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Houzz Tour: Eclectic Country Beach House
Step inside a California beach house filled with color, light and treasured finds
Houzz Contributor. Hi There! I currently live in a 1920s cottage in Atlanta that I'll describe as "collected."
I got into design via Landscape Architecture, which I studied at the University of Virginia. I've been writing about design online for quite a few years over at Hatch: The Design Public Blog.
Houzz Contributor. Hi There! I currently live in a 1920s cottage in Atlanta... More »
What do you get when you combine a love of flea market finds, a beautiful blank slate of a beach house, a walkable California community and eBay savvy? A comfortable and beautiful home that the designer and former owner, Kelley Motschenbacher, describes as "eclectic country."
By balancing her unique finds with white space and modern pieces, she created a home that was so inviting, someone bought it from her fully furnished, right down to the smallest knickknacks. So much for those design shows that tell you to clear out your house when staging it for resale! Let's take a look at all the unique ways she infused this house with personality and charm.
By balancing her unique finds with white space and modern pieces, she created a home that was so inviting, someone bought it from her fully furnished, right down to the smallest knickknacks. So much for those design shows that tell you to clear out your house when staging it for resale! Let's take a look at all the unique ways she infused this house with personality and charm.
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Though built on a very narrow lot, the inviting home in Corona del Mar makes the most of its outdoor spaces, including this front deck, a back patio and spectacular roofdeck.
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| The living room, right off the front entryway, lets visitors know they are in for a sophisticated country treat. "This painting inspired the entire room," Motschenbacher explains. It was painted by artist Jean Jack, and the lime green tones on the pillows came straight from the painting. The coffee table was fashioned from a wicker carrier-pigeon cage. Motschenbacher loves animal prints and uses them as accents. The leopard print is from Barclay Butera. "People either love or hate the zebra cowhide rug," she says. "There is no in-between. Personally, I love it." |
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The family room, a mix of vintage textiles, antique pieces and some new finds, is a fun spot for gathering.
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| Motschenbacher has a thing for antique ice-cream-maker buckets, and has amassed a collection of those as well. Here they were transformed into lamps and topped with vintage fabric-covered shades. "I love to turn all kinds of things into lamps," she says. "I can walk into my lamp shop carrying a strange object and because they know me so well, I just hand it to them and they know exactly what to do." |
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Between the slanted ceiling, the horizontal bar, and the way the fans rotated, this ceiling fan was a challenge to hang, but the results were worth the effort.
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| When it came to this long, windowless wall, Motschenbacher quickly realized she was going to need something big to break up all of that white space. Pressed flowers from the 1920s were an eBay score (she purchased 40 of them for $100). "In order to showcase the botanicals, I framed them very simply in green/gray barn wood frames without mats," Motschenbacher says. "They belonged to a teacher who labeled each pressing with genus, species, and location – they are really special." |
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| "We spent the majority of our time in this house in the kitchen," Motschenbacher says. One can see why, with its open feeling, natural light, and charming vintage touches. |
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Motschenbacher loves to use signs as folk art in her designs. In fact, she has pickers who keep a lookout for great sign finds for her, who will email her pictures from big antique shows like Brimfield.
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| Another Jean Jack painting hangs over a marble-topped Parsons table from Room and Board. |
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When Motschenbacher and her husband bought the house, it had undergone a complete remodel, making it like new. Thus, "the bathroom fixtures were all very boring and basic," Motschenbacher explains. She remedied this by replacing them with fixtures from Rejuvenation's Jadeite Collection.
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"Vintage postcards from your local community are a great way to add artwork to your home," Motschenbacher says. The framed works over the commode are vintage postcards of Balboa Island and Newport Beach. She had her framer add old-fashioned black photo corners as a fun detail.
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| "This guest room is the only really romantic room in the house," says Motschenbacher. She used a lot of natural textures, Ralph Lauren fabrics and vintage textiles. "The headboard is upholstered in a Ralph Lauren stripe, which we partially covered with a vintage French linen, showing off the detail of the embroidery and the monogram. We hung this piece with ribbon ties." |
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| Grasscloth is a texture that Motschenbacher used throughout the home. "I chose this particular grasscloth because it had a very fresh feeling to it," she says. "Sometimes it can have a hard feeling to it." Tip: Make sure you hire an experienced paper hanger when installing grasscloth. |
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The painting over the small desk was another eBay find. "It was painted on masonite in the '60s. I originally wanted to use it in a bathroom, but the scale was too large. It does a nice job of bringing a few beachy hues into this otherwise neutral color palette.
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Tip: Feeling blocked? Create a clean slate before trying to envision your room.
"This laundry room was so boring that I had to pull everything out of it in order to visualize what it could be," Motschenbacher explains. "I called it my naked laundry room and started from there." Now the room is a place that actually makes one want to do laundry.
"This laundry room was so boring that I had to pull everything out of it in order to visualize what it could be," Motschenbacher explains. "I called it my naked laundry room and started from there." Now the room is a place that actually makes one want to do laundry.
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| The master bedroom has a traditional base, which includes the Ralph Lauren four-poster bed, the bedding, and the custom fabric lampshades. Motschenbacher layered in a bit of modern style via the lamp bases and a bit of Asian flair through the painted nightstands. Her love of botanical prints appears again, in the form of three hand-tinted images, framed in light natural shades in order to bring out the color. |
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One area in the bedroom is covered in grasscloth, and incorporates a wet bar and little sitting area. "The color of the turquoise table adds to the Asian flair," she says. More of her hand-tinted botanicals appear here as well, framed the same way as the prints over the bed.
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| The family spent a lot of time enjoying ocean breezes and sunshine on the roofdeck. |
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This house makes the most of the natural light, and opens to the outside in an easy, casual, beachy way.
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| Over on the other side of the house, this outdoor patio makes the most of the narrow space with a fountain, a fireplace, and a small table for dining al fresco. |
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The kitchen is on the other side of the doors, offering easy access to the patio.
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Motschenbacher designed the fountain. "We needed that little bit of drippy noise," she says. Enter three hand-thrown Greek urns, and antique spigots mounted on diagonal antique European tiles. The tiny patio has all the elements: earth, air, fire and water.
To find out even more about the decorating she completed here and her other new projects, check out her blog, The Polished Pebble.
More:
Houzz Tour: Warm Country Charm
Houzz Tour: Living in Color
Houzz Tour: It's a Bloomsbury Life
To find out even more about the decorating she completed here and her other new projects, check out her blog, The Polished Pebble.
More:
Houzz Tour: Warm Country Charm
Houzz Tour: Living in Color
Houzz Tour: It's a Bloomsbury Life
Ideabook updated on Sept. 16, 2011.
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-Linsey http://farmhouseporch.blogspot.com/
Thanks so much, Kelley
Sandra
I attached some pictures of antique material for inspiration
Best,
Liz