Martha, Martha, Martha

She’s everywhere, she’s everywhere!*

Not only can Martha Stewart help you with the paint color, cookware, furnishings, crafts and library (not to mention television and radio entertainment) in your home, she can also actually design your home.  Yes, Martha Stewart is an armchair architect.  And has been for some time now.  Were you aware that she has been working with national home builders KB Homes for the past five years?  Evidently she and some of her staff have designed five homes in collaboration with KB Homes, the first four of which are based on her homes in New York, Connecticut and Maine, and the last of which was unveiled recently at the International Builders Show in Orlando.  This most recent home is dubbed the KB Homes GreenHouse, is a net-zero energy home (meaning that over the course of a year, it generates at least as much energy as it consumes) and has earned a USGBC LEED Platinum rating, the highest in the LEED system.

I must say, it’s not much to look at, is it?  I think it might be the color scheme, because it doesn’t appear that they’ve skimped on facade details like windows or garage doors.   What is with those applied “architectural” pieces on the gables?  I’m shuddering. 

Actually, for a home that is priced at $380,000 and is 2,600 square feet (which must really change with local market conditions, no?), I’m fairly impressed.  I’m definitely more impressed with the interior images I have seen.

 

If you’d like to take a virtual tour, you can register here.

Overall, bravo KB Homes and Martha.  LEED Platinum?  That is really some serious energy conservation.  Apparently all of the energy to power the house is generated with a very large photovoltaic array on the roof.  The house is still connected to a city power grid so that it can both draw from it on cloudy days and at night, and contribute any excess energy it might accumulate during the day back to the grid.  I can see how this works well in Florida, where the house was built, but is probably not practical for every location.  And I am guessing this house does not function at LEED Platinum capacity in an established, tree-lined neighborhood (cause those darn leaves and branches would shade the solar panels).  It’s probably best in a neighborhood like this one, in Stapleton, Colorado, where there’s an entire community of Martha-designed homes. 

I’m as big a fan of M.S. as the next gal.  I save her magazines like they are museum pieces.  I lament the loss of Blueprint magazine (R.I.P. you amazing publication, you).

But I’m not sure they went far enough with the KB Homes GreenHouse.  To me, it's just your typical builder home with some major advances in energy generation and consumption.  Shouldn’t the exterior indicate those advances in some way?  KB Homes has probably done their research and decided that the majority of Americans don’t want their homes to reflect these advances, but I’m betting there’s an entire market of homebuyers who don’t know what they are missing.  Isn’t this what happened with the Prius?  For it’s first four or five years, the Prius was that crazy-weird car that got amazing gas mileage.  Then it completely took off and hit its tipping point among mainstream car-buyers.  Probably because Cameron Diaz bought one.  I think Martha Stewart has that type of power here.  Come on, Martha.  Give us a Cameron Diaz moment.

*10 points if you can correctly identify the references of the post title and first sentence.  I’ll respond in the Comments section.

Ch-ch-ch-changes

I was going to title this post “How adding another piece of furniture to our living room is actually going to make our apartment feel larger”, but that was a little long.  I need brevity these days.

So, I’m blogging to you from my NEW desk location in our living room.  Yes, I am admit, one of the big mistakes I made while designing Mark’s nursery was assuming I’d still be able to use it as an office and blogging space sometimes.  Oh, how naive I was.  Yes, it turns out, there weren’t that many opportunities to actually sit at the desk and work or blog while he happily played nearby.  The times when I was most able to focus on tasks at this computer were those when he was sleeping.  I wasn’t exactly able to use the room while he slept because rule number one of parenting goes something like this: “Don’t wake the baby, for goodness sakes!” 

I began scouring Craigslist for a desk to use out in our living room, where I can work while Mark naps or at night after he’s gone to bed.  Wait, actually, let me back up.  My first choice was this piece from CB2, which would visually “disappear” and magically give my computer that cloak of invisibility.

As good as my arguments were for this investment (it can be used as a desk now, or as a console table in our future living spaces, it’s CLEAR, it’s so COOL, etc.), I didn’t get too far with Dr. Jay.  My economist husband couldn’t stomach $300 smackeroos on “a piece of acrylic”.  So, off to Craigslist I went.  Finally I came across something that fit my requirements for size, look, condition and price. 

Enter our new (to us) desk:

I’m in love with the lines and details.  It’s solid oak and has dovetail joinery!  Score.  The top is a little strange- it almost seems like it’s a laminate, but other than that it’s a real gem.  I’d like to keep it natural, but I may end up painting it one day so the weird top isn’t noticeable.  But that will not be any time soon.  What do you think?  Should I paint it?  Color ideas?

 

Yes, it’s a little beat up, but overall in really good condition.  I’d guess this desk is from the 50’s or early 60’s.  Anyone know?  There is a tag on the inside that says it’s from the Levin Furniture Company in Baltimore, Maryland. 

Here it is all set up with my computer.

Yes, that is a PC.  Not exactly my first choice, but Windows and AutoCad are so much happier together, so what are you going to do?  (actually, there is finally AutoCad for Mac- if anyone out there has tried it, please let me know- I’d love a review!)  And yes, that’s my baby on the desktop, just a few days old.  Such a little chunk.  And cords- I know, I won’t be winning any awards on UnClutterer.com, but I feel like I have my right arm back now that I can access my computer all day.  You have to pick your battles, right?

