A Klimt Inspired Quilt

The thing about designing and making quilts, is that you can start with a tiny square swatch of a material, add more squares, rectangles, and triangles with no pattern at all. I started my Mom's mother-day quilt with a Klimt painting in mind, the Kiss:

Keeping in mind my Mom's color palette of creams, tans, and burgundies, I did mix in other colors to give the quilt a richer range of tones, including black, brown, and an unexpected light blue. The tiny squares in the Klimt painting brought inspiration to my quilt design. It grew organically over a few months. 

Charlie likes to sit on the quilts I make, even when I ask him not to.

The image above is the quilt before adding the border and quilted back.

The image above is the quilt added to my parents newly renovated bedroom.  They did a great job renovating (dad) and decorating (mom)! 

The Winner: It had me at HELLO!

OK Keys are in my purse....that's enough reason to believe this apartment and I were meant to be! Last night, I picked up the spare set of keys to my soon-to-be 5th East Village apartment. It was just as I remembered it when I laid eyes on it for the first time. It's your typical walk-up pre-war building. Marble staircase, exposed brick, NO Amenities....but that doesn't matter, because this apartment is spacious, plenty windows, and most of all it reminds me of the shot gun houses in New Orleans. It's a "railroad apartment" which is a term used to describe the layout of the space; it mimics that of a railroad car and is similar to a shotgun layout. There are no halls; one room opens to another then to another, and so on, with all entries in line, so that if a gun were to be shot, it would hit every room in the house. OK this is what I was told back when I was a kid. I am sure there are many different explanations flying around. 


What sold me:
1. The walk-in-closet/office in the back over looking the rear yard with plenty of trees. 
2. The picture moulding on the walls of the living room and bedroom.
3. The street: near Thompson Square Park with plenty of restaurants, bars, & boutiques.
4. The rent....It's affordable! I know~still hard to believe I won't be breaking the bank!


SHOT GUN HOMES IN NEW ORLEANS

New Orleans was built as a city that was interdependent of its crop-growing communities. Narrow lots were cut to expose river front properties, forcing the idea of shot-gun homes, forcing intimacy of neighbors with porches nearly touching. Generation after generation, New Orleanians pride ourselves on being an intimate community sharing common values.


RAILROAD HOMES IN NEW YORK

New York's pre-war residential buildings are different from it's familiar friend, the brownstone. Brownstones were built for single families or two families, at most.  Park Slope, Brooklyn is a great place to see beautiful brownstone buildings. 


The villages of Manhattan: West Village, Greenwich Village, & East Village illustrate pre-war tenement buildings, where 12 families or 20 families or more live. These buildings stretch from property line to property line, utilizing the entire lot. The grid system was implemented in New York City cutting very narrow lots, typically 25' wide & 100' long.  Windows are usually on the front and rear facades however many of these buildings have light-wells as shown below.

The light-wells are an efficient way to get light and air to the center of the long buildings. If you are interested in learning more about the tenement buildings of the east village & lower east side, visit the Tenement Museum on Orchard.

New York Apartment Search

If you live in Manhattan, chances are that you have been on a dreadful apartment search whereby everything you hope to find leaves you disappointed...wishing you could just move somewhere easy. On my recent search for a one-bedroom in Manhattan, I viewed about 12 apartment in both villages, east & west, Soho and Chelsea. I figured I'd blog about it. Why?....because there are some people in this country that have no idea the compromises we, NYers make, to live in this city! They scratch their heads and think "my God...is this city worth living in a walk-in closet?" But it's a great city...so we make the compromises happily.


The following 5 apartments represent my top five choices. I drew these up quickly after viewing to see how much space I would have for my things. I also wanted to see what the dollar per square foot was for each space. (Equation: Monthly rent X 12mo./ sq.ft=dollar per sq.ft. used to find market rate)


4th Runner-up: East 12th street

This east village gem boasting 338 square foot layout featured two rooms approximately 7' x8'. Just big enough for me to fit one or two pieces of furniture per room. The viewing also came with an interior design consultation with the broker, who continued to give me her opinions of how to lay the space out, even after telling her that I am an architect. This apartment was way over market rate for the east village at $86/sq.ft. 

I know you are dying to see more....

3rd runner-up: Mott Street

This apartment was in a great location, Nolita. Nolita stands for "North of Little Italy".  It's $83/sq.ft.  As you can see, another compromising layout, but I love Nolita, so it was in the running. 

2nd Runner-up: Chelsea

This Chelsea space was not so bad. It could totally work. It was listed for $69/sq.ft. Much better than the two former spaces. It was an elevator building with laundry on site. These luxuries are hard to pass up sometimes. It also had an incredible view. The kitchen could use some updating. One of my biggest complaints working in this industry and seeing these places...is when you see an apartment around 400 sq ft or less and you see large 30" wide appliances and no counter space. Typically only one or two people live in these 400 sq ft apartments....WE DON'T NEED EXTRA LARGE APPLIANCES! Stop wasting space! OK there I got it out. I feel much better. 

First Runner-Up: Sullivan Street

I loved this apartment and may have applied for it IF I DIDN'T have to show one year's rent in liquid assets! yes! kinda ridiculous, if you ask me! Hey, have you heard of a thing called the "Recession"apparently the management company has NOT. The rent is $68/sq ft- for a SOHO apartment- its actually on target. 

Winner....I can't show you until I have the Keys in hand! I can't jinx it! 

LOGO Design: Gorilla Contracting

I was asked to design a logo this past week illustrating a cartoon gorilla with a big smile and large muscles. After studying gorilla illustrations during a lunch break, I whipped up this guy. I think he is cute. After a couple of revisions, his muscles kept growing and growing. My client was pleased since this gorilla was representing her husband after-all! Who knows I may see my gorilla on a business card down the road. I'd hire him!

Mood board~Living & Dining

I put together a mood board of, what I am imaging in my head, what I would like my next apartment to look like. I am calling it a mood board because this image expresses what values of space inspires me. Seen below, I am using a palette of browns, warm grays, creamy whites, denim blues and pops of lemon yellow for accent. Several different images and modern pieces inspired this collage. I have always been interested in warm colors with high contrasting values. I plan to cover my cream couch with a denim blue cover for the pillow and a warm gray for the cushion, back and legs. I love the Corbu Chaise in cow hide (its the southern girl in me) oh and my dog, Charlie, has spots like a cow. I also wanted to place another modern piece in this living area, so I added the Noguchi coffee table. Charlie makes an appearance  in my Warhol inspired photoshopped image behind the couch. I like art, but I love art that I identify with, so I create images using the people and things in my life.  I know what you are thinking "are you really going to hang a photoshopped Warhol on your wall?" hmmm...maybe...maybe not!


The image to the right is from Flavor Paper, one of my favorite wallpaper companies. They have locations in both New Orleans and Brooklyn. This image is called Nouveau riche licorice. Love it. It reminds me of New Orleans.  The image to the far left is an interior sheet of a passport scanned and unsaturated. I would like to express my love for travel somehow. Perhaps this could be enlarged and framed or turned into a matte for framing. 

The photo studio lamp is from Crate & Barrel. The chandelier is from Remains lighting. I just discovered Remains here in NYC, while looking for a salvaged 19th century pendant for the Landmark building I am currently working on.

In the Kitchen, I love mixing stools and chairs. The Phillippe Starck stool and the Marais stool can both be found at Design Within Reach.  Whenever I am designing a hospitality space, I use many of the DWR pieces to fill the space. The black & white china is Kate Spade. I am not a fan of fancy china, but I love this modern simple set. I threw the wood bowl in to create contrast between the textures in china and wood.