Vacation Photo Dump: Part 2

After seven blissful nights in Rincon we headed up to Southern CA to see my family. It was a short trip (only two days) but it was great seeing them. I love being home. It is so quiet and peaceful. And the stars, my lord the stars are amazing.

We spent Saturday visiting the Gamble house in Pasadena and then we took a detour to the Huntington Library. I had only ever read about the Gamble house so I was really excited to take the tour and see inside. Unfortunately they don't allow photography inside but really that is ok since they had restored the original lighting to it's 15 watt glory. Not really the best for pictures. The outside was amazing enough.

It was built in 1908 for David and Mary Gamble of Proctor and Gamble. The entire place took 10 months to complete and cost 50,000 dollars (which is 1,197,871.70 now). Daniel hates when no-one gives the inflation adjusted values so there it is. 


The house is seriously huge. My house was built 4 years before and you can tell it was the cheap inexpensive version of this house. There are so many great aspects to the design of the house. I loved the front door

and the fact that every door had a screen door which is amazing if you think about the era.

Here it is lit up from the inside.



The whole house is paneled in teak which is insane.  With those 15 watt bulbs it is amazing no one went blind it was so dark inside, but, they made up for it with a ridiculous amount of windows. The other really neat feature of the house is that all of the furniture was made specifically for the home by the builders. Apparently it cost them $10,000 to furnish the place (or $239,574.34). Can you imagine having furniture that was actually meant to fit in your home instead of having to try and find things that fit? The possibilities are endless. 


Oh my, and the kitchen, it was huge!





It had a butler's pantry, a pastry room and a screened in porch for the servants to eat on (complete with Stickley furniture if you can believe it).

Basically the house was a Craftsman lover's paradise. It made me all excited to get working on our house again. I drooled over all of the built in storage and wood floors. You can check out more photo's of the house here or go on the virtual tour. If you ever make it to CA and are in to this sort of thing you should definitely take the time to see it.

Tomorrow I'll show you pics of the Huntington Library and it's gardens. Between the Gamble house and that I am pumped to get more done on our house! I love inspiration.

Anyone else tour historic homes for fun? We were the youngest people on the tour. Though I grew up in a Craftsman, they have a special place in my heart.

My childhood home

Cheers!