acid modernism

It sounds as good as it looks.
check it out here.

It's a Family Affair...

Totally badass.

Got OCD?

Do you suffer from OCD? I do. My OCD manifests itself through a peculiar obsession with paint chips. And finding the perfect paint color. I have struck out. Many times. It's expensive y'all! By the way, oops paint can always be donated to preschools, teachers, folks on craigslist, etc.

Anyhow, now that I have found Michelle Molinari at Curb Appeal, I can purchase my paint with confidence! Michelle did another round of mockups for my shutters, this time, with added landscaping. She felt that I might be experiencing disappointment with the color schemes based on an expectation for something that paint alone could not do. I thanked her for helping me to visualize shasta daisies, but assured her that I was just nutty, with a slight dose of OCD.

Here were the contenders for round 2:
Sherwin Williams Flower Pot

Sherwin Williams Foxy

Benjamin Moore Gray

Benjamin Moore Silhouette

I was grooving on the grays she sent, but they were lighter on the picture than on the chip, so I asked her about this. Here's what she said:

What you noticed about the color chips vs. the application of that color on the exterior is TRUE, and one of the major reasons paint companies make their fortunes. As a former color consultant for Benjamin Moore, I would venture to say that almost half the sale of exterior paint to D-I-Yers is due to choosing the wrong color initially, because they are not told that the paint color will always appear lighter than the chip when applied to the exterior. Color perception/saturation is directly related to the amount of light that is bouncing off of it. Exterior light conditions pretty much mimic that of a fluorescent tube light, which washes out most colors. Some high-end paint stores have a light box which has bulbs in it that you can place the color chips in, to see how it will perform inside and outside. The outside setting is simply a fluorescent bulb. The inside setting is a regular incandescent bulb.

In fact, in locations on the Earth that closer to the North Pole, lighter colors appear much richer. A pale butter yellow looks like a light khaki. Conversely, that is why, in tropical regions, houses can have so much more intense color. The equatorial light is so strong, those deep, intense hues look great. In the weaker sunlight of upper Canada, those same exterior colors would look painfully garish. In America, the general rule is to choose a color two shades darker than you think you want. I choose one shade darker in the Northern portions of the U.S. , and 2-3 shades darker in the South. In New Orleans, for example, very dark grays, greens and tans are the norm for the body. The flood of sunlight makes them appear acceptably lighter.

So, I went darker and asked Michelle to do one more mockup of Benjamin Moore's Wrought Iron, which looks practically black on the chip. This one, my friends, is the WINNER!

It's softer than what we currently have now:


Seriously, check Michelle out. Here.

Orange Doors, Mid-Century Style

So delicious!

Found here.


Found here.


Found here.


Found here.

Wanted: Curb Appeal

I need an exterior intervention. When we got our Crestview door, I had my heart set on painting it black or red. We went with the black because certain family members objected to red doors as being "Too Episcopal." So, here's what we got:



Then, I painted the shutters black.



It's not working.
The black is a little harsh. It doesn't help us showcase the door, or make it "pop." The door is kind of lost in with all the black.

I have pretty much decided that I am clueless when it comes to picking out colors, and in this case, I am severely boxed in by not wanting to change the color of the door (custom paint job) and the existing red/brown color of the roof. I was becoming slightly obsessed, the coffee table was overrun with paint chips and my husband was tired of looking at them. So, I did what swarms of others have done and hired a "color consultant." Trolling the internet one day when I was supposed to be studying for graduate school I found Michelle from Curb Appeal Concepts. I paid $39.00, filled out a questionaire, and emailed her pictures of my house. Less than 24 hours later, she sent me some mockups, and a kind email. Turns out she knows my peeps at Room Service! She's Lucretia's cousin! Friends, it is a small world! I digress...

Here's what she sent...


Shutters in "shadow."


Shutters in "oak grove."


Shutters in "fiery opal."

Michelle brilliantly suggested that the key to tying in my roof color was to landscape with mulch the same color as the roof. Bingo. Here's the thing...She recommended "Shadow" as the best choice. I don't like that purple thing its got going on. I should have said "No purple" in the spot on the questionnaire where they ask you if you don't want any specific colors. (I did put no "Mamie Pink" or "aquamarine").

