a lesson in rustic-modern

Alright kids. I have been procrastinating on my first post back, and while I still have not done my own apartment justice in the photographic documentation department, I did manage to do a pretty thorough job capturing the country house of one of my interior design idols (and pseudo-uncle), Mr. John Benjamin Hickey. I don't know how this was my first jaunt up to see the place since he upgraded from a teeny little cottage to this multi-bedroom (I believe there were four?) stunner in Lakeville, Connecticut, but now that I know what he's been hiding up there I will be sure to take any and every invitation I can get from now on. 

Mom and I went up in the fall to hit all the fabulous antique stores in the area, and while we got a few major scores, you will just have to wait to see 'em til I get some decent photos. For now, some drool-worthy images of Hickey's country hideaway are all I've got for ya... but something tells me they will do just fine :)

Late afternoon arrival...

Open, airy living room.  Love the wacky orange - Hickey is a master at picking quirky accent colors and making them fabulous

The work-in-progress sun room off the living room

Seriously. This staircase. Gimme!

Lofty kitchen,  aerial view

The wood in this house is just amazing. 

Guest room number one (a.k.a. my room)

It was impossible to go to sleep in this room, I was too busy trying to plot how to steal this chair and industrial shelving. Seriously. To DIE for.

Downstairs bathroom - amazing how he manages to make butter-yellow appliances and laminate countertops look deliberate... and even a little sexy. 

Guest bedroom number two (a.k.a. Mom's bedroom)

Love this little library nook

Master bedroom: bliss.

The view. I mean, seriously??

Hello, woodland backyard...

Idyllic.

Mom and Lulu frolicking near Hickey's backyard pond. Tough life, eh?

Oh man. A girl can dream, huh? What a gorgeous escape. Gives me something to aspire to someday... Hope you all enjoyed the eye candy and I promise I'll get you something related to my little abode ASAP! :)

Oh, hey, it's been a while...

Guys. I have totally failed on this whole blogging front. My deepest apologies to my dedicated readers... all three of you. However, it is a new year and I figure there's no better time to pull my shit together and get back on the proverbial horse, so here goes.

A quick recap on what's been going down: I've been to India and back, New York has gone from swelteringly hot to carpeted in 16 inches of snow (and the requisite brown slush), and my apartment is pretty much done, and as a result several friends have enlisted my help in decorating their OWN apartments! WAHOO!

I have also been exploring a little more deeply the local, sustainable food movement, given the fact that I have the lovely Fort Greene Farmers' Market right around the corner from me every Saturday, and have started trading some of my cooking for various services from friends, the most beneficial of which being tech tutoring from my two web-gurus, Adam and Eli.

So in the coming weeks, I intend to catch you guys up with some photos from India, some updates from my home renovation, some brainstorming for my friends' decor projects, and some tasty new recipes. So stay tuned! :)

dear Goodwill: I love you.

Oh my goodness! Mom came home today from a trip up to the country for some relaxation (and inevitable antiquing), and came back with some MAJOR scores, the clear winner of which being this AMAZING, retro office chair tht she found for 16 freaking dollars at the Westport, CT Goodwill. The thing is effing gorgeous, with black leather upholstery, heavy, artfully-aged iron hardware, and a sexy little studded detail around the seat and back. I am IN LOVE with this chair.

The only problem is that it's missing a wheel from one of it's original casters, meaning it is not really sit-in-able yet! Sad face. I assumed it would be a no-brainer to replace, but I've been trying to find a matching caster to replace it (or even just a set of 4 casters of the right size that at least vaguely fit in with the vintage aesthetic), and apparently the exact style and size I have is effing impossible to find!! Grrrr!! Has anyone out there had any luck replacing casters on vintage furniture before? Any and all advice would be much appreciated! I'll keep you posted on the progress, but in the meantime, put those thinking caps on!

INDIA, here I come!

Ok kids, so as some of you know, my favorite yoga teacher on the PLANET, Ashley Albrand (who happens to be based back in Los Angeles - tragedy!), is leading a retreat to Goa, India this October, and ever since she announced the trip at her class back in April, I secretly vowed that I would go if I wasn't tied down to a 9-5 office-y job. And here I am, almost six months later, happily and lucratively working freelance, and I finally decided to take the plunge. I booked my plane ticket yesterday, and that's that. India, here I come!

