The Little Grey House, Indah Bulan Interiors

PROJECT: Interior restoration, design and decoration; residential design; historic location; Claremont, California
Report: May 2003 - September 2003
Supplement: Additional photos added, June 2004

Welcome to the "Little Grey House" owned by our friend and client, Linda Lee Worlow. The garden began in October, 2002. Linda is a professional event planner, organizer and former volunteer coordinator for the Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden (in Claremont). Our charge was to inspire and plan a comprehensive plan for the entire house. The house is one of the first homes built in Claremont, 1914 is it's birth year. Linda is in addition to her professional duties, is a colorful, expressive artist. We knew color would be part of the plan. After peaking under the wall to wall carpet, we found old hardwood floors which had been painted. Painted floors was still the rage in the early 20th Century after it's introduction in the 19th Century. Our first activity was to rent a storage container (deposited in front of the little grey house) and transfer all the furnishings, art and books into the container. Next we removed the carpet, pad and carpet tacks to find a floor in good shape but visually poor. After painting the ceilings, walls and trim, we then re-painted the wood floors using a porch and floor enamel. (Benjamin Moore has the best of these products.) We select Benjamin Moore historic colors for the entire house.

Color Selection: We selected a cool color palette to help mitigate the hot summer temperatures of Claremont. By using cool colors the depth of the color portrays a cooler feeling than would warm colors, which would do just the opposite. The living room and secondary office we choose a dramatic, soothing, mid-tone, cool sage. In order to create depth and balance with the large canvas art (living room), we choose a california gold for the back wall (leading into the kitchen).

The Living Room...
Before and in Progress

Living Room Before	Living Room Before	Living Room Before
Living Room Before	Our Sassy IB Girl, Linda Lee Worlow	Living Room Before
Organizing the move out	Only the carpet remaining!	Design talk
Hard Wood Floor exposed, painted brown	Cutting in the sage green	Periwinkle accent color
Final Touches of Paint	A new floor color!	Pineapple Welcome (Symbol of Hospitality)
Detail Pineapple	Living Room/Front Door	The inspiration Painting, by Linda Lee Worlow
Looking to Master Bedroom	Contrasting color from Bedroom into Living Room area	Detail Border Painting Living Room
Detail Border Painting	Detail Border Painting	Detail Border Painting
Front Door Pineapple Welcome	Eclectic Family Pieces	Looking into the Living Den
Frannie and ZuZu posing at Home	Looking into Linda's Office	Another collection of Family pieces

The Kitchen, Master Bedroom and Bath and the Sleeping Porch
Before and in Progress

The kitchen is in good shape, we changed the existing red to a coral and painted the cabinets a brilliant high gloss "moonlight" white. In the kitchen we used oil-based paint to aid Linda with clean up. Oil base lasts three to four times longer than latex and cleans easily and well. The vibrant coral was selected for balance with the sage green used in the living room.

In Linda's bedroom, we choose three colors, a periwinkle for the main wall and a cheerful lemon yellow for the other walls. We chose a historic Lancaster white for the hard wood floors. We choose a different color for the bedroom floor to give her bedroom a sense separation and uniqueness (from the living area). The bathroom, we also used oil-based paint to resist the humidity caused by the bath. The colors are brilliant moonlight white and a soft creamy yellow--to give the room a spacious feeling. In addition to the color selection, we designed the yellow to undulate on the ceiling from the wall, which gives the illusion of a higher ceiling. The effect is charming.

The Sleeping Porch (photos to come) is a lovely spot in The Little Grey House, it has customary windows that wrap around the room to allow light to fill the room. The room also doubles as the office area for Linda's business of organization and representing a Los Angeles artist. The floor in this room is a deep periwinkle (the accent color of the living room floor painting). This color is a rich restful color which is used to separate this area from the other rooms. The walls are cleverly painted using the left over paint from the rest of the house. It's a dynamic, energetic room, yet comfortable enough for guests to rest.

Kitchen in progress	Kitchen in progress	Kitchen in progress
		The entrance to the master bedroom has changed dramatically. I love paint! It is stylish, affordable and allows the painter to create something special. (far left, before, left after)
	The bedroom is soft, cozy and cheerful! (above before; left and right in progress)
	Left: looking from master bedroom to living area, detail of contrasting floor transition. Right: a photo of the master bedroom closet before being painted.
Soft Creamy Yellow for the bathroom	Detail of undulating colors on ceiling	Bedroom looking into bathroom
Sleeping Porch	Painted Floor Detail	Just waiting for a summer nap!

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