::Surroundings::

Look Up: The Connectictut Capital Cupola

2009-11-24T00:26:00.000-05:00

Look up - as Meg's Dad would say.

When I was doing some research today, I was looking at some info on Wikipedia about Hartford, Connecticut. How seriously amazing is the state capital rotunda, designed in the high Victorian Gothic style by Richard M. Upjohn.

This statue in the capital building is called the "Angel of Resurrection" and was created by Randolph Rogers in 1878.

Yup, another place on the ever long list of places worth seeing.

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The Bricklayers Contest at Velvet & Linen - Voting starts today!

2009-11-23T13:00:00.002-05:00

Brooke Giannetti at Velvet & Linen has been running a fabulous contest where three (yes THREE) of these Brickmaker's tables will be given to the top three vote getters. Contestants were asked to send in a photo of where the table will go should they win and she received 170 entries. Brooke asked a group of fellow design bloggers to make the first cut down to the top ten. We were asked to select our favorite 5 entries and I can assure you - this was no easy task. So, without further ado - here are the top ten. Voting is taking place over on Brooke's blog - with the deadline by November 29th.

#3 Melissa L

#11 Susan D

#16 Katie D

#27 Suzanne K

#29 Brandy O

#32 Carolina C

#69 Gary P

#80 Teresa A

#96 Kari B

#155 Mary Elizabeth H

Go here to vote by November 29th and good luck to all the contestants!

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A New England Fall Harvest House Tour

2009-11-21T18:09:00.028-05:00

I did a quick drive around my town this afternoon and shot some pretty local houses that are decked out for the Fall/Thanksgiving season. By the end of the weekend after Thanksgiving, most of the pumpkins around Duxbury will likely have been swapped out for Christmas sparkle, so I was glad I finally had time to do one of my favorite things - a drive-by "shooting". I have to admit that I'm getting pretty brazen about driving right up to the door and taking photos. I keep waiting for a scowling head to pop out someone's front door at some point.

This cute little Greek Revival farmhouse is located right near the historic John Alden House and I love the wreath, urn and pumpkin display.

This is a town of "tasteful" displays in general and there were many instances of tiny pumpkins lined up along the lintel over the front door. It does add an easy and nice pop of color.

This new construction shingle house sits hard by a river on a beautiful setting with great views. I love the plethora of pumpkins just piled up on the steps. It's very "bounty of the harvest" looking, isn't it?

This old shingle house look beautiful no matter what the season. I really like the naturalistic look that simply morphs from season to season.

Pimp my mailbox.

This is the historic King Caesar House, which is owned by the Duxbury Historical Society.

And again, we have the little lineup of pumpkins across the pediment.

I love these green pumpkins with the pops of color from the red berries.

If I'm on the ball, I'll reshoot all these homes closer to Christmas when they are sure to be decked out in holly galore!

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Linda's Kitchen: Ahh, the joys of restocked cabinets!

2009-11-19T08:43:00.000-05:00

And so, my kitchen cabinets are finally painted (woot!) and I'm no longer picking through grocery bags for food and measuring cups. The joys of clean, organized and freshly painted kitchen cabinets cannot be overstated, let me tell you!

A little recap. My kitchen makeover has been basically a Sunday afternoon project. So, ~~I've~~ we've (can't forget my fantastic volunteer staff!) been working since August. Here are the nasty knotty pine cabinets that I started off with. Lovely, no?

Lot's of cleaning and priming ensued.

I painted the insides of the cabinets with Farrow & Ball Cooking Apple Green (with thanks to Brooke Giannetti at Velvet & Linen for the inspiration!) This is Brooke's living room below, I just loved the backs of the shelves. She used F&B's Verte de Terre, which I looked at, but eventually I settled on Cooking Apple Green as it was a little less gray.

So, here is a test section of the Cooking Apple Green - which I am totally in love with!! I also tested the idea of upholstering the shelves in burlap. The main reason (aside from trying something new!) was that the shelves are nasty particle board, which I thought wouldn't take the paint well. The results of the wrapped burlap shelves was mixed - some areas were nice an tight, but other's not so much and the end result wasn't as tailored as I wanted.

I was also thinking I needed to line the cabinet insides with paintable paper - again because of the liberal use of cheap particle board. However, in the end with good priming, they looked best simply painted.

As for the exteriors of the shelves, while I veered wildly back and forth between a black paint or a lighter green, I ended up compromising with myself and went with two Benjamin Moore colors: Essex Green with Black Forest Green as the second coat. Both coats were sanded with a fine steel wool with "holidays" left in the paint to achieve an aged look. I also wanted to keep the shine to a minimum. This paint is an exterior trim paint, so it should stand up well to kitchen wear and tear.

Here are the cabinet doors all finished and lined up waiting to be re-attached to the cabinets! Although I have a very small kitchen, there are still seventeen doors! And only two drawers. Don't ask.

Of course, the final element with the cabinet doors is the hardware. There are so many beautiful choices out there! I decided that with all the work involved in painting the cabinets, ~~they~~ I deserved something special! After all, my manicure was sacrificed for the cause!!

In August, I was at an event at the Roomscapes Luxury Design Center in Rockland, MA (see post here) and fell in love with a set of crystal knobs on display.

I thought that glass knobs were a great idea to add sparkle and lightness to the dark cabinets (not that they look bad on these beautiful cream cabinets either!). So, I started searching for the perfect knob for my slightly distressed, but not too shabby or 'kountry' kitchen cabinets. Something that bridged the divide between upscale and, well, budget.

There are some seriously beautiful cabinet knobs out there!

