Architectural matearials

Charming Architectural Birdhouses

Written on January 6, 2012 at 2:41 pm
By Rebecca Christian

Do you remember a They Might Be Giants song, “Make a Little Birdhouse in Your Soul”? (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NAbZzdalZh4)

I’ve had that song in my head ever since seeing architectural birdhouses by Home Bazaar. These little beauties are rendered either in an architectural style—like a salt box cottage, a pagoda, an arts and crafts bungalow, and oodles of others—or are inspired by real buildings, like the garden pavilion at Monticello or the Hotel Del Coronado. (‘m especially smitten with the Arts and Crafts bungalow, because it looks a lot like my house.) Some people display them inside or on covered porches, protesting that they’re too pretty to use outside — but they are created for outdoor use.

 

Gramercy Park Birdhouse

 

The birdhouses and birdfeeders are made out of materials like ply-board, kiln-dried hardwood, and poly-resin for the fine details, using non-toxic, water-based outdoor paint with pine or western red cedar shingles for the roof.  Strict birding enthusiast guidelines are used so that birds can nest, multiply and return: the back comes off so the interior can be easily cleaned.

 

San Francisco Rowhouse Birdhouse

 The reason they are made of hardwood is that this makes them cooler inside for the birds, as opposed to birdhouses made of synthetic materials. The also have ventilation and drainage, and can be mounted on a garden pedestal, like a cottage design mounted on a pedestal with Victorian scrollwork.

Because they are made of mostly natural materials, they become weathered. David Silverman, founder of the company, says, “That’s part of the beauty of them. When they start to get old, they  age naturally, and birds can live in them for many years.”

Hobbit House

 

Prices range from $25 to upwards of $300. For more information: http://www.hbbirdhouse.com/default.htm

Modern Shape, Vintage Images — Intriguing Handmade Lamps at a Reasonable Price

Written on November 3, 2011 at 12:03 pm
By Rebecca Christian

If, like me, you are drawn to flea markets where you can find nostalgic oddments such as old coins, old stamps, vintage card games, and handwritten recipes, I think you will like Monica Burke’s Table Lamps as much as I do. Working at a vintage lighting studio inspired Monica to rewire old lamps and remake them using found objects and nostalgic images from old postcards and maps. Sometimes she uses her own original photography. In her recent work, a contemporary cylindrical shape gives the lamps a modern edge.

Czech Rhino Stamp Lamp by Monica Burke

The lamps are handmade of sturdy cotton with archival grade ink. I first saw Monica’s work when my daughter — who loves handmade things and likes to support emerging artists and craftswomen — gave one of her lamps as a wedding gift. The “Appearing Quote Typewriter” Lamp looks like an old typewriter with a fresh sheet of paper in it when unlit. When turned on, a quote appears — and you can pick the quote. She’ll customize it.

Monica Burke’s Appearing Quote Typewriter Lamp

The lamps are $48 at The Daily Grommet (http://bit.ly/vGUc0Q), and you can also find her work at etsy.com.

Decorator Maverick Billy Haines at Christie’s

Written on July 15, 2011 at 2:16 pm
By Doris Athineos

Back when interior design was just emerging as a serious, wide-spread profession in the United States, some of the top decorators in the country were creating furnishings that have stood the test of time. Think low-slung slipper chairs by movie-star-turned decorator Billy Haines (1900-1973).  Traditional Home writer Ted Loos calls these first-wave  designers “decorator mavericks” and describes the style as both neo and classical in the upcoming October issue of Traditional Home.

Now Christie’s auction house in Manhattan is offering vintage furnishings by Haines custom designed for the late Los-Angeles-based art collector Mrs. Sidney Brody.  The auction begins at Christie’s Rockefeller Center galleries this Tuesday afternoon, July 19, at 2:00 pm.  Here’s our wish list:

For close-up views of all the vintage Haines, flip through Christie’s online catalog, but don’t miss the live auction Tuesday, July 19, at 2:00 pm eastern time. Read Wisecracker: The Life and Times of William Haines by William J. Mann (Penguin) to learn more about the Virginia-born designer who was the country’s biggest movie star by 1930.  For reissues of theclassical Haines tufted sofa, tap into williamhaines.com. And don’t miss the upcoming Decorator Mavericks story in Traditional Home which features Haines, Tony Duquette, Milwaukee-born Frances Elkins (1888-1953), Robsjohn-Gibbings, and Mississippi-born Samuel Marx (1884-1964).

