shedding some light

we've made more changes in the den. the latest is changing out a sconce on the brick wall. the original sconce was a little too shabby chic. while i love that style (i have the book, duh), it's a little too feminine for phil.

so i looked high and low for something modern, simple, and relatively inexpensive. i found a lot of fixtures i really liked, but phil would nix for price : ) finally, i found this one forty three sconce. but it was sold out. forever. so i followed the studio on instagram to know when it was back in production. and i finally was able to order it!

it took a few, okay several, weeks to come in. but well worth it for a beautiful, handmade fixture at a reasonable price! i opted for white and brass. the room is gray, the door hardware is brass (and antique brass-ish), and the trim is white. it even came with bulbs! so we took off the old fixture...

and discovered it had cloth-covered wires!

uh-oh. glad we took it off. then we painted the junction box on the wall, so it would match the shiny new white fixture. and then we installed the sconce ourselves!

actually, it was much easier than i expected. we just watched a quick youtube video after a google search. super quick, super easy.

doesn't it look great!?! i love it. we debated whether to orient the fixture with the bulbs up or down, and decided on down. it seemed less "bathroom vanity" and more "back den."

the light is bright. phil thinks maybe a bit too bright, especially for movie nights. eh. i like it. but my couch seat is further away : ) i'm looking at dipped bulbs as an option to shield some of the more direct light. but i think i'll wait until these burn out.

the den is getting close to complete; the major things left are accent pillows and artwork. the pillows we currently use are from my first apartment in denver, and a little worse for the wear. since this is "phil's room" we're having a disagreement over the artwork... he wants movie posters. ummm no? haha. we'll see. i think we may have some compromises in mind...

a most tedious undertaking

we live in an old house. old houses come with "old house things" - doors that stick, stairs that creak, weird night-time noises, and hidden quirks from previous owners. and layers upon layers upon layers of paint. this house has 85 years of paint. on EVERYTHING. including the door hardware.

yuck. and the doors between our den and kitchen / dining room have old metal weather stripping, since our den used to be a porch. the metal has paint all over it, too. well, one day, phil got tired of looking at it and started to rip off the metal. and he took off the door.

gorgeous. ha! luckily, the gaps that the weather stripping had been covering weren't huge. all he had to do was use some wood filler and then paint. okay, LOTS of wood filler. and LOTS of paint. 

five zillion times better, right??!? so then we had nicely painted, significantly cleaner-looking door frame. then the bad part started.

we had been researching ways to clean old hardware (the usual suspects: design sponge, apartment therapy, this old house), but didn't have a crock pot. well, we actually had TWO crock pots, thanks to a great wedding shower at phil's parents' church. but one we took back when we moved to DC. and the other we actually gave to phil's friend when he was in law school up at NYU (they took it back on the bus!!). i just didn't use it. i like crispy food : ) any who... we looked on craigslist for a cheap crock pot, because no one wants to use the same crock pot you use for food (as my friend alison said, "killer queso!"); but, didn't get any immediate hits. so we did the boiling water / baking soda method. 

we pulled a couple of mop buckets from the garage and started boiling water in the electric kettle. sidebar: i had a roommate in college with a british mom who introduced me to the electric kettle concept. they are AMAZING! thanks, becky! i use it way more than i ever thought possible. okay, i'm back. so we used a bucket per hinge and filled it with boiling water and baking soda. then it soaked for at least 30 minutes, so the hardware was cool enough to handle. then phil scrubbed and scrubbed and scrubbed. the first layer of paint would peel, then he would use a toothbrush and brillo pad to get the next layer. and then we'd boil more water and start the process over again. each hinge took, oh, about five cycles of that. the scrubbing was brutal. 

 

one of the coolest things about the process was taking apart the door hardware. he even took apart the lock. since this used to be a back door, it has a locking mechanism - although we don't have a key. the soak and scrub got rid of more than just the paint: the rust came off, too. 

look how pretty! i can't even describe how clean the finished look is compared to the old. the patina is still there, you still know it's old hardware. i think it's brass-plated, judging by the color (and we did a magnet test), and i love it. the glass doorknob is cleaner, too. before we do the rest of the doors - there are TEN more (!!!!!) - we are continuing the crock pot search. i'll let you know if it speeds things up. man, i hope so!

ps - throughout most of this tedious process, this lucky lady was sitting at the dining room table working on a deadline for work. phil is amazing. he would let me know good times to jump up and take a photo. seriously, all you single ladies, the best traits in a husband (to me, at least!) are an outrageous sense of humor and an incredible work ethic. nothing better than knowing my good-looking guy is working hard all day and coming home to crack me up : ) 

our most magical craigslist find yet!

