Black and White in Summer

The dining room, the space I declared finished in January 2006 and that we decided to add to the kitchen renovation, finally got its new clothes thanks to some design help from the Awesome Designer and a shopping trip to Kravet's Bethpage, NY showroom one rainy day back in April.


The drapery fabric Solarte from Kravet Soleil, is a retro-vibe indoor/outdoor fabric that should stand up better to dog affection than the Dupioni silk that hung there before.


Although it looks black & white in the stock image, there is a lot of subtlety in the shading - ebony, stone, mocha and a silvery pewter.


The rug, Cap Ferrat, is, like the Chinese Chippendale now in the den, a design by Windor Smith for Kravet. The seafoam color marries well with the grey-green Benjamin Moore Titanium walls and the dark brown ovals are almost the exact shade of the beams and the mocha shading in the drapes. (Black, seafoam and the sun seem to have been a big part of this recent renovation. I think I'll have to invest in some black and white tea towels for the kitchen!).


All we need now are those pesky baseboards...

Almost there

...apart from moldings, baseboard, toekicks, paint and the left side Caesarstone panel for the island (once again the installer wasn't happy with the fabricator's work). It's frustrating that we still aren't done but at least we have a working kitchen for the first time in more than two months.


I was extremely excited to start cooking again, then I remembered that all the pans and utensils were boxed up in the garage and we had nothing in the pantry.



So I settled for shopping for supplies, opening those boxes and washing every pot in the giant Blanco sink. Very therapeutic it was, too!

The only three words that matter

spoken by the Guy as he sat in the renovated (except for the baseboards!)


and temporarily* redecorated den watching the Tour de France...

"you were right"

*once we were happy with the rug in its new position we took it up again. It will be another 4 weeks before we can put rugs on the newly sealed floor - this is why people buy pre-finished flooring!

Getting Away From It All

We changed our plans and extended the vacation another day so we could go out on the water


That proved to be a great idea


Because wherever we looked


To the right or the left


Up or down


It seemed the wildlife was out enjoying the sun, too

Whatever

The weather didn't necessarily cooperate every day but there was always something interesting to do in while recharging our batteries and regaining our sense of fun


Build-a-boat in Portland. ME


Spotting exotic animals


experiencing the town art


or admiring the town architecture - Belfast, ME

The smell of the ocean

"Each morning sees some task begun, each evening sees it close"
but we won't be there to experience it. While the floors are sanded and sealed, the baseboards & moldings stained, we will be here (clue in image) eating our way through bowls of smoked haddock chowder and other local delicacies. A break is good!

Day 64

So... you know, if you've read previous blog posts, that we are undertaking a kitchen renovation that we expanded to include 1500 sq' of new hardwood floor, the demolition of our bar/media centre, new windows, mud-room door and some miscellaneous work/repairs to other rooms (including some stuff that was never finished from previous projects). In short, at the moment our house is neither the epitome of uniquely modern style nor the oasis of calm that I need in order to function as the wryly detached blogger you are accustomed to.
We are at the stage when things come in wrong and have to be changed, deadlines are missed, promises are broken.
For instance, the countertops: The fabricator wasn't happy with the Caesarstone that came in and re-ordered. No one told me. The earliest install date is now July 15th, the date when the flooring guy will be sanding (or sealing) and we're scheduled to be on vacation to escape the dust and the fumes. Everything was arranged in order to finish on time - July 16th. With one phone call the timeline changed and all hopes of getting the house back to normal within that timeframe vanished.
We have options. We can push on with the floor, which will allow us to get the furniture (and furnishings) back in place by the end of the month. The flooring guy, who was adamant about doing his work after the countertops had been installed in case there were any "issues", such as dropped stone or scraped floors, has cleared his books to work next week. He doesn't want to change; he says he'll buff out any scratches. But, of course, there shouldn't be any scratches. The animals are booked into their holiday homes and changing them at this stage will cost us. I'm going to crack if I have to spend any more time in my studio apartment bedroom because the downstairs resembles a cross between a flooring showroom and a consignment store. On the other hand, the stone guys don't want to risk a problem with the new floor, won't be liable in fact, and would rather they got in first.
I checked to see how long this renovation has been going - only a couple of months, less if you count from demolition. It seems SO. MUCH. LONGER. I'm hot, I'm cranky and I need to be finished. What to do?
On the positive side, the pool is 84F. Happy Days!

Cool town

You like bikes? And urban architecture? Check out the promotional video for the Tour de France kick-off in Rotterdam, The Netherlands July 3 2010... next stop Brussels!

Inspiration in the Den

The new hardwood floor is in and will soon be sanded and sealed. The electric cables that came up through the platform a foot from the wall have been relocated to a less obtrusive position and although the room will need new paint soon it's a blank canvas I can't wait to colour. It will need a rug, something to soften all that wood, a credenza for the TV (we'll swap the big TV from the master for the smaller one that used to be in the media center) and a couple of sconces. I have plans to use pieces I have in the house for the first two but the sconces will require some real live shopping. It'll take some courage to start looking at lamps again - it's really hard to judge from a product image in a catalogue or web page how it will actually look in a furnished space. But I've made a start and found a few contenders:



jefdesigns Legna wall sconce via Design Public. It comes in teak, walnut or zebrawood veneer - I like the walnut.


The Oggetti Dune Flushmount Wall Sconce via Lumens. Available in Black/Sand, Mocha/White and Sand.


Parker Half Round Sconce by Jonathan Adler via ylighting in Deep Patina Bronze. Aso available in Polished Nickel and Antique Brass.