Take a peek inside the home of Deana Bracken, GWG’s president & creative director – featured on Apartment Therapy/Re-Nest!

Deana’s Vintage Glam Hilltop Cabin
Green House Call

Name: Deana Bracken, Interior designer and owner of Green With Glamour
Location: Silver Lake, Los Angeles

Moving from nearly 1800 square feet into under 600 square feet was a considerable design challenge, but the larger apartment was just too big for our needs. So this quirky, teeny 1923 hilltop cabin was a welcome change. Not only did the smaller space force me to purge many unnecessary furnishings that I had amassed over the years, but our energy use has taken a serious and glorious nose dive as well.

I would describe my personal style as vintage-glam-meets-mid-century-mod, with a dash of uptown bohemia (although I adore working with all styles for client projects—from craftsman to super sleek contemporary). My number one design inspiration is my grandmother. Her approach to living is a bit more formal than my own, but the way she makes elegance look easy has always spoken to me.

As for “green” elements, my primary focus is re-use, although I do like to trick out the surfaces with décor from Green With Glamour. Just about every element (furniture, lighting, rugs, pottery, even most of the artwork) in the house is second hand, including my grandmother’s massive 1971 Chesterfield sofa. I have had amazing luck finding thrift store gems on my many trips to Palm Springs. Whenever a vintage piece is in need of re-upholstery, I look to stylish, sustainable textile designers like Mod Green Pod and Rubie Green for gorgeous fabrics—and of course, my upholsterer works with kapok (upon request).

The bedding is organic cotton from West Elm. The headboard I made myself from a discarded hollow door, organic cotton batting and a wonderful hemp linen I found at Near Sea Naturals. I’m not big on window treatments (luckily the house is incredibly private), but I did fashion the “dining room” drapery from remnant silk and all of the paints are no or low-VOC.

When I first saw the house, every room was painted this horrible dusty pink, so that was clearly the first thing that had to go. Though I’m typically a big fan of boldly colored walls, the cabin is so small and weird, I opted for a bright, warm white for all walls with the exception of a half wall in the kitchen on which I used a metallic Ralph Lauren paint leftover from a design project.

However, I would say the greatest issue with this space is that it’s tiny. The bedroom is barely big enough to fit a queen sized bed (leaving only an 18″ path on one side), but luckily the built-in shelving and closet spaces are quite efficient… so the overall vibe of the room is quite cozy. The living/dining area and the kitchen are actually fairly spacious, so once I paired the furnishings down to only truly beloved pieces, everything seemed to fall perfectly into place. The bathroom is ridiculously small (including the shortest claw foot tub I’ve ever encountered). The walls are old and rough, so I upholstered them with a bold-patterned remnant fabric that covered all of the flaws and tried to keep every other element in the room clean and white as to not look “too much.” The kitchen has a very late 70s/early 80s vibe which actually works wonderfully with my vintage pottery, heirloom china and glassware collections… and the view is incredible. It actually makes doing dishes way less of a chore. The covered patio is one of my favorite spaces. The view goes on forever, it’s roomy enough for about 8-10 people to sit comfortably, but even better for romantic dinners for two.

My latest article for The Green Girls…

I recently learned that controversial writer (Henry & June), erotica advocate and elegant bohemian Anais Nin lived in my neighborhood, with husband Rupert Pole, for about 20 years beginning in 1962.  She helped design her hill-perched Silver Lake getaway home with architect Eric Lloyd Wright (grandson of Frank Lloyd Wright).

Interior shots of Anain Nin’s Silver Lake home

The Pole (& Nin) Residence by Eric Lloyd Wright

Needless to say, I’m now officially obsessed with the house and it’s feminine take on early 60s Modern architecture.  Nin’s decor style is not dissimilar to my own… nods to Japanese style and Chinoiserie, ethnic textiles and mixing clean, mod pieces with organic, natural-y furniture and classically refined American & French staples.  So, there aren’t many tasks I enjoy more than searching for new (& old) goodies that work for the likes of Ms. Nin.

