redbrickbuilding

Curtains for the exercise room

2012-02-09T10:59:00.000-08:00

Curtain mania continues at the red brick building. Now that many of the higher priority curtains are done or on their way, I'm thinking about how to finish off the curtain buying and hanging by turning my attention to what remains: the exercise room, the head house, the guest shower and the pantry.

I realized that part of the problem with the exercise room is that I need to settle on the color palette. It's painted Farrow and Ball Borrowed Light, which I love. Here's a photo of the wall paint color from the Farrow and Ball website:

The other color in the room right now is the dark brown of the 9 foot by 9 foot bookcase, made of the salvaged wood from the red brick building's original ceiling joists. The trim is white.

Yesterday, I combed my file of color combinations to see what I could find with pale blue, brown and white in it. Three variations came up.

a) The first is the craziest. (I think I'm emboldened by victory with the chocolate brown drapes in the master bedroom.) Those three colors, plus crimson (and black):

Ballard Designs sells a highly rated (and cheap!) cotton twill drape in this crimson:

b) Those three colors, plus deep dark blue (and maybe a little moss/olive green):

Ballard sells the same cotton twill drape in this indigo:

I have a small piece of antiqued silk velvet fabric in just the right green, if I wanted to make a throw pillow or upholster the seat of a stool or chair and bring in the green that way.

c) Those three colors plus a little bit of orange:

For this one I think I would stick with white curtains, rather than going with orange. I just think that it would be too much orange in the space. The inspiration photos feel fresh, bright and clean to me because they only have a touch. I want to make a screen to divide the room when it pinch hits as a spare bedroom - I could see an orange and white pattern on said screen. Or maybe just some orange in art or even a throw blanket. I did like the white linen/cotton ones from Pottery Barn and could see getting those again.

I'm a bit hesitant about the whole cotton twill thing because it's so casual, but maybe it will give the room the lightness it needs as a workout space. It does have the advantage of not costing the earth, which would be good in a space that we only spend a half hour a day in.

My husband likes options a) and c) and thinks b) is too dark for a workout space. I'm not so quickly convinced - I've always loved the idea of the exercise space feeling like a men's club library (hence the dark bookcase) rather than being super-bright like most gyms tend to be. a) would give both moodiness and color but I don't have red anywhere else in the house (not counting the much more muted red brick in the master bathroom) and I worry that it will stick out like a sore thumb. What do you think?

I think that when I get home I'm going to place a big order with Ballard and try some of these ideas out. (I need to double check the measurements for the pantry's crewel-embroidered burlap panels that I blogged about yesterday.) Now if only the hardware were more straightforward (two of the three windows die straight into perpendicular walls, with no space to mount hardware alongside)...

March issues of Architectural Digest and Elle Decor

2012-02-08T13:39:00.000-08:00

I'm stuck in the airport in Charlotte en route to Gainesville because US Airways (terrible, horrible) left Boston late and made me miss my connecting flight. They wanted to re-route me through Miami (Seriously? Three flights and 14 hours in airports to get from Boston to Florida?) but now I'm on a later, single flight to Gainesville that still gets in 13 hours after my initial departure. Fortunately during hours of waiting, I've had good company from the March issues of AD and Elle Decor. They're really inspiring.

I don't usually get AD but one of the blogs I read had sneak peak photos a couple of days ago of Diane von Furstenberg's NYC loft by the High Line so I just had to buy a copy. I adore the magical High Line (to paraphrase DVF's description of it: a ribbon of green floating above the city) and the roof garden aspect and glass-ceilinged master suite made me think of my dear, humble red brick building, though of course DVF's place is way, way fancier and more costly. The best photos from the article were on the blog already, but I enjoyed reading about her. I'm not a big fan of her fashion (too many bold prints and bright colors for my taste) but I deeply admire her expansive spirit and the romance of her life.

The other delicious feature from AD is about Julianne Moore's garden. So cool and mossy and still. I have nowhere near enough shade to go there (and am happy with the sunniness of the red brick building's roof) but I still loved vicariously visiting her hideaway. I was encouraged by her comment that the reclaimed bluestone pavers cost the earth but her architect talked her into it and now she thinks it was totally worth it. I note the way she keeps the surfacing consistent throughout. Our roughed up travertine was also an expensive item that gave me pause, but her garden and words are reinforcing my confidence in the choice. Also in the decision I made a couple of weeks back to make the retaining walls around the patio and the steps out of the same material.

General remarks aside, I wanted to share a few images that I'm saving for future reference:

(From Elle Decor.) I really like the way the forsythia looks next to the blue of the sofa. Could this be the jewel-toned color combo I've been searching for the head house?

Another possible idea for the head house came from the image below:

I wonder if we have room to squeeze in a shelf above the windows? It would need to scooch around the dropped the ceiling joists but it could be a great way to bring some layering into the space. I'm picturing plants in pots and interesting sculptural objets more than books. I do have a history of loving shelves above doorways. Really not sure we have enough space though - we'd need at least a foot.

Finally, since I'm in full-fledged curtain mode, two shots of window treatments:

This one is a possible for the head house. It gets super hot up there and we definitely need to block or at least filter some sun. I like the way these grass shades have their roll on the inside so it's visible, like a tent.

(I've also been looking at these sheer medallion drapes from Restoration Hardware Baby and Child:

They're very inexpensive but I'd need to do some alterations, so maybe not a bargain in the long run. Also, I'm not sure about the light-blocking (Is it enough?) and the pattern (Does it clash with the staircase panels? Is it too trendy?).

Sorry the next image is so dark and gives just a glimpse of the curtain panel - it's shadowy in the original photo too, but click to super-size:

It makes me think of the drape for our kitchen pantry. I like the fringe on the bottom hem of the panel. The frayed look, reminiscent of an antique rug, which this might in fact be. The more I look at fabrics, the more I think that an antique(d) woven panel is my ideal. I almost bid on a Flemish tapestry last month but when I went to the preview it had too many condition issues for even impractical me to dream of putting it near food. I've also been looking at these curtains from Ballard Designs, which are crewel-embroidered on burlap:

I'm worried about the scale of the design. Is it too trendy? Maybe I should just order a pair and return them is they don't do the trick? I would love the be able to close that space off....

Before and After: Wingback Chair

2012-02-08T12:42:00.000-08:00

I had my husband's grandmother's wingback chair sent out to be reupholstered. I cannot believe how quickly they turned it around: two weeks, including pick up and delivery. In Renovation Years that's barely the time between breaths. I'm so impressed.

Here's the before and after. Disclaimer: I had absolutely nothing to do with the previous choice of upholstery fabric and the chair is a sentimental object to my husband, so it had to stay - awkward proportions and all. Please forgive the flash, which distorts the colors of the fabric so they seem really different. They're not: the first two flash-less photos are the color-accurate ones.

I'm happy overall with how it turned out and it's certainly light years better than it was. Doing it again, I think I'd make the horizontal strip that wraps around the loose cushion leather and keep the arms completely mohair - I'm not sure I like the leather on the arms. Also, do I need to ask for softer foam in the loose cushion. It is WAY firmer than before - pretty much rigid actually. Hopefully a simple fix. Oh, and maybe a loose stitch at each corner of the skirt - the bulkiness of the doubled-over fabric seems a bit poofy.

Window treatment for the master bathroom

2012-02-07T12:14:00.000-08:00

We received the new London shade for the master bathroom on the weekend.

I'm still not used to seeing it there but I think I like it. Unobtrusive but not boring - a quiet finishing touch. And it was SO great to throw out the temporary shade!

Just found that curtain photo I was looking for

2012-02-04T17:17:00.000-08:00

This is the photo I mentioned a couple of posts back - the one that gave me the idea to try a deep rich brown against my white sheets and nude wall paint:

Thank goodness for other people's blogs! (Wish I could remember where I first saw this so I could give credit...)

Curtain trim

2012-02-01T11:09:00.000-08:00

I forgot to say in yesterday's post that I found this amazing trim that I might someday use on the master bedroom curtains. I could see sewing a strip of velcro onto it and the reverse side of the lead edge of each panel to facilitate laundering. But I want to live with the lovely status quo for a while first and see how ambitious I get. Heaven knows there are plenty of other RBB projects far more in need of attention.

Master bedroom curtains

2012-01-31T14:02:00.000-08:00

Today's post is about a part of the project that I've been working on for months: choosing, buying and installing curtains in the master bedroom.

I started out with the vague idea that I wanted something off-white with texture of a pale, subtle pattern. After combing various fabric stores in Boston and NYC, I found a dainty embroidered sheer cotton that I thought would be nice, backed with a separate plain opaque off-white panel for privacy. Priced out it was way more than what I was comfortable spending - not surprising perhaps since it basically involves making and hanging twice the number of panels on twice the amount of hardware. For those who don't remember, the master bedroom has five windows, so even with one layer, that's 10 panels.

So we re-ran the numbers with a plain off-white slubby linen and the thought that maybe in the future I'd find and add wide white-on-white embroidered ribbon to the lead edge of each panel. Without the ribbon we were still at a thousand dollars per window. Sticker shock.

