Rainy Friday and I'm on a roll

Hizees.. So it's a rainy Friday here in California and it's project time!.. I was supposed to take pictures of my rock garden for all of you to check out but it looks pretty yucky out there since it's nasty and wet. So, after making my Pug mobile a couple of weeks ago, I was inspired to do another one for my new baby. This time a little more abstract- I came up with this..

It was pretty simple really. The most expensive thing about it was the foam balls. I got them at Michaels 22 foam balls for $3.99. All different colors that match my daughter's room. I used floral wire to put it together and if I could have found thicker wire it would have turned out a a whole lot better. Oh well, I think it turned out alright.. But there's always room for some improvement.

Palm Springs Love, Love LOVE YOU!

Sometimes I like to spend my free time looking on Craigslist at Mid century modern homes in Palm Springs. One day when I win the lottery and if I could be lucky enough to afford a "vacation home" I would get one there. Preferably a Nice Butterfly roof Alexander or a Palmer & Krisel and everyone knows that nothing says modern like an Eichler or a beautiful Cliff May. Till then I'll just keep looking at my Atomic Ranch magazines ( what I like to call " MCM porn") and drool over other people's homes and landscaping. Here's a couple of pictures that I like to keep as MCM inspiration. Apparently this home in Palm Springs used to belong to designer Kenneth Brown and has been on the market for a long time

I wish I had a picture of the fabulous front gate that closes up this "compound" It's orange and it looks so HOT! I like that most of the stuff is totally found at this store in LA called ROOM SERVICE one of my favorite stores to check out when I'm in Hollywood!

Here's one more pic of this home in Palm Springs.


A couple of years ago the owner of Room Service sold their house. I was one of the lucky ones to go to the open house. It was decked out in pretty much all the furnishings of the store. And needless to say, I was in LOVE! Here's some pics of what it looked like inside. Shame that the new owner changed the color of the house and from the looks of it closed off the cool atrium and didn't know that they were buying a mid century modern home.. Don't you just hate that?

It's crunch time!

Hizees! It's been awhile since I posted because there's so much going on at Casa Selma a/k/a Mod Diva's humble abode. This week we had people over for a co-ed baby shower. I am now 34 weeks pregnant and am ready to explode! We've had one of my girlfriends living with us for the past 6 weeks and so we've been a little lagging on the baby nursery and house projects. Since we did have a bit of an open house and my motherly "nesting" patterns have been in full effect here's some pics of the projects that we did get done.

I finally had to get rid of my existing VORK rugs from Ikea and changed them to these plain circles to make them into a runner for the hallway. I actually don't mind the circles. The colors fit in perfectly with the rug in the living room and the rug in the baby room and because there's no more pattern like the old runner.. it's not so "busy' looking anymore.

Here's what the baby room looks like so far.. The crib is going to be put together tonight and my Pug mobile I finished weeks ago is going to be hung too.

I'm still debating on what color to re upholster the chaise I guess when I finally go looking for the fabric on Monday I'll figure it out. We already have a purple sofa, and an orange chaise in the living room. I was thinking maybe I'd do it up in a Cookie Monster Blue or in Lime like this:

Two weekends ago I ventured out to the Pasadena Rose bowl for my monthly junking trip. I didn't get to buy too much but what I did buy I was very happy with. I bought this interactive toy called the Magzoid 64. It comes with 20 steel balls and 40 magnetic disks that you can make cool interactive art with. I liked it because not only was it colorful but it went well on my coffee table.

The best part about it was that it was brand new and I got it for 5 bucks! Now, that was a deal!!
My junking trips have usually been only to find treasures for me and for the home but this trip, I couldn't forget about my girls.. They needed a new bed so I got this for them. The canopy is velcro-ed on so you can take it off or put it up or down. The girl's Auntie Kimee said it was a perfect fit for our house.. she was totally right! Here's Penelope modeling their new bed!

Please forgive me if I don't post as much as I'd like.. things have been a little crazy. Tomorrow I plan to take pictures of my rock garden in the front.. it's almost done and I painted the pavers to match the front door.. It's so Palm Springs that it makes me giddy whenever we drive up to our house.. Stay tuned!!

Summer , Summer, Summer TIME!

The warmer it gets outside here in Sunny Southern California, the more I want to hang out and enjoy my yard. When we were living in Chicago for that year and a half, I decided that when we got back to California, We should make it our priority to spend more time in our yard and share our home with our space challenged apartment dwelling friends. So, we've been having more parties at our home and on Sundays we are the weekly host of Poker nights. In Chicago, I saw this auction on E-bay and ever since I've been coveting these for our patio.. You gotta love the Ploof by Philippe Starck

Modern lines.. but an arm and a leg for patio furniture.. I think NOT- so I settled for the Kimmie chairs at Ikea. They remind me of gummy bears and we bought them a few years back, they happen to be on sale at the end of that summer for $2.00 each! They work great and look even cuter! (But I still wish for the Ploof chairs one day!)
Here's the view from our master bedroom

I like how the chairs and the Bougainvillea coordinate colors of pink.

