Because I can

Because I live vicariously through other people’s DIY projects.

Because our trip to the beach has been canceled because our baby has the sickies (a cold).  I’m so bummed.

And because it’s almost the end of April and I have so few posts this month.  Let’s not talk about my allergies, umK?

I’m sharing Bryn’s tiling project. 

Be sure to read both Day 1 and Day 2.  She’s done a really nice job describing the process, the materials they needed (and didn’t need) and the little bumps along the way.  I so enjoy seeing a project through to completion.  Even if it’s someone else’s.  Heck, the closest we come to DIY around these rented parts is dropping our knives off at ACE to be sharpened.  Oh wait, that’s still on the To-Do list.  Sorry honey.  Maybe that will happen this weekend, you know, since we won’t be at THE OCEAN.

 

Looks like we made it

 

Well, good readers, Mark and I survived the trip down to Richmond last week to tour the Rice house by Richard Neutra.  I’d even go as far as saying we thrived rather than just survived!  I’ll spare you the details of the early morning drive south, other than to say that there was a necessary outfit change just prior to the tour and I am so thankful for a nearby Starbucks- not for its coffee but for the availability of a changing table in the bathroom.  [Side note:  fold-out changing tables in public bathrooms are great, but can we please start demanding that a hook be available nearby to hold the diaper bag?!  Moms- let’s get together on this one.  Just like there should be a hook on the back of every stall door for our purses, there NEEDS to be a hook near the diaper changing area.  I’ll do my part as an architect to lobby for these!]

So, we were able to start the tour rested and fed (and changed!) and that made for a much happier baby.  We also lucked out with two very nice gentlemen who carpooled to the site from the Virginia AIA office with us.  One was a Richmond native who told me lots about the Fan District and surrounding neighborhoods and the other entertained Mark in the back seat.  They didn’t seem to mind squeezing into my tiny vehicle made smaller by the car seat that takes over the back, and one even offered to carry Mark’s diaper bag (though, it is an Orla Kiely bag and what design-minded person wouldn’t want to carry that bag?  Dr. Jay doesn’t even mind carrying it)!

On to the Neutra house- okay, okay, it’s the Rice house by Neutra.  It was nothing short of spectacular.  First of all, it’s situated on an island.  An ISLAND!  On the James River.  How incredible is that?  We had to cross a bridge specifically built by the Rices for accessing the island.  

Here’s a view of the James from the drive leading up to the house.

It was a gorgeous spring day.  Our tour guide was Bodil Hanneman, Director of the Foundation Board put together to preserve this amazing work of architecture.  She is also a personal friend of the Rice family (Walter Rice has passed away but his wife Inger is still living).  Here is Bodil Hanneman, who is also an architect.

She explained that the Science Museum of Virginia acquired the house back in 1996 when the Rice family donated it.  It is the only house in Richmond built in the International Style.  It was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places in 1999.  She has been working hard with a team not only to determine how best to proceed with renovations and repairs but also to help raise money for the cause.  She mentioned that one of the contractors told her that if they hadn’t intervened when they did, the house would have surely fallen within five years because it was in such a state of disrepair.  There was extensive water damage due to the poor drainage of the flat roofs. 

There were workers on the roof laying new waterproofing on the day of our tour.

See the River out there?  I must mention that all these shots were taken by me while I had Mark on my other arm, so they are not my best work but I certainly tried to capture some details.  I don’t think there were any artificial light sources on at the time of our tour, so you can see how well this house receives daylight.

All of the fireplaces were double-sided, this one to both the interior and exterior.

This fireplace in the living area doubled with a fireplace in the master bedroom.  That’s a cork floor, by the way.

Most of the furniture was built-in, a total work of design by Neutra.  He was known for getting to know his clients really well, and was said to want to “be in love” with them before he worked for them.  Apparently he spent a week with the Rices before he took on the design of their home.  He was reportedly not thrilled to be working in Richmond but was quite taken with the site available to him and that was one thing that swayed him.

Here are a few more interior shots.

One side of the master closet which lead to the bathroom.  There were matching bathroom/closet sequences from the master bedroom, and the bathrooms each had sunken tubs.

Here’s a shot in the dining area with the marble wall which extends from the interior to the exterior.

See the glass?

Mark absolutely loved that wall.

He couldn’t stop touching it and got upset when I finally pulled him away.  It was Georgia marble.  What can I say, the boy has really good taste.

Some shots of the pool:

 

Here are some of the stairs leading to it:

You are not mistaken- that is a very treacherous pathway leading to the pool.  And though there will eventually be a railing along that rooftop balcony, there wasn’t one originally!

I feel so fortunate to have been able to take this tour.  Having learned about houses like this all through school, I didn’t think I’d be able to see a Neutra house unless I took a trip to California.  Having one so close in Virginia is incredible and it makes me so happy that there is such an effort to preserve it.  I came away from this experience certain that Neutra was a true master of the plan.  Each space was so carefully thought out and developed.  It was by no means an enormous house, but Neutra made the most of every square foot and it of course felt more spacious because of all the glass and the fact that there was so much indoor/outdoor living.  That part may have made more sense in California, where Neutra was used to working.  Nonetheless, I have a wonderful memory of the day, as a mother and as an architect.

One last photo for you.  I won’t do this often, but I have to share this with you.

Mark charming our tour guide:

Actually, I think he was charmed by all the zippers on her jacket, and maybe you had to be there, but it was a hilarious way to end the tour.

Balloon Construction and other news

Did you guys hear about this?

That’s right.  The good people of National Geographic actually got a house to float with balloons, just like from the movie UP.  Well, a small (16’x16’) house carried by 300 (three houndred!) LARGE eight foot tall balloons.  So incredible.

[all images courtesy of National Geographic]

Apparently the house flew to an altitude of 10,000 feet and stayed in the air for about an hour.  And, as one commenter on the National Geo blog asked, How’d that thing land?  I guess we’ll have to watch the episode of “How Hard Can it Be” which will air on the National Geographic Channel later this year.  Or you guys can watch it and let me know, since we’ve had a little snafu with our tv-watching recently.  Let’s just say you’ll see me writing about HGTV a  lot less.

In other current events around here,  I’ve been reading this

with great interest.  You may remember it from my holiday gift guide post.  Dr. Jay took the hint and gifted me the two books for my birthday.  A review to come!

And a few weeks ago, this sweet thing arrived from the grandmother fairy:

We love it in Mark’s room, though it’s only temporarily in a frame I had on hand.  I’m thinking it needs a thin black frame with a little sliver of blue mat.

What do you think?

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.

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.

Announcement

Little miss Kristen over at Hoot Design helped us finally (formally) announce the birth of our son in a very special way.  Thanks, Kristen- you’re the coolest!  Check out her amazing work here.  Or, if you’re one of my 10 loyal readers, you’re probably going to receive this in the mail anyway!

I promise I’ll be back with more on the Canadians.  I promise!