So I turned to the catalogue stores for pre-made panels. Now that I was just looking at an off-white solid linen, I figured someone would have to sell something ready made. Of course Restoration Hardware has 100% linen, in a variety of weights and weaves even, but their prices are still high and I wasn't sure about their version of off-white, which seemed much yellower than what would work with our "nude" wall paint. At Pottery Barn, I was surprised by the feel of their curtains - some nice, heavy weight fabrics. They don't have 100% linen but they did have a textured linen-cotton blend and the price is great (about $100/panel for the length I need). I ordered the panels, along with this extremely gently-priced drapery hardware:

The hardware looked and felt great when it arrived. Just a nice, real iron with weight to it and slender, clean lines. After much coaxing, my husband made the time to install the hardware and I hung a pair of Pottery Barn's "White" and a pair of their "French Ivory". The French Ivory clashed with the wall paint but the White looked good, though very plain. I lived with them for a few days, becoming more and more convinced that they were boring.

Then I came across an image from a blog which for the life of me I can't find at the moment. It's been making the rounds of the design blogs: a pair of dark brown silk curtains behind a blush pink bed. That brought to mind something I love: deep brown velvet. Back to the home store websites I went, and found these at Restoration Hardware:

It's their Antique Velvet Drape. They're not cheap, but not completely nuts either (about $200/panel for rod pocket). RH was the only place I found where the velvet was entirely from a natural fiber (a hang up of mine) - in this case cotton. I decided to order a pair of them, in both of their shades of brown, along with a pair of their burlap panels and a pair of their heavyweight Belgian linen curtains in an off-white for good measure.

A week later, the box arrived and I unpacked and hung all the curtains. Let me say that despite the fact that all the RH curtains are at least twice as expensive as the PB curtains, they did not have loops for the curtain hooks sewn into them. Instead I had to use the (smaller and flimsier than PB) hooks RH provided to pierce the fabric at regular intervals. So it actually took close to two hours to pierce and hang all the panels and kinda hurt my fingers from poking through so many layers of thick material. (I bought the rod-pocket style because it was literally half the price of the French pleat and I just couldn't rationalize the price difference to myself. I prefer French pleat by not *that* much.)

Anyway, here's what the master bedroom looks like now:

I obviously need to hem the curtains, but other than that, I'm really happy with the way they turned out. Very dramatic, rich and warm looking. I think the dark brown velvet makes the room look more polished and lends a masculine angle to a space that was feeling a bit too feminine.

Another day, another auction

2012-01-24T12:48:00.000-08:00

On the weekend, my husband and I went to a preview at a new-to-us auction house. I've been getting extremely fed up with Skinner, my usual haunt. So many rules and policies that make it difficult to preview and bid, combined with plenty of competition for the good stuff. In their last auction, a glitch in the computer bidding system locked me out of bidding up to my maximum on an item that sold for way less - and they were rude and utterly unhelpful in resolving the problem when I called to point it out. The interaction left a very bitter taste in my mouth.

I didn't go to the new auction house with high hopes but I was pleasantly surprised. First of all, they actually seem to want to facilitate viewing, registration and bidding. Basic, but a revelation after my years frequenting and buying from Skinner. Second, there were definitely gems among the reproduction furniture and ho-hum paintings and some of the lots went for tiny sums, well under their estimates.

Unfortunately that wasn't the case for the two lots I bid on and won. The first is a pair of 19th century English oak candlesticks. They're 19" tall, so pretty substantial:

I love the idea of them with beeswax tapers, for a handmade eco-chic look.

The second lot was a chaise lounge. Over the years, I've swung back and forth between two diametrically opposed views of chaise lounges. As young twenty-something, I loved them. How could a young woman not? So feminine! So elegant! So fancy-European-from-the gilded-past! But then I became firmly anti-chaise, and for some of the same reasons. But it wasn't really the frilly associations that changed my mind; from the point of view of a city dweller with limited space, they seem so unpractical. They're really hard to wrangle into upholstered chair groupings in small rooms and on their own they eat up a lot of space and are less flexible and multi-purpose than a chair-plus-ottoman.

But as you know, we've been struggling with the seating arrangement in the headhouse. It is such a small space with such awkward dimensions and I simply *must* have something on which to really spread out and, well, lounge. So say hello to our other weekend auction acquisition:

Reader, I must confess that I spent far too much: far more than such cumbersome pieces can be had for on Craigslist, for example. Unfortunately I had my heart set on it. The scale and dimensions are perfect - not giant-sized like so many new versions. The down cushion is exactly the right combo of firm and yielding and the soft cotton William Morris-style fabric goes with the room (and my taste, even if it's not exactly what I'd pick given carte blanche). Put that together with the fact that we've been looking for so long and another person bidding hungrily and (may I say) a bit crazily against me and my hope for a bargain was shattered. Now re-covering it is not in my budget's future and I will have to invest some energy in giving the skirt especially a very thorough shampoo. If that's unsuccessful, then the skirt will have to go. But sprawling in the chaise in the living room this afternoon (that's as far as we had time to carry it this morning), the sunlight streaming in, the darn chaise seems worth every penny.

Some recent furniture purchases

2012-01-15T15:44:00.000-08:00

I've made a few furniture purchases for the red brick building over the past two months and wanted to share some pictures.

When we were in Savannah for our wedding - the afternoon we were married actually - we spent a couple of delicious hours browsing one of our very favorite antique stores, Alex Raskin Antiques. If you are ever in Savannah, you absolutely must go! It's in a historic mansion on the corner of one of their beautiful garden squares. The entire building is crammed full of antique furniture, some of it stacked one piece on top of the other. And it's all in a state of picturesque decay - the phrase "faded grandeur" comes immediately to mind - and that's just about my favorite aesthetic.

Naturally, it being our wedding day, we had the perfect excuse to succumb to a lovely piece or two. We chose an early nineteenth century mahogany tall chest, with a beautiful shell inlay and original ornate brass hardware. The wood is somewhat faded so it doesn't have that burgundy color that mahogany usually does.

It's going in our bedroom beside the glass wall. We desperately need more drawer space for clothes and I love the idea of having something we bought on our wedding day in our bedroom and using it every day. (Full disclosure: we first saw the chest nearly two years ago on a Valentine's Day trip to Savannah, really liked it them but worried that it was too splurgy.)

We also bought a very large eighteenth century walnut French Provincial armoire to go on the right side of the fireplace (the grand piano is on the left). We liked its simple lines and its workhorse stature. Oh, the quantity of files, papers and hopefully printer/fax/scanner that it will store!

The color in the second photo is more representative - no reddish tones. There was another storage piece that we really like but no matter how many times we measured and no matter how many ways we mentally rearranged our furniture, we decided we just don't have the space for. If only my stepdaughter's bedroom was a foot bigger!

Shifting gears, in November I caved and ordered the Turned Wood Bistro Table from West Elm. It's totally unlike me, because I really can't stand most mass produced wood furniture, but I really wanted at least one round table in the red brick building and was having a difficult time finding anything round and antique but also unusual.

I really like that the table has a modern, sculptural quality, without feeling harsh. The curviness works well with much of the rest of the house and I like the warmth and light hue of the unfinished mango wood, as a break from dark wood. The purchase was far from hassle free, though. The table comes in two pieces and they're supposed to send bolts and washers to secure the top to the base. These were not included in my package and it has literally taken them almost two months to send the eight missing pieces. That's a long time to wait while using (and cursing) a rickety table. In the end, the table's not an heirloom but for the time being it serves its purpose as an unexpected and fun piece.

My most recent purchase was at auction yesterday. It's a silvered brass fender for our fireplace:

A bit of a splurge (who really *needs* a fireplace fender?), but hopefully a detail that will make our frequent fires even more beautiful and the hearth look more finished.

Catching up with Christmas photos

2012-01-15T14:46:00.000-08:00

Hello and please pardon my long-ish absence. Many factors contributed: 1) I got married in December, 2) had a house guest for several days before Christmas, 3) Christmas, 4) I needed a break from working on the red brick building and 5) the pace of tasks being completed has slowed and as of the day before Christmas, I no longer have "company" here every day. (Best. Christmas. Present. Ever!.)
I do want to post the photos I promised of the Christmas decorations in place on the RBB's facade. I hope you enjoy them, even if we are past the season. (I'm now trying to decide when to take them down.)

I also did a display of white impatiens and azaleas in birch bark cachepots, just inside the building's front door. Unfortunately, we've been having problems with our heating (don't ask) and I had to move them to a warmer spot after a couple of weeks. Before the move:

Amazingly, they're all still going just as strong in the living room and kitchen as the day I brought them home from the garden center nearly two months ago. Really happy with the bang for my bucks and planning a variation on the theme next year.

Insanely overly-ambitious Christmas decorations

2011-12-07T15:06:00.000-08:00

I wanted to add something to the "collection" of homemade Christmas decorations I began last year with a gold-painted square pine cone wreath. I really like this image from, who else, Martha Stewart, so I decided to pay her the most sincere form of flattery.

