Random, random Oh how Random

Some search terms I’ve been plugging into Google lately:

- Infant Heimlich YouTube

- How to disable a Maytag dryer buzzer

- Ricotta cheese and cocoa recipes

- Rice house by Richard Neutra

- Glen Echo park Maryland

- National Zoo

- National Cathedral

That’s a little glimpse into my life lately.  How about you?

Image courtesy of the Science Museum of Virginia

I’m taking Mark with me to a tour of the Rice house by architect Richard Neutra on Friday.  It’s being put on by the Virginia AIA all the way down in Richmond.  When I received the email invitation last week I got crazy excited. Crazy excited.  I decided I needed to sign up immediately and think about the logistics later.  The logistics being what to do with Mark.  I’m hoping he’ll put on his big boy pants and behave while I bring him with me on the hour and a half tour.  And become a very cultured 7 month old.  Pray for us [or think positive thoughts, whatever it is you do] that we make it through and I’m not super embarrassed about the way he acts in front of a lot of architects I don’t know.  All in the name of Neutra.

[Don’t know who Neutra is?  Well, he’s one of Modernism’s most prominent architects.  Born in 1892 in Vienna, Neutra studied architecture under Adolf Loos and worked in Germany before coming to the United States in 1923.  He worked briefly under Frank Lloyd Wright before joining friend and fellow Modernist Rudolf Schindler in California.  He lived and worked there for the majority of his career, and was known for his residential work and the importance he placed on clients’ needs and lifestyles.]

Hopefully I’ll be able to snap a few photos if my hands aren’t too full of a wiggly Mark.  Either way I’ll be posting about the trip- may have to use internet photos.  Please come back next week to see if we survived!

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!

the Canadians

I mentioned the Canadians are taking over HGTV.  Have you noticed how many shows are hosted by Canadians now?  There’s our beloved Sandra Rinomato from Property Virgins, Carter Osterhouse from Carter Can and Red Hot & Green, that guy (Scott McGillivray) from that stupid rental show (Income Property), of course Candace Olson from Divine Design (love her, but why does she always use quartz for her solid surface countertops?  I ponder things like this), and Sarah Richardson from Sarah’s House and Design, Inc.  Am I missing anyone?

Our neighbors to the North really are not so different from us in terms of design aesthetic, though I do crack up when I hear them pronounce the word “house” and see spellings like “favourite”.  I spent the better part of my son’s naptime the other day researching Sarah Richardson, as she is my current interior design hero.  I absolutely love watching Sarah’s House, a show in which she renovates a house room by room, each one being an episode of the show.

 

She’s a snappy dresser, too.

There have been two seasons of Sarah’s House so far:  one of which she renovates and creates an addition for a 100 year-old farmhouse and one in which she remodels a 60s era split-level (or back-split as the Canadians call it) house.  I can’t decide which one I like more.  The farmhouse has incredible character, a beautiful setting, and she’s managed to update it and make it functional without mitigating its charm in any way.  Click here for a slideshow of photos and inspiration from the farmhouse. 

And the 60s home retains its ranch-style cool while gaining light and a functional basement with a gorgeous laundry room, storage and guest suite.  Here’s an image from the guest bedroom.  I really love the green, black and white color (colour?) scheme.

See more images here.

Here’s a bathroom from the portfolio on her website.  This project is known as the “Hilltop Contemporary”.  Sounds like my perfect dwelling.

Isn’t that marble penny-round tile incredible?

Sarah’s style is practical, innovative and pretty.  She reminds me a little bit of Mary Poppins.  And I love her side-kick, Tommy.  Would he be the shorter version of Bert to her Mary P?  hmmmmmm.

 

Some other cool things about Sarah?  Well, she started her career as a prop stylist and set decorator.  That sounds like such a fun job.  She’s a mom of two daughters and has a solar-powered weekend home on an island.  Ummmm, SUPER COOL. 

AND, from checking out her website, it looks like there will be a new show called Sarah’s Cottage chronicling her work on the off-the-grid house.  I can’t wait.  HGTV, you better bring it to me.

+++All photos courtesy of HGTV.com and SarahRichardsonDesign.com+++

Airport Style

So last week I wrote about Hollin Hills, a neighborhood nearby, and mentioned that it was laid out in the early 60s by an architect named Charles Goodman.  I also wrote that Goodman was the original architect of National Airport (now known as Reagan National Airport).  Well, that’s not entirely true (I need to remember that Wikipedia isn’t always a reliable source of information), though he was part of the original team of designers.  See, after I wrote the post, bells started going off in Dr. Jay’s head.  On a trip through Reagan (the airport) a few months ago he happened to pass by what looked like a lobby preserved in time in Terminal A.  He’s been saying we should go check it out ever since, so on Sunday we finally did.  After an hour and $2 to park in the short-term parking garage, we’d learned all about the history of the airport.  It sits on land which used to be Abingdon Plantation, owned originally by Captain John Alexander.  Abingdon was purchased in 1778 by John Parke Custis, the adopted stepson of President George Washington, and was the birthplace of Washington’s beloved granddaughter, Eleanor “Nelly” Parke Custis.  Ruins from the original house (which was destroyed by fire in 1930) still remain on the grounds, and artifacts are preserved in Historic Terminal A.

Visiting Historic Terminal A is also a great way to see the first airport building’s unique style, which was definitely a blend of the classical architecture President Franklin D. Roosevelt requested as a way to pay tribute to the rest of Washington’s architecture and of the emerging modern aesthetic demanded of the technologies present in an airport facility.  Here’s some of what we saw:

Pshhhha- we went in anyway.  There was no function.