I think I’ve won this battle.

And it's 2011

So, to be clear I AM still here. I've had lots of post ideas so far this year, but little time to produce them like I would want to. But I was reminded of Ira Glass and his thoughts on Persistence and Creativity last week in a post from Nicole Balch's Making it Lovely blog and I just had to make sure to share it with you. Thank you, Nicole. Thanks for your blog. I have a big blog-crush on you. If you haven't visited her site, try it out immediately. This girl is impressive. And one heck of a coder. Back to Persistence. I heard Ira Glass give this talk a few years ago when we were living in Austin and it made such an impact on me. Please watch: It was (IS) so great to hear someone like Ira Glass admit that it's okay to be bad at something in the beginning. And years into it. I still make reference to this talk he gave- in fact, I was telling my good friend Brandy about it last fall. It's great to hear those words again and be reminded, with the help of YouTube, that you don't have to have it all figured out in the beginning. Heck, you don't need to be good at whatever it is that you are doing. The important thing is to do what you love and keep doing it. Over and over again. And then some more. It meant a lot to me to be reminded of that last week. The week that I told my former architecture firm that I won't be coming back after maternity leave. I made the decision over our Christmas vacation that my family is what I want to spend my time on for the next couple of years. It was not an easy decision. I had a great job, supportive bosses, and a flexible schedule. It would be nice to have the extra income as we save for a house. But my heart wasn't in it and I didn't feel like I would be doing either job well (architecture or mom) if I split them up right now. I know others that do it really well, but I don't think it's for me right now. So back to persistence. I'm a new parent. I definitely don't always feel good about the job I'm doing. But I'm going to keep it at. It's my full-time job now. And I'm still working on the architecture part. Hopefully it's still a viable career for me in a few years. In the meantime, I'll be here. Parenting and trying to blog and stay current with architecture and design. I might even be able to do a project or two eventually. Just wanted you to know that I'm not giving up. Cue the corny Persistence poster. Hope that wasn't too much over-sharing. But that's what blogs are for, right?

Deck the Halls

So here we are, a mere week until Christmas morning.  This year I give to you the Babble's first ever 
HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE for DESIGNER-TYPES
I've put together this list of must-haves for the designer-type in your life (or maybe that's YOU!).  Happy Last-Minute Shopping. There's no time like the present to shop for presents, as I always say.
Books
Identifying American Architecture:  A Pictorial Guide to Styles and Terms, 1600-1945 

I've been eyeing this book since I spotted it in my boss's office last year.  As an architect, I'm always being asked "What style is that?" Of course, so much of what's built today is a big mish-mash of styles, no style at all, or something so out-there and modern that it doesn't have a style, but a reference book like this would give me a place to start to answer those burning questions.  And who doesn't love a good reference book?

Dwellings:  Living with Great Style

This book looks beautifully put together, and if you’re wondering about style, I’d say it’s about the “New Traditional”.

Calendars

I love a good calendar, and I hate starting the New Year without a new one.  Here are a few that inspire:

2011 Charley Harper Wall Calendar- a classic in every way

Linnea 2011 Collectable Poster Calendar- these are beautiful every year, and somewhat hard to find.  Usually Paper Source has them!

2011 Datebook from POST Impressions- I bought this for my self last year and LOVE it.  It was a leap of faith on my part, because I'm not typically a weekly calendar type of gal (I like the month overview) but I was desperate to get organized and this gorgeous little book helped me do so stylishly.  Last year I got it in the gold.  Tiffany blue for 2011, please Santa? 

Toys

MoMA Modern Playhouse- I saw this last week while walking through the children's department at Nordstrom's.  Sure, it'd be great for kids, but I know a lot of adults (ahem, ME) who would love to play with this.  Put together the interchangeable walls and furniture and you have hours of fun.

Tired of relying on your iPhone for vintage-looking photos?  Want to step back in time and create lo-fi images with a tried and true film camera?  Urban Outfitters offers a whole slew of cool cameras like the Lomography Diana + Parisian shown above, exclusive to UO.  Don’t want to wait for that film to be developed?  Try the FujiFilm Mini Instax Instant camera.

This little number will give you cute, credit card sized images in an instant, and no shakin’ that Polaroid picture.  Any photo or film buff would love these or the other cameras Urban Outfitters has to offer.

And lastly, if you want to be a really generous gift-giver to your designer-type friend, consider the Modern Shed.

This company, a husband and wife team out of Seattle, can provide the ultimate backyard getaway, workshop, or studio (yoga, anyone?) for your lucky designer friend.  I don’t think you can go wrong with this one.  Who would not want their own little shed for doing what they want, when they want?

That’s it for me this holiday season.  Please stay tuned in 2011.  I’m looking forward to a stronger year of babbling, what with our almost 5-month old teaching me all about it daily.  I have hopes and dreams for the blog in the New Year- thanks for sticking with me.

P.S.  I was not paid or perked by any of the aforementioned companies.  These are all just products I’m interested in telling my readers about, plain and simple.