Heaven forbid I should ever do anything by half measures. Instead of making a pair of window boxes as a sane person would, I decided that the right number would be, oh, about eight. (My hare-brained math was one for each end of the balcony and two for each of the three panels along the length of the balcony.) The first box took me and my extremely supportive fiance over three hours to make. (This was after I sourced and ordered the perfect window boxes, stocked up on wire and floral foam, and we drove way out of the city, picked through and lugged home the perfect branches and greens). Here are some photos of the actual building process:

Then ta-da, our first-born:

Admittedly, the other boxes went a bit more quickly (2 hours each) as we learned some technique. He helped with two more and his daughters helped with one, and then I put my head down day after day for the rest of the week and churned 'em out.

Then they sat sadly on the balcony while I waited for the white ribbon I had decided on to arrive. (Maybe I should have stuck with the gold after all?) Apparently nobody sells wide white velvet ribbon, even at Christmas-time, so I ended up with satin. Shipping cost a fortune and took an eternity, ie. one week. As soon as it arrived yesterday, I bowed. Then the workers came this morning and hung the boxes despite monsoon conditions. I promise photos when it stops raining.

Another photo update of the cabinet for the master bedroom closet

2011-12-07T14:38:00.000-08:00

Oh, if only you knew how eager I am to finally unpack my clothes, shoes, handbags, etc.! The suspense of waiting for the closet cabinetry to be done is terrible. Today, I received the following tantalizing image of the giant built-in piece:

My flowery antique French gesso mirror will rest on the ledge on the front, so you won't see those planks that run vertically. Incidentally, the lower section will have five thin black velvet-lined drawers for lingerie, hosiery and perhaps jewelry. These are the cast iron pulls I ordered for the drawers below the mirror:

The sections that V off to the side (which will have additional adjustable shelves) are for folded pants and tops. They're hinged to let us access the space behind the mirror from either side. That's storage space for out of season items. Clearly some free-standing chests of drawers/armoires are needed in the bedroom proper, since there's no way that level of shelving (divided by two) is enough. Hello antique chests-as-bedside-tables and very tall armoire for our one reasonably-wide wall.

I am so eager for the walk-in to become less of a dumping ground that I made a trip to the Container Store yesterday and bought many ultra-thin black velvet hangers, plus some U-shaped pieces of clear acrylic to keep my handbags upright on the shelf that's being built for them. I then spent two hours transferring clothes from my motley assortment of old plastic and wood hangers onto the svelte new ones. I'm still not done (I need more with clips for skirts), plus I need to make a decision about my huge cardigan collection: whether to fold and place on shelves (as all closet gurus counsel) or whether to hang (as I now do), which makes them feel more accessible. Folding would probably be optimal but since there is not a single shelf in the room at the moment, they will have to stay put on their less than beautiful hangers for the time being.

In-progress photos of the master bedroom closet built-in

2011-11-23T16:59:00.000-08:00

The cabinet-maker sent me some photos of the built-in he's working on for our master bedroom's walk-in closet.

He's coming on Monday morning to finish off the kitchen built-ins and install the two bookcases. Yay!

Our first fire

2011-11-17T12:07:00.000-08:00

We had our first fire in the fireplace last night. We'd been waiting for some black firebox paint I ordered over the internet. Our poor painter was nearly asphixiated by the fumes, but he returned the next day with a respirator mask and did a great job. We're still discussing the idea of staining the mantel (it was the above yellowish color when we got it from the architectural salvage place). And of course, we need to find a couple of cozy armchairs to angle in front of the fireplace, perhaps with that round pedestal West Elm table between 'em.

In progress photos of our bookcases

2011-11-16T08:37:00.000-08:00

We're having some more built-ins made by the cabinetmakers who did our kitchen and master bathroom cabinets. They are making two full height bookcases, one for the upstairs hallway (outside the master bedroom) and one for a wall in the exercise room. Both are 9 feet wide so they should hold a ton of books. They're being made out of the same ceiling joists that we salvaged from the building and used in the kitchen and bathroom. The cabinetmaker was kind enough to send me a couple of in-progress pictures:

They're also making a built-in armoire for the walk-in closet in the master bedroom. It will be nice to be able to put some more of our folded clothes away and get rid of a few more boxes in the bedroom. Even when the closet is finished, though, we'll still be living out of boxes for a while, until I find a freestanding armoire for the bedroom proper, and/or chests to use as bedside tables. Apparently we have a lot of clothes!

Cleaning out the dining room and living room

2011-11-14T06:52:00.000-08:00

We spent a few hours cleaning out the unwanted furniture, boxes and contractors' equipment from our dining room and living room, sending a truck load to our beach house. The rooms looks a lot more like a home already, even though we're missing some furniture, don't have curtains or chandeliers, haven't hung any art and still have some building materials and equipment lying about. Oh, and everything needs reupholstering too. Still, I thought I'd share our second floor's current state.

An autumn view from the master bathroom window

2011-11-13T15:48:00.000-08:00

I wish I was a better photographer so I could capture the beauty of the view from the master bathroom window and the bathtub yesterday morning. The sky was a much darker blue than in these photos and the yellow of the leaves and brown of the tree limbs were gorgeous against it.

One furniture purchase that didn't work out, and planning another

2011-11-11T14:25:00.000-08:00

After more than two months of waiting, our bed arrived from Restoration Hardware on Wednesday. What a disappointment! I ordered the Chesterfield Upholstered Sleigh Bed Without Footboard in a velvet color called "Natural" (they also sell a "White") and what arrived was as white as a piece of paper! And so, so giant in the room besides. The 56" high headboard, which is a pretty standard headboard height, looms and blocks a window in an awkward way. The sleigh part of the bed makes the whole thing stick out from the wall in a way that is less than ideal in our not-so-wide room. Long story short: I'm sending it back and having something custom made by our cabinetmakers. I'd like something that's more like 44" high, still tufted and with turned wood legs, but with a panel headboard that curves like this bed's headboard:

I have a piece of charcoal gray cashmere-wool blend fabric that might look really great. The upholsterer says we'd need 6 yards and I need to check that I have that my piece is that long before I get too carried away with plans for it.

Speaking of purchases from big furniture retailers, I went to our local West Elm earlier this week to see their new turned wood bistro table in person. It's actually very nice in real life and appeals to me even though it's a modern piece. I think that's because it's sculptural and has natural textural and variations that make it feel unique.

I've wanted a small round table for a while, mostly for quick cozy meals with my fiance (the big expanded dining room table usually has work spread out on it). The West Elm table is 32" diameter, which is perfect. I could see it either in the headhouse or snuggled into a seating arrangement in our living room. (We've been playing around with various sofa-and-chair configurations and think we've found the one we like best. It involves buying two more arm chairs and putting this table between them in front of the fireplace.) I'm going to wait for some kind of sale on the table, even though the price isn't bad to begin with.

Glass finials

2011-11-10T15:28:00.000-08:00

One of the final details that we still have to decide on for the red brick building is what the caps and finials on our newel posts should look like. The architect had produced a drawing and our cabinetmaker had subbed out turning the egg-shaped wood finials to his turner, but the work wasn't completed and last week it became manifest that it hadn't even been started and that there was a problem in translating the scale of the drawing from a 3.5" square newel post to a 5.5" square newel. (The headhouse staircase is the former size, the other two staircases are the latter size.) Basically, if we took the drawing the architect had done - which was for a 3.5" box - and tried to make a proportional finial for the 5.5" box, the finial would be crazy tall (8.25"). So now we're trying to re-design the wheel - er - finials.

I went finial-hunting online to see what the options might be and came across some pretty crystal staircase finials, which apparently are/were a French interiors thing (Louis XV, I think).

Naturally they are phenomenally expensive ($350 each at the absolute bottom, up to $650 for the fancier ones) and therefore not in our vastly depleted budget right now. I'm not sure how they would look with our staircase and in our space. Too fancy, or dazzling? I dunno.

Invasion of the pond plants

2011-11-09T14:43:00.000-08:00

My pond plant order was sitting in a box on the kitchen counter this afternoon when I got home. There was no shipment-sent email or tracking info, so I actually thought the order hadn't even been processed yet. Anyway, there were lots of exciting "Live Plants" stickers on the box and warnings not to expose to heat or to leave at the door. I was relieved to see that it was just one box: the last time I attempted something like this (in the spring, with moss), I ended up with four enormous boxes of plant material. (Hey, how should I know how to order plants by weight?) Still, there was a ton of plant material in the box and it was tricky finding vase accommodation for so much. I'm guessing I'll kill a number of them before I figure out what they like, so please excuse some of the vases, which are temporary. Disclaimers aside, here are some family photos:

The minimum order quantity on the water lettuce was 6 plants and they sent me two extra (either because they're incredibly nice, because they wanted to make sure at least 6 survived, and/or because these guys grow like crazy and they can't get rid of them fast enough!). I had only wanted one, or maybe 2 lettuces. Their roots are absolutely massive. I had no idea of the scale! Aren't they cool, though?

Sort of like baby bok choy heads but intensely seaweedy underneath. Wouldn't it be neat if it was edible? Hello, indoor water lettuce farm. Well, I guess my kitchen counter looks like that already....

