My newest guilty obsession

Just to tide me over the ebay boycott next week I have been wasting many hours researching the wonderful decorative items for sale on Etsy.
I found this really cute glass dish from deSignSSglaSS. I'm going to use as a soap-dish in the girls' bath. The size is just right and it has a nice modern feel, plus it's unique. The weird thing is that the stripes are more sage green than pewter in real life.
Funny how the camera lies isn't it?

Valentine's Day: The modernemama Edition

Those who know me are aware that I came without the Romantic Gene. It was just a programming error, it really doesn't affect my life for 364 days a year. But on Valentine's Day I'm supposed to make an effort to be all cutesy hearts and flowers. It's tough, it's not me at all.
Then I found the perfect card for my Valentine.
Enjoy.

Valentine's Day: The British Edition

For all those homesick Brits, here's one more thing to crave on Valentine's Day.


Champagne with the black stuff? Mmmm.
Last year it was Guinness for St. Patrick's Day. I wonder what they have in store for 2009?
via Trendhunter.

An environmental dilemma

Redwood trees versus solar panels: Which is the more environmentally-friendly?
I caught this cautionary tale and moral dilemma about a neighbor dispute and a supposedly "green" law in California on story on NPR's Morning Edition. Listen to the podcast here.


I have a gut reaction to this. I'm on the side of the trees. Perhaps I'm biased, after all my house has redwood siding, a redwood ceiling and landing and this wood is now protected. I really appreciate the beauty and strength of the sequoia, all the more so because it's really difficult to get any if we have a siding disaster at any time.
Trees are inherently more eco-friendly than solar panels. They are, after all, living things not "public nuisance hazards". Imagine the global warming effect if every person with solar panels on their roof decided to use this law to force their neighbor to remove their trees. If we chop down all the trees to allow more sun to reach the solar panels we choke and die on the smog they absorb for us. Then there's the useful shade they provide, the habitat for birds and animals and the seeds...
Dr Seuss said it best
I'm the Lorax who speaks for the trees
which you seem to be chopping as fast as you please.
But I'm also in charge of the Brown Bar-ba-loots
who played in the shade in their Bar-ba-loot suits
and happily lived, eating Truffula Fruits.
NOW...thanks to your hacking my trees to the ground,
there's not enough Truffula Fruit to go 'round.

The Kitchen as Art

I a big fan of Leicht kitchens. I've had their catalogues for years. When we lived in Europe I lusted after one and I'd order one today if it were raining money. They're sleek, warm and generally not as expensive as other German and Italian kitchen manufactures.
But this Largo-FG Highline? What travesty of form over function is this?
Beautiful cabinetry, don't get me wrong, and I love the idea of a floating appliance wall but you see that box thing on the floor? Now imagine the scene: modernemama is carrying a large tray of dirty plates back to the kitchen after a fabulous meal. The guests are at the dining table waiting for their espressos and digestifs, when a crash resounds through the house. Guests rush into the kitchen to find modernemama out cold, surrounded by shards of broken glass and china (some of which have caused massive bleeding, possibly severed an artery) and the remains of the Pork Stroganoff with Three Mustards dripping from the walls and ceiling. All because she fell over that stupid piece of walnut "furniture art" in the foreground of the photo.
Beautiful? Yes. Practical? Not so much.

40th House Anniversary

It didn't hit me until I opened the New York magazine this morning but our house will be 40 in June. At least the blueprints that Andrew Geller drew up are dated June 1968. This is so exciting. We have to celebrate!
Any cool, swinging-sixties ideas how?

A Welcome Intervention

Just as I was thinking I needed an intervention to control my ebay addiction I find out we have to boycott ebay for a week starting Monday February 18. It's just the break I need to kick the habit. Unfortunately it still means there are six more bidding days to go and at this rate I'm going to be in serious trouble by then.

Orange Slice Chair update

Update to the post on the Pierre Paulin Orange Slice chair. The auction was Sunday and the chair and ottoman fetched $3000. It went to a floor bidder so I guess no one bid on it as a gift for me. Sob.

