Showing posts with label decorating. Show all posts
Showing posts with label decorating. Show all posts

Monday, November 16, 2009

NEVER FACE THE FACTS



I did a post at the end of October, on the birthday of, about my muse- Ruth Gordon. I went on to state that this amazing actor gave me my motto- Never Face The Facts, which is a quote from one of her volumes of memoirs. Yesterday, the Husband, who is a stunningly talented artist, was sifting through his box of images that he uses for his collages & assemblages, & I spotted this page from a magazine article about our house in Seattle. We lived, for 15 years, in this tiny 600 square foot cottage in the Wallingford neighborhood. This house received quite a bit of attention, not just for the design work, but because 2 men & 2 canines were able to live in this tiny space. The house had 2 rooms- The Room & The Other Room. We climbed a ladder to our bedroom built in the rafters of the attached garage (it was the original Boy's Fort). From May-October the cottage increased in square footage, as we moved furniture & rugs to the outdoor rooms that we had created using decks, walkways, lattice & plants. The house had originally been a house boat on Lake Union, & had been brought up the 4 blocks our tiny street & plopped on cinder blocks, to become a "mother-in-law" unit for the manner house owned by our landlords & dear friends- Robert & Margo. This was a happy & productive time for us, & we had wonderful neighbors, who became important friends & major players in our lives. The house was featured in a book- Flea Market Decorating by Merideth Press. It is lovely to have such a gratifying archive from this period. We still have most of this stuff, but in very different configurations. Post Apocalyptic Bohemia is a much different house & a much different life. We are older & changed, but the Husband still provides an interesting, beautiful & provocative place for us to call home. He are some photos (by Mike Jensen) from the book, you can click on any image to enlarge:




Monday, March 2, 2009

home sweet home




The husband & I spend most of our time, energy & $ on our house & garden. It has always been this way... even when it was just a small apartment on Capitol Hill in Seattle in the early 80s.
When I was a kid, I spent too much time choosing paint colors & looking for new materials for my bed spreads & curtains than any child should.
In college, the only time that I lived in a dorm, the school was wary of my storing all the dorm furniture & moving in my own & repainting & adding window treatments. I spent a lot time adjusting those Indian print bedspreads & macrame hangings (love those 70s, huh?).
I found this window at The Rebuilding Center- www.rebuildingcenter.org, complete in it's shrink wrap for $300! I brought it home & this is the result. The husband loved it & did ALL THE WORK to make it work. Before & after pics: