Goodman, again…

I read this article in the Real Estate section of the Washington Post last weekend, and since I know you depend on me for timely dispersal of information, I thought I’d share.  It’s about the house that Charles Goodman built for he and his family in the early 1950s- a structure that was originally a farmhouse from the 1850s which he gutted and added a very modern glass and steel pavilion for living.  Today the house is on the market, attracting all sorts of interest, and not just from potential buyers.  You remember Goodman, right?  We talked about the neighborhood (Hollin Hills) he and developer Robert Davenport designed in Alexandria.  Or you might remember him from this post about Reagan National Airport.

It was great to read about his personal home design and see photos like this one:

See more images on the Post’s gallery from the article.

One tidbit about the house is that it has its original St. Charles Cabinetry (though they’ve been painted over in black).  I’d never heard of this company, but they produce steel cabinets.   St. Charles Cabinetry is also used at Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater and Mies van der Rohe’s Farnsworth house, both on my list of must-see architecture.  Maybe I should go to one of the open houses for the Goodman house?

p.s. Martha Stewart even uses them!

Happy Valentine’s and a little Etsy Love

Just wanted to take the time to let you, dear readers, know how much I love ya and need ya!  Thanks for continuing to read the babbles of this sporadic blogger.  And I want to publicly thank my good friend, Carina, for helping me beautify and clean up my site.  If you haven’t visited lately and are reading this through Reader or some sort of RSS feed, please stop by and check out my new digs.  Carina, of Little Bird Creative, is a wonderful and patient designer who’s been helping me wade through HTML.  She’s really spiffed up the Babble and I am very grateful!

Visit her shop on Etsy to find beautiful, handmade letterpress cards like this one

and this one

She also does custom work, so check her out!

Another Etsy find of late:  the art of Kiki and Polly.  I am in love.  Here are just a few of my favorites.

I kind of really want that last one for Mark’s room.

Hope you are having a day filled with those you love!  I know I am.

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.