T O O C U T E T U E S D A Y

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naughty arnold!

don't worry he was put back on the floor (in the sun, of course) and scolded

(with a smile).

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N E I G H B O R H O O D L O V E

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"The Carroll Street Bridge in Brooklyn is one of five bridges which span the Gowanus Canal. The canal has long been considered the dividing line between the Carroll Gardens and Park Slope neighborhoods although it is sometimes now referred to as it's own community - 'Gowanus'.

The Carroll Street Bridge was built in 1888 and is the oldest of only four retractile bridges in the United States. It rolls back horizontally on wheels set on steel rails in order to clear the waterway. The bridge was designated a NYC landmark in 1987.

The approach is still cobblestoned and the bridge itself is wooden planking. One of the better unnoticed details is the sign which remains atop the structure:

"Ordinance of the City :Any Person Driving over this Bridge Faster than a Walk will be Subject to a Penalty of Five Dollars for Each Offence." from nycbridges blog

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N E I G H B O R H O O D L O V E

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the holiday lights are up ;-)

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T H O U G H T S O N P L U M B I N G

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since our kitchen is pretty much planned...just waiting for materials...we can now really put some thought into the bathroom that's being renovated alongside the kitchen. it's a good sized room that isn't going to change as far as placement of things...the most affordable configuration is what's there now...with new beautiful fixtures of course! let's keep it simple people!

on a recent trip to my in-law's house in las vegas (my biggest fans!) i was inspired by their guest bathroom and detachable hand-shower head that simply takes the place of a regular shower head. no fancy body jets or shooting steam...just a good idea tastefully done. so i'm going to give it a go and hope our opinionated plumber doesn't shoot me down.

here's a look at some of the faucets and fixtures i'm thinking of.

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L I G H T S P L E A S E

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the pendants have arrived and boy are they nice!

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C Y C L E G I R L S

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here's some amazing illustrations by artist mads berg that combine some of my favorite things: bicycles, graphic design, and anything from copenhagen ;-)

aren't they gorgeous?

(from copenhagen cycle chic)

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L O V E T H I S N E I G H B O R H O O D

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for such a big city like brooklyn ;-) it sure feels like a small town sometimes.

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S T E V E ' S H O U S E

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stumbled upon some images from life.com of steve mcqueens palm springs house and

just thought i'd post 'em for the hell of it...plus it's steve mcqueen...the coolest!

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T O O C U T E T U E S D A Y

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P E N D A N T I N S C E N E

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i'm about to pull the trigger on 3 titan1 pendants from DWR. aren't they gorgeous?

(images from stephmodo, dwr, skonahem)

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H E L L O Y E L L O W ?

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it's about that time to buy kitchen stuff! i'll be placing my order for my gorgeous pendant lights at DesignWithinReach today...now i'm thinking i should order our counter stools while i'm at it. We have a wonderful discount thanks to our wonderful architects. i always had it in my head that the stools would be a fun bright color... just to add a bit of pop and whimsy to an otherwise neutral room. aside from ordering these Tolix stools from france in a ton of colors and a ton of money....DWR has them in red, yellow and steel. since i'm not a red person, and we've already got enough stainless steel going on, maybe yellow is in the cards? yellow and gray are a killer combination...i think it might be fun!

here's some examples of some yellow stools from the blogsphere (stephmodo, skonahem)

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3 R D F L O O R F I X U P

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we've spent the past two and a half weeks frantically fixing up our 3rd floor rental unit

for our new tenant to move in this past weekend. we renovated this apartment almost

2 years ago. the tenants who moved out were the nicest of people...they just

didn't take care of things as nicely as we would have liked.

but lets consider the lessons learned:

-granite countertops are great but they should be sealed like crazy and repeatedly and

maybe weren't the best choice for a rental unit.

-wood floors are fabulous and beautiful but all your furniture should have those little pads on the feet so they don't gouge the wood to the point where it has to be re-sanded and finished.

-not everyone cleans as often as we do...some people don't clean at all. make sure your tiles and grout are easy to clean and basically bullet-proof.

All is well though...the place looks great, our new tenant moved in, and we finally had a weekend to ourselves again.

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