29 March 2010

RAW STEEL AND A BIT OF SUNSHINE










Putting some of the finishing touches on the front porch. Finally getting to the cladding on the pocket door housing. Decided to stretch some of the reclaimed redwood as trim only and inset panels of raw steel. I have stove blacked them and will give a coat of wax too. Love the color. After we temporarily placed the black roofing felt over the plywood sheathing it was hard to not stick with black.

04 March 2010

WINE WALL















Just installed this cabinet in a very beautiful house that Nicole Hollis interiors www.nicolehollis.com has pulled together with the help of an inspired client. Happy birthday HM. It is combed, rubbed and waxed black, on a wood frame with an inlay of lead and bone. I grooved in roman numerals I through XXXII, in the bone, at the center of each door horizontal. The entire house is a beautiful material mix of old stone reclaimed french oak floors limed fir and sandblasted pine. Hair on Hyde on the walls, great soft leathers, and hand troweled smooth colored plaster. Radiant floors, all run by a mile of geo-thermal tubing. Very green, very natural, and not a bit too crunchy. Very beautiful all around.

03 March 2010


Trish at www.trouvais.com passed on to me the Kreativ Blogger Award. Thanks Trish. I have really enjoyed pouring through her blog and always find her collection of images inspiring. She has a great aesthetic. Blogs like hers are what make scanning blogs worth doing for me. I would highly recommend stopping by her site. I am not really sure what to say about me getting a blogger award. Still consider myself a neophyte blogger. Still learning the ins and outs. I have found it to be a very useful outlet and creative diary and place to collect and objectify some of my thoughts. If it is a road that leads someplace I could not really say. Maybe thats not the point. So, evidently I am supposed to tell seven things about myself that people do not know. Not convinced that anyone wants to know these and I suspect that there are many more than just seven but here is a shot.

1. I went to the United States Naval Academy.
2. I have one filling.
3. I love to swim in very cold water.
4. The high Sierras are a piece of heaven to me.
5. So is Lucca.
6. I don't like cats, the exception being Antigone.
7. When I grow up I want to live on the Mediterranean.
Seven Blogs that I enjoy, obviously the too short list:

www.spinthebottleny.com, good, plucky and intelligent gal, kind of my sister in law
www.dennyhollandstudio.blogspot.com , artful, inspiring, insightful
www.indecouroustaste.com , savage beauty
www.moroccanmaryam.typepad.com , great images, thoughtful, inspiring
www.kiva.org , what an idea, yeah I know its not a blog but watch the video

23 February 2010

GOT PANTRY?


finally a place for that

petanque?

the soapstone zinc on the zinc (ode to Baltimore)

from the loggia

closer

thats what happens when you lay an old boxspring in the yard and years later a tree grows through it (close in on the stump)

lead faced cabinet for the micro


Recently finished the pantry. It had been the last hold out in the "new" part of the house and the catch-all for stray construction odds and ends. Finally have some shelves for all the big stuff that we like so much. Had a great New Years bash and set up the drinks in there. I was happy to see people hang out in there, became part of the living space.

03 February 2010

RISING IN PARALLEL


At the same time that our home project in California was issuing forth, back in Maryland another project was rising from the foundation (and then some) of a previous home that sat on a beautiful hill in what was once a portion of the park of the old Wroxeter mansion that sits on a bluff above the Severn river. The clients for this project had purchased a home that we had forged back in 1994 when we lived in Round Bay on the same Severn river. They had decided that they wanted to move to a more spacious and private setting. We were engaged to do the design of this new project for them. As it turned out we also furnished many of the pieces and some of the details built in to the home. It was a collaboration between designer, client, and builder that I have truly come to appreciate and one that I will treasure. The clients and builder were an inspiration to work with. Finishes were deliberated upon, samples ordered, shipments delayed but finally sent. A great deal of the work was accomplished from afar via email, culminating in a month-plus long visit and fabrication/immersion. It has gladly been christened in its new incarnation. I wish it and it's new family the most sincere happiness. And I thank them and the entire team that worked to build it.

kitchen

rear facade

front

kitchen

the crew?

boat lamp

front double bay/window seat

upstairs window seat

kitchen

pool

mudroom bench

sunroom

front

entry

kitchen

bathroom tile

upstairs hall

lead clad bay

side view

front

G

carved casing

mudroom

E-room

kitchen

entry

kitchen