Photo of the Week #0096

Vivian Maier, a full time nanny living in Chicago in the 60s, captured over 100,000 portraits of street life with her Rolleiflex. It was her secret hobby that no on knew about until after her death just a few years ago. Her work was only discovered after a real estate agent bought her storage trunk of negatives at auction for a $380. Her work is AMAZING. Her selfies are worth the site visit alone. I could have picked all of her images for Photo of the Week but I'll leave you with just 5 of my favorites:

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State of the State of Chaos

Answers to the previous post:

Ugh. I'm currently "working it out" with the contractor.

Remember how I mentioned the lavatory as one of my 875,293 projects? Feast your eyes on this mess:

I can' t recall if the terrible green picked by my husband came first or if it was the birch. I hand painted the trees when the birch wallpaper was all the rage. I'm over it 2 years ago. I do, however, still love my $30 Menard's knock-off of the Tom Dixon light. Love. Not moving. P.J. says he hates it but he gently dusted it off the other day on his own merit. I think he secretly likes it.

The floors are 3/4" wood with nailhead details. I have a four year old boy that uses this toilet. You can put two and two together. It's gotta go. You can see that we started taking off the base board already.

My mug shots! I still love these and they will stay in the next rendition. Food for thought when guests are on the toilet. I have more that need to go up but right now my favorite is Frank Sinatra. He was arrested in 1938 for carrying on with a married woman. I'm sure that man had STOR-ies. I painted the wall black because I had to reduce the awful green. I let the man go rogue and look what happens. Please note this room canNOT be applied to my design style as I hate it as much as the next person. It's merely in limbo.

So as you may have guessed the "broken house" is still in the same place but will be the new vanity in here. I'm going gold handles and fixtures. Holla!

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State of the State of Chaos

So the dining room looks like this:

Ceiling is smooth and dark in a semi-gloss paint. Yes I did say semi-gloss. Since the color was dark I wanted that good window light to bounce around. Now is that the best idea for say, an older home with old ceilings? Probably not as there are likely flaws in old ceilings and semi-gloss only highlights those. Now my ceiling was brand big box store drywall new. It took about 5 rounds of spackle/smooth/spackle/smooth but it's next to perfect now. While I am pretty freekin' good with a spackle knife I wish I could say it was done easily and right away but I always find a way to make my life more difficult in the name of design. Whatever. It's done. The room is a work in progress just like the rest of them. Not sure I'm feeling the frames hung the way they are. 

Moving on. Marble is on the fireplace. Now reread that sentence like your parents bought you a car when you were 16 BUT it's a station wagon with faux wood paneling on the side because 

it ain't right.

Can you see the issues?

I'll post them tomorrow and in case you were wondering the "broken house" hasn't moved. 

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Photo of the Week #0095

Has it really been a month since my last post?!? Whoops! I should change the title of the post. Anyway check this one out:

By Jake Oson. Gorg.

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My Guy

So my oldest turned four this month. 

I thought I would share since I can still say "this month" for another couple hours.

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Another Pretty Book

This is a post for those that are interested in GOOD books that also look nice on a coffee table or book shelf. This is the second addition (here is the first). Today's book is a staple and if you don't already have it you should get it now here:

Domino: The Book of Decorating: A Room-by-Room Guide to Creating a Home That Makes You Happy

It has great decorating tips and the cover and spine are this pretty light aqua color with a dash of bird and flowers. 

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Photo of the Week #0094

 

LUCIANO PERGREFFI

Photographer

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Detroit C-list

Time for more Craigslist fun in the D!

$90 will get you this uniquely cool cart. Cart bars are all the rage these days and if you like to upcycle this one is for you! Or it could be a plant stand, console table, or cat bed. You decide.

Also trending in the design world are dead animal parts. One antler could be great on a coffee table or collect a lot of them and you could make a chandelier.  The traditional wall mount is acceptable as well. They want $185 for these bad boys.

I love the look of antique fans. This one  is fiddy.

Letters, of course, are neat-o keen. $15 each is a great deal for these.

Then for the prop junkies there is this really great old tricycle for $250. Not cheap but this could easily sell for more.

Don't live in the D? I can scour your local Craigslist for you just tell me where :)

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State of the State of Chaos

This is pretty close to the finished project folks. Just pretend the baseboard is installed next to the door and that the outlet plate is attached without the tile blocking the screw holes. Just ignore that last part. I'll take some prettier photos soon but this is pretty much crossed off my list.

This is the before if you need a reminder - we flipped it from the living room to open to the hall in order to get a sectional against the now closed off wall.

Dining room update is that I have a ceiling once again. Even better is the fact that my dad likes to spackle. I have some smoothing to do then I get to paint the ceiling and fill in the holes in the old crown molding that was put back. Super. Hashtag myfave and soreneck.

Family room is still in this condition

My son hasn't moved (nor has the "broken house")

Picking up the tile for the first floor lav tomorrow. I foresee joy in racing a four year old up carpeted stairs after last second announcements like "I just have to go to the bathroom".

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Photo of the Week #0093

Photography by Danny Glinch

 

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