Coffee Break...

Can't seem to live without coffee still...especially when its nice to have a little moment to break from the work day and enjoy a little ritual like this....

I love my ChemChem!

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Dream Closet

MUST check out this inspiring closet visit of Momoko Suzuki's space, wardrobe, and her stylish sensibility.
I first saw some pieces from her brand Black Crane at Mohawk General Store (my new fav shop in LA) and wished I had splurged on one of her beautiful Japanese dyed shirts. (below)...but mostly, I wish I can just have all her clothes..and everything she owns....



I'd like to Tap That: Layered House

If I believed in heaven, I'd imagine it would something like this place...
Heck, I'll believe in heaven in a heartbeat if I know I can end up in living in space like this...
The house is designed by, and of course, a Japanese architect, Jun Igarashi. 
Read more about it Here.

Via Grijs,
Via Designboom

No rest for the Wary

I know some of these images and Wary Meyer's work has already made it's way around the blogosphere, but I just have to do a bit of reiterating here.

I love the way their spaces feel like the interiors of all the great '70s interior design books - an inspiration of theirs - the warmth, the patterns and textures, the mix-match of styles, old with new, etc. Just when we're starting to reach for the white paint threatening to turn our living room into a clean austere shrine of scandavian influence...Wary's got me thinkin' what if we did a 360 and busted out some wallpaper and pop art prints and went all Rhoda Morgenstein up in the joint?

I'm not really sure if we have the interior decor cojones to do either full-on, but it sure is reassuring that we can be inspired by either. We'll meet somewhere in the middle...as soon as we can figure out how to not make the living room our shipping room.

Check out Wary's blog too to see a sampling of the stuff they find inspiring (they're also one hell of a thrifty duo).

Starting 2011 With a Big SHABANG! (through our kitchen wall)

HAPPY 2011!!!
L&G started the year with a big bang.....through our wall between our kitchen & living room on New Year's Day!!

This is just PHASE 1 of only-god-knows-how-many-phases-we'll-take-to-do-our-kitchen-remodel project.
We decided that this year we're gonna actually devote some time/effort/$$ for our house that's been a little neglected....
But also we just got tired of the middle wall that divided our living room & kitchen, which made our kitchen feel too closed off since the living room & kitchen is where both of us hang out majority of the time.

So as the first step, we decided to tear some stuff out to start the project.... and also release all the stress built up from 2010!!

Here's what it looked like BEFORE looking from the living room.

Dylan specking the wall to see what's up.

We took some time to tarp everything off...which is always surprisingly time consuming and not very exciting...

But then we started to tear out the first side of the drywall!!

And since I forgot to take photos, let's fast forward past making bunch of dusty mess, making grunting & hammering noises, taking down the upper cabinets and then tearing out the other side of the wall ....
TA-DA...we went through the wall!

Along the way I had to take this photo of this awesome texture, which was previously our 70's mauve colored tiled back splash wall....

Then we noticed that there's a mysterious half beam on the left side....yes, we just opened a whole can of worms.... This is gonna be an interesting challenge....

But here's what it looks like AFTER!

I know!...NOT that impressive looking at all!
Just to warn you, there's gonna be a whole lot of BEFORE/AFTER photos of stuff like this where the 'after' photos are just gonna look worse than before since it's probably just gonna be things getting torn up more and more....but hopefully that will change where the 'after' photos will get better as we get to do more exciting things.
But at least now you can see the whole kitchen from the living room!
The best part is that there's tons of light coming from the living room now, which is totally great!
I'm totally stoked about it even with just this raw-open wall. :D

Now we need to go figure out what to do with that weird half-beam....yikes...

Thrifty Find...Vintage Tapistry Rug

Our latest thrift find....a cool handmade rug of unknown origin...
We found this in a thrift store outside of LA for only $6!

The real color was supposed to be dark indigo...but sun faded to this purple, which I LOVE even more!!
It makes me happy to see all these lovely colors & patterns every time I get home or leave the house.

Wish I knew more about it....Does anyone have any insight about what type of rug this is?


L&G on Seattle Homes & Lifestyles Magazine

Oops, forgot to share this! Our servers got featured in October issue of Seattle Homes & Lifestyle Magazine along with our friends from Piano Nobile, Chadhaus, and LiT!!

I'd like to tap that: Roof Top Pyramid on top of a building

Ok. Never would I even think to consider the top of an office building as a possible place to live and raise kids....let alone the pyramid that's on top of Seattle's Smith Tower building that's been recently shown in the New York Times!!! Screw looking at houses that's meant for living....that's just way too lame and predictable!
I want a house where I get to take elevators that goes up 40+ floors that probably goes straight to the place, have all walls coming in at an angle versus just boring straight walls, and a view that's even better than what the public civilians gets to see from the observation deck only at the 35th floor. But the reality is that I should just give up and accept the fact that I will not end up living anywhere close to a place like this in my life time or next...especially I'm pretty sure that my next life I'm probably just gonna be a fruit fly...And I won't even be able to fly that high to sneak in there and pretend...
Yeah, you know something is not right, when the thought of your entire life doesn't even compare to these kids' life in the first 3 years of after being born....and the best part is...they won't even remember a darn thing in those years.....Man...what a realization....
But on a brighter note...I'm lucky enough to say that I live in the same city as these people! Just awesome.

I'd LIke to Tap That: Eclectically Modern Living Space

Amazing space via Office for Word and Image (OWI)....oh so wonderfully eclectic, airy and dynamic. I love the visual impact of the dark & minimal one-walled-kitchen.... The mix dining chairs collection reminds us a little like ours... looks like we're off to a good start....

I'd LIke to Tap that...Kitchen w/ Bookshelves

Loving this multifunctional kitchen with integrated bookshelves on the other side. I like how you don't even notice the kitchen right away!
But mostly I love how it really maximizes the storage space!
This mutli-functional live/work loft space is an old diamond cutting and-polishing shop that's been renovated and divided in 19 housing units in in Antwerp. I like how they created space within a space using those light frame and glass walls in keeping a level of transparency throughout.
oh boy! Sliding doors!! We so want do that for our bathroom someday!

I'd LIke to Tap that...Iconic House

This is the first of a series that I'd like to call "I'd Like To Tap That..."
where it will be designs related to awesome spaces, interiors or architecture.

I really like this simple iconic shape of a house extruded by Kavellaris Urban Design. It's great how they even continued the lines further out in the front to create the balcony and covered car lot.
what a nice open kitchen & dining room.....The seemingly simple concept is well-executed with thoughtful details through out the house inside and out. Pretty amazing how how bright it seems even though the only light source is coming from both ends of the house!

via blue ant studio

Home Sweet Tomatoes

It's been a long long gardening journey. Remember when we first started our garden from little tiny seeds back in March? Then our very first pea in May...then our first cucumber in July... And finally now.... this is the moment we've ALL been waiting for................drum roll.... I present you our fabulous tomatoes!! We've waited far too long and worked way too hard for these babies...evidently, we celebrated by doing a photo shoot.....and of course...added faces on them...That's what you're supposed to do with tomatoes, right?While every other city have already gotten their share of tomatoes, we watched and waited patiently. While everyone else made Caprese salad with their fresh homegrown tomatoes, we quietly put up with store bought ones. Not anymore....this is OUR time now!! OUR turn to harvest! OUR damn tomatoes! The crowd cheers..... TOH-MEH-TOH! TOH-MEH-TOH! TOH-MEH-TOH!TOH-MAH-LE?