Our beautiful new Master Bedroom Suite
A great deal of inspiration for what we’ve done came from Sarah Susanka’s series of Not So Big House books. My husband, retired California architect, Dan Edward McMullen and I don’t think folks need McMansions to prove something about themselves. Dan’s been inspired, since his days in UC Berkeley’s architecture school, by it’s Dean at that time, William Wurster, whose residential design was noted for its simplicity. We believe people live well and best in homes that fulfill their needs in a variety of ways. Our home has 2186 square feet. Not a tiny house, but certainly not a behemoth. We have sufficient room for visitors and for each of our activities, including my home office. We’ve been doing nearly all the remodeling work ourselves–that is an imperial “we”–over the past seven years. Last Christmas we resolved to get this done, and it is!
In a basic sense, we needed a better way to store our clothing. We needed new flooring. We had a wonderful bed already. We needed better lighting. On a personal level we wanted a suite that restored our souls, launched our days in peace and which included art works properly treated and displayed, and enough ‘white space’ to allow both the eyes and our minds to rest, whether our eyes were open or closed.
This room preexisted those ideas and our remodel was meant to bring it into line with those ideals without breaking our budget. Good rooms have thoughtful details and a high level of craftsmanship, and this one certainly does.
You can find out more about Sarah Susanka’s work and philosophy at http://www.notsobig.com/
The walls in this room were already textured, and so they remained. The paint was expertly done after some corrections were made to the wall to make sure that they were straight and plumb. The closets would never have fit well if that work had not been done. Retexturing in those areas was a bit tedious, but those changes are invisible to the eye due to painstaking work. The color is called Oriental Silk and is a cream color that has a hint of warmth. It’s Behr paint available through Home Depot and we learned that Behr is highly rated by Consumer Reports for durability, and standing up to cleaning. That research means we won’t have to paint again for a long time. We’ve used it for ceilings throughout our home because of the way it warmly reflects light.
The paintings in front of the closet are by my dear friend, currently visiting her home in Spain, Maria Gracía Brunsó, who goes by Grace when she is in San Carlos, California with her husband, architect Miquel Aymerich, a friend and colleague of Dan’s.
The chandelier, bed side lamps and sconces are Robert Abbey Beaux Arts designs. We have smaller models of the chandelier in our dining room and entry hall. We have pendant lighting over the island in our kitchen. This kind of consistency gives a smaller home a feeling of peace. The light from the shades is warm, like candle light.
The art works are important to us. The painting just outside this door was done by Pacific Northwest artist,
Mary Moore Bailey,
www.marypaints.com; the pastel of the coastal foothills above Skyline Drive not far from Pacifica, California hangs over the bed, by
JoAnne HorsfallBeasley who died in 2006. We bought it just before moving to Bellingham at the end of 2004 from
The Main Gallery in Redwood City. We also purchased two of the Raku pots in the next photograph at the gallery from potter
Jeff Carlick. The small, lidded Raku pot is an early example of work by our brilliant nephew,
Tim McMullen. He is one three partners in
Silica Studioswhere they provide both gallery and studio space. They also teach. It’s a great place to learn on every level! The large plate in the center is by Gene Buckley of Stony Clearing Studio here in Bellingham. We also have pots by his wife, Cheryl Lee, one on the table through the doorway under Mary’s painting.
The rocker is an Arts & Crafts antique that was in bad shape when I got it, but Dan refinished and reglued and clamped it and we recovered the seat with a German upholstery leather remnant we bought on ebay. We got enough to cover 6 dining chairs and a Morris chair & ottoman. We enjoy the sense of accomplishment that comes of being self-sufficient. The floral painting is the first purchase in our art collection and is also by Mary Moore Bailey.
The small carpets are
Safavieh Anatolia. The floor is Kentwood American Cherry Natural Elite, an engineered wood floor with a 25 year guarantee. The baseboards and door frames are clear vertical grain fir, hand finished to match the doors and closets by my husband,
Dan the Man McMullen.
Firecat and Honey Boy test the new floors.
The watercolors on the right were painted by Dan in 1959, when he was at UC Berkeley studying Architecture. On the left is a eucalyptus grove above the Greek Theater, and on the right is a bridge over Strawberry Creek, both on the campus. These paintings represent so much about Dan’s life as a student and later as an architect. Their peacefulness makes them perfect for our room.
- Bedding, comforter, shams & matching shower curtain are a discontinued Arts & Crafts organic print from Pottery Barn.
- Sheets, wonderful cream Veratex 800 thread count — We splurged on Overstock.com
- Shaded yellow quilt and shams, a find at TJ Maxx
- Box spring cover, Matlasse from Bed Bath & Beyond
- Pillows, 2 sets of Sleep Innovations® Memory Foam Down Pillow online at Kohl’s. So comfortable!
More About Remodeling Toad Hollow
This is our wedding portrait, December 31, 1990. You can tell by my dress and flowers that we agreed that we would already be doing things a little differently. I am the extra mother to these four wonderful additional McMullens. The handsome devil with his arm draped over my shoulder is the infamous cradle-robber of his class of 1962, Dan the Man, my beloved.
Like this:
Like Loading...
Related
Toad Hollow Journal 