I’ve had a Tord Boontje Garland light (this is the black chrome finish) for several years, but for the most part it’s just been sitting in a tangled clump in a box since we moved into the house. The standard way to hang it is on a bare bulb suspended by a cord, but with our high ceilings, the proportions wind up looking really skimpy and just too dangly.

After spending a solid hour detangling the thing last night, I decided to try wrapping it directly around the bulb on a flush-mount fixture in the bedroom. This is the white porcelain Benedict light from Schoolhouse Electric. The glass socket is really beautiful, so I wrapped the Garland just low enough that it’s still visible.

I’m really happy with the result, and I can’t wait for it to get dark enough to check out the shadows it casts on the ceiling! I used an Edison Double Loop bulb for added effect (the light cast by Edison bulbs is very warm, dim and soft, and the bulbs themselves are beautiful—they’re perfect for mood-lighting in fixtures that have visible bulbs). The Garland itself is quite affordable, and I think it’s worth upgrading the light source to something more elegant than the standard plastic cord set that comes with it—in fact, you can even order the Garlands by themselves ($76 with cord/$64 without); you’re not obligated to order the cord set. If you want the effect of a hanging pendant, the Lewis fixture from Schoolhouse Electric (with a cloth cord!) would look fantastic.

By the way, “arranging” a Garland light so that it looks like the product photos is a total nightmare. It takes FOR-EV-ERRR. This post (which I found in a fit of frustrated Googling) sums up the experience quite accurately!

EDIT: Oooooh, nighttime shots! I’m in love. The shadow effect is so dramatic with the Garland this close to the ceiling! The moth-to-flame feeling of this light is perfect for summer nights, isn’t it?

I don’t normally post things like this, but I am feeling so sad right now that I don’t know what else to do. Bear with me.

I’m part of the generation that’s old enough to remember Michael Jackson from before he became a punch line, but young enough to not think of him as a child prodigy. When Thriller came out in 1982, I was in second grade. Michael Jackson was 24, and he was a sex symbol like no other. He was mysterious. He was cute. He didn’t look, sound, act, or dance like anyone else—he had moves, he was magic.

The only things I remember about second grade are that my teacher was Mrs. Loeber, and that Thriller was HUGE. It’s impossible to overstate how infatuated the entire world seemed to be with Michael Jackson in the early and mid-’80s, and he deserved every accolade he received (and then some).

If you’ve ever tried to have a conversation with me about Michael Jackson, you know that I am one of those people who will defend him to no end. It kills me that his so-called “weirdness” has overshadowed his truly stunning talent for so many years, but I’ve always been able to look beyond that and keep an intense appreciation for all that he contributed to music and entertainment and dance and fashion. I’ve never stopped thinking that he’s magic.

If it’s been a while since you’ve watched MJ in action, take 13 minutes and 41 seconds now to remind yourself of just how awesome he was.

This is one of those DIY projects that kind of makes you feel like a jerk while you’re planning it, but the end result is so good that the shame is worth it. I’m really not a fan of knockoffs for a variety of reasons, but I just couldn’t resist.

It’s not exactly a secret that the design of IKEA’s $12.99 FROSTA stool is, um, heavily “influenced” by Alvar Aalto’s Stool 60, designed in 1933 (and currently retailing in the US for $250–300, depending on options). The materials and construction are virtually identical, with the primary differences lying in the curvature of the legs (admittedly more elegant on the original) and the color of the finish—the Aalto stool is available in a variety of colors and with laminated tops. (Yes, the Aalto stool is also available with four legs, just like the FROSTA!)

Anyway, blah blah blah, I decided to nudge our two FROSTA stools just a wee bit closer to looking like the real thing. I mean, why not, right?

The first thing I did was convert them from four legs to three. One leg from each got discarded (I may use them as shelf brackets at some point), and the other two were repositioned. I haven’t owned a protractor since 8th grade, so I did what you’d expect a graphic designer to do in this kind of situation and figured out the measurements by making a pie chart in Illustrator! (I could have saved myself some time by reading Martha’s post on the subject, though.) I didn’t use glue or do anything fancy, I just drilled a tiny pilot holes and screwed the legs in place. Totally easy, anyone can do it.

The final step was painting the top of the stools black. I bagged the legs as I did here, then taped off the edges of the top very, very carefully. I like the Delicate Surfaces painter’s tape for things like this since it’s thin and allows for a really tight fit to curves. Two light coats of my favorite Rust-Oleum’s Painter Touch Ultra Cover 2x (this is the semi-gloss finish), and the stools were done!

All I’ve been working on lately are DOORS. Doors, doors, and more doors. Scraping, sanding, patching, caulking, priming, painting, hanging, fixing locks, fixing hinges, fixing knobs, and so on. (I must say, it’s very nice to not have to look at closet contents anymore! Doors are a good thing.)

