AbbeyK — On Interior Design

Is it Wrong to Love a Rug?

Full disclosure. I think I need therapy. I have become obsessed with decorating my new condo. But I haven't done much yet. Just made lists of what I can afford, prioritize what I can do now and what I can do later....And think about rugs. And think about drapes and think about blinds. Over and over again.

A friend came by the other day and said: this is ALL you've done? From the looks of things, I could see why she said that. Not much has been done since right after I moved in. Steps, just not much to show for it yet.

Here's what I have done:

1) Taken down the God- awful vinyl shutters in the DR and kitchen. They literally shattered when I took them down so to the garbage they went. They were not even re-installable somewhere else. What a shame.

2) Had my electrician over to take down the equally God-awful sconces in the DR and the LR. Take down the bathroom sconce to see if there is enough slack in the wiring to move up the fixture so I can get a Robern Medicine Cabinet in there. Those are the Rolls Royce of medicine cabinets. The answer by the way is yes. So now I need to order the Robern and the sconce. I think I am going to get this Ginger light fixture. One of my favorites.

3) Had my window treatment guy to measure for new blinds and hardware. Good news: my DR drapes look great in my bedroom and my old LR drapes work in the new LR. I'll make some pillows from my old bedroom drapes. Cuz I love the fabric and they are not faded. They will become euro shams. (How recycling of me.)

4) Had my carpet guy come to measure the bare stairs to the basement. Made calls around to find a remnant (hopefully for a good price).

5) Ordered bath accessories and a water filter for the kitchen and called my plumber about installing it.

6) Made a call to my contractor about doing some built-ins and installing the accessories, getting a screen door and other misc. stuff.

6) Hung the DR drapes. (OK had them hung.)

7) Took down the closet doors in the office. Better with them open.

8) Put in a garden

9) Put up (and moved) art on the walls. not that much up yet. a lot of things leaning.

But mostly I have been obsessing about rugs.  Here is the rug I think I might get for my DR. I thought I would get a new table and chairs. But now I am thinking, I might be happier keeping the table and chairs for now and getting new drapes and a rug. It's sort of one or the other.

What Cool Chairs

 
Circa 1930's
A mirrored pair of generously proportioned French Art Deco mahogany framed chairs, the back of curved leaf form upholstered to simulate veins, the stem forming a single arm with upholstered seat resting on two carved squared, tapered front legs and two unadorned squared rear legs.

You can buy them here. $5200 for the pair. No one said beauty was free.

Happy July 4th

Taking a few days off. Will be back soon!

Spray Paint Your Upholstery

How cool is this? From the NYT To Reupholster, Spray Away

  

How does it work?

"According to its inventor, David Reizian, the president of Deval Products in Warwick, R.I., the paint can be used to disguise stains or transform anything from sofas to car upholstery to fabric partitions. It is nontoxic and, most important, won’t come off on your guests’ trousers, even if they deserve it."

Any one tried it?

Green Shelving (finally an answer)

Here's a press release from the folks at GreenGuard, a third party certifying group.

They just added Rubbermaid to their list of products. Their wire shelving available at Home Depot is one of the products I was considering for my office shelving. Goes to prove that green doesn't have to be expensive: available at Home Depot means affordable, in the land of interior design anyway.

I wish the folks at Rubbermaid could have told me this info. I've been calling and calling and calling.

Still good news. So I'll let my annoyance go...

ATLANTA - June 17, 2009- A commissioned study done by Harris Interactive on behalf of GREENGUARD found that 69% of consumers prefer to buy products certified for indoor air quality. The GREENGUARD Environmental Institute (GEI) continues to meet this market demand by certifying products for low chemical emissions and continuing to expand its consumer product portfolio.

Rubbermaid, a well-known consumer brand, is the latest manufacturer to certify to the stringent GREENGUARD Children & Schools^SM standard. Rubbermaid manufactures an assortment of products for indoor environments and has certified its wire shelving used in many residential storage applications.

"We are excited to add Rubbermaid to our list of participating manufacturers," said Dr. Marilyn Black, Founder of GEI. "It is great to see strong consumer brands like Rubbermaid recognizing the importance of providing better products for indoor environments.

Current residential green programs including LEED^® for Homes and the ANSI National Green Building Standard^TM(from the National Association of Home Builders) recognize the importance of good indoor air quality. These programs award numerous material credits for using low-emitting products certified by the GREENGUARD Certification programs.

To achieve GREENGUARD Children & Schools Certification Rubbermaid's products were screened for more than 10,000 different volatile organic compounds (VOCs) including phthalates and formaldehyde. This certification signifies to consumers that these products have passed rigorous and frequent test requirements and that they do not release potentially harmful chemicals into the indoor air.

Mamma Took My Kodachrome Away!

I am depressed that Kodak stopped making Kodachrome.

From the NYT, Kodak Will Retire Kodachrome, Its Oldest Color Film Stock.

Not that I have bought it in ages. In art school, I bought a Nikon FE2 (how old school) and I used to shoot print....But the last time I bought print film was when I went to Senegal 7 years ago. I bought Fuji because I was advised that the tones were better for shooting in Africa. Not sure if that's true, but that's what I did.....

Still, the thought of change, and my love of Neil Simon just is sooo sad.

When I taught 4th grade about 15 years ago, a poet came into class and talked about typewriters. One of the kids raised his hand and said: what's a type writer? Some day it will be the same for print film, too.

Nostalgia for the greens of summers....and all the world’s a sunny day....

Is progress always good?

Watch AbbeyK on TV.

Hey folks, just a bit of shameless self-promotion here.

Was asked by the folks at the Boston Design Center to spend the day shooting a segment for New England Dream Home. The segment to air on TV starting 6/15 was just posted on their web site and you can view it here or click below.

Happy viewing. And no I don't sign autographs. (tee hee.)

Thanks BDC and Dream House staff for this wonderful opportunity.

Update on Green Shelving

I am trying to find info on shelving that satisfies my need for good indoor air quality. How green of me, I know.

Multiple calls to the folks at Rubbermaid. I did get a return call, but missed it and subsequent calls have been unlucky. Multiple calls to The Container Store. No answer. I'll keep researching, but seriously, it shouldn't have to be this hard. How many consumers would go to this length?

At this point, based on ease of getting information alone, it looks like Rakks for me. Now if I could just find a desk. I did re-think the configuration of how I want my desk to be though. I thought L-shaped, but I had that set up with the folding desks and I just felt confined. The room felt too small, too. So now I am doing one very looooong desk. i think this will be better for me.

Last night I took out one of the 5' folding tables and replaced it with the square one. It's currently 96" long. I kinda like it. Of course I can't get something that big in and out, so it will have to be in 2 parts. I am thinking a 72" desk top and a freestanding desk height file cabinet next to it. That's flexible for later reconfigurations as well. I really gotta pull the trigger and buy. This is making me cra-zy.