together they wandered into the rose colored evening original painting by ASNEAK PEEK: NANCY NEIL
photographer nancy neil, her husband, lobster man and filmmaker, ethan and baby ohle live in this 1903 cabin that was built in capinteria, ca. to escape demolition, the cabin was moved to the foothills of santa barbara where it now sits on an 80-acre tropical fruit farm that has been family-owned since 1846. the original one-room cabin was expanded to include two bedrooms and two bathrooms, but the heart of the home is still the original structure built more than 100 years ago out of untreated railroad ties. the couple have their own chicken coop in the back and a large organic garden. nancyhas always had a passion for the arts and at 14 she already knew she wanted to be aphotographer. she’s worked on pregnancy portaiture, weddings, events and editorial for magazines like anthem and has worked with stewart+brown for the last two years (their fall/holiday shoot was on the property!) these beautiful images of her home just took my breath away! if you’d like to see more, there are 68 photos in the flickr set!{thanks nancy, ethan and ohle!} -amy a.
["Decorating" is not in our budget. So I always try my best to create a space that is warm and inviting from what we already have - a home rather than a house. Everything in our home has meaning and value to us and lots of the trinkets are reminders of moments and friends in our life. We are so fortunate to be living here. Just 12 days after we moved in - a little over a year ago - our previous home burnt to the ground in the Santa Barbara Tea Fires. Four months later, we delivered our son in this house. The first baby born on the property in over 100 years!]
[photo above: Our living room/dining room, which is heated by the wood burning stove in the corner. My husband trades lobster from his catch for firewood, which keeps us all nice and toasty. We left a large open space in the center so Ohle had room for running around. Our goal is create an environment that is hands-on. A place where he belongs and we don't constantly have to say "careful" or don't touch!"
[photo above: The corner of our dining room. The chandelier came with the place. The rest of the furniture is mid-century teak. The three plates above the window are some of my favorite gifts from our wedding and housewarming made by Rebekah Miles.]
CLICK HERE for the rest of Nancy’s Peek! (And all 24 images on one page!)
[photo above: This Wedgwood stove was salvaged from a nearby property and is definitely the best stove and oven I have ever had!]
[photo above: The kitchen was added onto the cabin about 10 years ago. I painted it a lively turquoise to ease the transition from dark railroad tie walls into plaster drywall construction. Lots of bright colors here and there keep it cheery because the kitchen is literally the center of the home. I cook almost all of our food - including all of Baby O's food here - so you can imagine the number of hours spent here. The spice rack I bought for $5 at a rummage sale and the Le Crueset pans are my favorite! Best cooking utensils EVER.]
[photo above: The leather couch in this room was a chance encounter - a friend saw someone from the Disney offices throwing it into a dumpster in LA and he said no! and brought it back to SB. It's very comfy and in pristine condition (also mid-century solid teak)]
[photo above left: The glass apothecary bottles are from my husband's last house in Santa Barbara. He and his friends dug into the ground to build a pool for skating and found these. The site was called the Wilderness - it was a surfboard glassing and shaping shop started in the '60s by George Greenough and operated through last year. Unfortunately, it was recently torn out by Cal Trans to enlarge the freeway. So these bottles are certainly keepsakes!]
[photo above: I made the shelves above the dresser from old fruit boxes from the '30s that were here on the ranch in an old storage shed.]
[photo above: The large print over our bed is from a series I photographed a few years ago. This collection of images was very moving and sold in three galleries in California. This image titled "Palms" was taken on a stormy day in Brownsville TX - the poorest county in our nation. A rainbow appeared just as I clicked the shutter!]
[photo above: The bathroom counter tops are made from huge old pieces of redwood.]
[photo above: A panoramic view of our property. The reddish roof is ours. Just over the misty hill in the distance is Rincon Beach. We spend most of our time outdoors if possible.]