One of the hazards of keeping a blog is that I have the ability to look back and see just how long it takes to me to complete simple tasks. Case in point…

I posted this picture 15 months ago, when I first started working on this particular door. The bottom panels had been crudely cut out and replaced with screening (which had then gotten rusty and paint-y and dented and gross) at some point.

Back in September, I returned to working on the same door. I was still uncertain about the best way to go about replacing the panels. I had figured out that the door did not, in fact, belong on a closet, but rather in the doorway between the front and center bedrooms (both rooms are accessible from the hallway as well—we have a lot of doors).

Fast-forward (or slow-forward, as the case may be) to eight months later, and I’m WORKING ON THE SAME DOOR AGAIN. Only this time, I’m actually finishing it!

Whoever put the screening in obviously did so for the sake of cross-ventilation through the length of the house, and I admit that it makes a lot of sense. Radiator screening seemed like it would be much nicer than window screening, though, so I bought a sheet and spray-painted it white on both sides. The original trim pieces were missing on one side, but lattice strips turned out to be exactly the right width and depth to replace them.

I mitered the corners of the lattice and used short nails to fix the strips in place. After filling the nail holes, caulking the joints, and painting the whole business white, the door will FINALLY be ready to re-hang. (I’ll let you know when that happens. It could be next year sometime. Hah!)

Huh. I started putting this post together 4 or 5 days ago, and I guess I thought I had already finished it? I have no idea. It’s been a weird week. I spent about 8 solid hours priming and caulking doors on Sunday. It’s amazing how an entire day can be devoured by a single, simple task like that. Job-work has been busy but unusually productive, and evenings have consisted of painting doors, eating sushi, getting my hair cut, and sleeping through my stop on the train.

Anyway, this post is about windows! Well, one window in particular, the 42″ wide one in our (future) guest bedroom.

Yeah, it was looking pretty funky. Click to enlarge . . . if you dare!

I wanted to share these detailed “before” pictures to give an idea of just how bad an old sash window can LOOK while still being perfectly salvageable. It makes me sad that so many buyers of old houses will immediately have the original windows ripped out and replaced! ALL of the 14 windows in our house are original, including nearly every pane of gorgeous, wavy glass. I consider the old windows an asset that add to the value of the house as an historic structure.

The parts that comprise a traditional sash window are incredibly simple, making them easy to repair. There are no plastic parts, no fragile bits to snap or break, the wood is old-growth and rock-solid, and if you take care of them, they truly will last for hundreds (!) of years. Replacement windows, on the other hand, seldom have a life span beyond 10-25 years. With proper insulation and a good storm window in place, old windows are very nearly as energy-efficient as new ones, too. We have seen a HUGE difference in our energy costs since I started repairing the windows last summer.

I won’t bore you with a bunch of “during” shots, but i wanted to share this one so you can see what a huge improvement just removing all of the gunked-up old caulk and peeling paint can make. It’s tedious work, to be sure, but it’s also very satisfying.

Here’s the finished window (click the bottom photo to see the whole thing)! Amazing difference, right? Eventually I’ll have to access it from the outside to properly insulate around the frame (and to repaint the exterior side, which is a whole OTHER project), but for now, it’s like a new (old) window.

There are so many resources on the internet for learning how to restore old windows, so I don’t see the point in getting TOO in-depth with the details here, but I will give you a list of links to check out if you’re interested:

→ How to Restore Sash Windows
→ Making Old Windows Energy Efficient
→ Fixing Rotted Wood with Epoxy
→ The Repair of Historic Wooden Windows
→ How to Replace Window Sash Cords (video)
→ Sash Repair Hardware

I bought this 3-legged Arne Jacobsen stool several years ago for about $10 (yes, seriously), and despite having initially planned to repair and refinish the molded plywood top, years passed and I managed to convince myself that I like the chips/scratches/wear. Well, there’s a fine line between “nice patina” and “broken mess”, and I finally got around to facing reality and gave the thing the rehab work it deserved.

First, I used Zinsser Ready Patch to fill in the areas in the veneer that were chipped out and damaged. (Ready Patch is one of those amazing products that I can’t imagine living without. It is seriously amazing stuff. I use it to repair everything from holes in walls to gouges in woodwork to damaged window sashes.) I overfilled the patches, and didn’t worry about getting it pretty. Once it was completely dry (about 3 hours), I very carefully sanded and sculpted the filled areas with my Mouse Sander (a very handy tool to have) and a fine-grit sandpaper. I also have the entire top a very light sanding, just to remove any flaking paint and give the new finish a nice surface to adhere to.