A paint chip by any other name would look as good

Written on July 5, 2011 at 3:07 pm
By Rebecca Christian

Not since Juliet has the psychology behind naming been questioned as intriguingly as in a recent piece about the small, and sometimes odd, little world of naming paint colors http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/30/us/30paint.html. The article has a nifty interactive multiple choice quiz where you are shown a color and guess its name.

Who woulda thunk that Weekend in the Country would be brown, Hey There would be yellow, Dead Salmon would be taupe and Arsenic would be green?

Farrow & Ball’s Arsenic

The fact that some of the names don’t sound all that attractive doesn’t matter, marketers say, as long as they capture people’s imaginations. I suppose the same could be said for book and movie titles, like Steve Martin’s Cruel Shoes and the kid movie Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs. Dorothy Parker, who got sick of reading about heroines with russet curls or ebony manes, used to refer to her hair as hair-colored hair.

I once bought moody blue-gray carpet that really didn’t work very well in my house and stained like a son of a gun because of its beautifully melancholic name, “October Storm.” Last year, when I had the exterior of my twenties-era Arts and Crafts house repainted, I chose from Valspar’s historically accurate Craftsman palette, with much better results.

Valspar Craftsman Colors

(alas, not my house)

Like many women, I’m a sucker for nail polish and lipstick with pretty names. Even though it’s a little dark for me, especially in warm weather, I can’t resist the Revlon lipstick  “Cherries in the Snow.” There’s a dessert by the same name. I wonder which came first.

Today’s cosmetic colors are whimsical and sometimes a little weird. Essie Nail Colors has Starter Wife (pastel pink) Jamaica Me Crazy (spirited magenta), Pillow Talk (nude), Tart Deco (Coral), Damsel in a Dress (deep purple) and Trophy Wife (teal). A comic blog, Shoebox, suggests lipstick names Stubborn Bloodstain, There’s Something on Your Lip, and my fave, Old-Lady-Scalp Pink.

Essie’s Starter Wife Nail Color

For the Goth girl, Urban Decay has a line of lip products with downright scary names: Envious, Greedy, Trainwreck, Buzzkill, and Paranoid. I guess wearing Trainwreck is no worse painting your house Tornado. If you’re going to tempt fate that way, better keep a bottle of polish and a fistful of paint decks handy in the southwest corner of the basement so you have something to do while waiting out the storm.

Lunch-hour epiphany: Lighting with a (re)purpose

Written on November 16, 2010 at 2:49 pm
By Candace Ord Manroe

I love to make a quick run at a store or two over my lunch hour every so often. Here’s what I found at lunch today at Found Things, an antiques shop of shabby-to-primitive mainly American pieces in Des Moines’s “East Village.” Rusty industrial whisks, outfitted with wiring and a light bulb, become sculptural overhead lighting fixtures. The strong geometric oval shape has a contemporary whiff; the beat-up metal exudes texture (literally); and the repurposing of an old object to a new function instead of the junkheap—well, how green can you get?

[caption id="attachment_1746" align="alignnone" width="324" caption="One last fave find is this pair of c.-1910 faux marble frames, priced at $42 each. They remind me of the marbleized end papers in old books more than they do faux marble architecture...and I'm a sucker for anything book-related. Hmmm. Wonder how a couple of miniature books would look in these two?"][/caption]

Copper: All that Glitters Isn’t Gold

Written on April 28, 2010 at 8:16 am
By Candace Ord Manroe

Copper is one of those good things I only came around to later in life. As a kid, it was my favorite crayon in the jumbo box (so sparkly!), but the metal itself was something better left on the wrists of arthritic grandmas. Even as a young home design editor, I didn’t quite get it as a decorative element outside the context of an Arts and Crafts house. But after neighbors installed copper gutters, I had to do the same. What previously had been bland conduits for channeling water away from the house suddenly weren’t so boring. They were jewelry. New, they glinted in the sunlight, but without any brashness, as though rose petals had softened their complexion. Then they weathered to that subtle verdigris patina that suggests the character of a house well-lived. I was smitten. A recent project of Des Moines interior designer Kabira Cadogan (www.iN2iTDesignStudio.com) reminded me that copper’s possibilities as a pick-me-up for the home aren’t limited to exteriors. In her vibrant design of a new house for a young family in an historic neighborhood, she turned to copper as an accent material and instant gratification for warmth, color, and character.

The designer’s use of copper becomes a transitional tool, weaving the rooms together. She decorated the dining room with a copper chandelier, then repeated copper in the kitchen.