thosecoolkims – Page 81

Elfa Evolution

Well, we got our tax refund this year (Yay for being married homeowners! Shocking!) and we finally were able to make a move on our dream to change the closet space in our loft/office. We have wanted to organize the big closet up here and turn it into a real art storage space. There’s gonna be a place to store Carrie’s straight-edges and portfolios, our laptop bags and art books, and even have good looking “junk” storage. The Container Store is a bit overwhelming, but it’s inspiring, and it definitely makes you wanna get all crazy with the organization. Game on.

So, since we also knew that some really sporty folks who used live across the lake from us also designed their closet Container Store Style, we decided to check out the fancy Elfa system. Man – that stuff is awesome! So many options, so many possibilities. And, its simple too…you just install the upper frame and everything clicks and hangs from there.

We took the dimensions and headed over today (we started last weekend by doing some serious spring cleaning and eliminating a lot of crap) and ended up with a great plan to transform the space. We decided it would be fun to document the process – how Top Design of us – so we’ll begin with Day 1:

The “BEFORE” pic:

Chiseling out the icky-ugly closet rod and shelf:

It’s outta there!

Patching up the nail holes/prepping to paint:

Try not to laugh, but we are newbies with the home improvement!

Tune in tomorrow for more exciting progress! :)

Hybrid Parents

Good ol’ Mom & Dad. They just bought a Prius. They look cute, don’t they?

Say Hello to Sophia!

We adopted a pretty kitty named Sophia last night! She’s 13 years old and a real looker. She is also one of the sweetest cats we’ve ever met. She lets you hold her like a baby and she likes to headbutt your hand, your face, whatever! She also kissed Ed’s forehead upon meeting her. We had to take her home with us – at 13, she needs a family that will spoil her in her “golden years”.

It’s funny, we are even going to keep her rescue name, too. We think it’s pretty fitting…she’s the oldest in our household, she’s got white hair – just like Sophia from the Golden Girls! Ed says she’s got Falcor cheeks. We just think she is a love!

Poor Ricki, she’s feeling a little jealous. But she’s still our Ricki the Rockin’ Kitty.

Here’s one more pic of pretty Sophia:

Weekend Success

Back to reality now that the Palm Springs weekend has come to a close, and it couldn’t have been better. On Saturday, we went to a fantastic restaurant called The Falls. They’re known for great steaks and greater martinis, so it was an apropos place to have dinner on Carrie’s birthday. We were given a great tip the night before to request the table on the balcony with it’s very own firepit, and our wishes were granted! It was a very special dinner.

The dinner crew (you can just barely see the edge of the firepit in front of us):

The view from the table:

The next day we were off to take our very own Modern Architecture tour. We saw so many great houses that were absolutely drool-worthy. We decided that we wanted to move here:

Or here:

Amongst many of the houses we drove by, we saw Neutra’s iconic Kaufman House. This is as beautiful as architecture gets!

The last of the bunch was driving by one of Mr. Frank Sinatra’s homes. We were shocked at how accessible this place was! Right off the street, no palatial gates or enormous barricades to protect it. You just gotta figure Frank wanted to stay close to the action.

It was pretty modest from the outside, but you know it has to be slammin’ indoors. The only slight clue that it was something out of the ordinary was the fact that it had a small door to the left of the driveway saying “Service Entry Only”.

But of course, we also had to fit in a ride on the infamous Sky Peoplemover, aka the Aerial Tramway. We’d always wanted to do it, but never got a chance. It was super cool! We wish the tram cars still looked like this one:

Now the cars are all fancy and the floor rotates so you can get a view from all angles. We were not so prepared though – there was snow at the top! It was hard to imagine because it was sunny and warm down below! Guess we shoulda known better, but it didn’t stop us from going up anyway! The pics don’t do it justice, but it’s a magnificent view – and VERY high!!! This shows part of our path to the top.

Now it’s back to the good ol’ LBC.

Viceroy Madness

What happens when you go to one of the swankiest hotels in Palm Springs and you tell people it’s someone’s birthday in a few hours? You get many many martinis and a gaggle of gay men ready to ring in your newest year with you. We were supposed to meet up with some friends of Mary & Lewis’ last night for a few drinks & dinner – before we knew it, we had at least 20 gay men PARTYING with us and we took over then entire back end of the hotel. It was the complete Palm Springs experience! Topics of conversation: The word fabulous, Palm Springs Real Estate, Bravo’s newest TV show – Top Design, Jonathan Adler and the mayor of Signal Hill.

The Viceroy is great. Very Old Hollywood glamorous. All whites and blacks, with yellow accents. Pictures of Marilyn Monroe and Jayne Mansfield all over. We had a hard time holding the camera and the martinis in our hands, but here’s a few pics:

Today, we are off to the Modern Convention!