After wiping down the top with a tack cloth, I wrapped up the legs in plastic bags and painter’s tape. Next I applied two coats of Rust-Oleum’s Painter Touch Ultra Cover 2x with a semi-gloss finish. I can’t recommend this spray paint enough—it applies very evenly with excellent coverage, dries quickly, and I haven’t had any problems with the nozzle clogging. Wonderful stuff. I don’t think I’d attempt to apply paint to something like this with a brush, by the way. There’s a time and a place for spray paint, and this is it.

I’m showing this photo of the underside of the stool for one reason: This is where Fritz got his name! It’s true. I was lying on my back and playing with him on the floor, and I happened to catch sight of the manufacturer’s name on the bottom of the stool. So while Fritz is absolutely NOT named for a piece of furniture, this is what put the name in our heads for the first time. It stuck, and it’s perfect.

Anyway, back to the stool!

Not bad, huh? No, it doesn’t look brand new, and that’s just fine with me—I actually like that you can still see the tiny cracks in the veneer through the paint. It still has character, and it still looks like it’s supposed to. The only difference is that now I can sit in it again (or use it as a side table or a footrest—I love stools!) without worrying about ripping huge chunks off of it.

There are always those who will argue that refinishing furniture ruins the value, but the chips in the ply were getting worse and worse by the day, and I don’t want the stool to become a decorative object out of fear of damaging it further. Jacobsen designed furniture that is meant to be functional, and I get a lot of use out of this thing. It has a small footprint, it’s incredibly well-balanced and sturdy, and it’s surprisingly comfortable. Doesn’t the true value of a functional object primarily lie in its usefulness?

The bedroom has been moved back to the front of the house (here!), and the room is starting to take shape. Stay tuned…

Let’s see…I started talking about wallpapering this room in October 2007, got around to buying the paper in September 2008, and then FINALLY managed to actually go ahead with the task on Friday! As planned, I used Berry Black from Ferm Living. Because my ceilings are so high, I needed almost exactly two rolls to do just the one wall.

I love this room so much now. It never felt complete to me before, and I knew wallpaper would make all the difference. My friend Heather came over to help, and the whole process went very smoothly—only about 5 hours from start to finish, including multiple breaks for lunch and dog-loving.

I’m still not sure about keeping that little bookshelf in there, but for now, it’s fine. I also need a big plant, I think. Weirdly, the wallpaper has made me hate the orange-y floor color a little less than I did before. Hmmm.

It feels like this around here.

The linen closet in our dressing room has been devoid of hardware since we bought the house, with the original drillings having been filled in and covered over long ago. I’d been planning to re-drill the holes and replace the old lockset and knob with salvaged parts, but, well—it’s been three years now, and that still hasn’t happened. I’m sick of looking at a partially-open linen closet every day, though, so I forced myself to come up with a “temporary” (cough) solution using something already in the house.

I bought a couple of these rubberized coral hooks at Anthropologie several years ago, but never wound up putting them to use. As it turns out, they work quite nicely as door handles! Since there’s no lock mechanism, I used a magnetic latch to hold the door shut. So easy.

Perhaps not historically accurate, but definitely cute.

We finally have a ceiling light in the office! This is the 15″ LERAN pendant from IKEA. I love how it looks against the wallpaper, and at night it casts beautiful shadows across the ceiling through the bamboo.

I also conceded to needing just a bit more storage for papers and photos (as well as the printer, backup drive, etc.), so we put up this wall cabinet (also from IKEA, from the ASPVIK line). I’ve been wanting this cabinet since September, so I’m happy that it’s turned out to be as functional and well-made as I thought it would be. I really like having storage pieces mounted to the wall, too, rather than sitting on the floor. The feeling is so much more open and airy, something I didn’t want to lose in this room by filling it with too much furniture.

I’ve been a very busy bee so far on my “vacation”. More updates to come!

p.s. The plant on top of the cabinet is a False Aralia. Isn’t it cool?

p.p.s. I don’t know what I would do without IKEA.

Wheeeee! I’m off work until June 1st! By “off work”, of course, I mean that I won’t be working in an office and can instead devote 23.5 hours every day (c’mon, a girl’s got to sleep sometime) to slaving over various house projects.

Check it: It’s 10:15 AM on the first day of my vacation, and I’ve already caulked a window and done a load of laundry. Now off to IKEA to pick up some storage boxes for closet organization Chez Larsson-style.

Well, Morrissey! You truly are the wit of a generation, and judging by the state of your hair over the years, you’ve certainly managed to live a fabulous life thus far. Here’s to 50 more years of fantastic haircuts!

Since I’m sure you read my blog (right?), allow me to be one of many to wish you a very (un)HAPPY birthday! Maybe later we can go out for drinks and talk about old times. What do you say? Oh, and wear that suit and tie. You’ll match my rug and chair perfectly.

