspects of a home and its origins.

It can be artistic and unique but still be a part of the natural landscape  

What do you are want your visitors to think when they walk up to your door?

..Just add the rockers!

Have a wonderful 4th of July Holiday

And my sincere thanks to all of my new and not so new followers!

I read each and every comment and try to get back to everyone as best I can!

Off to eat some burgers and drink some wine.....

~kelley~