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

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this is jessie...our cats cousin ;-)

she lives in san diego and is super cute and great fun.

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C A B I N E T S O R D E R E D. Y I K E S !

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so yesterday we pulled the trigger on our cabinet order. 'no turning back now' as chris says.

i'm a little freaked out....

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T O O C U T E T U E S D A Y ! ( 2 D A Y S L A T E )

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D E C I S I O N S M A D E

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some big decisions have been made over the weekend. we've nailed down

some appliance choices, going with an LG fridge and using a Bosch microwave

over the Bosch stove we already have and the same brand for the dishwasher.

which is so quiet that it needs a little light on it to tell you it's actually on!

the sink is pretty much decided, with a deep undermount sink similar in size

to what we have now...and much less gross.

still trying to figure out faucets. our upper cabinets/shelves are hanging a bit

higher than average which gives us room for one of those

cool commercial faucets. thoughts?

Em&Ger recommended 3 of these gorgeous steel pendants over the sink/floating shelf wall (scroll down to see the amazing 3d drawing). these will be the 'jewelry' of the room as chris says...with a hefty price tag to match...stainless steel pendants are a girls best friend?

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3 D C L A R I T Y

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oh my god. i've been meaning to post these for a while now. here's are some amazing 3d renderings that team Em & Ger did for us (with some mediocre photoshopping by me). Aren't they unbelievable?!!

I have to say, seeing these has been the most helpful thing! With so many materials to think about, alot of them things i've never even seen in person, it's great to know that

all will be harmonious when all is said and fabulously done. The lower cabinets

on both sides of the room are a darkish gray with the upper cabinets on the

west wall almost white. On the opposite wall there'll be floating shelves above

a gorgeous undermount sink. The countertop is a mottled, moonscape looking

caesarstone that's a very light gray and white, and then white oversized subway tiles

on the backsplashes (correct size pictured). Oh! And all this on a natural cork floor.

More updates on the specifics to come.

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2 W H E E L S

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we need more cute fashionable girls on wheels here in nyc.

via the sartorialist

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D E C I S I O N S , D E C I S I O N S

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after our lengthy discussion with the Em&Ger architecture team, our homework this

week is to make some freaking decisions already! actually i don't think we've been

that bad...we always had a pretty clear idea of the look we were going for: warm,

somewhat modern, a bit of clean scandinavian, bright but not too bright, lots of

neutral grays.

mmmmm yummy!

after thinking that we absolutely knew the backsplash tile and feeling so good that at

least that was one decision completed, we completely changed our mind on it because of

the countertop. We just couldn't find one that matched it perfectly. We're looking into

doing Caesarstone for it 'indestructability'. Only problem with it is the color choices.

Alot of them we just didn't really like and very few are available in a honed finish. So

right now we're thinking we like a color called 'Misty Carrera', which sounds like an

adult film star, but is actually a Caesarstone that looks alot like carrera marble without

being such a pain in the ass to maintain. So stay tuned. Many more exciting updates to come!!

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L O V I N G O U R A R C H I T E C T S

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ok...our architects are our cousin Em & her hubby Ger so it goes without saying that we love them. But we also love them for helping us with this huge and often overwhelming project of a kitchen and bathroom renovation. We're in the home stretch though and they spent a few hours this weekend getting some final measurements.

Our task this week is to make some final decisions and order some cabinets!

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D E A R S H E R W I N W I L L I A M S

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you suck. your website sucks, your one manhattan location sucks, your non-samples suck... let's just hope your paint does not suck. especially in my kitchen. because that is one thing that will not suck because of you.

i don't know why my cabinet maker will only use sherwin williams paint instead of something more user friendly and widely available. getting some samples of these colors just cost me almost 40 bucks! between having to take a taxi to the ONLY supplier in manhattan on 46th and 11th freaking avenue (hello?) and then having to buy quarts because they don't have samples (hello?)...well it was just mind boggling. every other paint manufacturer is operating in the 21st century except them...and i have to deal with it ;-(

this better be some good paint!

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B I K E L O V E

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anyone who knows me well, knows i absolutely love bicycles and riding my bike

around the city (and anywhere else of course!). there's so many gorgeous bikes

out there that are perfect for commuting without looking like an idiot or someone

who couldn't find the tour de france. bikes prefect for the city are bikes that put you in

more of a relaxed, upright position...and frame of mind! With more and more people

out riding bikes on the growing number of bike lanes it's just gonna get better and better!

i'd been meaning to write a 'bike love' post with all my current bike crushes...

then i saw someone on a gorgeous navy blue Linus and it literally stopped me in

my tracks...so minimal and utilitarian...yet kind of romantic, no?

pictured below:

Linus inspired by french bikes of the 50's

Abici Uomo made in Italy

Kronan based on the 1940's swedish military bike

Gazelle Oma made in Holland (Oma mean grandma)

Bowery Lane made right here in NYC

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U S O P E N 2 0 1 0

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the most wonderful time of the year.

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I N B L O O M : A U G U S T

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the garden's really taken a beating the past few weeks with the crazy heat and not

much rain. the basil, however, is going crazy! time for a big batch of pesto!

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

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W E E K E N D P R O J E C T

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hubby was itching to do a little project this weekend. i've had this wood sitting around forever with the grand plans of making a nice little place for the cats to sit by the window (these are the things i think about??). so this past weekend was the perfect time for the cats to get their shelf made, and for chris to try out the electric planer he got for christmas. everybody's happy!!

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