Eastern Exposure

Sometimes you want to hide all your dishes away in a cabinet where no one will see them. And sometimes you have an architect who loves the idea of a modern, european feel in the kitchen. And because I trust my architect I have these great, chunky, open shelves that run the length of the kitchen wall from just north of the sink down south to the edge of the refrigerator. 

If you've looked at this blog before you might have already noticed them, empty and waiting to bear their heavy load.

And now they hold my collection of super colorful new and vintage dishes

and glasses and various coffee making appliances. 

The rest of the kitchen stuff is mostly under the island,

                          

and there's a nice sized food pantry next to the fridge. 

There are some cabinets under the sink side too, along with a couple appliances and a spot for the trash can (très glam). What do you think of the mix of stainless and wood cabinets? I like it. The drawer pulls work well on both the stainless and the wood and they both look really good with the countertop stone. That was another smart kitchen idea from my architect. He liked the idea of the island looking like its own piece of furniture that just happened to be in the kitchen - rather than matchy matchy cabinets. I think it looks great. Thanks Bill.

Oh poo

Come on in and see the cutest little washroom in the world. You may have already read about my curtains on the blogosphere. And by that I mean my last post. They're red and made out of material. Read all about them here (really? you need to be linked to that? just scroll down. use your finger.)

Interesting note about the picture above. It was taken at 4:14.

I have two bats. One for me and one for you. Come on over.  

     I'm still loving the upstairs bath. The skylight keeps it light and bright and all that white marble and tile are looking sharp, clean and classic. It's pretty great.So those are the bathrooms. One more fun fact, they're pretty soundproof. So if you want to record an album I've got the perfect place for you. 

It's Curtains For Me

Well, things have been busy here at Huron.  After unpacking and unpacking and unpacking ad nauseam it's starting to feel like home. A home that looks directly into the homes next door. So in addition to unpacking I've also been doing a little sewing.

The kitchen got a straightforward white cotton. I bought this fabric a long time ago and made some pillow cases out of part of it. This remnant hung around all these years just waiting for its big moment to shine. I like it, it feels fresh and old fashioned at the same time.  Plus, after all these years I don't remember the moment of buying it so due to a faulty memory its pretty much like it was free.

This little number is working class red pinstripe ticking. So cute.

It was supposed to go in the kitchen but things didn't go as planned. I forgot about the old adage measure twice cut once. Oops. But if you remember the stuff I just wrote under the picture of the kitchen curtains you'll know that I like the white cotton fabric that ended up there. And this ticking looks super snappy in the little half bath. I think another good option in here would have been black and white toile,

like this. The walls in there are Anchor Gray and the toile would have looked great against that battleship color. But like I keep saying, I cut the red and white stripe wrong. And it fit perfectly in the window so there it stays.

Now I don't expect people to like these checks in the master bedroom. But just like Madonna back in the late 80's, I'm very provocative. I can't help it. These curtains are the fabric equivalent of "Papa Don't Preach." So I'll tell you now,

if you don't like them it's because you don't understand them.

Someone is about to lie to you

I'm completely unpacked and everything has been put away. The move is done! 

No, not really. That's a lie. There are still plenty of boxes laying around and loads of stuff that needs to find a place to live. But it's better than the picture above from a week and a half ago.

So even though the place is still an absolute mess there are a couple new pieces being added. I went to West Elm last night and ordered

a couple of these chairs (on the left, not the stool) for seating at the island,

bought this rug, which is too small for the dining room area where I intended to put it but feels great on the tootsies so I'm keeping it, and a box and candle just for fun.

Still on the hunt for a rug for the dining room, soon I'll figure out that I need some other things that aren't on the radar right now, and someday I'll start thinking about the yard. I did buy something fun for the front door but that's also on order and won't ship for another month or two. I'm thinking it'll take about 8 more weeks before it starts feeling like home.

Move It

The big move happened on Monday and the remnants at the old place were loaded up and moved on Tuesday so I'm officially in at Huron.

Right now I'm living in the midst of packing boxes and trying to find the essentials. My winter coat (still very necessary here), printer, books and drinking glasses are all mia. No alarm clock or table lamps. It's a little unsettling, I like when my stuff is where it belongs.

Most of the contractor's work is done, just a few minor fixes left. And then it'll be onto the furnishings and figuring out the yard.

Up and Out and Wash and Dry

Room and board sent out an email today offering modern outdoor furniture with a fresh perspective (their words). 

I thought, hey, that'd be nice at Huron. 

The sofa and table could go down here

and the chairs up here. Too bad this house has completely drained my bank account. Although it could be too much of a cedar planking look to incorporate it in the furniture too. 

I have friends who used to live in Minneapolis and they got some great deals at the Room and Board outlet store up there. Their advice was to go early and go often. It's a shame it's so far away. 

For my non-midwestern friends and family, Chicago and Minneapolis are in different states. They're separated by a high mountain range and a deep deep river gorge.  Impassible.

One thing I did buy (two things, I guess) was a washer and dryer. They will be delivered tomorrow and live up here in the closet in the guest bedroom. I'm going to take over a couple bags of laundry, sit on the front steps and wait for the delivery truck to show up. Just like a kid waiting for the circus to come to town - circuses are bad and mistreat animals.

It might be a while before there's any furniture in this room.  I'm not too sure what will really fit. My plan is to use it as an office and guest bedroom. So maybe a daybed and a desk. 

                                              

I bought this table thinking I'd use it as a dining table but it's too large to fit downstairs. So that may end up here. At this point it's a big question mark.

I kind of like the emptiness, apart from the floors it's so clean.

The bedroom's easier to furnish, I already have a bed and dresser.  

I just need to buy two night stands. A couple desk lamps. Rug. Curtains. Something to go on the walls, etc., etc., etc.

Super Stair

From this angle those two large light fixtures look like disembodied cartoon eyeballs. The house is always watching you.

But really the point of this picture is to say look at those stairs.  The thinking behind the design was to keep them open and airy so the house wouldn't get bogged down with a big heavy staircase that sits right in the middle of everything.  

The spindles and handrails were kept thin and the treads kept open so the whole thing could float against the wall and not take up too much visual space.  

There's a nice amount of depth on each tread so the stairs can be tackled at a comfortable gait; no need to carefully shuffle up and down terrified you'll topple over and break your neck. Two skylights over the stairs let light pour in during the day and when the sun goes down, thanks to the 4 light fixtures required by Chicago's building code, it's still very well lit. All in all a perfectly beautiful design and execution.

Kitsch

The kitchen is looking a-okay. Having open shelves along the wall means I should probably buy an eclectic collection of cream colored pottery to put out on display. The pressure's on.

If I had any doubts about the counters (and I did) they are now all laid to rest.  I think they look great.  Super glossy, lots of depth and surprising variations in color depending on the light.  

Every so often they have a prehistoric looking detail that adds a ton of character and the super simple edges help soften them up.  

                 

They were worth all the effort it took to get them.     

The color works with the dark brown cabinets on the island

and with the stainless cabinets that run along the wall.

I'm super happy with the counters and with the kitchen overall.  And if I were pandering for comments I'd ask if you like them too.

Library / Den / Front Room

This room is missing a couple things. A good, pithy, descriptive name for starters. 

 

According to one friend I need to get...

a Roomba vacuum. Asap.  Come on. The floors are covered in construction dirt. Not my fault.

I bought these chairs a while ago and just need to schedule the delivery.  I think they'll work in there.

It needs a rug of some sort to warm things up

and curtains to keep out the looky loos.

And finally books books books.  Which will just be props to make me look like a smarty.