I'm A Star

At last official recognition of my Star Status.
I'm touched and humbled by this honour. I'd like to thank first the eBay sellers who put up for auction the mid-century furniture and art I cannot live without. And eBay itself for making it so easy for me to bid. But most of all I'd like to thank my husband, Steven for supporting me in my quest to shop so much on eBay that I received this award. The months of penury will now all be worthwhile, darling.
Thank you, thank you all.

Valentine's Day: The "weekender" edition

I would like to thank our neighbors for a fun-filled Saturday evening of great food and wine but especially for the Valentine's related topics of conversation ranging from serial engagements to love handles (both on the body and the handles in the shape of hearts on the Valentine's mugs, which I named "love handles") and from fig leaves to E.D. and what to do if you are afflicted by a four-hour erection resulting from an overdose of Cialis. Would a dip in a neighbor's icy-cold pool take the ahem edge off, so to speak? I haven't laughed so much since 2007.
I was suffering from verbal diarrhoea, the result, I think, of not being able to speak for the last couple of weeks and a couple of glasses of red wine, which always loosens my tongue. It was so bad that even when we went to bed I kept waking up every couple of hours and I WAS STILL TALKING. I seemed to have got it out of my system now, though.
So once again, thanks both for the wonderful hospitality and for the opportunity to mention erectile dysfunction on my blog.

Dressing made easy

Ever since we moved in I've had difficulty getting dressed. No, not with the buttons or zippers, it's colours that have been the problem. I can't tell you the number of times I've left the house thinking I was dressed head to toe in basic Soho black and found out I had on a brown shirt, black trousers and navy boots. While Stacey and Clinton may tell you navy and brown are neutrals and you can wear any neutral with anything else, this is a BIG FAT LIE. You just look like you have no sense of style, or you got dressed in the dark. Which is pretty much what I've been doing since June 2004.
I'm feeling much better after the recent bout of sickness. And a little restless (nothing done on our 2008 House Resolution List) so I went to Ikea to get a $5 lampshade to go on the recent ebay purchase. $5 I figured wouldn't break the bank and it would only take me 5 minutes as I knew exactly what wanted. Ha, I was cursed by the Ikea fairy as I walked in the door. Actually not fairies but two "greeters" a la Walmart. Normally this would scare me but they weren't too cheery, and were quite young and fit and while I was wondering when Ikea Long Island started to employ people to smile at you as you entered, in fact when they started to have enough employees they could afford to station two at the entrance, and whether they were expecting a riot? Or someone taking up residence in the store without permission, that I was unexpectedly pulled deeper into the lighting department by some really bright halogen ceiling lights.
Really bright lights that would fit in our master closet. So that I could see what I was pulling on in the morning. So I wouldn't leave the house looking like I didn't care what I looked like. And they were only $35 each. I bought two.


It took Steven 30 seconds to take down the old lights and put one of the new ones up. They've changed the fittings on the Ikea ceiling lights and they are a joy to fix. Could have done it myself it was so easy. No fiddling twisting wires together - it's a push/pull system. All lights should be this easy. Then it took an hour to fix the second one because the electrical box is buried in the ceiling and we had to devise a system of spacers and screws to get it to the correct depth (thank you original electrician, I wish only good things for you) but I wasn't about to give up on this.


Eventually though we made it work and turned the lights on. Oh my god! So this is what my clothes look like. I had no idea.


I was so impressed that I will be going back to Ikea next week to get another fixture to go in the laundry room. So I can see if the clothes coming out of the washing room really are clean.


Oh, yes, the lampshade I went to Ikea to get. That fitted, too.

Chair Lust

I love Pierre Paulin's designs. There was a pink Pierre Paulin Ribbon chair in the great room when we viewed this house and I fell in love. Even though they cost over $5000 and the pink color is no longer available I lusted after that chair. I still hope one day when we are rich I'll be able to own one, maybe in a cranberry colour.
Yesterday I found this chair and ottoman on the live auction part of eBay. It's an Orange Slice chair by Paulin and I am lusting so badly after it. Wouldn't it go beautifully in the master bedroom? It's starting at $1000, cheaper than the $5000 for the Ribbon chair but still way out of my prce range. Unless someone wants to bid on it for me (don't forget the 22.5% buyer's premium and shipping charges if you do) it's destined to go to another admirer.
If you are into mid-century chairs LA Modern Auctions has another 140 beautiful original designs for sale. They're all in the $500-$3000 starting price range. But hey, looking is free!