My second favorite plant is the salvinia, which looks like this:

That's the entire quantity (it fit in a small yogurt container) - a "normal" size. The leaves look a bit like mini lily pads. I'd like to see the salvinia in a shallower, wider container.

Finally there's the azolla, which I find kind of underwhelming:

There's oodles of it, too: the amount in these two vases probably represents about 1/15th of what was in the bag. Know anyone who wants a science experiment? I'm going to try scattering the lettuces and the azolla around the RBB in various light conditions and see what happens. Fingers crossed everything doesn't just kick it.

"Landing strip" options for front entryway

2011-11-07T15:14:00.000-08:00

Plants aren't the only things I've been thinking about for the front entryway. I'm also keen to figure out its furniture. I'm pretty sure I want a symmetrical arrangement that includes a large painting. The challenge is that we don't have a lot of depth off of the back wall, because the staircase runs up to the left and any piece of furniture that sticks out more than a foot or so is going to start encroaching on the staircase, depending on the piece's width. (The back wall is roughly 6 feet wide up to the staircase's handrail.) There needs to be a landing strip of some kind that we can put keys, a handbag, the mail on while hanging up coats and taking off shoes. I'd also like enough space to create tabletop displays that change from time to time, and which would include the plants. In an ideal world there would also be some kind of seating to perch on while putting on/taking off shoes. (Sitting on the steps works in a pinch but isn't so hospitable!)

Here are some images I've saved that have the right feel and seem like they could be adapted to our small space:

I love the ornately carved table below and the stacks of books on the floor. (Hooray for the floor under the table/shelf being used for display instead of being left empty!):

This next one kills me, but obviously I can't have bookshelves *behind* a piece of furniture, since I barely have room for the piece of furniture:

Not an entryway per se, but I like the stacks of books and the floating shelf:

The foyers in the next batch are too minimalist, but I can't figure out if it's just their styling or if it's the idea of something wall-mounted that doesn't give the old-world feel I'm after. I *think* the problem with them is that there aren't any antique pieces in them, rather than that they're mostly wall-hung shelves. They certainly make great use of tiny spaces.

Back in the world of decisions, one option I have would be to reuse one or more of the old 3 foot long Pottery Barn crown molding floating shelves that I have kicking around. Here are a couple of photos of them from the PB website:

Underneath, I'd put some kind of stool or bench that could be easily pulled out. Maybe if the bench or stool was antique it would lend the vignette enough of the sense of age I'm looking for.

Another idea would be to buy this Victorian English glass-fronted bookcase that I came across last week. It's the right size (13" deep):

Since it's missing a shelf anyway, I could have replacement glass shelves cut and try to get some kind of light wired inside the cabinet (but obviously said light would need to be completely hidden). Then the plants would have a little help surviving. The bookcase isn't a bargain price-wise and the mahogany finish is a little darker than what I'd usually choose (plus there are a couple of chips in the veneer), so I'm not sure. Also, if I got it, I worry that there wouldn't be enough room to comfortably add a chair. (The front entryway is still a dumping ground for paint and the contractor's tools right now so it's difficult to get a clear sense of what would be left over in terms of standing room.)

Aquatic plants for the front entryway

2011-11-06T11:50:00.000-08:00

One of the big design challenges that I'm facing is bringing a feeling of light and life to the front entryway to our unit. It has no natural light whatsoever. (The stairway running from it to the second floor gets filtered light.) I knew the lack-of-light issue was going to be a tricky challenge when we were laying out the locations for each unit's entry and all the stairs in the building. Since our entry is in the middle of the back wall of the building, the only way to have avoided the problem would have been by putting in a transom window above the doors to our unit (thereby reducing their dramatic height) or putting in a pair of sidelights next to a single door (no room then for a double and the sidelights would have had to be frosted or sheer-curtained anyway for privacy from the street and common area). But I really wanted French doors and I really wanted the doors to be "secret", so glass around them was out. It was a tough call at the time, but I traded off on the natural light in order to get better doors to our unit and a better common entry. I don't regret the decision -at least not yet- but it has made it challenging for me to give our unit's entry the energy I'd like it to have.

These photos pretty much sum out how I want the area to feel:

Of course, water lilies want as much light as possible, so there aren't going to be any actual lilies involved. What I am going to experiment with, however, are some other (low light) pond plants, together with lots of glassware and reflective surfaces (probably mercury glass as opposed to mirror). I have no idea, though, if even a low light pond plant will tolerate the conditions in the front entryway. So after much research, I ordered three different shady types to try out. Meet salvinia:

Azolla:

And water lettuce:

I am super-excited about their arrival and keep checking my email to see if my order has shipped yet. Fingers crossed they ship very soon and don't die a slow and lingering death at the RBB!

(My back-up green plan right now, if the pond plants do decline, are various sizes of moss ball.

But so much less interesting!)

Crown molding and plaster frieze on the second floor

2011-11-06T09:13:00.000-08:00

I finally have some photos to share of the crown molding and plaster frieze that's being put in on our living room/dining room/kitchen/powder room level. Remember these guys?

Well, here's how they look now:

I love it: so elegant! Our plasterer is coming by on Monday to advise us about whether and how to fill more of the gap between the bottom of the crown and the top of the frieze and also whether and how to create a more gradual transition between the bottom of the frieze and the wall below. (The frieze pieces are really thick!) I think it might look better if the transitions between materials/pieces was a little more gradual.

The wood crown is installed on the whole floor but they ran out of plaster frieze after doing about 2/3 to 3/4 of the space. More is on order and we anticipate having it in about a week. The painters primed and painted it before installing it, so I imagine it will be at least two weeks before the rest of the frieze is up.

Tenants' Move-In Day

2011-11-01T06:30:00.000-07:00

Today is the day when our tenants move in. Well, we don't know if they're actually planning to move in today but as of midnight, the apartments are theirs for the next 10 months. I took a lot of photos last night to preserve the memory of the way the units look after so many months of labor. It will be very strange not being able to wander through them, or take shortcuts through them as we have, especially through Unit 2's side door.

The common entryway is essentially done: we just need to figure out where/whether to hang the mailboxes and I need to buy some jute treads to protect the painted wood treads from wet shoes and boots (they're urethaned, but still - plus they'll likely get slippery).

The silk wallcovering came out absolutely beautifully. Unfortunately my camera skills aren't good enough to capture the beauty of the dupioni's texture and sheen.

Here's Unit 1:

The old refinished doors are amazing. Below is the living room/kitchen, from various vantage points.

Going downstairs to the lower level, here's the bathroom:

This is the bedroom, also on the lower level:

This is the inside of the bedroom's walk-in closet. The double doors seal off the back-lit onyx risers of the front entry staircase, while allowing access when necessary.

The view across the bedroom from the closet, towards the emergency egress door and the utility room and street beyond:

Here is Unit 2:

The kitchen and little living room on the upper level:

Then down the stairs to the bedroom and bathroom on the lower level:

Here's the bedroom:

The view towards the walk-in closet:

The bathroom, which is the mirror image of Unit 1's:

I can't believe that we're actually finished two of the three units - it was starting to feel like the day would never come. I feel a little sad, a little deflated, but also relieved to be able to move on.

The workers have all been focused on finishing the tenants' units for the past couple of weeks, so we've seen little progress on the carpentry and painting fronts in our space. Today they're back in our unit, the carpenters working on the crown molding, the painters doing touch ups of the bedroom level and doing the final coat on the staircase panels.

Basement window grilles, gaslight support and headhouse brick

2011-10-25T14:38:00.000-07:00

There's so much work going on in the red brick building that I feel like I can't move without tripping over a worker. Today we had a couple of carpenters in the basement building a wall around the hot and noisy air conditioning condensers and the HVAC fans, another carpenter installing the medicine cabinet in our master bathroom and working on the clothing rods in the master bedroom walk-in, a painter filling the nail holes in the crown molding on the second floor and touching up paint and plaster throughout the RBB, another painter finishing the doors to the tenants' units with clear satin polyurethane, a wallpaper hanger applying the navy blue silk to the walls in the front entryway and a pair of iron-workers installing the window grilles to protect the basement windows. Here's what the window grilles look like this afternoon:

Each one had to be designed differently, since all of the windows are different sizes. The iron-workers also added some support for our gas light which was moving a little too much so much in the breeze that we've been worried it might swing against the transom window and shatter.

Not the world's most elegant arrangement, but at least now that wonderful lantern is safe.

I realized that I hadn't yet posted photos of the brick-tiled head-house wall, which was finished last week, so here are a few:

I also whisked by our local architectural salvage store today with a chandelier we bought from them that's been shorting the fuse since it was installed. It's the store where we bought our fireplace mantel, a pair of bronze wall sconces and the cremone bolt for our entry doors. They were great about getting right to figuring out the problem.