Swarovksi "Baldwin" knob - at $38 per knob (on sale). Total for 20 knobs: $760. Considerably more than what I've spent on the kitchen to date. So, nope.

These totally over the top Cache knobs and escutcheon's sport Swarovski crystals and are fabulously jewelry-like. And, honestly, at $30 per set, not bad. But, not the look or price tag I seek.

These Quartz Crystal knobs are pretty, but still, at $20 each, we're looking at $400 for the kitchen.

These very pretty German Crystal knobs are beautiful and I love the facets - sparkly! Currently priced at $15 each, we're in the $300 range for the knobs.

These Restoration.com glass knobs are lovely - elegant and simple. At $11.80 each theyre a $230+ budget item.

Vintage inspired "Astoria" knob at $6 each. $180 for entire kitchen.

Of course, glass knobs come in a variety of fabulous colors! These from Looking in the Attic are also about $6-7 per knob. Pretty, but I don't like the visible post.

So many choices, so little budget. So, of course, when looking for a bargain, I headed over to Ebay and found these pretty little vintage inspired knobs:

Love them, love everything about them. And since I couldn't decide, I picked two different styles and are using them both! Here is a link to the oval knob , unfortunately, I can't find the link to the flower, but it was the same seller. At less than $2 each, the final cost was a trés budget friendly $50 for the whole kitchen, including shipping.

And all put together!

There is still a lot more work to come. The soffit over the cabinets needs to be painted, as do the walls (not shown in pic), and the backsplash needs to be dealt with. And, all new appliances are coming in a couple of weeks, courtesy of Ferguson Appliance. I think the stainless appliances will be a nice balance against the dark cabinets and I'm looking forward to my checkerboard floor NOT being reflected in the shiny black dishwasher and stove fronts!

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Ten Things About Me

2009-11-16T03:07:00.000-05:00

One of my new favorite bloggers - Greet LeFevre of Belgian Pearls blog has tagged me to share ten things about myself. I feel like my life is a pretty open book and I don't have any deep dark secrets to share, but here goes:

1. I play the flute. My first love was music and I hold a Bachelor's degree in Music Performance. I teach flute students each week in a local public school and at the moment have 17 private students ranging in age from 5th - 10th grades. I love teaching - the kids keep me on my toes and also keep me playing! I am performing in a Christmas concert in a few weeks, which I'm looking forward to. Below is a recording of a recording of a recording (in other words, please forgive the sound quality) from a concert I performed in my town. The piece is called "3 Carols for Christmas".

2. I've been to Paris 6 or 7 times, but have never been to Washington, DC. This is a photo I took from the cafe at the top of Printemps department store in January 2008 when I attended Maison et Objet.

3. I sew. When I was younger, I made many of my own clothes from winter coats to suits to jeans to ballgowns. Now, every time I try to make clothes, I make a mess of it. But I do still sew pillows and sometimes small window treatments. This project below was for a segment on local TV station WHDH called "Room for Improvement" where people wrote in looking for help with a space in their home. I did this master bedroom on a budget for a nice local couple.

4. I suffer from "I-can-do-that-itis", but I do not knit. I pretty much try any kind of craft project, except knitting. This is a detail of a group of decoupage wall tiles that I made last year after seeing some similar on another blog.

4. I prefer photography to other art forms and my favorite local fine art photographer is Anne Henning and I have two of her pieces. The one of the left with the pink fuzzy umbrella was taken in Paris in front of the oldest umbrella shop in the city. The one on the right is a landscape of Tuscany. Of course, this quick snapshot does not do justice to these painterly photographs that are printed on watercolor paper. Just amazing.

5. I cry easily and often. In truth, I tear up at least once per day. Both when I'm happy, frustrated or just moved by something beautiful. Aaron Copland's "Appalachian Spring" makes me cry. So did Van Gogh's "Starry Night" when I saw it at The Musée D'Orsay - I just stood there and balled like a baby. And I've never been a Van Gogh fan, but something about seeing the iconic piece in person was incredibly powerful and moving. Interestingly, Norman Rockwell makes me tear up as well.

6. I'm a twelfth generation American. My ancestor - Nathaniel Merrill - came over with his brother John from Essex, England in 1633 and settled in Newbury, Massachusetts, which is north of Boston. Of all the places I've lived (and it's been many), Newburyport was the town that has most felt like home to me and one day I know I'll move back there. I lived there from 1995-2000.

7. I know nothing about sports and care less. Except that my maternal Grandmother's uncle, Tim Keefe (1857-1933),was a professional baseball player and is the Baseball Hall of Fame. He was a pitcher and played for the Mets, Giants and the Phillies during his career. And, he was nicknamed "Sir Timothy" because of his gentlemanly behavior.

8. I'll never live in a neat and orderly home. I'm just not that person. Wish I were, but I'm not. I'm organized, but still cluttered.

9. My favorite color is green - any kind of green, any shade, ever since I was about 5 years old. I have to stop my self from over-doing the green. Although, interestingly, I haven't used tons of green in my decorating work. My second favorite color is pink - a fact I've only recently accepted about myself.

10. I'm an extrovert, yet shy. I can talk or perform in front of a large crowd without being nervous (well, not too nervous) but walking into a room with a small group of people who I don't know well? Horrors. I still go to business events thinking I might turn around before I get there. Usually, I go inside. And then have a great time.

So, that's a bit about me. Thanks to Greet for asking me to participate. You can read about her 10 Things here.

And now I must turn this around and ask some others to participate. I've decided to ask bloggers who I don't know much about personally but enjoy their blogs. We can all learn about them together!

