House

One of my very favorite design blogs, Remodelista, has a new book out called Remodelista: A Manual for the Considered Home, and it doesn't disappoint. It features 12 very different homes, including a loft in Los Angeles, a cottage on the Cape, a bungalow in Pasadena, and probably my favorite of all, a brownstone in Brooklyn, owned by one of the cofounders of Remodelista. What I've always liked best about the blog (and now the book) are the resource guides - where to buy or how to get a similar look.

The house tours are followed by chapters on kitchens, baths, and design ideas (using jars as party glasses, dining tables as desks, or army cots as reconfigured coffee tables). There's the Remodelista 100, the author's favorite everyday objects (and where to buy them), including butterfly chairs, Miele vacuum cleaners, Steele canvas hampers, painters' drop cloths, John Boos cutting boards, sheepskin rugs, and wire flyswatters.

I read the book through like a novel the first time around and then went back and took mental notes. I'm sure I'll continue to refer back, like the manual the author intended it to be. It won't gather dust.

(All photos from Remodelista: A Manual for the Considered Home)

Clean!

Yesterday we had our windows cleaned.

It had been six years. Six years of dirt is a lot of dirt.

Once, in the days before children and when they were very young, we had our windows washed twice a year. Each spring and fall, the window-washing guys would trudge into the house with their buckets and sponges, and several hours later we would sparkle and shine. I don't know how they do it, because I've tried, and my results are not their results.

There is nothing better than a clean window and nothing worse - aesthetically speaking - than a dirty one. Six years of sticky hands, pollen, rain, and snow. Nearly three years of dog nose and wet, muddy paws on storm doors. When Frank, the owner of the window-washing company we've always used, came to the door, I didn't recognize him. I said hello and looked for Frank. It had been that long.

Now that we're sparkling and shining, I've vowed we'll never be grimy again. Window washing is expensive, and we've had so many other ways to spend that money. But clean vs. dirty? So worth it.

(In the picture above, you'll see paint starting to buckle, ready to peel. Yes, another project.)

Cleaning and canning and other good things

Very favorite activity this morning? Going item by item through Crate & Barrel's "Clean Slate" line of utility products ("utility made beautiful," as the Website says). I had the best time. I found a fabulous fly-swatter. Some bins and hooks and mats. A much-desirable upholstery brush that gets pet hair off furniture and clothing. And oh, the wool dryer balls. I read about Friedrick Redecker, who learned the art of brush-making at his school for the blind. In 1934 he started his own company, now run by his sons. The Redecker brushes (seen in the photo above) were particularly exciting to me (including that fly-swatter I told you about). While I was at it, I checked out Williams Sonoma Agrarian. I am definitely not in the market for a chicken coop, and I'm never going to be a beekeeper, but it was fun to look and to think of other people canning and preserving and gathering eggs.

I hope you have a wonderful weekend.

(Photo from Crate & Barrel Clean Slate)

Window seat

In our family room, there's a long, low row of cabinets full of games. It runs almost the length of one wall, and though it's not particularly deep, I've always thought of it as our future window seat. Future because, in the almost seven years we've lived here, no one has ever sat there or even perched, as far as I know. There is no comfortable cushion and no pillows, only Legos, a whole village of them. I like this village and will miss it when it's gone. But I think I'll like my someday window seat, too. So for now, I wait.

The window seat today.

A window seat for someday.

(Last photo by Emily Henderson)