Friday, July 18, 2008

Did you miss us?

Long time, no post. We were away, at a family event out in Colorado. Don't worry though, the Bangor Bungalow was never far from our mind.

In fact, Colorado (we were in Boulder) is a fantastic place for bungalowphiles.

First, of course, our favorite store, Modern Bungalow. Last time we were there was just a few months after we bought the house, and our bungalow palette was not as refined. It was AWESOME to go now. More blog later when we're fully recovered and when our purchases arrive (had to ship some things). Yes, we had saved our pennies before going and actually bought a couple nice things, not our usual M.O. of trash picking & fixing up. Nice to see how the other half lives for a change!

Second, the local architecture is very bungalow. We had a great time checking out the homes all the way from north to south Boulder, up in Nederland (very funky), and in Denver. Lots of the houses have wood shingles, which just looks so great on a bungalow - but would last about 2 seconds in Maine. Ah well.

Third, we went to the Colorado Chataqua, one of the last ones in existence. Started by Roosevelt in the early part of the 20th Century, these were places where scholars & teachers could go, with a traveling education roadshow - since most folks back then didn't finish high school. The one in Boulder is a great start to lots of hikes, has a wonderful restaurant (Dining Hall) and is full of bungalows and cabins to rent or use during their educational and arts programming. We peeked in this one, the Missions House. The piers in front, flanking the steps, will be a model for ours...


and the furniture was pretty fab too. We peeked through a screen door to get the view below. Nice! We're reorganizing the living room, so we need pointers on the best arrangement of furniture.



Fourth, We went to this place, ReSource. All you housebloggers in the area, this place was awesome. Not everything is vintage, but the prices were great. We saw a dutch door, loads of cabinets, and all sorts of lighting, lumber, tile, etc. Think: Home Depot amount of stuff, if you could be a bit flexible with design. We got a nice vintage brass light fixture for my study for $1. I told the guy I usually haggle on principle, but we would let him off easy since the price was right!



Where's the houseblogger with the kitchen cabinet conundrum? There are definitely some decent ones that you could use and replace or restructure the doors.

Fifth, we stayed with family some of the time (Thanks J&P!) and at a very cool motel the rest of the time - the Foot of the Mountain Motel. Great antidote to overpriced Boulder B&Bs! It is very vintage, the owners were just so great (one let me use his own personal hair gel when we left some of our supplies at J&Ps house), and it's in a beautiful spot up in the foothills. As the name suggests. Here's the view from the back of our rustic, cabin-like room:


It's also right along the trail that goes up Boulder Creek, so you can walk that way to and from downtown, OR you can walk the bungalow-lined streets. What a great trip, eh?


Now back to that to-do list...we have to get the hearth tiled QUICK before the stove shows up. Did we tell you about the tiles?...next time.

2 comments:

Jennifer said...

Glad you enjoyed Colorado! ReSource is one of my favorite stores...I've never been to the one in Boulder, but I go to the one in Fort Collins all the time! It IS fabulous. We've gotten all sorts of doors, hardware, lighting, plumbing supplies, and more there.

Karen Anne said...

I just looked at your "before" pdf again. Like Ken's, my Dad also told me (several times :-) not to pull on electrical cords. I thought it was because he worked for GE; maybe it is a Dad thing.