Here's more pics of the yard......


The table is also IKEA and the red chairs are Kartell from E-bay. The cool thing about those chairs is that the legs come off and they are stacked so easily for storage!


Wooo Hoo for Southern California Summers!

Time to get the nursery ready...

So here I am 9 more weeks till our little Ainslie's arrival and still there's a million things to do before she gets here. Today I was inspired to do something crafty for my little girl's nursery. We've already decided to go with the BabyMod Olivia crib from Walmart for her room




Now for the perfect mobile... Now, at first I was thinking to just by her one of these modern mobiles from E-bay




Then I saw this homemade mobile and it got me thinking...


I think I should make my own! So I came up with the idea to use the same elements of the home made mobile ( Minus the pointy scissors) I still haven't put the entire thing together but here's what's going to look down on our baby when she's checking out her custom mobile her Mommy made her-




It took me all afternoon to make the pug heads but it forced me to sit still for awhile ( I don't do that enough)
This project was made with Love by Mommy and inspired by her pug sisters who are waiting for her arrival! Here's what it looks like when it's all put together!!

One down, 5 more to go

One project that we've been wanting to get done is finding new doors for our rooms in the house. The first door that was changed was the front door ( to a brand new single light door) A couple of weeks ago, we found a place that sells discounted doors from old or remodeled homes and we recycled this door to trade out for the one in our bathroom. I can't wait to find more of these recycled doors. They're less than half the price of a new one and it looks so good after the paint and the frosting of the glass is done. Problem is, it's a slow project, you never know when you'll be lucky enough to find another door in the size you want. Yayyyy, for recycled doors and taking a "green" approach to remodeling

More Junk finds...the BIG ticket items

Lately inspiration has hit me to blog more. Maybe it's because I've been stuck at home on the weekends 7 months pregnant with very little projects. So again I've been looking at my pictures on my computer and here's more of my favorite finds from E-bay, Flea Markets and Craigslist. I thank my lucky stars every day for my treasures. If I had waited any longer to figure out what I really loved for my home.. other people would have already beat me to the punch. Lately E-bay and Craigslist has been a barren desert- it's alright though.. I have way too much stuff anyway!

And the list goes on...

One of my all time favorite pieces that I really had to wait for was this rocker /chaise lounge. I fell in love with one just like it at the Lucky Strike Bowling alley in Anaheim back in late 2003. Back then we didn't have our house yet but that was one piece of furniture that I could'nt stop obsessing about. When I first saw it I had to ask the manager where they got it.. He said that it was a vintage piece so of course I searched high and low for mine. One day, in 2004 we were on our way to Las Vegas. Low and behold there it was on Craigslist. I made a deal with my husband.. If I won in Vegas, I could buy the chaise. He agreed, I called the seller, told him that I was out of town but I was going to buy it the moment I came back from my trip. I had to go all the way to the Hollywood Hills to get this beauty and as soon as we get this reupholstered.. It'll be the perfect addition to our daughter's room!

I bought my dining room set of chairs from E-bay. I had to get the set all with the full seats. I know there are some sets that come with two full seat chairs or just one and the rest don't have the full back and arm rests. It's not authentic Burke or Saarinen but I love it just the same. When I first started obsessing that I wanted this for our new house my husband did give me a couple of eye rolls but after I bought it and made the seat cushions work with the decor of our home.. I think he likes it as much as I do now!
We've changed out the table base for one we found in Chicago for $20 at the Brown Elephant Thrift store. The old table had an oval table top from IKEA and legs from there as well. We decided to keep the table top and just switch out the base to match the chairs. The picture of the table with the orange Panton chairs ( also a great Craigslist Chicago find) was taken when we lived in Chicago.

My last three major pieces that I found were from E-bay. The hubby had a vision when we bought the "Captain's Chair". This poor chair was a throw back to the 70's . Originally it had brown velour and brown Naugahyde. Luckily, my husband had the vision to get this beauty reupholstered in red velour and white vinyl and now it's a MAJOR piece in our home. Ok Daddy, I'll give you this one.. You were right! And I love it!Two more chairs that I got from E-bay for a steal.
This one lives in the corner. My Father in Law had to give it new legs because for some reason they got lost in transit. Good thing he's handy!


And last but not least.. One of my favorite finds I got in Chicago. This one needed some help. I fell in love with the shape of this chair and it really needs a professional to give it some real love. I did my best to do a decent job to reupholster this one and really, the only reason we decided to keep this was because our girls were so attached to it and it was only $80. So now it lives in the office and when it's nap time, they always have a place to nap in the sun!