The current preoccupation

You can guess from yesterday's post and today's playlist (scroll to page end, press to play) that the economy, our economy that is, which is deeply affected by the real estate market, is my current #1 concern.
When we took on this house we knew it required a lot of work to correct the problems caused by years of deferred maintenance. We did everything necessary to make the house watertight, pest and rot free and we addressed certain things like removing carpets and landscaping that we thought would make the house more appealing and easier to live in. For the first two and a half years we were sure that every dollar we put into the house we would get back at least once. Now the market has turned and even though we didn't buy the house to flip (we bought because I was deeply in love with it) we have to consider carefully the level of investment we are prepared to make in the future.
I was therefore intrigued by an HGTV mail 30 Tips for Increasing Your Home's Value and I started to compare what we'd done with their checklist.
We started really well, a perfect score on things we could do for less than $100, and we are up to speed at the $100-$200 fixes, too. Things start to get a little wonky at the next level. I refuse to believe a "functional, decorative ceiling fan is a beautiful thing" even though my realtor told us to install ceiling fans in all the rooms as "buyers expect them". I've never met a ceiling fan I like and we have a HVAC system with a fan option so I hope I'm covered. Even more disturbing, though, is Tip #3: "Replace heavy closed draperies with vertical blinds or shutters to let light in — a sunny room feels larger and more open". Does this mean people keep their drapes closed all the time? What are they, troglodytes?
We ripped out all those vertical blinds the first week we were here. The same fan-loving realtor suggested it as an immediate way to increase the value of the house when we viewed the place and we took that advice. The rooms went from dark to light in the hour it took to pull the vertical vinyl from 10 windows. Did we do the right thing, or have we seriously compromised our real estate value?


Is this before shot really better than the image below?


Or should I give up reading the HGTV emails?

Recession, what recession?

While I'm trying to do each renovation project as frugally as possible in this uncertain housing market, some people don't have to worry. In an article in The New York Times Christopher Peacock talked about his booming business, why his kitchens command six-figures and how you can upgrade to difficult to clean sterling silver knobs and hinges
“The person who buys this kitchen isn’t polishing their own hardware,” said Mr. Peacock, stating the obvious. The Private Collection, he said, is an heirloom-quality room, with more detailing, hand-selected woods, those silver knobs, and a higher price, about 25 to 30 percent more than his other kitchens, he said, which on average, including the appliances and countertops he recommends, go for $185,000.
These kitchens are going into multi-million dollar quintessential estates so you would expect them to be outstanding quality and for the price to reflect that, but is it just me or does the featured kitchen look a little "standard"; it's like a lot of white kitchens I've seen for a lot less money. How are people to know I didn't get my fixtures from Restoration Hardware?
Finally, what is that TV doing stuck out on the right? It's surely an afterthought, and for all that money I'd want many hours of thoughtful planning to go into the design.

Fortunatissimo, family car

The new Karbon Articulating Kitchen faucet from Kohler featured in today's New York Times reminds me of something. I can't quite think of what.... oh, yes.......

The downside of wireless

When the keyboard batteries run out of juice in the middle of a post you're typing at 10 PM, that's the disadvantage to no unsightly wires in a de-cluttered office.
"You should always have spare batteries" I hear you cry.
Well, of course I keep spare batteries. In fact I'd just opened a new four pack but I'd put two into the wireless mouse and the iMac wireless keyboard takes three. Three AA batteries. That's so wrong. Thanks to Renovation Therapy (formerly Upstate) though, I managed to score a battery deal: money off plus a $2 coupon! I did have to argue with the sales assistant that the price on the register was not the price displayed, forcing her to walk half-way round the store to check, have a conversation with the manager who wanted to know where she was going, which turned a five minute pharmacy dash into a fifteen minute tussle. But hey, I was right and I saved $2.50, a dollar of which I promptly donated to this week's charity at the pharmacy.

Powder room progress

The garage is filling up with fixtures for the downstairs loo facelift. I have the tiles, grout and the faucet; the countertop will be ready by tomorrow; the vessel sink should be here by the end of the week. I have the towel bar we didn't use in the boys' bath redo, a new latch and new knob for the vanity. I even have new hand towels, liquid soap and hand cream from Floris of London (on sale in TJ Maxx). I'm missing just two things: a replacement for the saddle we cracked putting up the light fixture (HD is out of stock until April 10 and the place where the countertop is being fabricated wants $21 more!) and a start date from my very-much-in-demand handyman.
I'd really like to get this room finished before May when the summer guests start to arrive. Please. Pretty please. Thank you.