So, while my problem is not solved, I do think that I'm closer. I'm leaning toward a lighter black, ie. gray, or a color similar to "shadow" but with no lavender vibe going on.

What do you think, peeps?

Que viva los tacos!

Judge returns Texas beauty queen's crown:

SAN ANTONIO — A 17-year-old Texas beauty queen allegedly told to "get off the tacos" after gaining weight has had her crown returned by a judge after a jury ruled that she was wrongly stripped of her title.

Domonique Ramirez won her lawsuit against the Miss San Antonio pageant, Luis Vera Jr., her attorney, told The Associated Press

"She won 100 percent," Vera said.


Verdict: Judge returns Texas beauty queen's crown

You can never go wrong having another taco...

SXSW 2011

I usually avoid SXSW because of the crowds, but I did attend a showcase for Takashi Kamide, who miraculously was able to travel from Japan. He was at my neighbors, Naoko and Jonathan's house, a block away. Naoko made amazing Japanese appetizers. We sat and listened to Takashi Kamide out on their deck, under the stars, with a nice breeze. Emotions were high and the music was hauntingly beautiful. It was a wonderful evening.

Before and After

It's been 4 years since we moved into our dream house in lovely Windsor Park. Here is the first in a series of before and after pics. The "before" pics are what the realtor posted to advertise the home and represent how our home looked when we first saw it.

Front of house, before:



After. We painted the shutters and got a door from Crestview doors.




Front Living Room/Dining Room
Before:



After. We kept the glitter popcorn ceilings but redid our floors, took down the wallpaper, and painted.




Before:



After:




Before:



After:

Goodbye, Tura...

This one was our favorite...

My son went through a big Darth Vader phase...I can relate!

More Offensive Retro Ads...

My personal favorite...

Building from the bottom up

It is 24 degrees outside where we live – it is colder here than New York City right now.  But it’s pretty dang cold all over the country and I heard on the news that even in Chicago the snow was so overwhelming that Lakeshore Drive completely shut down with 900 cars on it, all stranded for about 12 hours.  Imagine that!  In addition, more than 6,000 flights were cancelled today. 

I winced at hearing that.  Sometime in the upcoming weeks (or months) I will be going through flight attendant training just so that I can be one of the lucky people who works in the air travel business and gets stuck in Cherry Point, North Carolina for 4 days.  I don’t have a complete grasp of what I have gotten myself into, but if I did that would take the fun and mystery out of it.  So full steam ahead!  Yes, I am willing to bring you that third gin and tonic on your flight that was delayed for six hours!  You deserve it.

But before I embark on that new career (a very low-paying one, I might add) I am going to finish building a house that I have been the general contractor on (an even lower paying job) for the last 12 months.  It is our house, the one we will live in, my husband and I.  I won’t get to live in it very long before I have to leave, but I am going to make the most of it when I am there.  I do have some construction photos here for that whole clay-mation feel. 

We are at that “final inspection” phase of the building process where days turn into weeks and weeks turn into months.  You want to move in but the city tells you that you have the wrong kind of faucet on your claw foot tub, you have the wrong form for your HVAC inspection, or that you must obtain a “tree prescription” for your city protected trees.  It’s enough to drive you over the edge multiple times.  I have been over that edge more times than I can count already.

My friend Meredith, the creator of this blog, sure helped me a lot with decor and color decisions.  I consider her input invaluable!  When you have been thinking about nothing other than where to get the best deal on 2x8 lumber or Simpson Strong Ties it is impossible to think of colors and tiles and flooring.  My mind would just go blank.  I needed help and Meredith came to my rescue.  Look at these fabulous light fixtures she found one day while someone was putting them on the curb as TRASH.  I think they came from a Bath & Bodyworks or something like that:  

We used a lot of recycled materials, renewable materials, and high quality materials in the name of energy efficiency, but I would say that these copper balls are the icing on the cake.  Someday soon I hope we live there and I can sit and play with the dimmer switch and watch these fabulous lights in all their glory all evening long.