Manolo for the HomeJune, 2008 | Manolo for the Home - Part 2



Archive for June, 2008


Before/After: The mini-mudroom edition

Tuesday, June 17th, 2008
By Christa Terry

I could have bought an old, old, old home fraught with problems. When The Beard and I were house shopping, we saw one place we absolutely loved — it had three full floors with lots of rooms on each, high ceilings, wood floors, huge windows, and plenty of old school curb appeal. It also had a foundation so warped that the house itself was starting to lean to the left. Not good. We could afford the asking price, but not the necessary renovations.

So instead of buying an old, old, old home fraught with problems, we bought a fairly new cottage (circa 1950 or so) fraught with…well, ugliness. For example, we’ve been exploring the lovely wood shingles underneath the horrid off-yellow siding in preparation for the day we’ll tear it all off and paint. Then there is the vinyl flooring in the kitchen — it doesn’t quite reach the baseboards, leaving gaps where dust and dirt congregate.

The front door is actually quite new but, as it turns out, we are side door people. Growing up, I always wondered why some families used the front door exclusively while others gravitated toward the side door. We were driven to become the latter sort by practical concerns. Screen doors in the mud room effectively keep indoor cats from escaping, while it’s much easier for them to slip out the front. Plus, it’s nice to be sheltered when holding groceries in one hand while turning a key with the other during a rainstorm. It’s a place for dirty shoes, somewhere to stash a muddy trowel when one is too lazy to walk to the shed, and yet another way to let fresh spring breezes in.

The only problem? Said mud room was ugly, ugly, ugly.

Why do people let things get so old and ugly?So much wasted space!Not just white…bright!

(more…)


When chic can be shipped

Monday, June 16th, 2008
By Christa Terry

The problem with so many of the lovely antique and vintage things I see each day is that while they look as close as can be on my laptop’s screen, they’re actually thousands of miles away in cute little shops located all over the country.

I find, for example, the most darling little hand shaped teapot, only to discover that the Arizonian potter who creates them doesn’t do distance sales but would be happy to meet me at my convenience. That’s just one hypothetical example, of course.

Thank you, Coleen!

Everything in the pic above can be found at Coleen & Company, in lovely Newport Beach, CA. Designer Coleen Rider finds lots of sweet pieces who knows where, stocking her shop with all things beautiful. She even deigns to put some of it up on the Internet so that those of us who secretly dream of things like leather-topped Italian writing desks, vintage porcelain birds, and colorful Chinoiserie panels can drool.

That problem I mentioned in the very start of this post? It’s no problem at all — order what you like on the web site (if, unlike me, you have the money), and Rider will have it lovingly packed and carefully shipped right to your doorstep. Happy shopping!


It looks cool, but is it comfortable?

Saturday, June 14th, 2008
By Christa Terry

I imagine sitting down and bruising my bottom

I like furniture like this Blue Dot Bonnie sofa and Clyde loveseat…in a showroom or on the pages of a magazine, that is. It’s fun to imagine buying a thoroughly modern house and decorating with futuristic furnishings, but I’ve always gravitated toward a countryish aesthetic because the associated furniture tends to look comfortable and inviting. Whether or not it is…that’s an entirely different story.

For all I know, this sofa is a dream to sit on, but it simply does not make me want to “take a load off.” When confronted with seating like this, I tend to park myself on the very edge and sit up very straight. It almost looks as if it belongs in the lobby of a rather nice hotel where it’s understood that while people do need to sit down, they won’t be sitting down very long.

I look at this sofa and can’t help but wonder: When does design trump comfort? Does it ever?


Froufrou for Friday

Friday, June 13th, 2008
By Christa Terry

I’ve heard that one’s office ought to be light and inviting and airy, but I come from the school of thought that says that offices should really be rather stuffy and dignified and almost a little manly. While the majority of my house is decorated in cool, welcoming color schemes, my home office is red. When I say red, I mean redredred as in the deep, vivid red of a Macoun apple. The room is furthermore furnished with dark, antique furniture.

All in all, it’s a space custom designed to stress people out, but I thrive in it, which just goes to show you that you needn’t always listen to decorators and color theorists. If it works for you, it works for you, and that’s all that you really need to know.

My intense workspace is, however, not entirely finished. There’s the issue of lighting, for one — I’m thankful for my windows because all I have is one floor lamp next to my desk and the little lamp that illuminates my sewing machine. I am most definitely in the marker for some form of overhead lighting. I’m also looking for something to hold my music books and sewing books, and perhaps also a bit more for the walls and windows.

What follows is a froufrou wishlist that may inspire, if you (like me) are into all things black, white, and red (er, plus yellow and bronze) all over.

Classic Black 3-Light Chandelier - Black

Lighting? Check!

Tiffany Art Glass Window

Window decor? Check!

Pair of Antique White Adjustable Music Stands

Something to hold books-in-use? Check!

Cupid Bookends

And something to hold books not in use? Double check!