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Evolution of a floral arrangement

2009-11-13T11:48:00.000-05:00

Last week, I wrote about the big gala for the New England Design Hall of Fame. I was lucky enough to snag one of the gorgeous floral arrangements which were done by Winston Flowers.

My camera got a workout with this arrangement! I love the combination of deep red roses, burgandy calla lilies, deep rosy orange lilies, deep red brain flower (is that really the name?? icky), the drapey red flower (don't know the name) and purple/blue/green hydrangea.

So, it's been a week and while most of the flowers in the arrangement are still glorious, there is a kind of tiring out of the arrangement. So, I was thinking that it was time to disassemble the large arrangement into some smaller ones to kind of freshen things up.

Meanwhile, I popped into a local Salvation army store yesterday and came across this small silverplate flower bowl/candle holder piece that's maybe 8" wide by 6" high. For $4.99 and a little elbow grease (very tarnish) I have a sweet little addition to my silver/floral display collection.

It also has a handy flower frog set inside.

I'll also be using my silverplate tea pot purchased last year at the Hell's Kitchen Flea market, made famous by Eddie Ross.

And, so I started taking apart the arrangement. It's quite a feat of construction!! Most of the flowers were held in place by a webbing of chicken wire set inside the bowl. Some of the lilies were too short, so they used the little water viles attached to the stems and tucked inside this amazingly dense arrangement.

And, the empty bowl with chicken wire, which I'm going to hold onto for the future.

And here are the results - from one large arrangement has come three smaller ones. And very flowers were actually thrown away.

(And for those of you following my kitchen reno, what do you think of the new painted cabinet interiors? I still need to get the shelves painted, but this is a sneak peak of the paint color etc!)

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A 1920's estate in Milton, MA

2009-11-12T23:40:00.011-05:00

DeShazo Estate view from the gardens - photography by Jean Donohue, courtesy of FBN Construction

New England Cable News (NECN) Dream House just aired a two part segment on the fabulous DeShazo estate in Milton, MA. I've been lucky to have attended a few industry events at this spectacular 1920's brick mansion and thought I'd share the video and some still photos of the property. It truly is like stepping back to another time. The house is 11,000 square feet and has thirteen working fireplaces, original wrought iron work, a circular stair, carved wood ceiling and original butler's pantry.

Click here to view part 1 and part 2.

Photo by Linda Merrill for IFDA

Photos by Linda Merrill for IFDA

DeShazo Estate gardens. Photo courtesy of FBN Construction.

DeShazo Estate view from the gardens. DeShazo Estate gardens. Photo courtesy of FBN Construction.

Edited to add:

My friend, the fabulous photographer Jean Donohue sent along some interiors photos she'd shot of the house. I've tried to take inside pics, but failed miserably. Yep, once again, the professional is really the way to go!

Click on the pics for a larger view! If you'd like more information about Jean or her photography services, please email me and I'll pass you her contact information.

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Gratitude: The Eleventh Hour of the Eleventh Day of the Eleventh Month

2009-11-11T10:08:00.001-05:00

Flanders Poppy tile - Verdant Tile Company

Courtesy of Bee MacGuire
Obtained From TheMcCrae Museum of The Guelph Museum

My Boy Jack ~ Rudyard Kipling

“Have you news of my boy Jack?”
Not this tide.
“When d’you think that he’ll come back?”
Not with this wind blowing, and this tide.

“Has any one else had word of him?”
Not this tide.
For what is sunk will hardly swim,
Not with this wind blowing, and this tide.

“Oh, dear, what comfort can I find?”
None this tide,
Nor any tide,
Except he did not shame his kind —
Not even with that wind blowing, and that tide.

Then hold your head up all the more,
This tide,
And every tide;
Because he was the son you bore,
And gave to that wind blowing and that tide!

This 'n that

2009-11-10T00:58:00.002-05:00

I was interviewed for a story about working with an interior designer that appeared on The New York Times online. Thanks to Camilla McLaughlin spoke with me, Susanna Salk and others about the process of working with an interior designer and what we bring to the process of designing one's own home. Specifically, my virtual decorating service was profiled. Click here to read the entire story. Fun!

Sad news came today that Hachette Filipacchi announced the closing of METROPOLITAN HOME magazine. The December issue will be its last. Sadness. Ironic given the line on the cover "Comfort & Joy". Sadly, Editor-in-Chief Donna Warner and her staff will be let go. According to the press release, they will be putting all their juice into Elle Decor. We interviewed Margaret just last week on The Skirted Roundtable and spoke with her specifically about how her thoughts on the continued success of ELLE DECOR. Very interesting. You can listen hear. My thoughts go out to Met Home's editor-in-chief if twenty-six years Donna Warner and her staff. The streets seem paved with displaced shelter mag workers these days.

On the kitchen front, I have the first coat of paint on the cabinet fronts (Ben Moore's Essex Green) and ceiling (F&B's Cooking Apple Green on the ceiling and inside the cabinets - it's fantastic!!). The second coat on the cabinet fronts will be Ben Moore's Black Forest Green, with a little antiquing thrown in. The cabinet doors are all finished (yay!!) and I'm just waiting for the new knobs I've ordered to come in. Very excited to show you those! )In case you're wondering, the soffit above the cabinets is going to be finished to match the rest of the walls in the kitchen.) The photo above shows the spaghetti dinner I cooked for Rob (my volunteer staffer is back on the job!) and I - while the paint was still wet!! Nothing like boiling water right underneath the wet paint!!

