inner sanctum

Feeding my eyes, part two Yesterday I spent part of my morning...

Tue, 01 Sep 2009 21:24:01 -0400

Feeding my eyes, part two

Yesterday I spent part of my morning walk rummaging through acorns on the ground under several magnificent red oaks. I filled a small bag with them, and this morning I washed them and laid them out to dry.

After feasting my eyes on the gorgeous green color, their satin texture, and the complex scales on their caps, I put them in a bowl on my dining table. My morning meditation.

Feeding my eyes, part one I have come to realize that I need to...

Tue, 01 Sep 2009 11:01:39 -0400

Feeding my eyes, part one

I have come to realize that I need to lay my eyes on something beautiful frequently throughout the day. Fortunately, that hunger is not difficult to satisfy: I am able to see beauty almost anywhere. In that, I feel very lucky, indeed.

Photo: my bedroom window, early morning

I was so excited when I found this on my morning walk....

Sat, 29 Aug 2009 13:20:00 -0400

I was so excited when I found this on my morning walk. Doesn’t even look real, right?

Pulling wall colors from nature is a good way to go (close to foolproof). I’m going to paint my NY place anew in the next few weeks and these little berries have inspired me. Here are some of the paint chips I’ve been playing with…

I have a buyer for the house! They’re bringing the...

Sun, 31 May 2009 23:10:00 -0400

I have a buyer for the house! They’re bringing the paperwork over tomorrow to sign, then it will be official. It sold after 36 days, which is not bad in today’s market, and I’m pleased with the price — just a small discount off the asking price. YAY!

In the end, the buyers do not fit my original profile (though there are children) but that’s OK. I think they’ll be happy there.

Next I’ll be turning to the other property I own, a very straightforward two bedroom, two bath condo. I’ll be putting up pics and ideas about how I want to improve that one soon.

Here’s the last of my detail shots for tonight. Sorry if I...

Sat, 02 May 2009 23:43:46 -0400

Here’s the last of my detail shots for tonight. Sorry if I clogged your dashboard!

Living room; cloche, thrifted; table, mid-century from my collection; lamp, Target (no longer avilable).

70’s mirror, thrifted by Anna; tree and bird hooks, Urban...

Sat, 02 May 2009 23:37:04 -0400

70’s mirror, thrifted by Anna; tree and bird hooks, Urban Outfitters.

While making one of the bedrooms a nursery fits in with my...

Sat, 02 May 2009 23:31:03 -0400

While making one of the bedrooms a nursery fits in with my concept of creating for an imaginary family, I won’t deny that a few of my grandmother fantasies kind of slipped in there.

Picture on right (partially shown), Urban Outfitters; shelf, IKEA; chair, items on shelf, lamp, picture, thrifted (except for the small book, which was mine as a child).

This is in the master bath. Yeah, more dogwood blossoms....

Sat, 02 May 2009 23:22:00 -0400

This is in the master bath. Yeah, more dogwood blossoms. You’d better believe I’ll use them as much and as long as I can.

Bottles, IKEA; glass shelf, thrifted.

When people walk into the master bedroom, they give a little...

Sat, 02 May 2009 23:17:00 -0400

When people walk into the master bedroom, they give a little “ooh” because they think it is so serene.

Bed and picture, IKEA; sheets, my own; quilt, thrifted.

Here are some detail shots of the house. This is the perfect...

Sat, 02 May 2009 23:13:00 -0400

Here are some detail shots of the house.

This is the perfect time of year to put fresh flowers around. Dogwoods are my favorite tree, by a mile. Their blossoms are so incredibly elegant and graceful.

vase, bowl and mirror are thrifted; table from IKEA.

Before and After

Sat, 02 May 2009 23:05:03 -0400

Before and After

My house is finally done, and on the market! I’m just real...

Fri, 24 Apr 2009 00:55:50 -0400

My house is finally done, and on the market! I’m just real excited. And pleased. And proud. Please have a look at my flickr set.

photo by mytoday

stairwell with skylight

Wed, 22 Apr 2009 01:25:11 -0400

stairwell with skylight

I made up a family to design this house for. Keeping them in my...

Wed, 22 Apr 2009 01:23:20 -0400

I made up a family to design this house for. Keeping them in my mind at all times really helped me to develop a consistant theme for my improvements and decorating.

There’s a wife and husband, a baby, and a girl who is 12 or 13. Pretty much everything I did was done to appeal to the woman of the family. She’s the one I’m selling to.

Photo: nursery

The townhouse is 98% finished. I am listing it in about 2 days...

Wed, 22 Apr 2009 01:02:00 -0400

The townhouse is 98% finished. I am listing it in about 2 days and my first open house is this Sunday. I can’t even begin to tell you how much I have learned in these past six months. I’ve learned about construction, managing people, decision-making, project management, and so much more.

And now, a whole new phase of learning begins, namely marketing and the selling process. After working so hard on this place, I can’t wait to hear the feedback. First thing I’ll have to do is figure out how to eavesdrop discreetly during the open house.

So mytoday graciously came and took some pictures (she did these for me last year). So far only the upstairs. I’ll be posting them as I get them over the next week.

Please give me any comments, good or bad, or any suggestions. Seriously, I would love to hear from you.

Photo: master bedroom

The townhouse is almost finished. Photo tour in about a week.

Tue, 14 Apr 2009 23:27:37 -0400

The townhouse is almost finished. Photo tour in about a week.

Natural Color Match One of my favorite aspects of design is...

Fri, 05 Dec 2008 21:50:00 -0500

Natural Color Match

One of my favorite aspects of design is color. I’m going with the same curtains in the living room of this house as I have in my own apartment and I had already decided to use a soft gray for the walls. But I was really having trouble finding a good gray.

I know I’m not alone in this — I’ve seen quite a few things written about finding the perfect gray. I tried to think of something I could use for color inspiration and then I remembered a plant I had seen growing in a pot out front. I ran outside (yeah, I was excited), plucked a piece off, and voila! I found what I was looking for.

photo: dusty miller leaf on Ralph Lauren Lamp Room Grey.

For that alcove at the back of the kitchen, I designed a...

Fri, 05 Dec 2008 21:38:00 -0500

For that alcove at the back of the kitchen, I designed a butler’s pantry. Two big, deep drawers, with heavy-duty runners, will fit very large serving pieces. On the left is a cabinet outfitted with dividers to store trays and baking sheets upright. And on top, glass door cabinets to display pretty serveware, vases, etc. The empty space has become super useful.

The breakfast bar now stands where the wall between the kitchen...

Thu, 04 Dec 2008 22:38:47 -0500

The breakfast bar now stands where the wall between the kitchen and dining room was. You can see a bit of the beadboard, too.

This painting is by Carl Larsson, one of my favorite artists and...

Thu, 04 Dec 2008 22:26:00 -0500

This painting is by Carl Larsson, one of my favorite artists and considered to be the father of Swedish interior design. His paintings revolved almost exclusively around his home and family life. He and his wife, Karin, designed and decorated their home themselves. I made a pilgrimage of sorts to visit the house, which is now a museum, in the Dalarna provence of Sweden, and it was pure magic.

Anyway, I was looking in my Carl Larsson picture book for inspiration when I first started working on my house, and I came across this picture. I decided to take down part of the wall between the kitchen and dining room, and build a breakfast bar in that spot. I also decided to put beadboard on the walls to tie the two rooms together.

photo: “Old Anna” c.1895, Carl Larsson (1853 - 1919)