After removing asbestos and installing updated plumbing, electrical and air conditioning (Part 1), the Kellmans tackle the rest of their interior plans…and disagreements.
“Some of the furniture that Craig thinks is really cool looking is just not comfortable,” she says. Vintage items that passed muster in the living room are a bright orange couch and two Danish modern chairs, both from Futures Collide in Pomona, Calif. Several Heywood-Wakefield tables came from a local college flea market, and other H-W pieces were shipped out from Detroit where Kellman has family. The reproduction Nelson ball clock above the fireplace is from MoMA in NYC and a starburst Nelson clock in the family room was bought on eBay.
Outside, he envisions low-maintenance landscaping that employs boulders, native plants and “spiky stuff,” while she favors color and an absence of rattlesnakes in her backyard. (The steep natural hillside—home to lots of wildlife—is held back by a retaining wall next to their pool and backyard patio.) The couple is still negotiating a compromise solution that will fulfill both their expectations. Another item on the arbitration docket is the compact kitchen: Kellman would like to upgrade the late ’70s look with its dark Mediterranean cabinets, but Griswold doesn’t want to be without a kitchen as long as they have a toddler. With another child planned in the next couple of years, the kitchen doesn’t feel like a priority to her. “I’d rather move than redo the kitchen,” she says.
The midcentury living room has oak floors, one wood-paneled wall with a built-in lighting soffit and a flagstone fireplace with a cantilevered hearth. Kellman points out that an ashtray stand came from his great-grandmother’s house in Detroit, while the blue and black upholstered chair and the funky floor lamp with a table that looks like an artist’s palette were picked up at swap meets. Some items are things he probably wouldn’t buy anymore, he confesses.
Interior Plans and Happy Mediums
With the atrocious reno complete, Craig starts infusing the home with his personality. Find out how in the upcoming Part 3!