Speaking of cooking, this space is going to look a lot better with these babies:

And finally, Grayson Handy, whose book FLOWERS FOR THE HOME I reviewed yesterday shared with me a couple of additioal pics of his dachsund Romeo, whom I've developed a huge crush on. So, I thought I'd share the cuteness. Photos by Ellen Silverman.

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Saturday afternoon: Painting, tea and reading!

2009-11-07T18:06:00.000-05:00

So, with the time change, Saturdays are so short! My kitchen makeover is moving slowly along and my "volunteer" staff has been AWL (absent with leave) for the last couple of weeks, so I've been on my own. I've done a lot of painting and today I finally tackled the backside of the cabinet doors. The front sides are all done (the big reveal to come soon!). With the light rapidly going away, painted (Ben Moore Black Forest Green) away outside on my back deck.

It's quite chilly today so by the time I was done, I was ready for a little pot of tea and warm apple spice bread. I also got caught up on some reading. I've never heard of this Luxe Interiors + Design magazine, but it came in the mail today, so I flipped through that, Elle magazine and the new book Flowers for the Home by Grayson Handy. Totally gorgeous!

The nice folks at Rizzoli had sent the book several weeks ago and I've been drooling over the cover alone!

I've done some floral arranging, but I'm hampered by the complete inability to remember flower names and how they need to be treated. So, while I know what I like, I really do leave the work to the professionals. If I need an arrangement for a client or a shoot, I describe what I want in terms of color, texture and size.

"Flowers for the Home" isn't just a picture book with pretty photos of pretty flower arrangements - although Handy's arrangements are beautiful and Ellen Silverman's photography is to die for! The book is broken down into locations that have inspired the author: China, England, France, India, Japan, Mexico, Morocco, the American South and Tropical Rainforest. He then breaks down each section into regional inspirations, a color palette, a signature arrangement (with instructions in the back of the book for how to make that arrangement - flower by flower) and a resource section.

Of course, France always inspires me.

Okay - all together now: awwwwww (btw - Mr. Handy's dog Romeo is the spitting image of my dachsund, the late, great Tiny from my childhood).

This is an excellent book for anyone interested in floral arranging, or even just beautiful photography!

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New England Design Hall of Fame Gala 2009

2009-11-06T12:06:00.002-05:00

This was a big week on the New England design scene with the gala dinner and induction ceremony for the New England Design Hall of Fame. I wrote about the inductees earlier this week and wanted to share some of the party pics as well!

Cocktails

Getting ready for dinner

The view from my seat. Note the centerpiece is the same as at the top of this post - I brought it home! Glorious work as usual from Winston Flowers.

Alexis Contant, VP of the Boston Design Center (center) toasts the newly inducted honorees, from left to right: Gary McBournie, Jeffrey Katz, Cheryl Katz and Douglas Reed.

(left) Stacy Kunstel, Homes Editor, New England Home Magazine and (right) Alexis Contant

Marilyn MacLeod (Lee Designs), Teresa Burnett (Willow Designs, Inc.) and me

A bad pic of moi and a lovely pic of Katie Dammann, Marketing & Special Projects Director for New England Home Magazine.

Again, a huge congratulations to all the honorees - Maryann Thompson Architects, Gary McBournie (interior design), Cheryl & Jeffrey Katz (interior design), Stephen Stimson Associates (landscape design), Reed Hilderbrand Landscape Architects, Dalia Tamara (kitchen design). Read more about the inductees here.

And finally a thank you to New England Home Magazine for putting together this wonderful event and raising the level of awareness of the wonderful New England design community.

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Skirted Roundtable: Chatting with Margaret Russell

2009-11-06T10:56:00.000-05:00

This has just been a crazy week (aren't they all!!?) and I'm trying to catch up with postings and the news.

This week, Megan, Joni and I chatted with Margaret Russell, editor-in-chief of Elle Decor about her background and career, her twenty years at the magazine and the design industry today. I have to say that I am so enjoying doing The Skirted Roundtable and the opportunity to chat with some of the most amazing people in the design industry today!

In this interview, we asked Margaret to select three rooms that were among her favorite photoshoots and images from her new book Style and Substance: The Best of Elle Decor so that we could chat in specifics about what makes a room work in life and in a magazine.

Hampton's Living Room (an SGTG inspiration?). Design by Victoria Hagan. Photo by Reed Krakoff.

The best selling Elle Decor cover is also the cover of Margaret's new book Style and Substance:The Best of Elle Decor. Photo by Michael Mundy.

Margaret is also one of the busiest people in the industry and has lent her support to many fine charitable organizations over the year. Currently, she sitting on the boards of the Alpha Workshops, which provides training in the decorative arts to those living with HIV/AIDS, and to God's Love We Deliver, which provides meals and nutritional information to those living with life-altering illnesses. She is also beginning to focus her considerable attention to the issue of arts education for school children. For ten years, she was active with DIFFA (Design Industry Foundation Fight AIDS) and the annual Dining By Design events. I first met MR at the Boston Dining by Design event two years ago. We ended up literally face to face in a very crowded space and let me tell you, she's even prettier and younger looking in person that in photos!

So, thank you Margaret for spending a great hour with us! Click here to listen!

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New England Design Hall of Fame 2009 Inductees

2009-11-03T00:50:00.002-05:00

I'm getting very excited for this week's New England Design Hall of Fame awards dinner, sponsored by New England Home Magazine. The ceremony and gala dinner for this year's honorees is being held at the State Room, which sits high a-top the city of Boston.

I wanted to share some information and photos of this year's inductees. Congratulations to all!

