The tour of our Forever Home Fixer continues with the entry and dining room!
We bought our new home, our #foreverhomefixer, in the summer of 2020 -- during the most uncertain times of the pandemic.
The home itself is 3160 square feet and built in 1978. It had 3 bedrooms and 3 baths when we purchased it. We added a powder room half bath. It is on the golf course in the historic Indian Canyons neighborhood of Palm Springs, which was first developed in the 1960s and boasts the first 18-hole golf course in Palm Springs.
The house was For Sale by Owner, with a faded hand-written sign featuring a phone number with a San Diego area code. To say that it was a "fixer upper" would be a vast understatement! The owner, who was indeed based in San Diego, had practically abandoned the property. I could tell, from photos he showed me, that he enjoyed good times in the house several years before, but he had not used the property in quite some time -- obviously!
Before & After: The Entry Foyer
Above: This is a photo from the first time that I toured the house. It was the summer of 2020, in the depths of the COVID pandemic.
I walked in and said, "I'll take it!"
For those of you who have followed my Forever Home Fixer saga since the beginning — you can see the seller from whom we purchased the home sitting in the background. It took us over seven months to close because of his legal entanglements.
There was no real formal entry in our home. The front door opened directly into the great room.
The home's entry had wasted space with two hallways side-by-side, separated by a single wall.
I may have brokered the deal to buy the house without telling David... but it was David who, in his best Joan Crawford Mommie Dearest voice, raised his first and proclaimed, "I am putting a powder room where a powder room ought to be!"
Above: the formal entry features wallpaper by Porter Teleo, a brass and black credenza from our Retail Studio, and a vintage lamp and mirror from Antique Galleries of Palm Springs.
Now, there is a powder room behind that handsome green wall.
And, yes, I’m doing my best to bring back hunter green and brown. They’re not very “Palm Springs colors” are they? But, I guess I like what I like. And I’m ok with that. Design is personal. What you like will always be in style. I’m not here to chase trends.
Before & After: The Dining Room
This is how the seller was showing the house when I first toured it!
The front door opens directly into the living room of our home. The living room is fairly large, with a vaulted A-frame roof that tops out at 14 feet. The dining room, technically, is on the other side of the fireplace that separates the two spaces.
We decided to place the dining table in the larger living room / great room, in front of the fireplace. In the former dining room, behind the fireplace chimney, we created a lounge next to the bar. Because, you know, we needed one more place to sit and sit and kibitz.
There are are only two pieces that we have never sold with any of our homes, and one is the 1960s Italian Ibex dining table. In our Forever Home Fixer, we paired the table with vintage Adrian Pearsall dining chairs. I selected the chairs as an homage to my Trekkie husband -- don't they give full on Bridge of Kirk's Enterprise Star Trek vibes?
Since the chairs were chosen for David, I let him select the fabric for them. He chose the white crushed velvet fabric for the chairs. In his words, "Our friends really like their red wine, and I wanted to watch them squirm." I'm not too worried, as our friends don't usually spill their wine. (They would not want to waste it.)
And we bought some extra fabric, just in case.
Our dining room features a mix of materials, finishes, and textures.
My holidays-loving husband insisted on adding a mantle, so we ordered a custom walnut shelf on Etsy.
We clad our fireplace in cork wallcovering by Elitis, that features hints of gold. It positively glitters are night!
The chandelier is designed by Jonathan Adler and available through our Retail Studio.
The fireplace tiles are through Modern Home Design Showroom in Palm Springs.
The artwork is part of my pal Thom Filicia's collection for Wendover Art Group. The Joshua Tree photograph behind the bar is part of my own collection for Wendover and available here.
I hope you enjoyed this tour!
xo
CK
Sources:
Photography: Public 311 Design
Styling: Keith Fortner
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