Reclaimed wood print block panel at CB2

Art Deco box

The Kalafornia Lounger by WhyrHymer at Green With Glamour

Vintage Curtis Jere lamp

Reclaimed Oriental rug made from 100% recycled plastic bottles

Anais Nin at home in Silver Lake

The Stott Family of Lena, IL were the subjects of this week’s Extreme Makeover Home Edition on ABC.   Down in their luck – not only because if the hard hit American farmers have taken in this economy AND with global warming climate conditions – the wife and mother of three teenagers, Joey, is a Leukemia survivor.  To help design the new, energy efficient farm house for the family of 5… David Duchovny was on hand to lend support to both the show and the idea of building with energy efficiency (the new farm is complete with a windmill!).

For the interiors… who did the design producers turn to for some amazing, “eco-chic” home decor?  You guessed it – Green With Glamour!  Front and center on the Stott Family’s new coffee table sits the recycled glass pedestal bowl from GWG!

And for the Master bedroom, the shows host Ty Pennington, opted to display 2 beautiful, one-of-a-kind salvaged wood pieces by Hitoshi Tanaka (we have since sold out of Mr. Tanaka’s pieces).

One of Tanaka’s gorgeous pieces used for the EMHE Stott Family house!

And scene.

The Stott Family of Lena, IL were the subjects of this week’s Extreme Makeover Home Edition on ABC.   Down in their luck – not only because if the hard hit American farmers have taken in this economy AND with global warming climate conditions – the wife and mother of three teenagers, Joey, is a Leukemia survivor.  To help design the new, energy efficient farm house for the family of 5… David Duchovny was on hand to lend support to both the show and the idea of building with energy efficiency (the new farm is complete with a windmill!).

For the interiors… who did the design producers turn to for some amazing, “eco-chic” home decor?  You guessed it – Green With Glamour!  Front and center on the Stott Family’s new coffee table sits the recycled glass pedestal bowl from GWG!

And for the Master bedroom, the shows host Ty Pennington, opted to display 2 beautiful, one-of-a-kind salvaged wood pieces by Hitoshi Tanaka (we have since sold out of Mr. Tanaka’s pieces).

One of Tanaka’s gorgeous pieces used for the EMHE Stott Family house!

And scene.

This week’s Do-Gooder is a champion of the well-rounded sustainable lifestyle… architecture, arts, entertainment, transportation – you name it. You may know his documentary Who Killed the Electric Car?, a widely lauded look at politics, Big Oil and the future of transportation.  His latest pro-environment welfare project is his own homestead in Culver City, CA.  A 21st Century Case Study house for sustainable design, comfortable living, and hi-tech function.  Behold the Marrakesh House!

This place is completely tricked out with “green” features inside & out.  Click here for and impressive & extensive list of “eco” details.  And another majorly impressive stat about the house’s construction:

A typical 4,300 square foot home construction project creates over 12,000 lbs of trash. The Marrakesh House team was able to eliminate 75% of this potential waste from entering a landfill by reusing and recycling original materials like lumber and dirt.

 And beyond actively proving that living “green” is as comfortable and easy as living “mainstream”… and certainly proving that it’s infinitely better for the environment, it’s people and all our our futures… and not to mention SO much more chic, Chris Paine is also hellbent on making the Marrakesh House a hub for “eco” entertaining – a modern day roundtable salon of sorts.  To kick off this beautiful home’s long & mindful life, Chris is hosting an open house fete on June 6th.  If you’re in the LA area… Come party like it’s 2099!

Paine & design collaborator Shellie Collier amongst the solar panels.

My dear Matthew (via his dear Cory) turned me onto this amazing home in England, by dRMM Architecture, that SLIDES!  Check it… I wrote a lengthier post for The Green Girls – feel free to read it here, but here’s the gist:

The outer “shell” is on a track that can slide from one end of Living area – which includes 3 buildings, a swimming pool and a courtyard.  Depending on where the shell is positioned… the pool  & courtyard can be covered or uncovered, the house can be completely enclosed or exposed to bright light!

The super sunny side of this entire brillsville design is that the mobility of the shell gives the homeowners great control over their interior climate, manipulating the heating and cooling loads of the house – in turn lowering their energy usage!