Maryann Thompson Architects

Gary McBournie, Inc. - Interior Design

C&J Katz Studio - Interior Design

Stephen Stimson Associates - Landscape Designer

Reed Hilderbrand Landcape Architects

Douglas Reed

Gary Hilderbrand

Dalia Kitchen - Specialty Design Award

Dalia Tamari (center)

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Topiaries

2009-11-01T16:35:00.001-05:00

Halloween has passed and Daylight savings time has ended at here in the Northeast it's dark by 4:30. And cold. And the leaves are quickly turning brown and falling down. We haven't yet had a hard freeze, but once that happens, we're done with pretty blooming things until the crocuses start peeping up out of the dirt. It's one reason that we like our evergreens here - at least something has a bit of color outside the window. I am particularly taken with with topiary gardens and harbor a strong desire to grow (sculpt?) one some day. Here are a few inspiration photos...

from Edward Scissorhands

Topiary in Beijing via Hatch: The Design Public Blog, via More Ways to Waste Time

How cute is this? Unfortunately I lost the source...

via BBC

artist Simon Garden

via Black Barn Farm Topiary

Topiary Garden in France

via My Duck Soup

via Folly Fancier

Costa Rican topiary via ElleMondo

via The Presurfer

And one for a touch of snowy wonder...

via Flickr

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IFDA New England Designer Showcase Winners!

2009-10-30T01:16:00.002-04:00

Steve Twombley, Publisher, Design New England Magazine, Media Sponsor

Susan Shulman, Winner, Best Kitchen

Beverly Rivkind, Winner, Best Living Room

Teresa Burnett, Community Service Recognition Award Winner

Wayne Southworth, President, IFDA New England Chapter

Rebecca Wilson, Winner, Best Bedroom

Edwina Drummond, Winner, Best Showhouse

Donna Terry, Winner, Best Dining Room

Gail Ravgiala, Editor, Design New England Magazine

Last night was an exciting evening for IFDA New England as we celebrated our membership and our first ever Designer Showcase Awards. I sit on the board of directors for our chapter and was on the committee that created the Showcase Awards. Here are my fellow committee and board members:

Chris Kay, me, Karen Lovejoy

Joanne DiFrancesco, Karen Lovejoy

I wanted to congratulate the winners and showcase each of their beautiful designs (yes, even though I didn't win myself for this design!)

Best Dining Room

Donna Terry, Interiors by Donna Terry

(click here to see larger size)

Best Decorator Showhouse

Edwina Drummond, Edwina Drummond Interiors

(click here to see larger size)

Best Living Space

Beverly Rivkind, Beverly Rivkind Interior Design

(click here to see larger size)

Best Bedroom

Rebecca Wilson, RW Interiors

(click here to see larger size)

Best Kitchen

Susan Shulman, Susan Shulman Interiors

(click here to view larger size)

Congrats to all the winners!!

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Skirted Roundtable: Chatting with Suzanne Kasler and what is color sequencing anyway?

2009-10-28T13:17:00.001-04:00

This week on The Skirted Roundtable, Megan, Joni and I chatted with the fabulous interior design Suzanne Kasler about her work, career and her newly released book "Inspired Interiors". During our discussion, Suzanne mentioned the concept of "color sequencing" or "progression", which raised some questions about what this meant and how it applied to interiors. I had specifically mentioned a section of the book - the chapter on "Color and Light" which had a series of images that very clearly showed this concept. And, even though these rooms were not actually related to each other (they weren't from the same homes), there was a clear relation that made reading that section of the book all the more interesting. Below are all the images that we discussed during this segment, plus the 2 minutes of conversation around it. Enjoy!

And don't forget to listen to the entire conversation here.

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Linda's Kitchen: Cabinets, Colors and Cooking

2009-10-26T01:12:00.002-04:00

I had a great meeting with the nice folks at Ferguson's on Friday. I've never shopped for kitchen appliances for myself before and it's fun! Paul Gillis was my sales guy and we spent quite a while looking at various products and their features. My kitchen is tiny, so my appliances also need to be fairly modest. I'll have more on that process in a future post once the final selections are made, but I wanted to share a few images from their showroom.

Here are some beautiful - and huge - Viking appliances. The red fridge is pretty eye catching, as is the double oven range. Those wouldn't even fit in my front door, let alone make it into my kitchen!!

Here is a refrigerator and freezer built into the cabinetry. I do love this look, I have to admit.

And, speaking of cabinetry. This weekend was basically D-Day when it came to painting my kitchen cabinets. After months of dithering and questioning myself - do I want black or green kitchen cabinets. Guess what I've decided on?

I decided on a very dark, nearly black, green. Once I started painting my cabinet insides with Farrow & Ball Cooking Apple Green it just felt right to go with a deep, dark green exterior. So, I headed off to the paint store and selected two possibilities - Ben Moore's Black Forest Green or Essex Green. These are part of their exterior trim line and should (hopefully!) be very durable for a kitchen cabinet.

Black Forest Green

Essex Green

Now, clearly these two colors are very close and this is where we start questioning ourselves. While I'd been planning on going black all along (after a short detour towards lighter green), I got chicken committing to the Black Forest Green, so ordered a quart of the Essex Green in semi-gloss. I got it home and opened the can and pretty much knew that there was too much green and too little black. So, I started painting some of the cabinet box exteriors (we took all the doors off last week). And yes, as I feared, too green. Ah, what's a girl to do. Well, first, I texted Rob to find out what time he was going to be here today and then to tell him about the color. And then I decided to see what he thought and moved on to cleaning and de-glossing all the cabinet doors. That was a fun Saturday night...

