As promised, we bring you the gorgeous home of Lynne Millar in Northern California. Lynne shares the blog Sugar City Journal with her best friend Melissa, whose house tour
we featured earlier this month. "Melissa is one of my best friends, and
my brother is her husband," she explains. "It feels like a movie!" Both
women share great taste and a serious knack for crafting, so let's peek
inside Lynne's house...
We have three children: Our son Ethan is seven, our daughter Lily is five, and our baby Ada is one and a half.
How did you decide on their names?
Ada is from one of my favorite books, Cold Mountain. She is the Nicole Kidman character if you ever saw the movie.
When I was pregnant with my older daughter, Lily was the only name that
I could think of! Ethan just came about. From the time I was 9, I was
making lists of baby names, but my husband didn't like any of them.
Where do you guys live?
A rural town east of San Francisco. It used to be a farming community
but now it's more of a suburb. We wanted to be near a big city but we
liked the quiet here.
I actually feel bad about that. When I was little, my mom would open the door and send us outside. We'd be gone for hours. Nowadays, my kids don't have the same degree of freedom. I wonder how that will affect them.
What do your kids like doing?
They all like going to the park, playing with their friends and playing
soccer. Lily likes dressing up and breaking things. Ada likes trying to
swallow small objects.
My mother-in-law. She's a wonderful seamstress. She made clothes for her children--including an awesome polyester plaid suit that my husband wore as a toddler. I wish we could find that now! I've used her patterns from the 70's to make dresses for my girls.
The map is from eBay.
It's my favorite room in the house. The light gray walls are so calming. We often retreat in here for bedtime stories. The kids cram in around the rocker in the corner.
Lynne made the quilt herself.
Where did you find the art?
I love the old children's book The Snowy Day.
The author is an amazing artist, and it's all paper collages. Inspired,
I glued pieces onto a canvas. I like the contrast of the white snowy
hills, the cute person, the footprints...
They used to be, but ever since they figured out how to super-bounce the baby it's been banned. So now of course it's the forbidden fruit of all household play.
She likes it, although she only sleeps in a very small corner. She likes to put all her stuffed animals on it and play school. She's a very firm disciplinarian.
The letters on the wall are great.
I was inspired by a magazine project, and I made the letters of different things. One is a pom-pom fringe; the Y is a zipper.
How did you decide on green walls?
Actually Lily really wants it to be pink, but I didn't want a pink
room, so we did green. She tells me everyday how much she hates it. I
just say, you're four, you don't get to choose.
It was a pretty cheap way to do a big thing on a wall. We traced a big 5x6 shape and stuck it up with wallpaper glue. Then we put wood molding around it to look like a frame.
I first saw it at Cole & Sons and fell in love with it. I called Discount Decorator and asked if they could get it for me. The whole project was $200. The pillowcases are from Anthropologie.
It makes a great statement.
It's basically the only thing in our bedroom. It's like "Boom! There it is."
This typewriter was an eBay victory. It haven't gotten around to finding a new ribbon, but the kids play with it constantly nonetheless. They think it's so neat that it doesn't need to be plugged in to work. Ok. Actually it's me who thinks that's neat.
The best advice I've ever gotten was from one of my art professors. He said you should always have some original art. It brings a life into your house that you can't get with posters and reproductions. It's a part of the creator. There are so many great places where you can buy affordable art that aren't the Monet poster. Not that I don't love Monet!
More from Cookie:
- Summer Memory Contest
Submit your favorite family photo for a chance to win a spa trip!
- Are You Ready for Another Child?
Take this humorous quiz and to find out if you're ready or not for number two, three or higher. - Milla Jovovich Cover Story
The model, actress, and designer of the eclectic, vintage-inspired women's line Jovovich-Hawk, eases into fall in ultrafeminine blouses and simple bottoms with her 10-month-old daughter, Ever, in tow. - Give the Gift of Cookie Magazine - Just $1 an issue!