Solving your home, one panel at a time

Thursday, June 12th, 2008
By Christa Terry

This is just too cool not to share, even though there’s a goodly chance you’ve already seen it on Metafilter or Gizmodo on in the NYT, where the story originated.

Could you do it?

Now, I love puzzles — even when I can’t solve the razzafrackin things — and if I had the money, I’d spend millions of dollars to have architectural designer Eric Clough hide all manner of brain-twisters in my house, just like he did for Steven B. Klinsky and Maureen Sherry.

…some of that furniture and some of those walls conceal secrets — messages, games and treasures — that make up a Rube Goldberg maze of systems and contraptions…The apartment even comes with its own book, part of which is a fictional narrative that recalls “The Da Vinci Code”…It has its own soundtrack, too, with contributions by Kate Fenner, a young Canadian singer and songwriter…

It started during the design process, when Klinsky asked that a poem he had written for and about his family be lodged in a wall somewhere and Sherry suggested hiding it, “like a time capsule.” That sent Clough into a frenzy in which he immersed himself in code books and cipher books, and then reached out to the sort of furniture makers who specialize in hidden closets.

All of that was tied into gizmos Mr. Clough, Ms. Bensko and others in their office hid in the apartment — without telling the clients — in a way that is almost too complicated to explain. Designing and producing the apartment’s hidden features, however, including its book and music, took four years, said Mr. Clough, who absorbed much of the cost in terms of his own billable hours, and relied on the generosity of more than 40 friends and artisans who became captivated by the project.

[The mystery] remained largely unnoticed by its inhabitants for quite some time after they moved in, in May of 2006. Then one night four months later, Cavan Klinsky, who is now 11, had a friend over. The boy was lying on the floor in Cavan’s bedroom, staring at dozens of letters that had been cut into the radiator grille. They seemed random — FDYDQ, for example. But all of a sudden the friend leapt up with a shriek, Ms. Sherry said, having realized that they were actually a cipher (a Caesar Shift cipher, to be precise), and that Cavan’s name was the first word.

Once the family received their first real clue via mail, they were dogged about solving it. That’s actually the part of this interesting tale that bothers me most — all of that work went into making this unique apartment, and the mystery was solved something like two weeks later if the article is to be believed.

Give me a puzzle house that lasts a decade! Why, oh, why don’t I have all the money in the world with which to build it?


Four ways to keep your drink nice and icy

Wednesday, June 11th, 2008
By Christa Terry

Whoa, what is it with me and drinks lately? First the margarita pitcher post, then the bar-on-a-wall post, and now this! If you haven’t already guessed, it’s still hot here on the east coast, and it just so happens that a cool beverage is an easy way to beat the heat. How one keeps said beverage cool is a matter of personal preference.

Here are four options you may or may not fancy:

Stick it in your drink and nowhere else, please

Am I the only one who thinks these look vaguely dirty? Just count yourself lucky that the ice boobies mold was all sold out. I know, you’re crushed, as was I. Apparently ice kebobs add “a cOoOol touch” to your summertime parties…what does that even mean? Is there a ghost in the ice?

(more…)


A sweet bar for small spaces

Tuesday, June 10th, 2008
By Christa Terry

The booze is out of the way yet plenty easy to reach. Perfect!

How’s this for a slick little set-up? A certain Leah and her husband Will created this chill kitchenside bar using a bunch of bits of shelving. That’s actually all I know — were the pieces meant to be used this way? Beats me!

Who cares? It works, and it’s replicable. You want to talk about an easy DIY project? Hit up Target, score some shelving, and line up your booze. Voila! Your liquor is conveniently out of the way, and you can brag to your peeps that you have built yourself a bar in your closet-sized apartment.


A bit pricey for parties, no?

Monday, June 9th, 2008
By Christa Terry

Ah, summertime, when a young gal’s thoughts turn to margarita parties. Or is that just me? As soon as the weather gets warm — or, as is the case in my neck of the woods, horribly and unbearably hot — visions of backyard parties start dancing in my head. Sure, I could just line any old container with a trash bag and fill it up with ice to keep the beers cold, but where’s the fun in that?

I thought that my parties were poised to be colorized when I happened upon the MacBeth Collection, a set of fun storage solutions designed by Margaret Josephs.

Pretty, but pricey

Then I decided to check out the prices, thinking that a tub couldn’t possibly be that expensive. Boy was I wrong! Seventy-five bucks for a container slightly less than two feet wide? Seventy bucks for a pitcher?! I don’t care how stylish they are — I’d rather earmark that money for some nice tequila.

The site’s About Us page reads:

The MacBeth Collection has spread its custom-designed creations to almost every home product and accessory including: storage bins, baby pails, picture frames, flower vases, umbrella holders, clip boards, etc. – all with the mission of transforming the mundane into a stylish expression of personal style.

For now, I think I’ll express my personal style by getting a few metal tubs from the Home Depot and decorating them myself.









Disclaimer: Manolo the Shoeblogger is not Manolo Blahnik
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