While I was there, I thought I'd have a look at their recent acquisitions, focusing on things we need like towel bars and toilet paper holders for the bathroom, chandeliers, etc. I was tempted by several pieces, including an enormous mirror with a plaster ram's head that they've had for a while and which I'd previously admired but think is overpriced. I wrote down the measurements to check how they would work in the exercise room and will see what can be done about the price if the size works. The smallest towel bar that I liked seems like it might be too big for our master bathroom. I need to verify that too. What I did buy was a motley selection of old address numbers:

They're quite small: between about 1 1/4" and 2 1/2". My idea is to use one of the 1s and one of the 2s on the doors to the tenants' units. I can't decide whether it should be a pair in the same font or deliberately mismatched. Then I'd like to find a way to use one of each numbers to tag our mailboxes. In case you don't remember, the mailboxes look like this:

I don't how to attach them to the wire, though. Maybe suspended underneath each mailbox with a loop of leather? I'd love a cleaner, more secure look than that.

Painted staircase panels and balusters

2011-10-21T07:42:00.000-07:00

The painters finished painting our staircase panels and balusters this week. They were pretty nervous about doing it because the panels are so intricate and only the face of the wood was to be painted. They decided to use a small sponge and apply the paint in very thin layers. Their strategy worked:

It's a bit jarring having the panels suddenly white, since they were unfinished wood for so long, but I think the fact that they're painted to match the trim will make them work better once all our furniture is in: the panels will blend in, adding pattern without being the focal point of every space. For me they're about amping up the architectural detail in the red brick building. (An aside: they're particularly fabulous at night, when they cast lacy shadows on the walls.)

New art for the red brick building

2011-10-14T06:08:00.000-07:00

We just bought a couple of new works of art for the red brick building. They're graphite drawings by Kate Sullivan, one of my very favorite Boston artists. All images of art diminish the original, but in this case it's particularly true because the computer images conceal the subtleties of her hand and that accounts for a lot of what makes Kate's drawings so magical. The subject matter is massive but the treatment is fine, almost delicate. Both works are very large, even in their present unframed state, and the scale on which it is realized makes her skill even more impressive.

The scale also means that we're going to have a bit of a challenge figuring out where to hang the drawings, but I'm a big believe that when you see something phenomenal, buy it and then worry about where to put it later. This drawing ("Locomotive at Dockweiler Germany") is five feet wide by nearly 4 feet high:

We're thinking of centering it on the wall opposite the dining room table, above the curved landing of the staircase that goes up to the bedroom level. Our other purchase is titled "La Belle Helene" and is nearly four feet long by 3 feet high:

Depending on how we frame it, it might fit in the master bedroom, next to the glass wall.

Kate has a solo show at the Copley Society right now. If you're going to be in Boston any time in the next month, stop by the gallery on Newbury Street and check out her work.

A few in-progress cabinetry photos

2011-10-11T12:16:00.000-07:00

My fiance and I are out of town this week, so we're trying to coordinate work remotely. One of the cabinet-makers sent me some in-progress images of the panel they're building to cover the tub skirt in the guest bathroom. It needs to have an access panel in case the inner workings of the airjet tub ever need to be repaired. Here was what it looked like yesterday:

It's going to be painted the same white as the trim in the rest of the room.

He also sent a couple of photos of the medicine cabinet that's going in to the master bathroom:

The old joist wood still needs staining. I'm trying to decide what to do with the interior of the cabinet. Paint it white to match the rest of the room's trim? I love that the glass shelves are adjustable. If all goes according to plan, both of these items (and several others) are going to be installed tomorrow.

Feeling (less) blue

2011-10-06T13:36:00.000-07:00

Things are really humming at the red brick building. When I visited today the painters had repainted the transom window over the front door and all the trim:

A lot better with less blue. I still need to live with the exact shade and intensity of the hue for a while, though, before deciding whether I love it.

The painters applied the first coat of black paint on the two side doors. Much better already! That ecru color on those cheap aluminum doors was doing me in. The painters had taped off the floor in the common entry of the RBB and were planning to paint the first coat of dark blue before leaving today. Curious to see what it's like and hoping it's not awful!

I took some photos of our bedroom ceiling light fixture, which has been installed. Sorry for the protective plastic covering the shade: I want to leave it on until the last of the workers leave, taking their plaster-and-sawdust creating tools with them.

I think it works in the space.

Several of the missing bits of door hardware arrived at the hardware supply house and I picked them up this morning. It's a huge relief to have the locks to both rental units now and to have the new, smaller mortise for the front door to the building. The last thing we're waiting on are three more cut glass knobs for the tenants units (somehow we were short a few when the order arrived). But I have a date when they are supposed to ship from the factory - two weeks from now - which works fine.

I dropped off the house numbers which I spray painted black yesterday and, as I was leaving, the carpenters were affixing them to the brick above the entry intercom system (and hopefully remembering to remove the ugly temporary numbers that are on the front door).

The cabinetmakers were on site installing some of our built-in cabinets. (They were working in the powder room when I was there, but also had the cabinet that's going over our refrigerator and the two for the tenants' bathrooms.) They plan to be back tomorrow to continue, especially with our kitchen drawers and the shelves in our master bathroom. If the mirror arrived today from their glass cutter, there's also a small chance that they might be able to install the master bathroom mirror and medicine cabinet tomorrow. I would love that because we're planning to spend our first night at the RBB tomorrow night and it would be great to have a mirror over the bathroom sink.

Rods, hooks and shelves were also installed in the tenants' coat closets, so those just need a bit of paint. The rental units are looking great now. So proud!

Finally, we have our tile guy on site again! He hasn't been in in about a week and a half because he hurt his back badly. He's still in pain but seems determined to finish. I really want him to get both the guest bathroom and the wall of the head house done because as soon as that exterior wall is done, we can start pleading with the green roof company to come and do their install before the winter. If that happens, I'll be able to get my orders in early to snag the best plants from the mail-order nurseries for the spring.

Feeling (too) blue

2011-10-05T06:58:00.000-07:00

I arrived at the red brick building yesterday to discover that the front door had been painted blue. Well, not just the front door but the transom window, jamb, and all the brick face and trim. Yikes!

So I asked them to repaint everything but the door slab itself. It's all supposed to be black, with just the door slab itself blue! I hope the weather clears and they can get it done today - poor defaced RBB! Once there's less of it, it'll be easier to work out whether the blue needs to be a smidge darker or a touch less green. I do want something lively, but one person's lively might be another person's garish.

Tenants' kitchens: pendant lights and countertops

2011-10-03T09:14:00.000-07:00

There have been some changes in the tenants' kitchens over the past week. First, after months of back-and-forth with the lighting store, the electrician, the local electrical supply house and a few local hardware stores, the pendant lighting was installed over the counter tops in the tenants' kitchens. Big sigh of relief.

Second, the protective coating of tiger ager was applied to the tenants' soapstone counter tops. As you can see, the tiger ager turns the soapstone from pale grey to charcoal. (The photos above were taken pre-tiger ager, the photos below post application.) I like both looks - the lighter seems more rustic, the darker more elegant. I think elegant is probably better in Boston's conservative market; the extra protection from food and wine staining is clearly an advantage.

Some recent purchases

2011-09-29T09:24:00.000-07:00

I've been doing some buying for the red brick building this week. First of all, I ordered a bed for our master bedroom. This was huge as I really haven't had a proper bed since childhood and for some reason choosing one feels like a huge commitment. Also, the one I'd been eying (and which I finally bought) is non-returnable, so there's no easy out if I change my mind. Plus there's a 6-8 week wait between ordering it and receiving it, which feels like an eternity for furniture. The bed I settled on is the Chesterfield Upholstered Bed with no footboard from Restoration Hardware:

I got it in the color shown, "Natural", and chose their antique velvet fabric. Since I like to read in bed, an upholstered headboard really seemed like the way to go, though I love the look of antique wood or even patinated metal headboards. Can't stand footboards because they make me feel hemmed in and I'm always banging into them. Love tufting. Plus I think the Chesterfield style reads a little masculine and our bedroom needs a few "guy" elements so it doesn't degenerate into a girly princess space and make my fiance feel less than totally manly.

My next buy was a chandelier, also for the bedroom. It's fully returnable with no restocking fee (unlike on almost *all* lighting websites) so if it looks cheap in person, back it goes!

I like that it keeps the intricate brass theme going. (The walk-in closet has a brass and crystal chandelier and the entryway to the master suite has a brass flush mount.) It seems like the right size, which was unbelievably difficult to find, since our room is longer than the average bedroom but with a 9 foot ceiling that most wider chandeliers won't accommodate. Plus it will give off a lot of light: 6 bulbs, up to 60 watts each. I also like the idea of the pleated shade, which softens the hardness of the metal, warming things up for a bedroom. It's less expensive than many of the other chandelier options I'd been considering, too, so the price doesn't feel bad.

My old oriental rug that's currently in our dining room is too small for the space and I think the colors will look better in our bedroom, so I'll be moving it upstairs and replacing it with a natural fiber rug. Since I first saw photos of them on the floors of English country estates, I've loved the look of traditional English apple rush rugs. Unfortunately they're really expensive for natural fiber rugs and since we're splurging in a lot of other places (the rug in the living room, for starters) I want to try to get the look for less. So I found this flat braided jute rug, with has extremely good reviews and is fully returnable if I don't like the look or quality when it arrives:

And I'm not complaining that it's 2/3 the price of a similar Pottery Barn item. I think it might be a nice bridge between the rustic feel of the kitchen and the fancier look I'd like for the living room and dining room.

