Los Angeles architect Fritz Haeg narrows the divide between residents and their communities with projects like Edible Estates, an international effort to convert front lawns into working food gardens.

Watch it all the way through. It’ll make you feel great, I promise. (From Dwell.)

I probably should have stayed home today, but OH!—Manhattan is so beautiful when it snows, even from an office window. I feel a little bit sad thinking that this might be the last big snow of the season.

Our house has 4 fireplaces, 18 doors, and 15 windows. This makes for a bit of a challenge when it comes to decorating, as there are very few expanses of uninterrupted wall space large enough to put a piece of furniture in front of. Coupled with the fact that D16 is a row house (attached on one side; with long, narrow room), it becomes very hard to integrate modern furnishings (TVs, large sofas, queen-sized beds, etc.) in an arrangement that makes practical sense and which complements the layout of the house. Did I mention that the house also has a curved bow front with three side-by-side windows? Another challenge!

I get excited when I see photos of houses (like this one) with similar layouts to D16, and I always make note of how they’ve dealt with their fireplaces and windows and doors. Today I came across this house in the New York Times real estate section, and my heart did a little flip. While our house may not have cost $1,725,000 (!!! it’s still amazing to me that just going 60 miles upriver makes such a MASSIVE difference in cost, but that’s another post), it does have virtually the same layout in the living room (excuse me, the parlor).

I love the sofa in front of the window! And the chair next to the fireplace! The best thing about finding these photos, though, is that I now know the right solution for the windows: half-height sheers for daytime privacy (and sunlight), with heavier full curtains on rings to easily pull closed at night. Perfect! And the rods should be mounted in the moldings, not inside the frame. I’ve been grappling with this problem for over a year now. Yay!

(There are some more photos of this amazing Brooklyn townhouse here. Look at the chandelier over the dining room table! Wow.)

Tonight I sat in the waiting room at Grand Central, waited for Evan, and read my new book.

My work days are long and tiring right now. Thank goodness I have a huge window to get lost staring out of, and plants to tend to. I can’t keep indoor plants alive at home, but somehow I’m able to get them to thrive in a midtown Manhattan office building. Go figure…