New Mexico Architecture

I recently returned from a trip to New Mexico and thought I'd share with you a few photos of glorious architecture (at least in my mind) from my home state, both houses found via Su Casa magazine.

This Albuquerque house was designed and built in 1937 by "the father of Santa Fe style", John Gaw Meem.   The New York architect came to New Mexico's arid climate in the 1920s to treat his tuberculosis and designed sleeping porches like this as part of the treatment.   Note the combination of rustic and formal elements that characterize this Territorial Revival style.  The vigas (beams) and corner kiva fireplace blend well with pedimented exterior windows and French doors.  You can read more about this meticulously restored house by clicking on either photo.

Also featured in Su Casa magazine is this contemporary adobe Santa Fe area house belonging to New Mexico builder Andrew Greer.  (I can't look at this room without thinking of Ina Garten's barn, by the way.)

According to the article, Mr. Greer "seems to have internalized the gestalt of New Mexico village architecture."  Having grown up there, I couldn't agree more.  If I were ever to build a house in New Mexico, Andrew Greer would be my guy!

Note those pedimented windows!

 Because on my list of dream home ideas is a very simple portal covering at least two sides of the house, like this.

I think my love for rustic and antique, white and simple mixed with formal must come from being raised a New Mexican.  Both of these houses feel like home.  

Composing Photos: Styling so the Eye Travels Part II

It's been quite awhile since I posted anything on my Photographing Rooms series.  This photo is a good example of so much of what I've talked about.  It is styled to allow the eye to travel from top to bottom of the photo as well as from side to side.  Notice how your eye can travel from the light fixture at the top, to mirror and then zig-zagging from the toiletries on the shelf to the arrangement the sink to towel, and then to the basket on the floor.

The fact that the accessories are all black, white, and yellow helps that to happen.  It's also interesting how the white shower curtain on the left mirrors the black door on the right. 

A beautifully styled and photographed bathroom, I'd say.

Now onto another topic.  I used to copy all of my images from Pinterest thinking they'd be around forever and none of the pictures would "go missing" from my blog.  Bad idea.  I'm missing a huge number of images now, especially from my Photographing Rooms series.  What do I do about this?  How do I make sure my images never go missing?  Would love your advice. 

Top Five Favorite Bathrooms

It's been nearly a month since my last post. Guess I needed a bit of a break! :)

I'm back today with my top five favorite bathrooms, a continuation of my Five Favorites Series.

I tell you, I do love a nautical design, and this one feels both clean, cottage-y, and just a bit fancy at the same time with the gorgeous brass plumbing.  Love the black bottomed wall mounted sinks.  Add the subtle stripes on the wall, the floor to ceiling window, the dark floor, and the lockers, and this design is a pure winner in my book.  The only thing I'd change are the light fixtures.  I think they compete with the  fabulousness of the sinks.

I'm a big fan of green, so this one makes the cut for the awesome sink, the planked walls above the subway tile, the hex-tiled floors, and the old wooden stools.  The touch of orange in the towels is pretty great with the green too. 

That vanity rocks.  All there is too it.  Here we see white planked walls and hex-tile floors again.

I love Spanish Mediterranean, and this bathroom fits the bill for that style exactly.  The vanity is amazing, and who cannot love the window above it?

In that same vein, sometimes you want to see a bathroom that's a bit different, and I do love this Spanish Mediterranean beauty.  So earthy and natural. 

 

This one is by Mandy Milks, House and Home's art director.  I love everything she's done with her house.  Great mix of modern and vintage here.   

Compared to the post on living rooms, it was actually pretty hard to narrow down my top five favorites for the bathroom.  If you want to see the images from which I picked on my Pinterest Bathroom page, click here. 

**I also just added some new shelving to my bathroom. Will have to see if I can take pictures of that before another month passes.

Making a Standard Fridge Counter-Depth

Hello All,

Just a quick post about an ingenious idea I saw on the latest issue of House and Home TV.  (There are no photos out yet, save this one.)  Love this redone kitchen by Mandy Milks, the Art Director at House and Home.   Not only is it attractive, but it employs some great tricks.

