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

......................................................................

the new toy banana is getting some play...finally

......................................................................

A R T F O R D U M M I E S

......................................................................

a while back i wrote this post about how excited i was to order these cool prints from inflateddeflated. it's taken me a while to even follow up because it was such a 'deflating' experience. the concept is such a great idea but dealing with the designers of this has been a freaking nightmare...to the point that i feel like an idiot (or dummy) even putting this art up on the wall. here's to hoping i get over it.
between the crazy long ship dates, printing on crappy paper,  shipping flat art in a soft envelope resulting in wrinkles and damage, and then another set of prints weeks later (that were slightly better prints), only to realize that they're a different size than specified, to which i then had to trim all of these down to fit the frames bought for specified size...ugh. ridiculous! i'll show you where we've put them in the next post (and no, it's not the trash)
i never would have thought professionals would've treated their own art so badly. so here i am venting like a crazy person so i don't give a bad review on etsy...i still have a heart! 

great frames from amazon (about the only positive part of the experience...yay!)

......................................................................

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

......................................................................

post christmas edition

......................................................................

H O M E F O R T H E H O L I D A Y S

......................................................................

lots of family fun was had at christmas time. with family members staying with us from Nevada & Cali we basically ate a lot, saw some shows, walked around nyc in the freezing cold, ate some more, hung out around the tree, exchanged some great gifts, made some snowflake ornaments (with judging), and generally had a great time together (except for the 'sleeping on an air mattress in the kitchen' part)!

note the christmas manicure :-)

......................................................................

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

......................................................................

......................................................................

L I G H T S U P

......................................................................

it's so hard to get a good photo of the new lights we got from schoolhouse electric. these are handmade here in the usa from "authentic designs dating from the turn of the century to the late 1940's ...all the shades are hand blown in antique molds using the same methods for 150 years".
here's a shot of the foyer light which is really fabulous...the lights in the 2nd/3rd floor hallways are the same style/shade and are flush to the ceiling without the pendant.

......................................................................

H A L L W A Y . D O N E .

......................................................................

our 'little' hallway renovation is complete! what started as a simple coat of paint on the walls turned into:
spackling, sanding and then 2 colors on the walls
painting the entire banister including hundreds of spindles
newell post stripping/sanding/repairing
stripping/painting the iron door grate
repairing the vestibule door
new locks/knob on the vestibule door
new locks/knobs on our apartment's door
4 new light fixtures from schoolhouse electric
new carpeting on the 3rd floor
sanding/cleaning/waxing the antique benchhanging some art that was stored away for 8 years
and a new cabinet to house all the hallway 'stuff
whew! looking good!

......................................................................

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

......................................................................
all kinds of cute happening this time of year!

 

......................................................................

I T ' S B E G I N N I N G . . .

......................................................................

to look a lot like...oh you know. with this past weekend being so rainy, it was a good time to get started with the  makings of the christmas wonderland. the family's coming to stay with us for christmas and i've guaranteed all kinds of holiday magic. the first bit of magic comes in the form of an eight and a half foot christmas tree. going big this year!

shopping for a tree in brooklyn is always pretty wacky

......................................................................

A L I T T L E N U T S

......................................................................

this is chris's thing....making sure the screws and bolts match the color of what they're attaching. thorough!

......................................................................

I S I T B E T T E R ?

......................................................................

that's the question we kept asking ourselves as C put the first coat of this benjamin moore chili red paint on...at first it was pink and horrible but it got better with every coat. more awesome progress photos to come!

......................................................................

I T ' S . . .

......................................................................

beginning to look alot like christmas! hey is that my tree in there?

......................................................................

G R A T E P A I N S

......................................................................

with the whole hallway front vestibule paint project comes a 'little' project stripping and painting the wrought iron window grate that's on the door. as you've seen in the paint swatches, there's a bit of red coming. to add some fun and a pop of color to our front hall, we're going bright chili red on the door and so it goes with the grate as well. if you know my husband you'd know that nothing is done halfway...it's full on  all the time. so a few weekends ago he spent probably 30+ hours stripping the paint from this ornate grate. dedicated? industrious? committed? yes. and it's going to look amazing!

the big reveal to come!

......................................................................

P R O G R E S S 2

......................................................................

in the home stretch.

......................................................................

P R O G R E S S

......................................................................

the painter's been plugging along on the hallway transformation....it's looking better and better as more and more of the teal is covered up!

......................................................................

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

......................................................................

......................................................................

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

......................................................................

......................................................................

Q U I T E A M E S S

......................................................................

......................................................................

T R Y I N G I T O U T 2

.....................................................................

big debate about whether only the railing+newel post on the staircase should be black ot if all of the spindles as well. another one of those cases where the magic of photoshop can really help!

......................................................................

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

......................................................................

......................................................................

H U R R I C A N E O F A C T I V I T Y

......................................................................

we were spared the horrible hurricane sandy damage that others unfortunately faced here in brooklyn and the tri-sate area. while the hurricane was raging and our offices were closed without power, C kept busy by stripping the newell post in the hallway using a device called the silent paint remover. sounds like a superhero! what it does is use infrared heat to remove the paint from the wood surface. worked pretty good, huh?

after

before

......................................................................

T H E L I G H T C H O I C E

......................................................................

the great hallway update of 2012 would not be complete without a lighting overhaul.
i absolutely, positively, passionately hate the lights that are up in the halls currently. These gross flourescent ring fixtures that seemed big in the 60's and 70's are just so ugly and evil.
I'm going for some lights from schoolhouse electric. Kinda vintagey, kinda modern, and definitely cool. A pendant for the entrance/foyer and flush mounts for upstairs in the hall. More on their awesome showroom in posts to come.

......................................................................