Leisurama Wine Event

Mid-century architecture and wine. Two of my favorite things. And they've thrown in cheese. Another fave. Then there's a personal house connection - the architect of the Leisurama homes was Andrew Geller, who designed our house. Plus I've been desperate to see the film since I first heard about it. It sounds like pretty much everything I want from an evening's entertainment. And of course I can't go.
I could go if I was sure I wouldn't cough all the way through it but I've attended enough concerts, plays and speeches to know how super freakin' annoying it is when someone starts hacking and how much I've longed to pelt them with Halls Mentholated Cough Drops when they JUST WON"T STOP.
So this is payback for my years of intolerance. Karma caught up with me. I guess I'll have to catch it when it airs on PBS, just like everyone else. Sob, cough, snivel.

Lovely Lulworth

We changed the fitting on the lamp I got on ebay so it could take the spider fitting on the Mibo Lulworth shade but I think it's not quite right. While I love the drum shape and the pattern, the shade really needs to be an inch or two lower at the bottom to cover the fitting. Rats. There's nothing I can do about it until I feel strong enough to tackle the shade shops out in the real world.


On the plus side, though, the 75 watt CFC light bulb provides enough light to illuminate the whole of that side of the kitchen so we no longer have to switch on the five floodlights in the ceiling. Think of the money we must be saving. Each of those spots is between 60 and 100 watts. Ka-ching. And one measly little energy-saving bulb lights it better (light shines out the top and bottom of the shade) and doesn't scorch the top of your head either. Who knows, maybe we'll save enough to be able to buy a Mibo lamp base for the Lulworth shade?

Lingering sickness + no energy = postlessness

The view from my sick bed where I crawled last Tuesday: redwood ceiling and oak beams. I never tire of admiring its beauty but a week of looking at little else is beginning to pall. I must be feeling better. Hopefully we'll be back to more fascinating posts soon.

Still sick but at least we haven't lost our appetites

We're still too sick to do anything productive like go out for cocktails but at least I can still cook.


What's in the huge size 28 Le Creuset casserole I inherited?


Buffalo chili, lots of buffalo chili. Enough to feed 2 people twice a day for five days.


Fresh out of the oven a loaf of No-time bread


Unfortunately it looks like this bread isn't going to last a day, let alone five. It is seriously good, requires only an hour once you've collected the ingredients from the pantry to slicing it and smearing it butter and it smells like heaven. At least I think it does. I lost my sense of smell sometime around January 3 with the first cold and it hasn't returned yet.
The basic recipe was so good last time that I got creative and made a *Tuscan inspired version


*No-Time Bread (standard recipe)
1 loaf

4 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast (two packets)
1 tablespoon sugar
1 1/2 cups water
3 1/2 cups bread flour
1 1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon balsamic vinegar

In the bowl of a heavy-duty stand mixer put the yeast, sugar, and water and let it sit.

Heat the oven to 450°F. Put a Dutch oven in to warm as the oven heats. Get out your flour, salt, vinegar, spray oil, and anything else you need.

Now that the yeast has had a few minutes to bubble up, add 3 cups of the flour as well as the salt and vinegar and beat for several minutes with the paddle. Add the last 1/2 cup of flour and switch to the dough hook and beat for seven minutes. Alternately, knead vigorously for five minutes, or until the dough becomes extremely elastic. This will still be a wet dough, but not goopy. The dough will clear the sides of the bowl but still stick to the bottom

Oil a microwave-safe bowl and transfer the bread dough to it, rolling it in the oil. Cover the bowl with a very wet towel. Cover the whole thing with a dry towel and put in the microwave for 25 seconds.

Tuscan Loaf
To the dry ingredients I added:
I tablespoon chopped rosemary
2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese
To the water and balsamic I added:
2 tablespoons olive oil

Recipe via thekitchn.com

Closet Envy

Writing the post or the definition of a bedroom got me searching for closet doors, wardrobes and other stylish places to hang one's clothes.


First there was this beauty, from Spaceslide via wikipedia.


This Shoji screen inspired wardobe from Yarra Valley.