The last purchase was the numbers for the outside of the RBB:

I bought them in the zinc finish and plan to spray paint them black and affix them to the brickwork above the entry buzzer/intercom plaque. The font isn't anything to write home about but I like the scale (6" tall and looks deep) and I really needed to pick something because the fire department made us put up temporary numbers and they look super sad.

I also found some mailboxes for the front entryway:

Getting the right dimensions and finding something with character was very challenging. Everything that was close was 5 or 6 inches deep and we can only have up to 4 inches, since I'm planning to hang them under the handrail that's just inside the front door, and I don't want them to stick out past the railing. These are 3 inches deep. They're out of stock but expect to have more within a couple of weeks, so I plan to order them then.

Lastly, not a purchase but we're getting close: When we were in New Orleans last weekend we visited dozens of antique stores in search of chandeliers, especially for the living room and dining room. One store had several we liked, though they're expensive. Maybe we'll be able to settle on something from there. It would be really great to have some lighting in those rooms when we move in.

A first look at the kitchen island and shelves

2011-09-29T08:02:00.000-07:00

Our cabinetmaker dropped off the kitchen island and shelves on Tuesday. Here's a first look at the base of the island:

Obviously, it still needs its pull-out shelves, its electrical outlets and the wood countertop that will be wrapped in copper. The carcass looks good, though, and it's nice to see our old ceiling joists re-purposed. For reference, it's five feet long, which my fiance was worried would look massive in the space but which turns out to feel just right. I'm not a fan of big, dominant kitchen islands. I like the idea of more counter space but I want it to blend in with the rest of the room like any other piece of furniture, not commandeer all the attention is the space.

Here's a photo of the pantry, where they started installing the shelves. You can see where the rest of the pantry's shelves are destined to go if you look at the little unstained wood strips (including the one that's half fallen down).

Ultimately, the pantry is going to have a curtain to close it off, rather than doors. (Softer/warmer and potentially more opulent, I'm hoping.) Here's a look at the open shelving to the right of the range hood (the area to the left of the range - with the painted exposed brick - will be left completely open. I might hang some art there):

The cabinetmaker is supposed to do some more installation work tomorrow, though his part won't be completed until next week. Then the copper worker comes in to wrap the tops, so we still have a way to go! I'm most excited to see what the pull-out shelves look like - and to put the wicker baskets on them. I hope it's cleanly and elegantly executed and think it will be, having seen the quality of the rest of the work.

Tile in the guest bathroom

2011-09-27T14:29:00.000-07:00

Despite my sparse posting, work continues in the red brick building. Mainly it involves things being tweaked, so there hasn't been much worth photographing. But one exciting development is that the tile arrived for the guest bathroom bathtub area and it's in the process of being installed. Here's a peek:

As you can see, the wall by the window needs to be finished. The edge of the tub deck also needs to be done. Then everything gets grouted (white). The tub skirt is going to be a wood panel with molding, since we need a removable access panel in case there's ever a problem with the airjet tub's motor. You can glimpse in the corner of the first photo of the arch over the tub, which was recently built and which now needs to be plastered and painted.

We have a loan!

2011-09-15T13:37:00.000-07:00

We finally closed on our loan today - after operating in limbo without one since June 15th, when our construction loan agreement expired. It's a huuuuge relief to know that our funding is secure and that we aren't going to lose the red brick building after all this work. Big sigh of relief. Now it's on to finishing strong, which means crossing little unfinished items off our punch list until it's blank.

We got our Certificate of Occupancy!

2011-09-13T18:18:00.000-07:00

I can hardly believe it has happened but this afternoon the City granted us our certificate of occupancy!!!!!! That means all the inspectors (fire safety, life safety, plumbing, electrical, building) have signed off that our building is safe and complete and habitable! So no more hoops to jump through in terms of satisfying regulations and we're able to move in whenever we like and rent out the apartments just as soon as they're finished. More importantly, we're out of the limbo we've been in with the bank since June 15th when our loan with them expired. They wouldn't issue the new loan until the building had a new status (the C of O) since the new loan is a different kind. Essentially we've been running on their good grace for 3 months.

We have had so many last minute hitches and problems the past couple of weeks on the way to the C of O: not a single one of the inspectors passed us on his first visit and several wanted us to change things that seemed impossible at this late date and stage. Worse was that a few were difficult to get in touch with to schedule for a return visit - and they have to come in a specific order, so you can't move on and come back to meet with an earlier inspector his schedule is booked. Anyway, we did it...we made it...and I am so incredibly relieved!

Choosing a font for the numbers on the tenants' front doors

2011-08-30T07:21:00.000-07:00

I'm trying to tie up some loose ends that need to be sorted out before the tenants' units can be rented. One of those is choosing a style and material for the number on each of their front doors.

I have a horror of most house numbers because they are almost always generic. In the last apartment that I lived in alone I replaced the cheap standard "2" on my rental's door with an oversize and extra-deep gray metal number I'd found at Anthropologie. It was sculptural, unexpected and gave me a little chill of happiness every time I arrived home. I want the same for our tenants.

Given that there's *so much* going on in the common entryway (back-lit onyx risers, navy silk covered walls, antique unfinished arched doors for their units, mirrored and gilded antique arched doors for ours, brass and crystal chandelier, leather-wrapped handrails, etc.) I feel like the unit numbering should be a little low-key, without looking like an afterthought.

To refresh your memory, here's what their doors look like:

And apparently, I haven't yet posted a photo of the hardware installed on their doors, so here are some shots of items in the same line from the company's website (the finish on the exterior of the doors is polished brass, like in the second image):

I was thinking that instead of buying the typical metal number, I'd get a stencil in an interesting font and stencil the number straight onto the unfinished wood, probably with gold paint. Now the question is which font to use for the numbers. Keeping in mind that the only numbers we'll have are 1 and 2 (our unit will be unmarked), here's my current short list. (They're all available in sizes up to 4 inches, so none of the options is going to be large scale.)

Black Chancery:

Chancery:

Dauphin:

Industrial:

Tiffany:

Thoughts? Ideas? A favorite?

Our bathtub in September Elle Decor

2011-08-26T07:15:00.000-07:00

Okay, not our exact bath but one that looks just like it. I was catching up on my magazine reading yesterday, enjoying an Elle Decor article about a residence in a converted factory in San Antonio. I turned the page and lo and behold saw the antique zinc bathtub from our master bath splashed across page 203:

I've never seen another tub like ours anywhere, so it was quite a surprise. The one in the magazine is a smidge taller and doesn't have the faux-marbleized finish that ours does (that I'm not sure we're going to keep), but otherwise they're dead ringers. Our tub areas have two other elements in common: the weathered, outdoor-ready material on the floor and walls, and the off-center placement of the tub in front of a window. I'm drooling over the Texas woman's moody tumbled Versailles-pattern travertine (which is exactly the stone and tile size I used for the head house floor but hers looks so shadowy and dramatic). Even if it's less grand, my instinct is still that brick is more in keeping with the feel of our brownstone. I also covet her soaring ceiling and window height (despite our skylight addition).

The whole article is filled with captivating photographs. The page opposite the tub has this bed:

Significant because on Wednesday I met with our custom millwork guy to discuss more built-ins. I'm trying to figure out what to do in the head house. It's a really small, irregularly-shaped space. Its primary purpose is to be a sitting/lounging area (I looooove to lounge). But it would also be great to be able to dine up there with friends, so I'm thinking of putting two custom banquettes at right angles to each other and getting a table that somehow is adjustable from a coffee to a dining table height (while still somehow working in both positions with the height of the banquettes). Yesterday, before I got to Elle Decor, I read the September issue of Canadian House and Home and was excited about this daybed - but not its insane price tag ($13,000, mattress not included!):

Two sleigh beds calling to me. A shallower custom version of the fully-upholstered one (so soft!) may be in the red brick building's future.

First glimpse of the onyx risers

2011-08-24T11:38:00.000-07:00

I was wrong that there would be nothing exciting to photograph at the red brick building this week: today the foreman on the carpentry team began installing the onyx risers on the front (common entry) staircase.

Knock on wood, it seems to be going surprisingly smoothly for something that everyone was incredibly worried about. Believe it or not, they've even been using a diamond blade on a table saw to trim the ultra-fragile onyx pieces to size...so far without incident! Because the stone is so delicate, they devised a plan to back each riser with a piece of plexi-glass, which will allow the light from the LED devices to penetrate (hopefully without the stringers casting shadows), while providing stability for the sheets of onyx. I really, really hope it all comes together without incident!

