Altadena Beauty

Here it is, my first friend feature! My feature person is a girl who went to Citrus College, joined the dance team, and later married a cop. Sound familiar??? But I swear it's not me, it's my amazingly beautiful friend Kin-Ming. We met while on the dance team at Citrus together in 1996. (We are the two on the left) (And here she is in her beautiful kitchen)

I have always dreamed of owning a small Spanish style house in Southern California with fun details like arches, wood floors, curved windows, and a fireplace. It would have a cute little backyard with a place to dine and a little water feature, and maybe a fruit tree or two. I also love to decorate in blues and greens, and I LOVE white kitchens. One day while looking through Kin-Mings pictures (after we had reconnected on facebook) I saw she had an album with pictures of her house. I was amazed to see that her house was my dream house. It had everything I had always wanted, and she has decorating tastes that are so similar to my own. I feel in love with her 1926, 1050 sq ft, Spanish style home in Altadena, California. I will warn you now that there are a lot of pictures in this post, but I wanted you all to see the little charmer for yourself. Kin-Ming and her husband made such smart choices when doing the remodel on their home. They kept things like the original curved window in the living room, and the arch in the living/dining room. (Two of Kin-Mings favorite parts of the house.) But when they did total re-do's on the kitchen and bath they mimicked that original arch, and made smart choices to stay with the period of the home while giving it all the modern conveniences of today. They were true to the house when they put down new wood floors instead of choosing tile or carpet, and they picked beautiful wall colors when they painted the whole inside of their house. Everything is beautiful without distracting from the gorgeous bones of the house. Even the landscaping (which Kin-Ming's husband did himself) just makes the house a complete package and looks like it belongs with the neighborhood. So well planned. I just love pretty much everything about this house, and thought you guys would too. Congratulations to Kin-Ming and her husband on creating such an amazing place to call home, and thanks for letting me spotlight all your hard work! (Isn't it so charming?) (Such a warm welcome, and the "S" is one of my favorite little touches.) (I love the fireplace)

(I love a kitchen with a desk)

(Sigh!...Even a Sun Porch!)

(What a beautiful place for a warm So. Cal. evening)

JUST GORGEOUS!!!

Feel Like Sharing?

Until I can get in my own place and start decorating I am living vicariously through others. This has given me the problem of having very little of my own decorating stuff to write about. Want to help??? (You know you do!) I would like to start to feature some of the cool things that you, my friends and family, do to your spaces. For example, my sister Kim got some used chairs for her back patio that needed a little pick-me-up. She re-painted the metal on them, and bought some cute outdoor pillows and they turned out so cute!! Send me your photos and a few words about what you did and you just might find yourself in my blog.

My first guest spot will be coming soon, and it is an amazing one!! I can't wait to share my friend's amazing house with you. Hope you will enjoy it as much as I do, and that you will be thinking about what you might want to share with me. :)

Daybreak, how I love you so!

I talked in a past post about how I loved this community in Northern Utah called Daybreak, but that Jon and I were thinking we were going to move to another community instead... yeah well! I think we are changing our mind again and are leaning back towards Daybreak in a big way!! I can't wait for spring and so hope to be moved up there in our own house by next spring so I can enjoy views like this!! This community has style in everything they do from the design of the houses, lake, and landscaping to the fact that they only build houses that exceed some of the highest "green" standards out there. I just can't wait!!

UtahStyle

This post will be more for those that live in the state I now call home, Utah. I have already said this on my facebook, but I love this magazine so much I thought it deserved a post on here as well. I love the design magazine UtahStyle!! It's awesome. It comes out quarterly, and I can't wait for the spring issue that will hit the stands on April 1st!! Here is a past cover that was a fav of mine.