Traditional painted wardrobes from Joshua Jones.


And finally this lightbox wardrobe from architect Pierce Tynan.
Unfortunately, the first three are all UK designs and Pierce Tynan is from Dublin, Ireland. Isn't that just the way things go?

What makes a bedroom?

Another bout of snivelling colds and hacking coughs has us torturing ourselves watching reality shows and HGTV. It's about all our feeble brains and even feebler bodies can cope with. We expect nothing from this TV except entertainment but occasionally we come away with a piece of knowledge that we would be unlikely to glean anywhere else.
Watching HGTV's "My House Worth What?" over the weekend we heard a realtor say that in America the legal definition of a bedroom is a room that contains a built-in closet! We were pretty much astounded by this because we'd always assumed that a bedroom is any room used for sleeping. It also means that of the many houses I have lived in, only four had bedrooms. The majority were either too old to have built-in closets or were in countries where this was not an issue. We just purchased wardrobes or armoires to hang our clothes in and put these in our "bedrooms". We knew no better.
So I checked the internets for an online definition. Three online dictionaries described it as a room containing a bed, while another gave this definition that is at once vague and overly precise. "Any habitable room that can be used for sleeping. This typically includes, but is not limited to, a room with a proper escape window and one in which there is a closet or a door OR a closet or a door could be reasonably installed. ...". I don't understand why it would be either a closet or a door or the possibility of either that defines a room but I know if I had to choose between the two I'd go for a door every time. Because otherwise it's a box that I can't get out of, no?
Of course I couldn't leave it there. I had to know - what makes a bedroom, and I found another definition in the San Matteo, California town code "an enclosed habitable space" that is designed primarily for sleeping and contains at least one window. State building codes require that a bedroom must be a minimum of 70 square feet.
It's all very confusing but I know one thing: Most of the built-in closets I've seen have the ugliest doors* and I'd rather have a sleek modern PAX wardrobe from IKEA or a beautiful old armoire any day.

* If all closet doors looked like this I'd take that back!

Amazon's Next Breakthrough Author*

*Susan Beale, this could be YOU!
A friend has made it to the semi-finals of the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award. Chapeau! It's so exciting to know an almost published author.
There's an excerpt from her novel Tracings on the Amazon Digital Download page, so go over and check it out. You can even review it too. But do it before March 2nd, that's when this part of the competition will be over and the finalists will be chosen. Enjoy!

Food for a cold day

Is there anything better when the temperature is below freezing than homemade salsa soup*


A loaf of bread direct from the oven


And a hunk of Iberian cheese with red pepper?


Oh yes, it's that glass of Cabernet that adds the appropriate warmth to the lunch.

*Salsa Soup
* 1 tablespoon olive oil
* 1 chopped onion
* 2 chopped carrots
* 2 chopped sticks celery
* 1 tablespoon minced garlic
* 1 teaspoon salt and fresh pepper
* 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
* 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
* carton vegetable or chicken stock
* 1 15-oz. can diced tomatoes
* 1 15-oz. can cannellini beans
* 2 tablespoons salsa

Sweat onions, garlic, carrots and celery in olive oil for 5 mins. Add beans, tomatoes, stock, red pepper flakes and oregano. Season. Cook 45 mins - 1 hour. Stir in salsa. Serve.

O eBay, how I do love you

I have a confession. I hate antiques. Or rather I hate "antiquing". All the rummaging through musty, dusty old furniture in the hope of uncovering a treasure gives me the heeby-jeebies. That's why I love eBay. I can spend hours looking for the right piece of furniture that I want need to decorate my house. Because it's all pre-sorted. Just for me.
Which leads me to a little problem. It's so easy to persuade myself that I need a particular item, and just as easy to bid on it, that before I know it I have severely depleted the master bath budget that I promised I would stick to so we can shower in there this year.


Despite the projected weaker eBay profits for 2008 I don't see any downturn in spending in this house.

