Extreme Home Makeover

We began on Friday night and finished Tuesday evening. All in all we put in an extra workweek of time on our kitchen over the weekend. We think it looks amazing compared to what it was. The black is chalkboard paint which was a last minute idea, saving the room from fading completely into a powder blue haze. It's been about 95 degrees everyday since the weekend and everything still feels a little tacky so we're afraid to close the doors just yet. Hopefully it will be completely cured in a few more days. Now on to bringing warmth back to the space by replacing the floors...

Honorable Mention and a New Part-time Gig

Neither *boy's or my apartment made it to the finals in AT's Small Cool contest but I did receive one of the few Honorable Mentions by the Northwest judge, Philip Wood. Yea! Who knew my little blue apartment would be so well-received. Wonder what my "special gift" will be...

On a related note, we got the AT Boston job! In the end all 4 Boston finalists were hired and we're meeting up in person this weekend to discuss how this will all play out as we develop the Boston branch of Apartment Therapy. Wish us luck!

Color, Color, Everywhere

We have unpacked all the clothes but the boxes of books and pots and dishes remain sealed. We decided to attack this whole "settling in" thing from a different angle and start with painting. The living room - full of two bow front windows, a built-in wall of bookcases and a fireplace - we painted with Benjamin Moore's "Silver Fox," seen below...





Goes wonderfully with our green stripe/floral curtains and new BluDot couches. The dining room is painted with the bluish green below which we spotted in an Apartment Therapy post. Thanks to the blogging world we were able to contact the girl who owns the studio and she gave us the custom paint code for this color. Its a happy medium between my old living room blue (also a custom mix) and *boy's green wall.





Pictures of these colors in our own apartment will follow soon...

Thinking Inside the Box

Life revolves around boxes this week - finding them, packing them, labeling them, taping them, piling them and, come Thursday, moving them. Our favorite source for free moving boxes? Liquor stores. My future in-laws are helping us move later this week and I can't wait to see their faces when they glimpse my wall-o-beer boxes. Budweiser to Blue Moon - you name it, we got 'em. You can't ask for better moving boxes, though: they're sturdy enough for the heavy stuff but small enough so you can't overpack them and, best of all, they're free (you just have to be willing to go into the back room and bust them up yourself).

Less than 48 hours to go and my mind drifts to our little would-be puppy... the litters were born last week but we wait patiently to hear which pups will be saved as show dogs and which imperfects will be pets.

Thinking imperfect thoughts...

Six More Things

*girl forgot to mention her impulse ebay purchase of 6 vintage Eames DSX fiberglass shell chairs... we will need to replace the bases. This will match our new/old dining table. The slight mismatch of colors will be fantastic.

AT, Moving, Bacon and a Wedding Dress

That's pretty much life around here, these days. First off, our third article is live on AT - check it out and vote for us here!

Now the elephant in the room: moving. So we don't actually have moving boxes yet but we're thinking about them a lot. Preliminary purging and organizing began this weekend for the big move...and then we took a break and purchased couches in "Dark Roast" and curtains in "Green" for the new apartment (because that's way easier than actually making ourselves pack our existing curtains not to mention the rest of our belongings).

Also this weekend, in yet another procrastinating move to not pack, my hunt for a wedding dress officially commenced. Sunday was spent in an 80's style bridal salon on Boylston Street and last night I rubbed blisters on both my pinky toes scouring every high-end department store in the Back Bay looking for dresses. Two possibilities thus far, two more shopping appointments scheduled for this Saturday (when I should be packing).

Lastly, our long-awaited baby is soon to be born! We don't know if its a boy or a girl but we do know that the mommy's name is Posh and lives in D.C. Of course I'm talking about our little French Bulldog puppy who, hopefully, will be born in the coming week. Pictures will clearly be posted at the absolute earliest moment possible.

Graphic Decorator

Given my profession as a graphic designer, I lean heavily toward bold and colorful interior design. Its not that I don’t think minimal, white spaces can be lovely – they can, much like a good, crisp white paper stock – but when it comes to my own home surroundings, I like things graphic. Currently this manifests itself in the form of brightly painted walls, lots of posters, color-coded books and bold pattern fabrics. But as *boy and I plan our impending move-in, I’m starting to think about channeling my graphic tendencies in a more focused direction that we both can live with.



