Landscaping - %$^$#%$@^#@!

So here we have the 'before'. I did not take the picture in black and white for dramatic effects (actually was holding my iced soy latte in one hand making it difficult to reset the color). Lovely view of my neighbors ladder and some other junk.

Went online to research what to plant in August and went to Allandale Farm to pick up some plants. There I was asked a hundred questions I didn't know the answers to like "what kind of soil do you have" (umm, the dirt kind?) "How many hours of sun will you get?" etc etc. Picked up a hydrangea, and then a couple other flowering perennials, two sacks of manure and one large sack of Maine's finest soil.

Then came the grueling work of removing the grass, rocks and roots with a pitchfork. My neighbor came out in the yard, took one look at the dirty, sweaty, red-faced mess I was (and in flip flops no less) and produced a roto-tiller. He then proceeded to do in about 10 minutes twice the work my mother and I had completed in an hour or so. We mixed in the manure and top soil and planted and voila:

Ok, so I wish the results were more dramatic. I need to edge the garden today, plant some mums and maybe something in the back for height. Then mulch. Baby steps, right?

Weekend accomplishments....

The windows in our living and dining room are probably from 1900. They are single pane, weight and pulley, with storms that latch on from the outside in a less than -air-tight way (hook and eyes!). Essentially they will just be 7 large sieves for heat loss in the winter.

During tax free weekend I had Horner Millwork come out and specify replacement windows, but at about $800 a window (not including labor) we decided that we could really only handle the living room's 4 windows for now. So what to do about the bay in the dining room? I hate the look of that plastic wrap stuff people put in to help insulate - although we will probably end up using it upstairs on the sleeping porch, as the door to the porch is an interior door and has no insulating properties. But I really didn't want to spend Thanksgiving staring at some crinkly plastic.

I found some thermal Roman shades online at Country Curtains, and went to work. Other than my vertical challenges, and removing three stripped screws from existing hardware, they were fairly easy to install. They look about a million times better than the dirty old roller shades, if I do say so myself.

Small projects, many trips to Home Depot.

With a housewarming party date set, I've been working like crazy to get the house 'ready' for everyone to see.


Last weekend I primed and painted the bathroom to cover up the water stains from the third floor leak. There are some spots in the drywall that have cracked, that I probably should have sanded and filled but I was afraid that once I started I would get myself into a position where I'd need to replace some of the drywall rather than patch. So many unknowns in DIY. I've done a lot of fishing around on the internet but sometimes the list of tools and the 47 steps scare me off.

I also got over my fear of drilling into the wall and electrocuting myself and managed to install the towel ring so that we no longer have to partially close the door to access a hand towel. I learned the hard way that the sink is not a good place to lay out the tools you need, as I lost the set screw to my hungry pedestal drain. Hell, I learned what a set screw is.

Last project in the bathroom is to clean all the heavily stained grout from the water damage. i tried the home remedies first - baking soda, vinegar. Nothing. I used a Magic Eraser - nothing. I polled the Twitter-verse and was advised to use Soft Scrub with bleach followed by a grout pen. This combo seems to be getting somewhere slowly. I'm on my 4th application (I literally apply it before brushing my teeth at night and in the morning)and although not magical it is at least fading the rusty brown.

Next project: Roman Shades in the Dining Room.....

This Week's Improvements

New pendant in the eating area:



GFCI Outlets!!

New kitchen light


New exterior lights




TV over the mantel (yes, slightly off-center)


Less exciting visually, but a vast improvement was switching the electricity from fuses to breakers.

Kitchen Paint - Done!

Kitchen Progress @ 2039

Two full days of paint work down and large progress!



The Before is to the left - great kitchen for 1950, but dark and way too much wood for me. Decided that rather than remodel the whole kitchen, we would just get the cabinets and wood paneling in the breakfast area painted.

Here we are after two days of painting. The wall paneling is Benjamin Moore China White and the cabinetry is Hampshire Taupe (oil based). Looking back I wish I picked a color that provided just a little more contrast. However, the kitchen is already so much brighter !

Sinterlite by TheSize - Versatile stonewear for your home & beyond...

Wednesday night I hit an unveiling of Thesize's new product Sinterlite at Marble & Granite. Previous to the event, the product was very hush hush so I was eager to see what was new in stone.