So who has been to India before?? Is there anything that I must read/see/learn before I go?? I think my plan is to fly directly into Goa, do the week-long retreat at the gorgeous Ashiyana retreat center, and then spend the next week traveling further south with Ashley and some of her buds, and it sounds like our itinerary includes a stop in Mysore, and some exploration through the jungles of Kerala! If anyone has any advice about those regions or about my trip in general, I'd love to hear it! I kind of can't believe I'm actually doing it!! I will keep you posted as my preparations progress, and keep an eye out for some ridiculously amazing photos when I get back!

handywoman Alex

Whee, I feel so handy! I just installed the carpet in my closet and desk area... all by myself! Sounds daunting, but it sort of felt like one of my Design Fundamentals assignments back in college, which involved many hours hunched over a cutting board, hacking away at the material at hand with my utility knife, but in this case, the material at hand was FLOR carpet tiles, and the end result was not a meaningless  color wheel project, but a lovely closet and office floor! Yay.

We liked the idea of using a modular system instead of having permanent carpet custom-installed, since we wanted to use a light-ish color, but wanted to avoid the common habit with light carpets of living in constant fear of that errant mud-smudge or red-wine-spill (if you think I am not going to be drinking red wine in my closet, you clearly have never seen my closet. Just sayin'...). So the FLOR system was perfect, because if you ever get a stain on it, you can just pop out the one offending tile and replace it with a shiny new one! Fabulous. I think it turned out pretty well, if I do say so mahself.

bathroom of glory

Oh goodness. Sorry for being so deeply MIA, things have just been crazy on the (multiple-)home front, what with shuffling back and forth between mom's cozy nest, my soon-to-be-amazing-but-not-quite-there-yet apartment, and my old boss's fabulous SoHo loft where I am intermittently house-sitting her adorable kitties... (my life is really hard, I know).

However, through all the madness, there have been some pretty awesome developments, mainly the completion of my too-amazing-for-words bathroom renovation, which I couldn't be happier with. The tile all looks gorgeous, and the new fixtures really spruced up the shower and sink. But my favorite is my Ikea-hack mirror/medicine cabinet combo - instead of going the usual medicine-cabinet-over-the-sink route, we got a little creative and got the white Ribba picture ledge from Ikea and had it cut to fit the space exactly, and then had a mirror cut at my little local glass shop to fit as well, and mounted both flush to the wall; I can't wait to get a ton of eclectic, vintage-y glass containers to make artful arrangements out of all my products!

Since the mirror/shelf situation affords pretty minimal storage, we also got the tall, skinny Godmorgon medicine cabinet in glossy white to hide away all the rest of my less-than glamorous products and mounted it less obtrusively on the side wall near the toilet. I still need to figure out how to resurface and/or regalze the tub, which is still a little janky, and I need to find a shower curtain (I'm thinking a rustic natural/"greige" linen), but overall it's almost there! Wheee!

almost there..!

Remember this??

Ahh sorry to be so MIA lately! Things have been a little crazy over here, but some serious progress has been made in the past few days so I just wanted to post a little update!

There are still some finishing touches to be made on the bathroom and main living space, but the closet and kitchen are almost done and are so purty!

For the kitchen, we painted the cheesy wood-paneled cabinets, and replaced the cheap-o (and moldy!! ewww) backsplash with white subway tile and dark grey grout, and replaced the old white appliances with new stainless ones (we still haven't received the fridge yet, but it's on the way). We painted the walls with the same superpale grey that I'm using for most of the apartment, and so far it's looking pretty great! Whee!

As for the walk-in closet, I never even posted a before picture because it was basically just a white box with grungy concrete floors, as you can see to the left.

To update it, we installed a floating shelving system and a pretty little chandelier for some atmosphere, and I couldn't resist painting the walls a fun color, since everything else in the whole apartment is going to be so understated and neutral. We're going to put down some neutral cream carpets in all of the closets, so once that gets added, all the place will need is all my CRAP! And I'm thinking of throwing a cute little chair or stool in the back left corner... I'll keep you posted. Very exciting!

I believe all the rest of the structural work is going to be done this week, and then next weekend I am going to paint the main room, and then it'll be move in time! FINALLY!! Woo hoooo!