Wallpaper is back with a vengance these days but I think my love for it actually began as a child in my grandparents’ dining room. The entire foyer and dining area of their house is covered in this handmade wallpaper:



I love it. It’s rich, elegant, graphic and I told my mother I'd never visit again if she dared to rip it down. *boy and I have discussed the possibility of wallpapering the hallway/second entryway in the new apartment and I’m getting pretty excited about it. Here’s a little wallpaper inspiration.











From Studio Nommo, Walnut Wallpaper, and Trove.

Modern for Two

I was looking at two of my favorite lounge chairs recently and had an idea that would allow *girl and I to enjoy them together. My first concept turned out to be a design that was produced but very rare.

Eero Saarinen Womb chair (1948)

the love seat version: the Womb Sette


The second concept is based on the LC4 by Le Corbusier (1928) and something that if I believe would be a very simple hack to produce a beautiful double chaise that would allow you to face each other or one direction as the seat and base are separate pieces.

LC4 by Le Corbusier (1928)
My concept

Christmas in Pixels

Living in a small apartment and traveling during the holidays leaves little opportunity for a real Christmas tree - especially when your tastes are more modern. So instead, *boy had the wonderful idea of creating an economical, low-maintenence likeness of a tree over our "hearth" (a.k.a. the huge silver radiator). We think it turned out quite nicely.

Its a post-it note pixel tree.



And beneath the tree - Chinese newspaper packages, tied up with string.



Of course *boy had it all planned out for us...



And then we both had the idea for the perfect tree topper. It just needed a little support...



Its a modern angel with wings.

Dirty Spicy-Dill Pickle Martini

2 parts Kettle One Vodka
A Dash Extra Dry Vermouth
1/2 part Home-grown Spicy-Dill Pickle Juice (imported from Alabama)

Pour ingredients over ice and shake vigorously until frost forms on the shaker. Pour into double-walled Bodum glasses and garnish with spicy dill spear. Repeat until lips are burning.

(Notice the cutting mat place mats, sometimes I have good ideas)

Split Personality

I recently went on a tour of the McAllen Building, designed by Office DA, in South Boston. A group of architects from my office were taken to tour this new "green" apartment building and shown around by a real Estate Agent who had no idea what he was getting into. The model unit we were shown was a sloping 2 bedroom unit with an asking price of 1.5M dollars and a direct view of the remnants of the big dig.

The design of this building reminded me of another home of a different kind. Steven Holl's Y House located in the remote Catskill Mountains in New York.
City living has it's benefits but you be the judge: (Y House at left McAllen right)

At $400,000 building price the Y House looks like a bargain. Looking at the latest and greatest in apartment living and actually owning real estate made me think about what I really want. I love the city, the people, and the culture but I also love nature, solitude, and relaxation. I don't believe in a middle ground so for the time being I will live in the city and visit the country and one day, maybe when I want to own or build something it will be the reverse.

All photos from the Mcallen tour were taken by *girl and these are not the best shots.

His

What does this drawing say about me? It might say I live in a 450SF apartment with a bay window and a galley kitchen on the second floor of a larger apartment building; it might also say I am a slightly compulsive architect who measured his new apartment - including the slight angle in the far closet wall - prior to moving in. After that, I drew all my existing furniture and some planned purchases in order to design my new home. I guess it is a little of both.

*girl happens to live one slippery stair and a fire door away in a slightly different 1 bedroom apartment on the opposite side of the building. She gets morning light on her plants outside the kitchen and I get afternoon light cutting across the bay windows. Between the two of us, there have and will be many home projects and countless hours scouring the Internet for home hbrdshry. I'm currently working on my man room and *girl and I are preparing to redo her bedroom (for the second time) for very good reasons. This is just the first of many home-related posts to come. Stay tuned for the very exciting post from *girl: "Oops, I went to Ikea with *boy to help pick chocolate-colored curtains and bought a yellow four-poster bed."