Installing the interior door hardware

2011-08-23T12:41:00.000-07:00

We're in for a few not-very-exciting days of work on the red brick building. The GC's crew is finishing up some bits and pieces (insides of cabinets, trim around closet doors, etc.), but nothing that makes for exciting photographs. They've started to switch out the cheap hinges that came with the interior doors for the nicer solid brass ones (in an oil-rubbed bronze finish) that we chose. Here are a few snapshots from the inside of the exercise room:

The painters are applying final coats of paint everywhere. They started on our bedroom level and are completely done there, with the exception of the guest bathroom. They're working on the head house today. Tomorrow they'll move downstairs to our living room/dining room level and work down from there. The fresh paint makes the space feel bright and beautiful.

I booked some movers to come on Friday afternoon and help up arrange our furniture throughout our unit (and shift the moving boxes to the rooms in which they belong). I'm really looking forward to seeing our stuff in place.

More plumbing completed

2011-08-21T10:33:00.000-07:00

On his Thursday visit, our plumber did more than install the exterior gas lantern. He also plumbed the ancient cast iron kitchen sink:

And the gas range:

Upstairs, he added the missing shower valve trim to the master bathroom:

As you can see, after three weeks of phone calls, we've been unable to entice our tile guy to return and grout the area that had to be ripped out because the shower valves had been rough plumbed incorrectly.

The plumber stopped short of plumbing the master bathroom sink because he didn't have a brass drain (just chrome) and he also raised some concerns about the non-beveled interior of our unorthodox sink that we've got to figure out how best to address. (Try to get it beveled by the same glass cutter who created the semi-miraculous hole? Or add a bead of clear silicone to the interior to keep water from pooling above the gasket?)

As the saga of the sink continues, I also ordered a new tub only set for our bathtub. The white ceramic set which looked okay in the catalogue and which was supposed to disappear into the brick tile once we'd painted it white looks comically chunky in real life and sticks out like a sore thumb now that we've decided to leave the brick au naturel. I went with a brass set that is supposed to match the shower trim.

The gas lantern is up

2011-08-19T06:29:00.000-07:00

The gas lantern was installed over the front door yesterday and it looks even better than I'd hoped. (I was so excited about it last night, I actually had a hard time falling asleep!) The light is very dramatic in real life, especially because the flame is so large. Maybe it's adjustable?

In other exterior lighting news, our electrician also recently installed three other exterior lanterns from Bevolo: two on the exterior of the balcony and one by Unit 2's side door.

I love the ones on the balcony and like the one by the side door. Surprisingly, one of the things I like best about the ones on the balcony is that they project relatively little off the face of the building, which means they don't take up much space on our already skinny balcony. A lucky break because that was a factor I hadn't even considered.

A couple more photos of the mirrored doors

2011-08-18T15:25:00.000-07:00

I got a couple more photos of the mirrored doors to our unit today:

Fingers crossed that the it really looks like a solid wall rather than a pair of doors when it's all finished!

Lots of work in the common entry

2011-08-18T05:44:00.000-07:00

Every day when I go in to the building, there's a swarm of activity in the common entryway (so much so that it's hard to find a moment to take pictures). I shared some photos of the ripped out front staircase a few posts back. Well, they rebuilt the stairs to account for the fact that the first floor of the building is about 4 inches higher than it was originally. They've temporarily covered the steps with plywood, which is good enough to pass the final building inspection. (Ultimately, the backlit onyx risers are still going in.) Then they cut and installed the handrails, which also must be in to pass inspection:

Again, these are not in finished form: I'm going to have them sent out to be wrapped in stitched brown leather. The shape is there, though: I really wanted them to flare out at the top of the staircase, curve, and wrap around.

Our carpenters also installed the mirrored panels and French doors to our unit. Inset hinges were a challenge! It's a tight space and the mirrors make it hard to get good photos, but here are a couple shots for the time being, taken from the inside of our unit (more to follow!):

They still need to mount the lock set and the bolts, trim out and mirror the six inches or so of space above the doors and paint all the trim gold.

The carpenters also trimmed out the area around the transom window and front door, on the inside of the building, so there's a flat, even surface to paint or wallpaper:

New guest bathroom plumbing

2011-08-17T14:19:00.000-07:00

The plumber *finally* came today! He started in the guest bathroom and had installed the toilet and the sink faucet by the time I'd arrived.

The vanity's drawers, which need to be cut to fit around the sink basin and drain (and the vanity mirror, to their right):

The faucet is by Sherle Wagner (scooped up on eBay for a song) and is super-fancy: when you turn off the taps, the water stream comes to a gradual stop. At first I thought the water wasn't going to shut off properly, but then I realized it's sort of like a soft close drawer in a kitchen cabinet. Slightly unnerving at first, then mesmerizing. I like.

Our kitchen sink is in

2011-08-11T11:04:00.000-07:00

Here's what the kitchen looked like this morning:

It's so exciting to see the kitchen sink in place. The cabinetmakers had all kinds of problems with it. Apparently it was so heavy it snapped the first frame they made. Then the piping and duct-work that runs in the wall behind was at the exact height where they wanted to put their anchors. I don't mind that it took longer than expected because it looks really great. I hope we can use the shallower sink (the one on the right) for messy cutting-board prep (peeling vegetables, chopping tomatoes and other juicy fruit, etc.). It's big enough and high enough that it just might work.

Mirrored tub skirts for the tenants' bathrooms

2011-08-09T10:25:00.000-07:00

The mirrored skirts went in for the tubs in the tenants' bathrooms. I had asked for a beveled edge, which was forgotten/not communicated so there's no bevel. Otherwise, I think it's good.

Ripping out the front (common) staircase

2011-08-05T05:43:00.000-07:00

Our contractor's crew just ripped out the front staircase in the common entryway of the red brick building. All that's left are some old stringers. Here's a shot from the top of the staircase down:

From underneath the staircase (the basement, inside Unit 1's walk-in closet) up:

From the bottom of the staircase (the sidewalk) up:

The plan is to rebuild the staircase, adjusting the height of each riser to make it about 1/2 an inch taller, to accommodate the way the level of the first floor rose a few inches when we rebuilt all the floor joists. (If we didn't increase the riser height now, the last step would be a couple of inches taller than any of the other steps, which is both uncomfortable to use and doesn't meet the building code's requirements.)

The treads are going to be made of oak, which we'll paint a very dark blue to match the navy blue silk wall covering. (The rest of the floor in the common entryway is going to be painted the same color.) The risers, you may recall, are going to be made of back-lit off-white onyx. The carpenters are in the midst of figuring out how to make it all work, with input from an LED lighting specialist.

Master bathroom vanity and sink progress

2011-08-04T12:31:00.000-07:00

The master bathroom vanity was installed yesterday. Hooray!

Yes, you can see the brackets, but not much. I think we should just make a decision about whether they need to be minimized more or whether we can live with some projection later. From this perspective it doesn't look too bad to me.

I picked the vessel sink up this morning from our miracle-working glass cutter: he was the only one brave enough to try cutting a hole in the bottom of the antique punchbowl for a drain. (Everyone else - including several other glass cutters - was too afraid they'd shatter it.) Isn't it awesome that he succeeded? Looks perfect!

Yet more installed light fixtures

2011-08-03T07:47:00.000-07:00

More light fixtures went in in advance of the electrical inspection. Here are the chandeliers in the common entryway and in the entryway to our unit:

And here's a flush-mount star in the headhouse with its frosted cover plate:

The lantern outside the headhouse french doors. The jerry-rigged wooden box will be painted black to match the windows. (Maybe I can get the lighting company to make us a box out of the same metal as the back plate):

The chandelier in our master bedroom walk-in closet (hung too high - we'll adjust it):

The flush-mount in our master suite entryway. The glass broke during shipping so we're waiting on a replacement piece with that same frosted look as the head-house's star flush-mounts:

The pendant in the master bedroom toilet cubicle:

The giant lanterns in the upstairs hallway:

The lantern in my boyfriend's daughter's room:

The wall sconces above the vanity in the guest bathroom:

The wall sconces above the vanities in the tenants' bathrooms are in too, but I forgot to take pictures.

A couple of door hardware problems

2011-08-03T07:32:00.000-07:00

Two problems have cropped up with our door hardware. The first is the smaller problem: it seems that the store forgot to place the order for the secondary egress doors from the tenants' units and the lock-set into the utility room, so we're short those four items. I'm looking into that with them now. Worst case, they'll put something cheap and temporary on the doors to pass the inspection and we'll get the items ordered up pronto.

The bigger problem with with the front door hardware, which was installed last week. It's really important to me that the front door look *amazing* since it's the focal point of the face of the red brick building. Hence the gorgeous old salvaged door we put in and the refinishing work we did on the transom window. Hence, too, the obscene amount of money I spent buying a (completely custom) Rocky Mountain mortise lock for that door. Apparently someone measured wrong or ordered wrong because this is what we've got:

So off-center! And cutting the door's molding to accommodate it? Really? Looking at it makes me queasy. I've been in touch with the hardware store to see what can be done. Smaller backplate? Smaller mortise? I know it might seem like a ridiculous detail but it's going to depress me every single time I enter the red brick building, so I've got to find a solution.

