I was just scrolling through old blog entires and I bumped into this to-do list, which I posted in February, 2011. I started reading it, thinking it would be so satisfying to see how much we'd accomplished in the last ten months, but there is really so much left to do! It is striking how optimistic I was when I posted this last February. "For the next few weeks & months" I said. Ha! Little did I know there was still so much home renovation in my future! I was so young, so naïve, back in February of 2011. How much I've aged since then. : ) 




Still on the list for the next few weeks/months:
-Pull down the drop ceilings in the kitchen, guest room, and our bedroom. OH GOD. 
-Repair the existing ceilings in the kitchen, guest room, and our bedroom. Also OH GOD. 
-Salvage the ceiling medallion currently dangling precariously above our bedroom drop ceiling and install it in the living room above my giant lamp-shade light. 
-Repair walls once the drop ceilings are removed. 
-Install portrait moldings in the kitchen, guest bedroom, and our bedroom. 
-Paint guest room.
-Paint kitchen.
-Install new fan with brighter light in our bedroom and move our existing little ceiling fan into the guest room. 
-Possibly put up a partition in the guest room to create a walk-in closet separate from the sleeping area. 
-Install wood floors. 

Oy. I've got problems. We did pull down the kitchen drop-ceiling, and repaired the tin ceilings above, so we can check that off the list. And we did paint the kitchen, so that can go too. And we didn't need to install a portrait molding in the kitchen because John is such a deft plasterer that we didn't have to hide where the old walls met the new walls. So, check there. We also painted the kitchen cabinets and built a kitchen island, which weren't on the original list, so I guess we get a couple of extra-credit points there... Right???


But everything else? Oy. Definitely still on the list. It seems crazy to suggest that we're going to pull down our bedroom ceiling between now and Christmas ( at least it is if I still want to be married by New Year's) but maybe in between Christmas and New Year I can con John into some more dusty, plastery, un-holy-mess amounts of manual labor, and I can get this baby back on track. 


Nothing says "Happy New Year" like wall-to-wall drop clothes and chunks of plaster dangling from your nose hairs. : ) 

Lots to look forward to in the New Year! 

(I think I just heard John packing his suitcase...) 

Son Of A Gun!

I guess I blew it... The D-I-Y and Design world is officially, unequivocally, on the birdcage chandelier band wagon. And I never even got around to building mine... Crumb. To build, or not to build?

Restoration Hardware is now carrying the striking chandelier pictured at left (with a full-sized chandelier held captive inside a patinated birdcage!) The EXTRA-SMALL IS $2,395.00. Whoa! Clearly this would be a good example of saving money by Doing-It-Yourself. Lots of money.

But their crazy-expensive versions are not the only ones. There are birdcage lights everywhere! I mean EVERYWHERE. There was even another blog that high-lighted all of the different bird cage chandeliers one could build...

This is the perk and peril of the D-I-Y world... Every time somebody has a good idea, suddenly hundreds of people are trying that good idea. Stencils. Everywhere. Chevron patterns. Everywhere. Spray-painted mirrors. Everywhere. Shabby-chic. God forbid. Everywhere!

Don't get me wrong. I'm all in favor of home improvement, I just don't want my house to look like I've got one of every online tutorial manifested in my living room. : )

Although, I do know someone else who would totally love a birdcage chandelier. Maybe I could build a little-ish one and give it to her... Hmmm. Maybe that would make an awesome D-I-Y christmas gift???? Hmmm.... Now I've got my wheels turning again. Maybe it's time to make that trip to Home Depot?

*Confession: After all of that ranting and raving, looking at the chandelier in the picture above, I still kind of want to build one of these for myself too. I mean, seriously, that is a beautiful chandelier. Look at that little yellow bird perched up top! Maybe I do want one of every online tutorial in my home?  : ) 

Renovate Fox Ridge: The Trailer, by day!

As promised, here are some more photos of the trailer, in its new, spiffy state! John and I slept in the trailer this weekend (not on a whim...but because we had five other friends up to Fox Ridge to celebrate our friend Mary's birthday... Happy Birthday Mary!!!)

Sleeping in here was a very funny comedy of errors. We started out up on the bunk-bed, which is a double-sized bed that hangs about 18" from the ceiling of the camper. We both climbed up the little ladder, laid down, and John turned to me: "What do you think?" he asked, with his nose nearly grazing the ceiling. I started to giggle. "It's great. Like sleeping in a coffin." At this point, we both started laughing so hard that the dog got all worked up and tried to climb the ladder so he could join in the fun. This seemed like an accident in the making...