it's no secret that phil is a craigslist master. seriously most of our house is furnished from craigslist. no reason to buy new when there are so many people looking to get rid of perfectly good furniture pieces in great shape. he somehow finds amazing things and we (almost) never get burned. one of my favorite finds is the plycraft eames-style lounge chair (you can see it here, it's the brown leather chair in the back). well, he outdid himself this time.

he was just browsing for "large art" or "large canvas" or something. we have next to nothing on the walls (still!! i know!), and it is starting to drive him nuts. i already knew what i was looking for. and there is a TON to wade through on craigslist art. some real doozies. so when i saw "michelle armas" i FLIPPED. OUT. what are the odds??!? a nice couple in chevy chase had two stretched prints on canvas, and we were the lucky ones. i mean, isn't it gorgeous?

we have it rotated sideways and just resting on the mantle until we find the perfect home. it's such a happy piece to see when you walk in! 

aaaaaand it made a beautiful addition to a baby shower for a sweet friend : ) 

way to go, phil! and looking forward to using the money we saved for plane tickets to texas to see friends and family. 

our second christmas

last year, i didn't decorate the house for christmas. i put up a boxwood wreath inside, but that was it. i had grand plans to order everything i wanted on sale after last christmas. i had a plan...

reality: i waited too long to order the wreaths. i tend to do that. they were sold out. garlands are expensive. i thought we had more white lights than we did (only one short string in the rubbermaid tub). we have been traveling so much that it didn't make sense to put up a tree.

so i ordered cheap artificial outdoor wreaths from amazon. not boxwood, like i originally envisioned, because i couldn't find them at a reasonable price point. we put them up on each window, but not the front door. still haven't been able to figure out how to hang it successfully on the storm door : ) and still haven't changed the door or storm door. eh. maybe next year?

i bought a single strand of icicle lights for across the front porch. it's almost the right size. but it doesn't hang straight. there are recommendations online, but they mostly involve a lot of time and a hair dryer. nope. does anyone have an easier way?

then i wrapped two columns with white lights. we did not wrap any garlands - too expensive. i might order an artificial one for next year (yeah, yeah, i know - because it worked so well last year). but wouldn't the porch railing look pretty with a green garland?

we also hung the wreaths on the interior of the house on the three upstairs windows. however, there are HVAC vents above the windows. the wreaths kept falling. so in the oh-so-lovely dark photo above, the middle upstairs wreath has fallen to the bedroom floor. i'll try climbing out onto the roof and hanging them outside next year.

inside, i did bare minimum decorating. number one on my after-christmas list is stocking holders. i really like the topiary ones from ballard designs, but unfortunately they don't carry them anymore.

maybe i could make them? maybe not. but i really like them. this year i just set the stockings out on top of the fireplace. which looks a little silly. i'll keep searching for hangers. we also did not put up a tree. we went to key west with phil's family the week before christmas, so we didn't think it was worth the hassle. however, my beautiful friend alycyn sent us a gorgeous small tree from a cute old town florist. what a fun treat on christmas eve! 

artwork progress

surprise! i'm back.

this time i've been traveling. i've been to north carolina, new jersey, maryland, and northern california for work. and dallas, athens, and abilene, texas with my family. and key west with phil's family. it's been quite a month. but we have seen all of our nieces and nephews! : )

i put together artwork in our guest room. remember, the pink one? i had found the beautiful center piece for a gallery wall (description here). i ordered a special frame. and then i combed through pieces we have collected through the years to organize a grouping.

option 1, clockwise from left: "so much," photo of stained glass from santa fe street market, capitol watercolor from eastern market, photo from hall of mirrors in versailles, small painting from my watercolor teacher saved from my time studying abroad in italy. the painting is on scrap board, and i would have to figure out how to hang it. and it looks a little lost.

option 2, clockwise from left: versailles photo, limited print produced by an RA from my study abroad time, "so much," santa fe photo, capitol watercolor, watercolor i painted under above-mentioned watercolor teacher. i have done watercolor lessons twice so far. i studied under a family friend in high school - she taught me about color and edamame. i worked with a local artist in italy - his english was poor, but our italian was worse. he preferred to paint outdoors around the village. not crazy about the two vertical pieces at the bottom of this arrangement.

option 3. i edited. and then i chose this arrangement. i like the way the colors are similar in all the pieces. it is a slightly feminine assortment, but the room is already pink...