 

 

 

Here’s a final photo of the more recently designed Cesar Pelli addition to the airport.

If you’re ever in Reagan and near Terminal A, stop in and check it out the Historic Lobby.  It seems as if they will be further restoring it to its original early-American airport style.  Don’t miss your flight or anything, but it’s worth a looksy if you’re stuck at the airport for some time.

Mad house in D.C.

Well, actually the winning house from the Washington Post’s Mad Men Look contest is in Silver Spring, Maryland, but it’s all the same up here in the DMV (I’ve heard that’s the new term for the D.C./Maryland/Virginia area). The winner was announced in last weekend’s Real Estate section, and of course I am right on top of things reporting to you, dear readers. The house, built in 1953, is owned by Melissa and Christopher Talley. They’ve been recreating the past with 60’s chic decor since purchasing the home in 2007. Melissa collected mid-century furniture and accessories for many years, so finding the perfect house in which to showcase her collection was like divine intervention. Check out the Post’s slideshow for images of their home, plus those of the other winners. Second place went to a Bethesda home, and third place to a home in Hollin Hills, a neighborhood in nearby (to me) Fairfax county.

In fact, reading the article last weekend lead us to take a trek out to Hollin Hills to check it out for ourselves. I’d originally heard of this neighborhood from a co-worker that’s lived there for almost 30 years. It was developed in the early 50s, designed and site planed by architect Charles Goodman and developed by Robert Davenport. The firm, Charles M. Goodman Associates, designed 14 models of houses for the neighborhood. The current neighborhood association is actually trying to get it into the National Register of Historic Places. Goodman is interesting because he’s also responsible for designing the original National Airport (now known as Reagan National Airport) and also served as head architect to the Treasury Department.

Visiting Hollin Hills was a nice departure from the historic revival styles so frequently seen here in Alexandria and the D.C. area. Though the lot sizes were smaller than I imagined, there are lots of trees and foliage to provide privacy. Most of the facades feature a high percentage of glass, and I’m told each of the lots came with a landscape plan designed to both maximize views, light exposure, and maintain privacy. You might say much of the landscaping looks a bit overgrown at this point. I took lots of photos (while trying not to be too invasive of privacy) so take a look at this mid-century neighborhood for yourself:

I think I’m in love with this house:

This one is for sale:

Want to guess the price?

Are you a Betty or a Peggy (or a Joan)?

(Pretend this post was published on July 4th, 2010, as I originally intended it to be)

Happy 4th of July everyone! This is one of my favorite holidays, and though we’re sad we can’t celebrate as we usually do in Atlanta with our family, we’re excited to spend time with friends tonight and watch the D.C. fireworks from a rooftop in Alexandria. A day off tomorrow will also be nice. We’re headed to Mt. Vernon, which I’ve been talking about since we moved here almost a year ago.

We’ve been watching a lot of Mad Men around here lately, still catching up on Season Three. It’s such a fascinating show- one of the best on t.v. right now. Thank goodness for Netflix and Hulu, because we certainly don’t make time to watch t.v. as scheduled anymore. In today’s Washington Post I noticed that they’re running a contest looking for the most Mad Men-esque home in the D.C. area. You can enter a photo by July 11 and they’ll pick a winner and document the winning home in the July 24 edition, in time for the start of the newest season of the show. Does your home have a 50s or 60s Modern look to it?

In case you’re interested, while searching for images for this post, I found this article from the L.A. Times about the set decorator for the series and her secrets on the best vintage shops in Pasadena. Oh, and if you’d like to create the Mad Men version of yourself, try it out here.

(that’s supposed to be me and Don hanging out in Rome)

the first day of Spring

Let’s all think back to what we were doing on Saturday, March 20th, the first day of Spring 2010.  I was very lucky to embark on a trip to Lucketts, Virginia, a small town about 15 miles north of Leesburg known for its collection of antique shops.  The weather cooperated (though I can’t say as much for my allergies) and we had a gorgeous day of scouting out the scene.  Here are a few of my photos from the two shops we visited, The Old Lucketts Store and On A Whim, both of which had indoor and outdoor displays and merchandise.

   

So many things to do with old doors!

There were these outdoor sheds filled with goodies.  Check out all the chandeliers.

I know the above seems useless, but I can think of lots of fun things to build with those posts and columns.

Anyone need board shorts, Chuck Taylors, or half of a canoe?  That thing would be so cool in a little boy’s room (or a man room).

I really wanted that old hardware store sorting bin.  It would make a killer kitchen island.  I have to keep telling myself that things like this will still be around when we are finally furnishing our own house (or I am designing one for someone else) because someone needs to have this thing in their kitchen.

The Old Lucketts Store is great because not only does it feature these low-priced gems outdoors, but indoors they have already-styled pieces put together in rooms to show you how to incorporate them into your home.  I didn’t take any photos indoors (that seemed like it could be a no-no) but their website does a great job of enticing you.  Also, in researching this post, I have since found an Apartment Therapy post about Lucketts from February of last year. 

Though I had a great time browsing, I came up short with the main focus of my hunt:  an interesting piece of furniture I could use for a changing table.  In the end, I couldn’t find something that would fit both the size requirements of a changing pad, the size requirements of the room, and our budget.  I’ve settled for the path of least resistance and ordered the changing cabinet that matches the crib.  It’s currently in pieces, awaiting assembly in our soon-to-be nursery.  You’ll just have to wait for a post about nursery design (on a dime, in a temporary shoebox).