Sinterlite is a porcelian stonewear that can be used in interiors and exteriors for a variety of uses: tile, counters, cladding, furniture, etc. It is stain resistent, heat resistent (they actually put a heating element under it and fried an egg on top!) and scratch resistent and comes in slabs up to 4'x12' which makes it a great choice for that extra large kitchen island you'd like seamless. It's thickness (3-5mm) makes it quite versatile as a veneer. It comes in 33 colors and M&G stocks 8. Price point is between an Uba Tuba and a low end Cesarstone.

Great product for people who want really low maintenance products and who enjoy modern design.

Ont he hunt for...... Kitchen Chairs

Trying to find something transitional - a little retro, but modern at the same time. Something with some color as my kitchen is going to be shades of white/beige. Oh and something inexpensive too.....

Here's what I have found so far:

The West Elm Scoop Back Chair (left).

Pros: this chair is on clearance so retails for $59. Reviews I have found online describe it as 'surprisingly comfortable'. Cons: Its only available in black and butterfly. Can my husband get past butterfly?

Orbit Arm Chair from CB2.

Pricier at $119 a chair. Very ET, right? Fun.. but it doesn't solve my color problem.

Ikea's Linus Chair

Retails for $39.99. Doesn't look super comfortable but at that price I guess it's worth a trip to sit in.

Everything else I love (Hello, Jonathan Adler) retails for quite a bit more. Any suggestions?

From this month's issue of TOH

"He who loves an old house-

never loves in vain.

How can an old house-

used to sun and rain,

to lilac and larkspur

and elm above,

ever fail to answer if the heart gives it love?"

- JF Conant

Offer Accepted!

After a frustrating year of trying to sell my bachelorette pad, we put the condo back on the market in April and were amazed (and slightly freaked out) that it sold within a week. Since then I have spent quite a bit of time scouring nemoves.com and just about every Sunday attending every open house I can get to. With my husband's attention focused on the Bruins post season, it was my job to narrow the selections and try to find a home we could both agree on.

We made an offer on a house he loved with a huge bar in the basement, tiki bar wired with cable and a hot tub in the yard. It wasn't meant to be. We fell in love with two more houses that we lost out on to other people. We closed on the condo on June 14th and with nothing purchased of our own, moved in with my parents last weekend. It seemed we would never figure out the 'nest' .

Saturday I walked into an estate sale in Auburndale and just knew it was our house. A 1900 colonial, with terrific front porch and yard, full of period charm and in great condition. A large front entry, fire placed living room, dining room with built in hutch and wallpaper mural and enormous kitchen make up the first floor. As the house is an estate, the kitchen is dated (hello Donna Reed!) and probably the largest project to take on.





The cabinets are in great shape, and will probably just get new hardware and a coat of white paint. The original Westinghouse appliances actually work, aside from one burner on the cooktop. Countertops can eventually be replaced with whatever remnants I can get my hands on. Right now my shopping project is new lighting to replace the large white globes.


Below are a couple of ideas, which one do you like?










1) Funky but kind of retro? Moxie by Kichler Lighting
I think there is something a little Don Draper about this fixture
but it also says transitional.







2) Leighton, also by Kichler. I am a sucker for drum lighting. The over-the-table lighting is also a much easier install when round rather than square because you don't have to be so precise with making sure the lines are parallel when you have a circular lamp. We installed square pendants in a clients home once down a staircase and spent forever adjusting them so they were all in line rather than slighly askew!









3) Remy by Murray Feiss - a little fancy but I think it dresses
up the space a bit.

French Country and Other Themes

A couple of weeks back we were asked to select a style and present its true historical characteristics. I drew French Country 18th Century.

I really thought I knew what this style was (my husband will tell you I have quite the collection of roosters and a love of celadon green), and was surprised to find out it was far more elegant than I thought (Thank you, Pierre Deux). I love French Country for its warm homeyness - the way that eclectic pieces all fit seamlessly together - the color palette taken from the sun-washed natural surroundings. The furniture can take two paths: the more Rococo-reminiscent refined pieces that were en vogue in Paris years earlier or the more rustic pieces that many of us associate with French Country. Many had natural motifs such as flower, fruit (pomegranates!) etc. Because of the nature of the smooth walls, there are no real door/window or wall mouldings. Hardware varies from the very simple hand forged iron work to slightly more intricate work typically found on buffet locks etc.Fabrics were often hand blocked prints of florals, or fruit (my favorite - the cherries).