That obviously wasn't going to end well, so we moved down to the dining area, which converts to a twin bed. This was equally, though differently snug, as the dog insisted on sleeping with us, so it was John, William, and me, all tangled together on an itty-bitty single mattress. Needless to say, I woke up the next day in the shape of a pretzel. 

I've never been so happy to get back to Brooklyn in my life! 

Despite the slightly cramped sleeping arrangements, we're super happy with how the trailer is looking! Check out our little salvaged dresser, brought back to life with a quirky paint job and some new brass knobs... The little lamp, also discovered up in our barn... And of course, the vast collection of throw pillows, which add a cozy-cluttered air to everything! A job well done! 

Now, back to work in Brooklyn! 

Am I a sucker? Maybe...

I just bumped into something so charming on the Design-Within-Reach website. First, it should be mentioned that "Design-Within-Reach" is a complete misnomer, as there is almost nothing within reach in that astoundingly expensive store. That aside-- check out these lovely miniature iconic chairs on their site:

I mean seriously. Is that not the cutest Eames' chair you've ever seen? It kind of makes me want to design an entire miniature psychoanalyst office, just so I can incorporate one of those... Holy cow.

And of course, the ever-popular Barcelona Chair, from Mies van der Rohe's pavilion... 

(I was just teaching my assistant about this chair and the famous Barcelona Pavilion last week!) 

I'm mean really. That's pretty freakin' cute. Check out Marcel Breuer's mini-Wassily Chair down below. That's a pretty famous one too.  Less than 6" tall. Too bad they cost more than I can pay for a FULL-SIZED chair! 

But for the man (architecture fanatic) that has everything, these would make really terrific Christmas presents...

Stairway to Heaven?

While Mummy was in town last week, we visited the George Glazer Gallery in Manhattan. The gallery is literally teeming with beautiful objets. What drew us there was a rumored collection antique of miniature staircases, which, as you may remember, I have a strong affection for...

Holy Buckets! 

This place was cool. This place was crazy! This place was like a workshop of a mad scientist turned antique collector.

George Glazer had a fabulous collection of staircases, of all shapes, sizes, and prices, and Mummy and I were gob-smacked by his extensive collection of antique astronomical models and mobiles. (Is that what they're called?)

Nope... According to George Glazer, they're called "20th Century Tellurians". Obviously.

Regardless of their name, they're truly beautiful... almost sculptural, but with a (slightly dated) function!

If you find yourself in New York City, it is well worth a quick visit to the Glazer Gallery to appreciate these objets in person.

George Glazer Gallery / 28 East 72nd Street / New York, NY 10021
Tel. 212-535-5706 


They strongly recommend calling in advance to make an appointment, but we just wandered by, and they happened to be there...

Go take a look! 

Renovate Fox Ridge: Revisiting a project from my past!

You know the saying, "Why you gotta bring up old s%#t?" Well-- maybe you're not familiar, but I'm definitely bringing up something from my past! Here's the backstory...

Almost eight-years-ago to the day, I was just putting the finishing touches on my final project in college, the gut-renovation of a vintage trailer gone-to-seed. The trailer originally belonged to John's parents, but after many years of love and travel, it had been retired to a rarely visited corner of their property in upstate New York. When I first visited their house there, John and I had only been dating for a year or so, but I fell in love with the trailer and somehow convinced John's mom and my school advisors that renovating this trailer would be the perfect "hands-on" addition to my architectural studies. (Evidently, if architecture and interior design didn't pan out, I would also have made an excellent con-man.)

So I chipped away at that project, finished in record time with the help of numerous friends and family members, graduated from Hampshire College, managed to get it featured in The Boston Globe (again with the con-man?) and then parked the trailer back on John's parents' property, with the idea that it could now be used as a guest house.

Fast-forward EIGHT YEARS, and the trailer was lookin' a little woe-begone again. John's parents were not to be blamed... No reasonable person (including me) could be convinced to sleep in the little metal space-ship, however charming, sans toilet/avec mice, when there was a perfectly nice HOUSE to sleep in right next door. Then, when things couldn't get much worse (the mice had re-established a firm strong-hold), a vengeful branch cracked a hole in the roof and things were looking BLEAK for the little-trailer-that-could. Oy.