Want music?

Today's playlist is at the bottom of the page. Scroll down and click to enjoy.

Spring at the beach

The wind is coming from the north-east, which accounts for the chilliness but it's bringing the smell of the ocean to Long Island Sound. Two sailboats, a speedboat and a skiff are on the Bay, the sun is shining out of a bright blue sky and Jeff's Seafood has soft shell crabs so it must be Spring.

Design and the Elastic Mind

If you're watching my flickr box on the left side of the page you'll see some images from the other stellar exhibition currently at the Museum of Modern Art: Design and the Elastic Mind.


I blogged about it over here but it deserves to be mentioned again. It is awesome, fascinating, thought-provoking, exhilarating and sometimes simply beautiful. Everyone should have the opportunity to see it. If you can't make it to New York before the exhibition closes on May 12th visit the online catalogue and spend a couple of hours exploring the relationship between design and technology.

Postcards from Yo Momma

Nothing to do with beaches, houses or The Cool House, I just had to share. I'm still hysterically laughing at this one and this one, but my favorite is possibly this....

Paint Your own Wallpaper

If you think moving flagstones is hard work, just imagine the hours that went into getting the masking tape straight so you could achieve this effect. I came across this idea for a painted striped wallpaper effect by Modern Self. Totally in awe right now.
via Master of Your Domain

Up the garden path

We moved the garden path 4" to the right. No, I'm not kidding. You would not believe the work entailed in moving five bluestone slabs 4". The digging, raking and sniping away at old roots so the stones would sit level took a couple of hours. And why, you might ask did we undertake this particular project at 5PM on Saturday? Because I was fed up of walking up the garden path only to have to step off it onto soil to get past the huge holly and open the gate.
Other Saturday projects successfully completed: purchase of a 12" brace to temporarily mend the fence again; fixing of said brace to fence panels and post; a rewarding Martini in Mary Carroll's bar at Huntington, followed by the purchase of a Caesar Salad Pizza from Rosa's Pizzeria next door.

Win a Designer Pillow

2Modern Design are giving away this gorgeous Thomaspaul pillow currently on sale for $96. Just visit Create My Event and leave a comment with a creative Spring party theme idea to enter. Simple and possibly very satisfying. While you're there scroll down the page for my easy frozen yoghurt recipe. Also simple and guaranteed satisfying.
The competition runs until April 20 2008. Good Luck.

Cook's Kitchen?

Americana Kitchen by Giemmegi

Another one from the "Do these kitchen stylists ever cook?" chapter.
If you are standing on the left side of the island stirring something on the cooktop, how do you reach the knobs to control the temperature? Do you a) reach across the burners risking upper body burns or b) run around the island to reach the knobs hoping you don't slip or bump into anything before your fried egg burns to a crisp?
And don't get me started on the color.
via Trendir

How not to die

The answer to this eternal question, according to artists and architects Madeline Gins and Arakawa is to "cradle tentativeness". In an article in today's Home and Garden section of the New York Times the couple explains how by challenging the senses through our environment, we could continue to live forever. This theory is being tested by the design of their East Hampton, NY Bioscleave House. Undulating floors and primary colors are reminiscent of a children's playground, oddly-spaced windows and sockets placed off-kilter are specifically there to throw visitors off balance and so, explains Gins, to wake up the immune system as the body struggles to maintain its equilibrium. If you do start to wobble, grab one of the strategically placed poles, or suggests Arakawa, wriggle across the floor like a snake, as residents of the “reversible destiny” apartments in Mitaka, Japan were told to do.
Be sure to visit the multimedia presentation A Death-Defying House for more images, an interview with the designers and an attempt at an explanation of their philosophy.