So, today, in the light of day, the Essex Green was still significantly too green, but I decided to use it as a base coat for the cabinets and use the Black Forest Green as the top coat. It's my own personal formula. Well, it's an experiment.

Here's the lineup on cabinet doors on my deck with one coat of the Essex Green. I want a slightly aged look, although not too "shabby country". Once the paint was mostly dry, I sanded down the sheen with a fine steel wool, which also pulled off some of the paint. Next step will be a coat of the Black Forest. I'll then see how it's looking. I am thinking of a final step of waxing the cabinets.

On other fronts, we primed and painted the entire insides of the cabinets, both uppers and lowers today. A second coat is needed on the uppers and then the cabinet exteriors can be painted the dark green.

These home improvement projects really get me thinking about my dear Daddy. As I wrote about him a couple of years ago on Father's Day, my Dad was the ultimate DIY guy. Growing up, I knew there were carpenters, electricians, painters and plumbers out in the world, I'd just never met any because Dad did it all. So, when I tackle a multi-part project such as this kitchen makeover, I really miss him terribly. He would have loved this project and every time I think about cutting a corner, he's whispering in my ear - do it right! So, as I was ruining my manicure sanding my cabinets today, I knew that I was doing as I am told. And the end result will be better for it.

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Thanks for the mention: Boston Architectural College

2009-10-25T11:48:00.001-04:00

Thanks to Julia Grace at the Boston Architectural College for the mention in this month's CE Newsletter. Appreciated!

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Skirted Roundtable: On Accessorizing and books for reading and books for show

2009-10-25T11:34:00.000-04:00

Cover image from the new book ©Suzanne Kasler "Inspired Interiors" by Suzanne Kasler with Christine Pittel, Rizzoli New York, 2009.

This week on The Skirted Roundtable Megan, Joni and I discuss accessorizing. Our conversation ranged from ferns to frames, bouquets to books. And, speaking of books-how does one fill up a big bank of books shelves? Are fake books okay, or just filler? Listen here to find out what we all think - and heads up, we definitely don't agree!

Cover image from the new book ©Suzanne Kasler "Inspired Interiors" by Suzanne Kasler with Christine Pittel, Rizzoli New York, 2009.

And stay tuned for our upcoming chat with Suzanne Kasler!

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Michael J. Lee Photography - Architectural Photography 101 is now in session

2009-10-21T14:19:00.003-04:00

A couple of months ago, I had the honor of having a room that I designed photographed by Michael J. Lee. I have long admired Michael's eye and how he captures a space.

Michael's photograph of New England Design Hall of Famer Richard FitzGerald's Cape Cod house. See more here.

Prior to hanging out his shingle as a professional photographer just two years ago, Michael was an interior designer and worked for two of New England's biggest names in design Celeste Cooper and Richard FitzGerald. Michael holds a BS in Interior Design from Wentworth Institute of Technology and is a self-taught photographer. After years in the design field, Michael found that his passion was photography and made the switch!

It's clear that Michael's design background informs his photographic vision of a space. For one thing, he knows what he's looking at. It's one thing to have technical knowledge about lighting, mega pixels and Photoshop - but those can be taught. Michael has a deep understanding of scale and proportion and knows about architecture and design. He "sees" the room through a designers eye and shoots the room with a photographers skill. What comes out the other end is pure magic.

Anthony Catalfano Interiors

Another bonus that his design background brings is that he's not afraid to move things around. And no, that doesn't mean he imposes his own views on the designer's project. Simply that he's not afraid to push something out of the way in order to capture the best essence of the space.

As I said, I was so lucky that he was willing to give me a day of his time to shoot this project! As an amateur photographer who has shot all her own portfolio, I was taking copious notes on how to improve my own skills. Architectural photography 101, as it were. Well, school was in session and session started the week before the actual shoot when Michael and I did a walk through so he could become familiar with the space and we could determine what shots would be taken and what, if anything, needed to be done prior to shooting to "finish" the space. My clients and I were left with a to-do list that was focused and made for a great shoot day.

Here is the living room on the day of the shoot. This is my shot, with no additional lighting except what is in the room already. Now, this isn't a bad shot, if I do say so myself. But, there are shadows everywhere and there is a lot of fine detail missing. (Note - this was pre-styling like fixing the window treatments!)

photo by Linda Merrill

Here is Michael's shot. The lighting is even across the entire shot and the fine details are easily visible.

photograph by Michael Lee

Now, here is a little bit of photography magic. See those beautiful Japanese Leaf panels hanging over the sofa in the image above? Well, they are not hanging over the sofa. My client's are slowly selecting art and that wall is big and bare. So, Josh of Studio 534 at The Boston Design Center kindly loaned me this pair of framed panels for the photoshoot. Rather than actually hang them on the wall, Michael shot one image without the panels, and then jumped into the scene and by eye, we decided on placement. While I had my finger on the shutter button (oh, the power!), Michael crouched on the sofa under the art to hold it against the wall and we shot the photo. The same was done for the second panel (this is the image below) and with the magic of Photoshop, Michael merged the three shots into one beautiful image. Because of the extreme angle, the panels (and pillows on the sofa) all had to be placed quite a bit to the right of the sofa in order to look correct in the final photograph.

(photo by Linda Merrill on Michael Lee's equipment)

One thing I learned is that there is pretty much no point in completely styling a room before a photo shoot, because it's all going to be torn apart before being put together again! Here's all the equipment as Michael is setting up a shot. Note the furniture is all in disarray.