then i traced each frame onto scratch paper. it was leftover tissue paper from an anthropologie bag, i think. then i taped it up on the wall above the bed to check if i liked the arrangement.

i also marked where i would need to nail into the wall to hang each piece.

i hung the gallery piece by piece, taking down the tissue paper and leveling as i went.

et voila! a simple foray into the gallery wall. of which there are many much, much more elaborate and beautiful. like this. or this gallery of galleries from lonny. 

new numbers

i haven't been doing a lot of projects around the house. i've been doing a lot of movie-watching. and hanging out with friends. and traveling. hopefully inspiration for a substantial and productive project will strike soon : )

recently, phil and i changed out our address numbers. the existing ones were brass and installed above the top porch step, making it hard to see. we also had a little rot problem with the trim along the porch, so we were trying to not draw attention to that area.

i had my eye on the neutra house numbers from design within reach. i kept hoping they would go on sale, but they never do. oh well. we ordered them anyway : ) 

they arrived in neat little boxes, each individually packaged. we decided to use the pin-mount method, which lifts the numbers away from the house. it adds depth and i wouldn't do it any other way. we chose the black numbers, hoping the contrast would help with visibility. i love aluminum, but this time function won over form. 

the numbers came with mounting templates. we tried them in several locations and with different spacing between the numbers.  we decided to install them on the porch post, running vertically, opposite our flag. the templates made installation so much easier - we just taped them up and drilled pilot holes. 

the standoffs included for pin-mounting were friction fit into the holes. we put a little caulk around the pins to make sure they were nice and snug.

et voila! now our front door is now wonderfully framed by our flag and our new house numbers!!

celebrating a milestone

hello, friends.

yes, i'm still here.

i've just been taking a little break to do a few other things. like throw an engagement party, work in the garden, travel for work... and pass my last exam!! yes, that's right. i have now filed my paperwork with the fine state of wisconsin to become a real-live, registered, licensed architect! : )

now that it's finally here, i don't really know what to do. it's been my goal for so long. for, like, ever. so now what? just go to a nice dinner and keep going? my duties at work will be exactly the same. i do get to put the lovely "AIA" letters after my name. after filling out mountains of paperwork and paying a large amount of money.

i think i may buy myself a present to signify the achievement. but what does one buy for oneself? i'm thinking a piece of furniture. something uber-architect-y (that's a technical term, of course). there are several iconic architects with pieces of furniture that i would be happy to use an ongoing reminder that i achieved my goal. and i think that buying a verified original piece is an important way to celebrate. since i am now a certified designer, being paid for my ideas and design skills, i should return the favor and buy the real thing.

eero saarinen
saarinen was a finnish american architect and furniture designer. buildings include the st louis gateway arch and the main terminal at dulles airport. if i were to buy a piece of his furniture, i would choose a coffee table. first choice would be a white/grey marble top with a white base.... but i think the white laminate makes it a little more in my price range : )

table from hive modern

charles & ray eames
an amazing american design couple, the eames are most famous for their chairs, tables, stools, and case study house in southern california. we have knock-off eames pieces already: a plycraft reproduction lounge chair that phil found on craigslist and our "eiffel" dining chairs from overstock. my all-time favorite piece from charles and ray eames is the RAR rocker. words do not express my undying devotion to this piece of furniture. weird? maybe. i'm a design-nut. sue me. but i have a confession. i've always imagined that i will buy the RAR (in white, natch) for my first nursery. i'm a sentimental weird design-nut, apparently.

rocker from room & board

mies van der rohe
mies is a legend. his name is used as an adjective, for goodness' sake. the german american architect is most famous for farnsworth house, the seagram building, crown hall, and the barcelona pavilion. he designed beautiful chairs for the pavilion, the barcelona chair. it's become an iconic chair in the commercial design world. the leather would be easy to clean and i can just imagine two matching brown leather chairs in our living room... if i cancel vacation for the next 10 years and buy these instead.

barcelona chair from knoll

alvar aalto
aalto is a finnish architect. he has many famous buildings in finland (can't spell them) and is known for his furniture design, like this gorgeous tea cart. but my present to myself would be a vase. the vase is beautiful, simple, sculptural, and as interesting empty as it is filled. and it costs significantly less than any of the pieces of furniture. a more modest celebration, but significant, nonetheless.

aalto vase from littala

now i'll just go through the options to phil... despite being a present to myself, some of these options are much too expensive to not be a joint decision. i hope i can get a table or chair! : )