It's going to get a whole lot lighter

Look, look. Do you see what I see? Do you recognise that light? The sofa? The balcony? It's my living room.
I entered a competition over at Surroundings, a site run by designer Linda Merrill of Chameleon Interiors. Check it out, it's dedicated to all aspects of design - and there's plenty of information over there as well as lots of Insporn - it's full of lustworthy objects.
And what did I win? Why this absolutely gorgeous Jonathan Adler Carlyle Beaded Table Lamp offered by Croft & Little. It couldn't have come at a better time. I've been looking for a lamp to go here since I moved the old lamp to the master bedroom in the great art reshuffle. I almost bid on two lamps on eBay, despite the $0 in the lighting budget, one I forgot about until 10 minutes after the auction closed, the other I was going to do today. This is a gazillion times better, it will wake up that boring little corner in terms of light and style.
It would be very remiss of me not to thank the person who sent me to the competition at Surroundings in the first place, Susan Serra of The Kitchen Designer, whose blog I read avidly. If Susan were thinking of giving away a kitchen, especially a beautiful Hansen Kitchen, I'd enter in a heartbeat...

Color Chart

I'd been waiting a month to get to Color Chart: Reinventing Color, 1950 to Today. On Sunday we got there early to avoid the crowds and spent a couple of hours at the exhibition.


The Guy and I were there at the end of February when they were laying out this vinyl tape exhibit, ZOBOP! by Jim Lambie. It's standing up pretty well to thousands of feet walking up the lobby stairs at the Museum of Modern Art.


I can't help but smile looking at the bright colors of Donald Judd's Untitled, 1989, it's happy art.


I was so inspired by Bas Jan Ader's Primary Time that I had to come home and prove myself even more inept at producing a Mondrian inspired flower arrangement than he was.

Beautiful Blog Things

A quick round-up of some beautiful blogs I've come across from my stats page or comments I've received via email.


The Rabbit Muse, a blogger from a jewelery maker and potter of pretty things living in upstate New York.


The Upholstery Blog from Heller Furniture, a Massachusetts based custom furniture and design firm.


Andeas Design & Scrapbook På Nätet, Andreas linked to a post I did a while ago on furniture that morphs into a room for 2Modern Design Talk. Unfortunately he linked it to The Cool House and not 2Modern, so I've been getting a lot of traffic from Sweden. If any of them need more information on the Casulo it's here.


Blink Decor's Decorators Dish has a post up about Pochoir Portfolios, a 1920s Moderne French Interiors exhibition at the Wolfsonian Museum in Miami. I love anything with Moderne in the title, obviously, but all the posts on the blog are inspiring. Check out this one on interiors from the film “Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day”.
Enjoy. I'm back to thinking about the vessel sink. The Red and Black is winning by a mile.

The power of democracy

red & black
After I mentioned I had asked the internet readership to help us choose a new vessel sink, the Guy announced he has a definite preference and that he is a Super Delegate and therefore gets two votes. I have a different choice of sink but as I threw it open I will of course abide by the majority's decision.

red crackle
He is concerned that I didn't give you a choice to state you think all four were horrible. So if you hate them all, have a better suggestion or have a reason why you favor one vessel sink over another send me a comment.

red marble
Each of the above has at least one vote.

red spiral
It seems no one is into the Red Spiral, are the swirls too distracting perhaps?

red Imprint with a #50 Paintbrush
To help us with the decision we visited Color Chart: Reinventing Color, 1950 to Today at the MoMA in Manhattan. It was a fabulous show, possibly the best I've seen there since they expanded MoMA, but we are no nearer reaching a concensus. More about the exhibition over here.

Vote for the hottest red vessel sink

The red vessel sink that is central to the design for the powder room arrived yesterday and it is HORRIBLE. The foil was peeling off, leaving some of the glass and some nice aluminium exposed, which might go with the stainless steel doorknob or might look like NASTY OLD CHIPPED CHROME. Described as deep cherry red it turned out to be a sickening shade of puce. This is not the look I was going for so I'm returning it.
I need to pick another sink asap and I've narrowed the choice of vessel sinks to four, all by Ronbow: Red Crackle; Red & Black; Red Spiral; and Red Marble. I'm asking you to help me decide. Click on the links for a full description of each or just look at the mock-up below and tell me which will sit best in the renovated powder room?