Photo by Linda Merrill

And here's Michael setting the camera. He shoots directly into his computer, which is all coordinated with the lighting. He gets everything set up and takes a test shot so we could see - on the computer screen - how it all looked and make adjustments to the position of the camera, or tweak a pillow, etc. The final image is shot and approved on site, viewed in large scale on his computer screen.

Photo by Linda Merrill

A very important aspect of Michael's process is that he gets the best shot possible the first time. As he said, he "shoots for the outcome" and doesn't rely on the tech tools of the trade (Photoshop, etc) to make corrections after the fact. Some types of post production work done on an image can break down the quality of the final product. This is a great tip for all of us – take your time make sure the image is as straight as possible and don’t rely on Photoshop or other photo software.

And here is the final shot from this set up:

Photo by Michael Lee

This next shot below was only possible because of the walk through we did the week before. I would have never thought of shooting out the room, down the hall and into the adjacent room. Or, more likely, it would have occurred to me too late. The room across the hall is actually the client's television/media room and aside from the wall color, window treatments and rug, I had nothing else to do with the room and the only furniture is a bank of movie-style leather seats that are not particularly pretty. With advance notice, we were able to create the little vignette of chair (moved in from the living room), mirror (which was purchased at a second hand store for the photo shoot) and the window with bold, striped treatment. Here is another little tip from Michael - create context. What we don't see in this photograph is that the hallway includes a stairwell on the right and a bathroom door and staircase on the left. Michael suggested adding the bench (which we bought down from the client's bedroom) to place against the wall, just peeping into the photograph. Without the bench, the viewer would be left wondering what that space is. Just the added bench gives a context and draws the eye towards the room in the background. The sun was shining full on into the window, so Michael took two images - one with the treatment up and another with the treatment lowered to reduce the glare off the floor. Reducing the glare preserved the beautiful look of the original parquet floor while preserving some of the light from the window. Michael’s shots were taken with a small aperture and a long exposure time, in which he “feathers” in his artificial lighting through the use of several strobes.

Photo by Michael Lee

Here is the setup for the final image, a detail of the small round table, chair and floor. You will see how far out from the bay window Michael pulled the table and chairs and how far over the bowl has been placed.

Photo by Linda Merrill

Michael wanted to capture the special quality of the original parquet floor, the beautiful table and window treatment. We spent quite a lot of time setting up this shot and Michael was always asking how I liked it and encouraging me to speak up. The first test photo of this shot seemed, to me, like it was lacking focus and a point - it was just a shot of some pretty details. But, they didn't hang together. We played around with rotating the table so that the base was more prominent and it just made the shot. So, the moral of that is if you're shooting your own space or working with a professional photographer, don't be afraid to ask why a shot is being taken if it's not making sense to you visually. As a designer, I know what this room was meant to look like and how it was meant to feel. The look and feel needed to come through each shot, so patience is key!

Photo by Michael Lee

Here are some of Michael's tips for making a beautiful architectural shot:

You can't move architecture, but you can move the furniture
Set the camera to suit the architecture
Then move the furniture to suit the camera
Set the camera close to the ground to make the furniture appear at a proper scale. Most rooms are viewed from sitting height, so take the photos from the same height. You can see that in my shots vs. Michael's. Mine are mostly taken just below my eye height, or just under 5' off the ground.

Unlike many photographers, Michael grants “rights usage” of his images to his clients. His belief is that he is simply (or not so simply!) documenting a space that he was asked to, he doesn’t own the room or the design of the room, nor did he discover it like Ansel Adams wondering through a national park. As such, why should he control how the image is to be used? His fees covers his services (walk through, shoot day, post production). He doesn’t feel the need to hold the photographs hostage in order to collect ongoing revenue from the designer or homeowner. Love that about him! His goal for himself is to capture a beautiful image – of someone else's work. The final image is not about Michael Lee and it’s not about high tech computer knowledge and photographic bells and whistles.

Just get the shot, and move along.

Photo by Michael Lee. Design by Barbara Bahr Sheehan

On his own portfolio, he always lists the designer and he never sells his photos as stock imagery. A designer will never find his or her own work staring them in the face in a publication without attribution. Michael also suggests that for larger projects where there may be a team - such as architect, builder, designer, etc - all the parties should hire the photographer as a team, which reduces their overall photography costs and makes for the most consistent documentation of a project across the spectrum of disciplines.

Michael's services include single shots to full day rates. Many photographers won't do the single shot - but often a designer or architect may only need a single shot for an advertisement or other specific use. This willingness to do the small job stems from his time with designer Richard FitzGerald who said "Always take the single chair upholstery job, you never know what it may lead to".

His passion for photography and architectural design is palpable. As he says "I look forward to capturing beautiful environments created by New England's mot talented Architects, Designers and Builders as I share this passion with all of you".

Michael's website is here, take a look and enjoy the beauty!

Michael's photograph of New England Design Hall of Famer Richard FitzGerald's Cape Cod house. See more here.

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Gosh this is pretty

2009-10-20T22:23:00.001-04:00

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Don't ya love when you find something great - in your own cupboard!

