Perfectly Disgraceful

Brickbat gets Philly Mag best bookstore award!

Isn't Rex wonderful?

Pastiches of the past

Have you seen the "'New Vintage' Life" slide-show at the NYT? Or read the article?

I had a very visceral reaction to it. A very negative reaction. Normally I don't like to take up blog space, or mental space, with negative comments, I'm not hater, but I guess, as this is a taste issue, it's okay, right?

French doors

We have a big window in our kitchen, which used to be even bigger until some previous owner bricked up the bottom half. Your old school South Philly types are not fans of big windows. Or trees. Trees make dirt. I bet you didn't know that, did you?

 

So we want to have that big window turned into French doors. And the door, which doesn't open all the way thanks to a previous owner's not-so-clever placement of the stove, will be turned into a window.

 

I wish the back wall could look like this picture from At Home At Home.

 

Sink

Look at this sink! We have something very much like that, though not quite that large, living in our basement. Ours is all sink, no sideboards. I'm not sure where it came from, possibly it was always down there? Or maybe Rex collected it from the same place as the marble sink in our bathroom? The sink doesn't look like much now, covered in debris and filled with the sort of things one dumps in a damp basement. But apparently it's in very good condition and still has intact porcelain legs. It also solves my backsplash issues and some of my cleaning issues. No water collects and sits and breeds around fixtures that poke out of the wall. Yes, they'll still need to be cleaned, but it will be so much better than the current fixtures and tile. Have I mentioned how much I hate the tile?

 

 

 

Our sink even has intact fixtures, though I think I want something shiny and new. We were also discussing buying nice garbage cans to hold trash and recycling and keeping them under the sink, but look how cute these stools are. And I will need a stool to reach all the new high cabinets. From Desire to Inspire.

The all-consuming kitchen

This week I've thought of little besides kitchen design. I've spent hours doing layouts on the Ikea planning tool, which has really been beyond valuable. I've considered several different layouts, and thought I was set on a new layout, but now I think I'm back to reusing my current layout, with a few changes. I'm concerned, though, because the Ikea tool seems to fit more things into my kitchen than I thought possible, but I keep measuring and remeasuring (granted, with a 48" long yardstick, where are the three measuring tapes we own?) and it comes out right every time.

This Plexiglas (Perspex?) is an interesting backsplash option (from Apartment Therapy). Have I mentioned how utterly opposed I am to tile? This is due to my experience with disgusting grout on my current kitchen counter and previous experience with bathroom tile. However, I just noticed that the grout on the backsplash tile in the kitchen is just fine, even though it never gets scrubbed. I may have to rethink my total opposition to tile. I wonder if grossness would collect behind the plexi?

Script

How 'bout that new header? Thank you darling Rex.

More house thoughts

We're probably going to do a wood counter in the kitchen, whenever we get around to exorcising the hideous tile counter. I like how this looks, but in my experience, a gap between the sink and counter gets gross no matter how well caulked. I am torn between what looks good and my hated-of-cleaning-based desire to have some sort of seamless modular kitchen with a drain in the middle so that it can be hosed down.

Louise Bourgeois in Seattle

For Miss Terri.

 

House thoughts

Being away from the house seems to have energized us to do something about the house. Or maybe we are just well-rested from the vacation.

Big plans are afoot this summer! Sanding and repainting the floor of Eleven's room. Some fresh paint on the walls and hopefully a reduction of stuff in that room. We've been meaning to paint the floor, walls and built-in bookcases in the Younger Child's room for quite a long time, possibly with the intent of rooming both girls in there, but that seems to be slightly on hold.

Serra in Seattle