One of my pet peeves in my kitchen is how the fridge sticks out so much further than the counter.   (Which I'll just have to live with since we're in a rental.)  In the above photo you can how Mandy's fridge sits flush with the counter top and appears to be built-in.  Mandy got the standard 24 inch depth counters, but pushed them forward and used a 30 inch counter top.  Picture a gap between the cabinet and the wall.  This gave her more working space in her small kitchen, let her put in a pop-up vent behind the cooktop, and allowed her to use open shelves without too much overhang.

While I have no idea whether her fridge is counter depth (23 to 27 inches) or standard depth (30 to 34 inches), pushing the cabinets forward is a great way to have your standard depth fridge sit flush with the counter top -- and give it that built-in look.

To see the episode, click on the photo. 

Our first magazine feature!

Wendy and I are thrilled to have our shop included  in 7X7 San Francisco's April Home and Design issue. 

They ran a story about Temescal Alley.  How fun to be one of the shops included!

See the photo of the yellow door?  That's us!

Here's write-up about Walrus.

We're gearing up for an extra number of folks coming across the bridge from San Francisco to visit the alley this weekend.

Big smiles here! 

Ashley Putnam Does it Again!

I first wrote about my love for graphic designer (she should be an interior designer) Ashley Putnam's work here and here.   Now she's gone and knocked my socks off again with this farmhouse family get-away in Round Rock, Texas.

What a change in style (in some ways) from her previous two houses.  This one feels a bit more rustic and neutral compared to her previous abodes, but the eclectic nature of her decorating still manages to look cohesive and so well done.  I could move straight in and wouldn't change a thing!

To see other photos of this house featured HeyBillie.com, click here.

A few recent projects for Walrus

Well, our little shop is doing pretty well! So well, in fact, that we are scrambling to keep up with inventory. It's not an easy to thing to  "man" a shop AND produce the inventory. Especially when you've still got your kids at home full time -- minus a few hours of preschool each week.  But somehow Wendy and I are making it happen.

 Anyway, I thought I'd share a few recent projects, like this industrial side table.  I found the card file at a salvage shop and was about to order hairpin legs for it to make it into a table when a friend of mine called and said she had some stuff to give us.  (Thanks, Monika!!) One of those things was a falling apart vintage side table with hairpin legs.  How's that for fortuitous?  The legs easily came off the old piece and Wendy cut the a new base out of plywood so I had something to attach both the card file and legs to.  This one sold quickly.  Industrial is still hot.

We're also doing a lot of custom work.  We recently got two of these broken antique chairs (both broken in the exact same place from years of right-handed folks pulling them out from a table.  The wood was literally split and pieces were missing.  They'd been tacked back together with nails, but eventually that didn't hold it together either.  Because the client asked us to paint them to match a set of her existing black chairs, I was able to screw the wood together using a counter-sink drill bit and then fill with wood filler.

Nothing a little paint can't cover.

The two chairs we were asked to match were painted with in glossy black, and I have to say that I am surprised by how this glossy paint looks on an old marred antique chair.  I love it.  If you look closely at the painted chair, you can barely see the fix.   A guest would never know it was repaired.

I'm normally against painting antiques, but when a piece is that broken, it's a good way to salvage a quality, real wood piece of furniture. Because otherwise it sits dusty and unused in the basement for 10 years -- like these did. :)

You wouldn't believe the support we're getting from our community.  Folks love that we repurpose and upcycle, so when they have furniture to get rid of, they often give it to us.  Complete strangers!

Take this solid wood two-drawer chest, for example.  A customer dropped by to browse and when he saw the kind of work we do, he showed up a few minutes later with a carload of furniture which he gave to us for free.  It included this office-y looking piece. 

 I transformed it into this with the help from my Cutting Edge inlay stencil:

I hadn't purchased the new pulls (vintage-y looking clear glass numbers) when I took this photo, but you get the picture.

I'm feeling particularly proud of this piece because it was pretty painstaking and I worked on it late nights to get it ready for Walrus before we headed out-of-town for a few days. 

Which is where we still are as I write this post.  With the stomach bug. :(

I'll try to be back soon with the next installment of my five favorite series.  I hope you'll understand if it's not until next week, though.