In the mean time, let us reminisce about the old days by watching a great stage rush moment from Dallas in 1991, back when you were younger than I am now and the security guards weren’t complete thugs. VIVA MORRISSEY!

Today is also the perfect excuse to post THIS gem from 1984:

(photo by Fabio Lovino)

Last night, during a marathon email session, I decided it was finally time to put a decent chair in the white office. The little black stool is fine for quick sits, but that’s it. I didn’t want to put the wheels of this chair (Eames DAT-1, mustard vinyl over black fiberglass; bought for less than $50) directly on the white floor, but I remembered this supercheap IKEA SVEJE rug (can’t find it on their website, but I think it was about $12) I bought a while back but never put into use. Perfect! I thought it would bother me having the stripes running parallel to the lines in the floorboards, but it’s fine. [EDIT: Um, maybe it’s fine because they’re not parallel, they’re perpendicular. Hello! I need sleep.] And my back is much happier now.

(Is it weird that I’ve been putting prices on everything lately? I know I always like to know how much stuff costs, especially if it’s affordable. I’m a big fan of accessible design.)

This photo sums up Bruno and Fritz’s personalities perfectly. I love these guys.

Sigh. Where have I been?

Busy weeks, busy weekends, endless and boring projects that aren’t much fun to document (organizing closets, packing up stuff to bring to Goodwill, scraping paint off a window, etc.). We’re also still in the process of trying to find a contractor that meets ALL of our qualifications (returns calls, shows up, does good work, cares about old houses, affordable…) so we can get started on the exterior work that desperately needs to be done. The massive amounts of rain New York has been getting lately are making it very hard to get anything done in the garden, so the deck remains unstained and the rest of the garden remains a dirt rectangle. Oh, and we also really need a junk guy to come SOON, because it’s becoming increasingly difficult to walk through our basement.

We met a couple of very nice future Newburgh-ers on Saturday! I really hope the often-frustrating buying process goes a bit more smoothly for them in the near future, and that they wind up with a great house at the end of it all. It’s so exciting to see more people moving here with the goal of restoration. Yay!

How are YOU doing? What’s the weather like where you are? I’m telling you, the constant gray/rain situation here is really bringing me down.

From the Completely Unrelated to Anything department, I bring you this fantastic clip from the 1975 Grammy Awards!

I don’t even know where to start with the awesomeness. Beyond the cast of characters onstage, how about those rainbow-colored heads awkwardly pushed in to announce the nominees? And O.N.J.’s name dropping down from the ceiling! We’ve gotten so used to everything being digitized that this almost feels like a high school production of Oklahoma.

I think I said, “What? Seriously?” about 15 times while watching this 4 1/2-minute clip. So great.

You can buy a great house for just about any price (and in any condition) in the the City of Newburgh, but I’m a sucker for a rough & tumble bargain. These are my favorites on the market right now. Don’t let boarded-up windows scare you, either—my house looked like this just a few years ago!

Click the address links for more photos and info.

162 South St / $50,000 / 2040 SF

156 Grand St / $225,000 / 3476 SF (7 Bed, 4 Bath)

191 Gidney Ave / $249,000 / 4100 SF (9 Bed, 3 Bath)

17 S. Miller / $150,000 / 3168 SF (7 Bed, 4 Bath)

139 Lander St / $45,000 / 1452 SF (5 Bed, 2 Bath)
137 Lander St / $65,000 / 1506 SF (4 Bed, 2 Bath)

I’ve never thought of myself as being a blue person, really, but lately I’ve been noticing a lot of white interiors with smidgens of blue here and there winding up in my inspiration files.

L: Sköna Hem; R: Hus & Hem

Clipper Street Residence, envelopeA+D

I’m really, really tempted to rip off this paint job exactly in this nearly-identical room in my house. Is that creepy/lame? The paint color is Benjamin Moore Pool Party.

Clipper Street Residence, envelopeA+D

L: Sköna Hem; R: Orla Kiely’s house, Grazia Living

ShootFactory

Pieces wallpaper from Hygge and West

Lest I be accused of only liking black and white (which definitely is not the case!), I must share this piece of furniture with you that I came across on Purple Area earlier today:

It’s the Collect/Cabinet, designed by Sara Larsson for Swedish design studio A2. This is the kind of color I like! This is color that really means it.

The first thing I thought of when I saw this cabinet (right after, “I WANT THAT IN MY HOUSE”) was this painting by Ellsworth Kelly from 1951, Colors for a Large Wall:

Uncanny, no? And just in case anyone wants to buy me a present, I think either the painting or the cabinet would tie in very nicely with the colors in my front hallway:

(Yes, I’m still alive—I’m just that kind of busy where the days all run together and the next thing I know, it’s a week later and I can’t remember what I was so busy doing.)