Remember this will be the only spot of colour in an otherwise monochromatic palette. The other materials are: black vanity with a Carrara marble countertop, chrome faucet and hardware, chrome framed mirrors, grey porcelain tiles with white and black veins.
So what do you think? Vote now for your favorite

The hottest red vessel sink?
	Red Crackle
	Red and Black
	Red Spiral
	Red Marble
Free polls from Pollhost.com

Spring clean up

Do you see what that is? No, not the cute dog with the dopey expression on his face. Up a bit. In the glass? That bright circle in the middle? It's my flash bouncing off the window because it is so freakin' clean. It's taken three years but we The Guy has perfected a system that leaves the windows cleaner than before he washed them. Hurrah. Who knew it was more difficult than rocket science?
Not to be outdone, I rearranged the laundry room (again) and I will reveal the new, great plan to make this room a fully functioning space again at some point in the very near future.
And the landscaper/font of all house knowledge guy came out and cleaned up the yard, including hauling away the dead azaleas (yes, it turns out we lost a couple this winter) but unfortunately he also took the branch that was holding up the fence, so I suspect that will be falling down again soon.
But the yard looks good, and what's better I can see it now through my sparkling windows.

Smart Car comes to NY

I was driving through Huntington on Sunday when I saw my first American Smart car. The Smart fortwo (which I once read as Fort Wo until it dawned on me it was For Two. Yes I can be a little slow sometimes!) is available in three models, the Pure, the Passion, and the Passion Cabriolet, starting at $11,590. Billed as the answer to inner-city parking problems and rising fuel prices, I knew they were coming - we have two dealerships in the area so I'd seen the cute little dinky toys on the garage forecourts - but up until now I hadn't seen one on the road.
I have to say they look incongruous here. Maybe it's because the roads are so much wider than in Europe, or there are so many more SUVs and minivans, or the trucks are so huge but that Smartcar looked like a golf caddy that took a wrong turn at the 18th hole and found itself out on the highway.
Speaking of highways, I wouldn't take a Smartcar on an American interstate any more than I'd take a bicycle. Those bigger cars just wouldn't see you, not while the drivers are busy drinking coffee, applying make-up or reading the paper, which is what goes on here. A lot. I know this because we used to have have one of these and lots of just didn't see us.


I looked at buying a Smartcar when they were launched in Europe about 10 years ago. The local dealership was just up the road from my house and I was intrigued by the various models featured in the glass tower visible from the autoroute.


In the end though, the hype didn't measure up to reality. I couldn't park the thing any easier than I could the car I ended up buying, a Renault Twingo. The Twingo was also cheaper, had a similar gas mileage and was much roomier inside. (It was more a forfour than a fortwo) I also think it was better designed, resembling a cute baby carriage inside but a real car on the outside. The Smartcar? Stick a pole on it's back and it looks just like a fairground bumper car. But the Twingo isn't available here and the Smart fortwo is, so look for them on a street near you in the coming months.

Billy Buttons

A week or so ago I posted this photo and mentioned I didn't know the name of the flower. While wasting time reading other people's blogs working today I came across this post from the Happy Living Blog. Turns out they are called Billy Buttons or Craspedia and there are lots of other varieties. I don't know why I'd never seen them before, but they are such a vibrant yellow and so small and cute they make me smile. They are also a nice change from the ubiquitous tulips and daffodils at this time of year and they're holding up really well in this bunch of flowers I shoved in a vase over a week ago.

Window shopping on the web

I'm currently lusting after a couple of items I've seen on auction sites on the internets.
First this modelicious 1970s Pucci Rocker available on 1st dibs. I'm totally in love with it but I think it's just too much for this house, although it might go here.


On the other hand these classy Lithic Floor Lamps, also from the 70s at Vintage and Modern are totally modern and in keeping with the style of this house. They are still produced today by the original manufacturer, J. Robert Scott so I can keep them on my wish list for now.

Numbers, more numbers

House numbers that is. After a recent warning that the fire department might not be able to find my house in an emergency despite the numbers on the light post and the pillar by the front door, I have been searching for the perfect modern numbers in bronze to match the mailbox.


Some were too shiny


Some weren't modern


Some were just too expensive


But last week I found the perfect house numbers. Modern typeface, 4" high, in a bronze finish no less. And even better, these are floating house numbers. Best of all, they were only $5.99 each.
Guess where I found them? Home Depot of all places, in the hardware section far away from the mailboxes, hidden away by the "For Sale" signs and the stick-on numbers. And they had all three numbers in stock. (For some reason the #2 gets sold out first.) I grabbed them and The Guy drilled them into place on the cedar light support at the end of the garage drive, next to the mailbox.
So now we're covered. Should we require an ambulance, fire truck or police car in the future I expect them to have absolutely no difficulty finding us.