Anonymous

Just a word about why I was forced to moderate comments on my blog. It really pains me to have to do this but the same comment appearing time and time again advertising a notorious furniture company (in terms of bad taste and bad labour relations, that is) spells Shoulder of Pork and Ham to me.
I also don't moderate comments from Mr, Mrs, Ms or Miss Anonymous. If you want to call my taste into question, go ahead but be big enough to sign your name to it. Before you leave that anonymous comment consider that if we all liked the sane things the world would be a pretty boring place and there would be no incentive to learn anything new. EVER.
So Dear Anonymous, I moderate comments, it's my blog and that's the way I call it. Freedom of speech, which is what you think the blogosphere is all about, means my freedom not to give you a platform for your ranting. If you want to do that, start your own blog.


To all those who own their comments: I welcome your input, thank you for stopping by and have a great day.

Baby Gates

Note to self:
NOT ALL WOOD NEEDS TO BE POLISHED. Specifically, NEVER POLISH WOOD STAIRS WITH PLEDGE.
Sadie fell down the stairs last week. Not the back stairs that I slid down but the front ones that end in the slippery parquet. She tumbled down the stairs, slid the length of the foyer and was stopped by the den carpet inches from the glass table.


I needed to keep Sadie on one level for a few days and as she is my shadow we had to dig out the baby gates we bought when we first laid the bamboo floors. They may be ugly and awkward for us to negotiate but they do the job of keeping the dogs on the ground floor.


Surprisingly enough it is Polly who has suffered more with the re-introduction of boundaries. It really hampers her herding instinct when she can't reach those who need herding (usually kittens) and she's taken to spending even more time in the yard, occasionally tapping on the door so someone can answer her call and reassure her that we haven't left her.


Luckily there were no permanent injuries from my over-zealous cleaning jag but just to remind me that it's all my fault, the dogs reproach me by looking at me like this.

Tulips

Nothing says winter can't last forever like tulips. Red tulips in a pink room.

Mibo shade on mid-century lamp

Cute? Not cute?

Lights, swearing, action.

The answer to the question in yesterday's post is "by leaving 5cm exposed".


It took three attempts to fix the new pendant light to the ceiling in Verity's room because we had forgotten how much of the ceiling screw to leave hanging down. Too much and there would be an ugly chrome screw visible between the fitting and the ceiling,


too little and the plate wouldn't screw on.


Five cms is perfect. We need to be this precise, almost 2" doesn't cut it.


I took the Mibo shade off and just plonked it on the lamp to get the effect but I really like it. When I've taken the Gorilla Glue (thank you Jennifer for the suggestion) to the break in the ceramic, I'll put the shade on and voila - two new lights.

Rule #1

Rule #1 when keeping a houseblog should be BLOG EVERYTHING, every little detail, no matter how insignificant, irrelevant or just plain boring it may seem at the time. By doing that you will be able to avoid the "Well how did you fix it last time?" conversation that is an integral part of home repair and renovation. Because you could just LOOK IT UP ON YOUR BLOG.

House Porn*

*Alert: the links in this post may provoke feelings of desire and discontent, you have been warned.


I'm jealous, envious, totally green and WOWED by this Nolita reconstruction, It as as stylehive suggests quite possibly the coolest house you will ever see. Make sure you take in the slideshow - the master bedroom, the kid's room, the roof-top see-saw - how did they ever envisage these things?
The owners, both designers, have a website where you can read all about them and their SIX children, learn about their signature "Vintage Nouveauxx" style and see other spaces they have designed for clients. All while listening to their impeccable taste in music. Try not to lick the screen.
Oh yes, I feel very inadequate right now.

The right light

Ever since I put the Mibo pendant light in Verity's room I've felt it was too small for the space. You can't really tell from the photo but her room is 15' x 11' while the lampshade is only 12" diameter.


I actually used the same dimensions as the original chandelier but that was a fancy piece so it seemed bigger.


The interim light, that came out of Steven's office was also small, but longer so again we had the illusion it was bigger.


I was really happy with the pendant lights we had in the other bedrooms so I searched for something 20" wide with a diffuser underneath (so the light won't shine in her eyes) and eventually found the Double-Dip Pendant Light, at CB2. I've been really happy with the quality of their shades, and the price is unbeatable.


I'm hoping that the Mibo shade will sit on the new (old) teak lamp I bought on ebay last week.
The shade arrived this morning and I think it's going to work but I won't know until Saturday when Steven will be doing his lampshade adjustment dance again, but this time in reverse.