2009-10-20T11:35:00.000-04:00

One of the benefits of a kitchen makeover (aside from how it will look when it's all finished!) is that it forces you to totally clean out the cabinets. I actually found a can of refried beans that had a sell-by date of 1999. Gross, I know. The really weird thing is that I moved to my condo that year and had moved the beans with me!! Expired beans and I paid to move them. On the other end of the spectrum, however, is that I also found this fabulous tea pot that I'd totally forgotten about. How beautiful is this! My recollection is that I inherited it from my great Aunt when we cleaned out her house after she passed away many years ago - something like 20 years ago. My Auntie Marion had lived in her home, a two-family in Arlington, MA since the 1920's when my Great Grandparnts bought it. The downstairs apartment was my mother's first home (my Great Aunt was my Grandfather's sister) and my Auntie lived upstairs until her death at the age of 87. I've inherited several beautiful items from the house that all date to the 1920's and earlier. Apparently, this little tea pot is no exception!

The mark on the bottom shows that this is from the Hall's Tea Pot company and was made in the USA.

This ad dates to 1921.

And this ad is late 1920's actually looks like my tea pot!

I can attest that I had a pot of tea this morning and it did indeed stay very hot, it does look good, and if the maid is careless, I am certain it will stand up to my her clumsiness!

A 1920's Trade Ad. This pot is the "French" shape and has the same floral pattern as mine.

Teapot shape names:

Top: French, Boston, New York, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Boston
Middle: French, Aladdin, Hook Cover, Los Angeles, New York, Windshield
Bottom: Hook Cover, Hollywood, Boston, Windshield, Aladdin, Parade

This is an ad from the 1950's. There's my little pot in the upper left!

A vintage promotional shot of the Hall gold decorated tea pots. Mine is upper right.

Hall China is still in production in Ohio. A very big thanks to the Ohio Pottery Company for all the great information and images above.

Have a cuppa with me?

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Fab Faux from the Faux Museum

2009-10-20T10:46:00.000-04:00

A few weeks ago I received a nice big package at my post office and inside were a collection of "faux" art frames by the Faux Museum. These classically inspired frames are made from sturdy mat board and arrive flat. Simply fold up the sides and attach with the black tape strips provided and voila - an easy and elegant frame! They having hanging hardware on the back and also come with a small mat board easel to prop them up.

My favorite is definitely the Rustica Frame based on Northern European style of the Flemish and Dutch Renaissance trandition. The faux work is quite excellent and it really does look like a rounded wood

frame, versus just a flat piece of board.

Yes, as you can see, flat as a pancake!

Here is a closeup detail of the Florentine frame.

Currently, these pop-up frames are available at The J. Paul Getty Museum and on their website. The prices are really quite reasonable - between $9 for a 2-1/2"x3" frame and $50 for a 16"x20" frame. A pretty nifty little giftie, I would say.

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Linda's Kitchen: Inside the cabinets

2009-10-19T00:01:00.002-04:00

As I shared last week, we have removed all the cabinet doors and all the hardware from cabinets and doors to prepare the cabinets for painting. We got one set of cabinets primed and this week, while I was supposed to be continuing the priming job, I decided to try out the paint color that I've selected, which is Farrow & Ball's Cooking Apple Green.

Isn't it pretty? My absolute favorite color, ever! And I'm putting inside the cabinets. Oh, and on the ceiling. My kitchen cabinets are not, as I've mentioned, very high end, to say the least. They're a combination of nasty knotty pine on the outside with paneled back walls, and particle board side walls and shelves. Hard to paint, but I think two coats of primer followed by two coats of paint will cover it up well enough.

I decided to upholster the particle board shelves with burlap, rather than paint. My thinking is that it will be quicker and easier. Oh, truly, it's not quite as quick as I'd thought, I only got three done today. But still definitely quicker than painting several coats of paint!!!

And so, before I've finished actually priming and painting, I'm already putting in the covered shelves and styling... See what happens when a decorator is left to her own devices in a DIY project? We get distracted by the pretty!

My volunteer staff, aka my pal Rob, had today off. He's turning into a slacker as that's twice in one month!! Really, I am just kidding. I could not do this without his kind help, giving up part of nearly every weekend for the past almost two months. I finally got him to pose for a photograph. Here he is in his own kitchen at his weekend house on Cape Cod. I was shooting his house for a story I'm writing on it. He's totally my Ty Pennington!

So, this is a pretty exciting week in the kitchen saga (nearly two months, getting scarily close to saga range!!!). I am going to be picking out my new kitchen appliances!

I have mentioned before that my blog is now part of New England Home magazine's website. My kitchen makeover has become the focal point of this new partnership and I can now announce that the third party in this relationship is Ferguson, a kitchen, bath and building showroom.

I'll be visiting their showroom on Friday to work with them to select my new range/oven, range hood, dishwasher and refrigerator. So exciting! I'll have a blog post on that process next week. Very exciting!! Am beginning to hope that I'll have it done by Christmas!

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The Skirted Roundtable - On the FTC, Bloggers Endorsing products and disclosures

2009-10-18T11:45:00.000-04:00

Last week at The Skirted Roundtable, we talked about the new FTC Guidelines for blogger's endorsing products and disclosures of freebies. You can listen to our podcast here.

Here is an interesting article in the New York Times on the subject. Some bloggers will be publishing their formal policies on the subject, and others are scoffing at the whole thing - after all, how will it be regulated?

I am not sure if I will be publishing a "formal" disclosure policy, but for now I will say that if I post about a product that I've received gratis (whether for review purposes, or as swag at an event) I will always say that I received it gratis. I never write a post for pay unless I clearly state that it's a sponsored post (which I've only done once) or is a post about one of my sponsors, all of whom are clearly showcased over there on the right. I've been asked to do it, and I never will. I'm a capitalist and a firm believer in making money, but I'm also a firm believer in honesty and openness and maintain those convictions here on ::Surroundings::.

So, take a listen to our podcast and let us know your thoughts!

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