It's a long way to go

This is the Easter egg I wanted yesterday. The one on the left. From my favorite chocolate shop in the world L'Art du Paslin, Wavre, Belgium. Third-generation handmade chocolates, the best ingredients: butter, cream and of course dark, milk and white chocolate. What could be more perfect? The smell, the rich, chocolatey smell of the pralines, that's the only thing that's missing from the video below.

Easter = ikea

A trip to Ikea to buy some cabinets to finish the laundry room was a big fat bust. I had everything planned out, wall and base cabinets from the Udden range in clean, mod, white and stainless steel, plus a Mossby stainless shelf but, as so often when we get to the store, we started to second-guess the plan. To replace the existing sink countertop where the cats feed happily away from the ever-hungry dogs who would otherwise devour their treats, we could have either a free-standing unit with a single sink that would leave enough room for the cats to feed (just) but there would be a 9" gap at one end and that would be really annoying (you try scraping dried-on cat food out of a space that size)or a unit that would fit exactly that comes with a double-sink meaning the cats would have to eat in the sink. Rats. Thwarted once again.
So we came home empty-handed and cleaned the laundry which didn't make me feel even the teeniest bit better about the waste of time and fuel.
My mood wasn't made any better by listening to a segment on NPR about chocolate for Easter and hearing Chocolate Dinosaurs were a big seller. Because now I want a chocolate dinosaur and I didn't even get a little egg.

Spring has sprung

I gathered in all the snow sticks (it's been a really unsnowy winter this year on Long Island) and noticed that things are starting to come to life again in the yard.


Bluebells starting to bloom under the maple tree.


Day lilies are pushing through all over the front yard. And so, you will see if you look at the top of the photo, are the weeds. The Forsythia has a distinct yellow tinge and there are buds on all the branches. A couple more weeks and we'll be seeing a lot more green and a lot less brown out there.
Which leads me to a question: If spring has sprung why is it so damn cold?

Go ahead, lick the screen

via Blinkdecor

French sisters Anouchka and Cassandra Lefebvre De Lange at Le Tramac take antique and vintage furniture and restore and re-upholster it in bright jewel-colored fabrics that just scream "Touch me".

Wow.
These pieces aren't cheap though, the cabinet is approx $2,500. But think what you could do with a junk-yard find, a few basic tools and some bright paint.
Don't they inspire you to take on another project?

Silver mosaic tiles

Porcelanosa Line Blanco wall tile with Mosaico Touch Silver accent (left)

While we were out shopping for floor tiles for the powder room last week-end I came across a new line from Porcelanosa that would work great as a backsplash in a modern kitchen or bathroom. Mosaic Touch, available in Silver or Graphite colorways, are 12"x8" ceramic mosaic tiles like the ones I put in the boys' bath last year, but these shiny beauties look like patterned stainless steel.


The advantages are the price, $6.50 per tile, and the ease of installation - just treat them like ordinary ceramic tiles, butter the back, stick them on the wall, pick a co-ordinating or contrasting grout, float it over, wipe it off and voila. It looks like mosaic but at half the cost and half the time.

BHG re-upholstery guide

Better Homes and gardens have step-by-step instructions on how to re-upholster a slipper chair. With 5 yards of fabric and a few other odds and ends including a camera you can turn



this boring brown chair


into this beautiful blue asset.
There are more how to upholstery guides here

Powder room: the fixtures

No gold tiles or bejeweled faucets but a splash of colour from the vessel sink amongst the sea of gray tones

Little yellow ball

I have no idea if it's a type of chrysanthemum but it came as part of a bouquet of flowers. I just know that it's tiny, yellow and unbelievably photogenic.

The dressing room light

Of course if you are going to take down the light in the dressing room to use in the powder room you have to put something in its place. Luckily (or part of my devious master plan to drive The Guy crazy) I had a spare halogen light fixture from the master closet light improvement project. Unfortunately when The Guy removed the fixture he revealed a circle of Navajo white that didn't match the surrounding super white paint. But luckily again, I had a can of that left over, so all we had to do was give the circle a quick coat of paint and voila. Right?
I'll spare you the photos because here's how it went down.
"What's the quickest way to do this, we don't want to go get a roller do we?"
"I've got a touch-up sponge you can use, but it could get messy so just strip off your shirt and jeans and I'll get it"
That was the luckiest thing that happened all day because you'd be surprised how much paint those sponges can hold. When The Guy jumped on the chair dressed only in underpants and socks and pressed that sponge to the ceiling there was....
Let's just say the clean-up took far longer than the touch-up.