Inspection news and first look at master bath vanity and owner's kitchen cabinetry

2011-08-03T07:19:00.000-07:00

We are rushing, rushing, rushing to get enough of the red brick building finished to get our certificate of occupancy so that we can get a bank loan (our old one expired). To get the C of O, we need final inspections of plumbing, electrical, life safety (fire prevention), and lastly an overall building inspection. We passed our plumbing inspection late last week so that's one down. We flunked the electrical because we were missing too many fixtures and our electrician thought the wired areas would be okay temporarily without blank plates. Wrong: we needed the plates. The electrical inspector is scheduled to be back at the RBB today (the blank plates are in) and hopefully we will pass the electrical. Next up: life safety.

Meanwhile, the custom cabinetmaker sent his installers to the building yesterday to put in the master bathroom vanity and frames for the base cabinets in the owner's kitchen. They started in the kitchen and were still in the middle of that when I arrived. I took a couple of quick photos while they were having lunch. First reaction: I love them! I love the way they preserved the patina of the ceiling joists we salvaged from the RBB, which at the same time getting rid of the worst of the dirt and making them flat and splinter free. Everyone has been giving me a really hard time when I asked for that look to our wood, explaining why it was a bad idea and couldn't be done, and here our awesome cabinet guy just got on with it (after quadruple-checking with me that it's what I really wanted) and it looks even better than I'd imagined. Look at the tongue-and-groove of the planks lining the *inside* of the cabinets (click on the photo to enlarge it):

This is the inside of one of the base cabinets, another top-down shot:

The part of the counter top that dips down is where the enormous salvaged cast iron double sink is going to be. As you can see, still a work in progress, but at least it's looking awesome and at least it's moving.

They also brought the master bathroom vanity to install. It's basically just a shelf, cantilevered into the wall. Here it is, propped up in the shower:

I absolutely love detail of the mitered corners. And look at the lovely patina they preserved on the wood! We are going to have a piece of glass cut to protect the wood (and keep the dropped toothpaste out of the grain) and then our antique punch bowl will sit on the glass and serve as the sink. (Fingers crossed that cutting the hole in the base for the drain goes okay. Everyone has been too afraid to do it and risk shattering the bowl. Finally our glass cutter agreed to take on the challenge yesterday.) With regards the vanity itself, my biggest concern is that they make it "float" as much as possible, with the support brackets set invisibly high up and far back into the wall. I know it's a structural challenge for them so I'm a bit worried about the final look of the thing.

A big photo update

2011-07-21T13:11:00.000-07:00

I went in to the red brick building today armed with a camera and the determination to take LOTS of photos for the blog. The first thing I realized I haven't yet photographed is the front door, with the transom window in place and the coat of primer on: (Notice that our ironworker also installed the post from which the gas lantern is going to hang.)

Immediately inside the front door is the new flooring in the common entryway:

And in the entryway to our unit:

Here's the range hood I mentioned that they'd installed in Unit 1's kitchen:

And the roof garden railings (they're high because of the foot of soil that's going across the roof's entire surface):

One of our staircases' finials is on:

The guest bathroom vanity's marble top now has holes cut in it for the undermount sink and faucet:

The guest bathroom's floor tile has been grouted:

And so has the hearth tile:

There are also new light fixtures installed in the kitchen:

And on the staircase between our entryway and the living room level (don't think I like 'em though):

And in the headhouse:

When I left the RBB, there was a plumber working in the master bathroom (more problems cropping up with the shower), one of the carpenters was gluing up the extra plaster rosettes I picked up on Tuesday and another carpenter was working on the staircase balcony railing in our dining room (which is the last of the staircase railings that needs to be installed). Slowly, slowly, bit by bit the project continues to come together.

More progress on our unit's staircases and tile angst

2011-07-19T14:25:00.000-07:00

The balcony railing in the headhouse:

And the balcony railing on the third floor (bedroom level):

They were working on the staircase between the second and third floors when I left them this morning so maybe they'll be done by the end of the week. It'll be great to see what it looks like painted and with the finials on top of the newel posts.

In less visually pleasing but still great news, one of the crew put in the drywall around the basement utility room, so they should be able to add the fire-rated steel door that seals off that space shortly.

Our GC and his crew had also installed the range hood in one of the tenant's units and was were working on the hood in the second tenant's unit.

Lastly, I forgot to take photos, but the tile guy came this morning and grouted the floor in our guest bathroom. It looks phenomenal! On the drive in to the red brick building my fiance and I revisited the age old question of which wall tile we should use in that bathroom. I had found something I liked even better than any of the options from my last post about tile (here). It also happens to be slightly cheaper than they were, but still not cheap by a long stretch. It's by a manufacturer in upstate New York called Quemere and is similar in style to the first three tiles in my last post. Unfortunately the cost was getting close to $5000 for enough to do the bathtub alcove. It feels a bit ridiculous to spend that much, especially on a guest bathroom that isn't going to see a heck of a lot of use. I called up the no-frills place where I bought the white hex that's on the floor and got prices for plain ceramic 3x6, 4x4 and 6x6. They're all about 1/10th of the cost of the fancy handmade tile, depending on which size I were to choose. I'm leaning towards just getting something inexpensive and counting on all the other aspects of the bathroom - the antique marble-topped vanity, the huge old mirror, the gold fixtures, the arch over the tub - to carry the day. I do want to check that the whites are okay together, though, since they're from different manufacturers. Is this giving up or being sensible? Sometimes on this project it's hard to tell.

First photo of one of our unit's staircases

2011-07-16T14:32:00.000-07:00

Our contractor emailed us this photo this afternoon:

It's the staircase between the third floor and the headhouse. (No finial yet on the newel post.) Despite enjoying the gorgeous weather this weekend, now I can't wait to go in to the red brick building on Monday!

The front door is installed

2011-06-29T10:42:00.000-07:00

Here's what the facade of the red brick building looked like just before noon today:

That's our new front door, with its new glass panes, center stage. We're trying to decide whether to paint it (Farrow and Ball Lulworth Blue) or whether to try to fix it up a little and just seal it. It does need fixin':

What would you do?

The tenants' doors are installed

2011-06-28T14:32:00.000-07:00

That's Unit 1's door, seen from the inside. I love the look of the old wood in contrast to the newness of everything else in the space. Originally, I'd planned to paint the doors, but now I think I'd like to try to leave them unpainted and just protect them with a coat of poly or something. The doors do need a little remedial work if that's to be done, though. Hopefully the patching can happen while they're on their hinges.

Don't you just love the trim and this first look at the rosettes, too? Many of the other rosettes are up in different parts of the building, but our contractor only counted the windows (forgetting that the doors need rosettes too) so I have to go back to the plaster guy and ask him to make us a ton more. Totally worth it for the prettiness, though.

Our furniture moved in

2011-06-27T11:01:00.000-07:00

But we didn't. That's it, piled under a giant tarp in the living room. I'm jealous that it gets to live at the red brick building and we don't yet. I suppose it's for the best, though, since the floors aren't even finished, never mind all the plumbing, trim and other bits that make a construction site a home. The lease on our suburban rental is up at the end of the month, so we'll very shortly be moving our air mattress to the RBB. Prepare yourselves for even more mayhem and madness when we're actually living amid the dust and debris.

Travertine tile on the headhouse floor

2011-06-26T16:20:00.000-07:00

Here's what the floor in the headhouse looked like late last week:

And here's what it looked like on Friday:

I'm a big fan of the travertine we chose - suitably rustic. I even think the color works well with the wall paint color, though I actually forgot to give the flooring thought when painting the walls. I can't wait to see what the room looks like with the light fixtures in too. I'm nervous about the color of the thicker travertine stone I bought for the adjacent (outdoor patio). I think it's going to be too light since it's more of an ivory/cream. I wonder if it can be stained or etched to make it look darker. Maybe we just need make sure it's dirty all the time? Only semi-kidding. Anyone have any ideas?

The kitchen appliances are (mostly) placed

2011-06-15T14:29:00.000-07:00

Today's updates to the red brick building were small and scattered, rather than showing a lot of progress in any one room. The spaces that have changed the most are the two tenants' kitchens, where the appliances that were delivered on Monday have been placed. The ranges and fridges in the rentals are KitchenAid, the dishwashers are Bosch. Unit 1:

Notice the faucet, which has been installed...and the garbage disposal, sitting in its box on the counter, which hasn't.

Here's unit 2's kitchen:

No faucet yet or garbage disposal, but the sink, the stove and the dishwasher are in place. The refrigerator, on the other hand isn't:

That's because we were supposed to receive one with an icemaker and an icemaker has been plumbed for, but this model doesn't have one. A call to the sales guy was made and he is sending us an icemaker kit to fit into the above fridge.

In our kitchen, the range and refrigerator have also been placed:

I'm surprised by how little space there is to walk between the range and the fridge. Sure, the (lack of) distance was on the plans, but I'm used to it being open. Not sure if the cramped feeling is going to change and more cabinetry goes in and I get used to the new configuration or if this is something that's gonna bug me.

I hope the plumber comes back again tomorrow: there's a ton for him to do, not only in the kitchens. And I'd like to see the range hoods go in in the tenants' units very shortly. (Ours needs some kind of transition piece between the bottom of the pipe and the top of the hood that we're waiting on.)