House Tour

Name: Kim Gombes Location: San Diego, CA Square Footage: 1900SF Years Lived in: 5 years Rent or own: Own Describe your style: A mix of Contemporary and Mid-Century Modern Blog/Website: Kim's flickr What is your favorite free/found item? N/A What's your favorite purchased item?  The Eames Molded Plastic Armchair. I love the lines of the base and the smooth sculpted curves of the seat. It's more a piece of Art for us. I often find myself photographing it whenever I see some beautiful form shadows on the armchair or shadows cast by it. What has been your biggest obstacle in decorating/design? The downstairs layout of the combined living and dining rooms. I wanted to connect the two but also give a sense that the one large area is actually two different rooms. For me, the best way to do this was to use the same area rug in two different sizes. I feel this united and defined the spaces separately. We also use two red painted canvases to unite the spaces as well. Is your design style organic or planned?  Definitely organic. We bought one or two pieces at a time, saw how they fit into our daily living, and then decided what was lacking either in scale, color, texture, or function before purchasing anything more. This process took about four years. What is your favorite spot in the house?  Our bedroom. We’re fortunate to have a beautiful and expansive view from our bedroom so I chose a paint color which would give one the impression of floating in the clouds. The paint color combined with a fluffy down comforter and lots of white bedding really achieves that feel. How has your style changed in the past 5 years? After my husband & I moved from Maine to Southern California my style evolved from a Swedish cottage look to a mix of mid-century modern and contemporary. Our house in Maine was a sweet little Cape where my cottage furniture mixed well with my husband's modern style. Our house here in SoCal has lots of clean lines and a more modern feel to it, so we sold most of our old furniture after moving in. I then started scouring design mags and web sites to find the right look for our new house and discovered the wonderful world of mid-century and modern decor. What is your favorite resource or store?  With a little one always in tow it wasn’t easy scouting for furnishings so I went online and ordered as many catalogs from design stores and warehouses as I could. I even dubbed myself a “catalogaholic”. What is your biggest decorating/design pet peeve?  The generally accepted idea of buying “family-friendly” furniture. I’m a firm believer in teaching children to have fun and enjoy the moment but also to respect your surroundings. What has been your favorite design trend?  The latest resurgence of vintage radios. I remember growing up in a close-knit neighborhood where, in the heat of summer, everyone’s doors and windows were always open to let in the cool evening air; and many of the older neighbors would listen to static-filled radio stations playing the classics from the ‘40’s and ‘50’s. I’ve been seeing so many reproductions of these old radios featured in current magazines and trend sites and they bring back fond memories of my childhood. I haven’t purchased one yet but I’m sure I will soon. What is the biggest influence on your design/decorating style? When my husband Chad and I moved to California from Maine five years ago, we sold most of our furniture, which was a hodge-podge of Chad's Industrial style and my Cottage taste. We knew we wanted rooms with the look of simple, clean lines but I had no idea how to create a stylish space in which we could also live and play comfortably with our growing baby boy. I began studying design magazines such as “Dwell”, “Metropolitan Home” and “Vogue Living Australia” as well as researching design web sites and blogs and discovered the wonderful world of Mid-Century Modern. This style soon became a passion of mine. What in your home dictates how you design/decorate? The exterior of our home is Spanish-looking and I didn't want that to be out of sync with a totally mid-century modern look so I incorporated some Napa-style and Contemporary pieces to balance the look. What is the simplest thing you have done that has made the biggest impact?  Change our paint color. When we moved here we tried for a Metropolitan feel in the living/dining room with a bold dark brown wall color and bright white trim, but the color was way too dominating on the space and detracted from everything else in the room(s). The bold color was all one saw and felt when in the room. We lightened up the walls to a soft neutral shade of beige, which not only added so much light to the downstairs it also made the furnishings more noticeable. all photos courtesy of Kim