Backyard Color

Someone else's beautiful


bird-adorned backyard


on super relaxing, laid back, do nothing, summery Cape Cod.

Off-season

Tiana Beach, Hampton Bays, NY


Cupsogue Beach, Long Island, NY

Getting Away From It All

We changed our plans and extended the vacation another day so we could go out on the water


That proved to be a great idea


Because wherever we looked


To the right or the left


Up or down


It seemed the wildlife was out enjoying the sun, too

Whatever

The weather didn't necessarily cooperate every day but there was always something interesting to do in while recharging our batteries and regaining our sense of fun


Build-a-boat in Portland. ME


Spotting exotic animals


experiencing the town art


or admiring the town architecture - Belfast, ME

Marble Madness

The bids for the laundry room countertop came in - Carrara marble beat Group D Corian by over $300 which amazed me. It's the same stone we used in the master bath and fits in the overall color scheme of the house. But still, it really isn't what I envisioned for the laundry room. So for all the times I have ridiculed the overuse of marble and granite in home renovations, I APOLOGISE!


Obviously, we were trying to keep things simple. I could have gone completely crazy and picked one of these grey-toned beauties.


Or changed the color scheme to incorporate the red Porphyry or yellow Giallo Antico marbles.


At least we are stopping before the house looks like this!


All images from last month's visit to the Room of Colored Marbles in the Getty Villa where you can also find this very handy guide to the different marbles used in the room. Click to embiggen!

Little Phallicies

You know how it is when you are walking around an art gallery or a museum, something unexpected catches your eye;


you wonder if it's just you but it seems that everywhere you look


up


or down


inside


or out


there always a tiny piece of Classic art staring you right in the face


it's enough to make one swoon!

Racquet Club Estate Tour 2010

Palm Springs: Racquet club Estates Tour, part of Modernism Week 2010. Seven mid-century modern homes, five Palmer & Krisel designed Alexander homes - some with butterfly roofs, another with a flat roof; a Donald Wexler Steel House and a Meiselman post and beam. They have been restored, some keeping as faithful to the original as possible, others updated and expanded but all retaining the desert's mid-century tenets of clear lines, walls of glass, clerestory windows, airy rooflines and indoor/outdoor living.


The surrounding landscape is always part of the home - here mountains form a dramatic backdrop to the pool


Each of the homes is unique in its own fashion - here the breezeway wasn't part of the original Meiselman house but was added along with a master bath and guest suite during a year-long renovation. While other homeowners had updated with an eye to budget this home had it all- Bulthaup kitchen, LED color-changing lighting and infinite jacuzzi tub.


We signed up for the tour not only to get a closer look at Krisel's and Wexler's designs but to see if there were any renovations we could use in our own house. We brought back a couple. One was the ingenious hole cut through the frameless shower doors that enables you to turn the water on without hopping in and out of freezing spray. The other? To clear The Cool House of all clutter and tabletop "fluff"! We also confirmed how well-suited ikea is to mid-century kitchens and bathrooms - especially when paired with quartz counters. Catch the local news video of the tour here and spot The Guy chatting with designer Anne Breux about, what else, beds...

Inspiration after the fact

Shower walls: 8 x 13 porcelain tiles
I think the hiatus on the master bathroom renovation while I went to Palm Springs Modernism Week reinvigorated everyone. By late afternoon yesterday the shower was covered in anthracite Talis in a running bond pattern (the iphone camera makes it look brown) and half the bath walls were tiled in mosaic Eidos Grafito (both by Porcelanosa); perfectly positioned against the vertical Carrera marble slabs.

Master bath walls: 8 x 13 ceramic mosaic tiles
To tell the truth I was a little worried about the marble edge but it seemed the most creative way to solve the dilemma of joining two tiles with differing patterns and thicknesses. I'd never seen it done before - not in real life, not in a modern setting - and I wanted to ensure it looked neither obnoxious nor like the entrance to a mausoleum. After lots of research on the vanity top option I had decided marble would be the best way to keep within the grey/black palette; it also repeats the counter in the powder room and the credenzas in the great room and dining room, and I want to maintain continuity throughout the house. Once I'd settled on that for the horizontal planes it seemed fussy to add another element - wood - for the vertical.

Second floor Women's Restrooms, Gettty Villa: black marble mosaic tile
It's funny how you can worry about the details - even though the tiler, the contractor, the carpenter, the painter and most importantly The Guy assured me it was the simplest solution. I really seconded guessed myself for days and several sleepless night in Palm Springs until I found tranquility and validation in the restrooms of the Getty villa in Los Angeles. Mosaic and marble - classic but uniquely modern.

Elephants & Palms

Escape!

As nothing much is happening on the reno front - a 23" x 17" tile short of a finished floor snafu followed by snow days, sick tiler, and a wrong cabinet door setback - I'm tucking my head under my wing, embracing oblivion and swapping


this*


for this


and this*



for Palm Springs Modernism Week

Last year we stayed here for a conference; pretty pink flamingos, great sushi and Starbucks vouchers offered in exchange for hard sell to buy a timeshare - classy! Apparently these people had splashier time...

*
1. tree down!
2. floor tile, one piece short of perfection

Haiti

I can't blog about home/decor/design while so many are lives have been lost and many more are injured or without shelter. Please consider donating to Medecins Sans Frontieres/Doctors Without Borders or another charity working to provide disaster relief. Donate online via this link.
If you want to take part in a blog auction to raise funds go to Shorehouse Chic where Laura is doing her bit to help Haiti.

Window Shopping (Weekend Edition)

Brussels: Rue Blaes, Roberto Barr Papier Mache sculptures


Brussels: Sablon, Anne-Claire Petit knitted toys

Bonus: The artist at work in his atelier - Roberto Barr, 41 rue Blaes, Brussels

Window Shopping (Brussels)

All these wonderful antique/junk stores are on Rue Blaes, which runs from the Sablon (chi-chi) to the Marolles (traditionally the downtrodden part of Brussels). You can find everything you ever searched for and a lot you didn't know you wanted: art nouveau to art deco; MCM, retro and space age chic; made to measure furniture to custom leather handbags; old school chairs and even a working carousel!