This assignment started from a discussion about what is 'French Country'? If a client says "I want a French Country kitchen", what does that mean? We've all seen some of these themes take over and places begin looking hokey and theme-park-ish. For example, my main project this semester is a mountain vernacular home in Virginia, and by mountain vernacular the client is not looking for a home that resembles a Bugaboo Creek Steakhouse. There are kinder, gentler, more fashionable and historically accurate ways to suggest a style. The twist was to also add your assigned style to the design as well. So French Country Mountain Vernacular it was.

I am not the world's best hand -drafter by any means, but below is an early draft of the bar hutch I drew for the client (we eliminated the wine holders for space to put coffee/toaster). I wanted them to have an elegant space, but make use of some of the natural materials - so the back of the top two shelves of the hutch are natural bark. The lines in the hutch are meant to make the piece more furniture than cabinetry. The French doors and mimicked french doors above the refrigerator drawers are meant to look like those gorgeous windows seen in the French provincial homes. Plenty of lit glass cabinets to highlight pieces brought home from the couple's latest travels. Not a rooster in sight!

Anyway, bottom line is that perception of a style is not always the same. If someone likes Victorian,clearly it doesn't mean they want everything covered with heavy floral

wallpaper and doilies. What is it about the Victorian style do they admire? How can they subtly and properly be worked into the home? Broad categories for sure need lots of further discussion.

Color Theory Explained in Still Life

This week's assignment is to work on color harmonies. We are to bring in whatever we like to describe the 4 principles of color theory. Always thinking of my stomach, and the rainbow of colors in the produce section at Whole Foods - I went with Fruit and Vegetables. Probably not the cheapest solution (hello, there is a paint fan deck constantly on my person!) but hopefully I win some points for creativity!

1. Analogous Colors - these are two color values that are next to one another on the color wheel. In design, one of these colors would be dominant and one would be the accent. Here I have some off kind of yellow-green grapefruit and a lime.

Below is almost half the color wheel in analogous colors. I could probably have achieved the whole thing if nature produced anything edible that was blue-green. (O, O-Y, Y, Y-G, G)

2. Analogous Colors with Complementary Accents:

This is three analogous colors accented with the middle value's direct opposite color on the color wheel. Here I have chosen a lemon (yellow), Granny Smith Apple (yellow -green) and pepper (green) as well as the complement to the GS Apple: the Red Onion (red-violet).

3. Triad

A harmony composed of three colors that are equidistant on the color wheel. Primary colors Red-Yellow-Blue are a triad. Here I have selected an eggplant (violet), green pepper (green) and a clementine (orange).

4. Complementary Colors.

Complementary colors are directly across from one another on the color wheel.

Here I have the eggplant (violet) and the lemon (yellow).

Now I just have to figure out what to make with all this produce!!

Back to school!

After a nice 2 semester long break, I am back at classes at the BAC. This semester I am tackling Kitchen & Bath Design Studio II. I'm looking forward to it while at the same time dreading the work load. So hard to get used to homework as an adult!

Anyway, assignment one is to bring in two pictures of Kitchens & Baths that show great design, and then two photos that show BAD design. So after reading three chapter's of Ellen Cheever's Design Principles discussing what makes good design (and here I'm talking about color, harmony, balance, line, shape, texture, etc. not functionality), I bring you some of my contenders:

Bad Bath

The heading of the article that this masterpiece is featured in is "Zen baths". Now I'm not sure what definition the author had intended for the word Zen, but I think of peaceful, simple, uncomplicated, harmonious etc. This bath is so busy I think it would give me a migraine. Two kinds of distressed finish cabinetry with modern and busy tile? Faux paint finish? Edit people! Edit! I would certainly not deem this as timeless.

Bad Kitchens

I like to deem this type of kitchen "the wood palace". Wood floor, wood grain cabinetry , wood backsplash (!). It doesn't matter how ornate the wood is, it's one giant wooden mess. The small crown makes the room look short . When I look at the range wall for example, it looks like the ceiling dropped.

The "Contractor Special". Not necessarily bad design choices, but it looks like a contractor scratched his chin, bought some trendy items and then just plopped them down. There is no crown moulding here to tie them into the room, so the cabinetry just looks like boxes stuck to the wall.