Fast-forward FURTHER-- to last weekend... John and I are having a ludicrous number of people up to Fox Ridge next weekend, to celebrate a friend's birthday (Yay Mary!) and were trying to figure out how exactly we were going to accommodate all of those people. Suddenly I thought, "What about the trailer?!" Granted, it was a little mouse-infested, the vinyl floor I laid eight years ago was peeling up in every direction, and the hole in the roof had been rather unceremoniously patched with spray-foam-sealant, but all in all, it was totally salvageable. John looked at me like I was crazy. John's mom looked at me like I was crazy.

And then, like a crazy person, I lured a local farmer into towing it onto our lawn, and got cracking! : )

The whole experience was a blast actually (except for vermin and bugs, which obviously weren't...), revisiting a project I had originally completed when I was just a bright-eyed youth (21!). As we were working away at making everything tidy and habitable again, I was truly astounded by the amount of work I had done initially.

I laid a ply-wood sub floor! I replaced wood wall panelling! Mummy made cushion covers and curtains! I stained and sealed the wood wall panelling! John's mom and I ousted the mice! I installed vinyl flooring and removed the old kitchenette! I melted plexi-glass to replace a missing light-fixture cover! Who was that person??? I am so impressed with myself, eight years late. I was so much cooler than I am now. : ) 


Reminiscing aside... We ended up replacing the vinyl flooring with fabulous black-and-white checkerboard flooring ($45.00 @ Lowe's for an 8' X 12' roll!), washing all of the cushion covers and curtains, dragging an abandoned dresser down from the barn and giving that a once over ($34.00 for 2 cans of spray paint and six- jazzy brass knobs!), adding my abundant collection of throw pillows, and lickity-split, in exchange for $79.00 and a day of work, we had ourselves a guest house!

Yee-Hah! Let the festivities begin! 

A couple of additional notes: 

1.) I will try to take some day-photos this weekend, so you can get a better view of things in our new guest house... Sorry the photos above are a little dim. It is a trailer after all, so give us a little lee-way. 

2.) Rumor has it there is going to be a ginger-bread-house-building competition at Fox Ridge this weekend, so check back to see our creative minds at work. Or trying... 

3.) There are lots of other little projects we've completed in Brooklyn, so hopefully I'll have the wherewithal to get those additions posted this week too. Whew! We are beee-zzzeeee! 

Little Projects in Brooklyn! Kitchen Stools riddled with guilt...

If you remember rightly, the last time Mummy visited New York, she and I went on the hunt for the perfect counter stools to add to my newly constructed kitchen island... (If this doesn't ring a bell, click here to revisit that posting before continuing...)

So... we found the perfect counter stools-- 4 excellent condition Heywood-Wakefield mid-century stools made of walnut with orange vinyl seat cushions. Perfect. And I mean PURRR-FECT. Except for the metal foot rests, which I confidently reassured Mummy could be easily polished back to near perfection. And for a mere $100.00 ($25.00 a stool! CAH-razy!) I brought them home and there they have sat ever since. Unpolished.

: ( 
Guilty face. 

With Mummy's return on the horizon, I knew I had to leap into action and get those babies polished up, or she was bound to notice that I had not made good on my promise. I busted out a drop cloth and a hefty wad of fine steel wool, enthusiastically polished away, and in no time at all, my counter stools were gleaming like the day they were born (or maybe shortly after...)!

This is a super-easy trick for cleaning up vintage metal work... All you need is a little patience and a handful of steel wool, and you can usually brighten up most chrome and steel. Just go gently and start sanding in a hard-to-see location, just in case the metal doesn't take well to polishing. And have realistic expectations-- if something is RIDICULOUSLY rusted and pitted, odds are good you won't get it back to perfect, but you can definitely get it back to better. 

These little details can really make a difference when you're dealing with vintage/used furniture, and it was totally worth the effort to make my counter stools shine again.

Look left for my finished product! 

Check that off the "making-me-feel-guilty" list. Hazahh!
Now to tackle the rest of that list... : )

I hope everyone had a festive and filling Thanksgiving! Did anyone try our recipes for Cornbread-and-Sausage Stuffing or Roasted Brussel Sprouts with Lemon? If I may toot my own horn, I'd say both dishes were off-the-hook, and well worth a try if you haven't already.

Though maybe I could go another week or two without anymore stuffing!