Restoration Hardware Fall 2011 Source Book

Kyle brought in the mail yesterday and he set a big book down on the dining room table. I wondered- did my book club order arrive from Amazon already? Speedy service, I just placed it yesterday. No. It was the Restoration Hardware Fall 2011 Source Book. I can’t say that I’ve ever seen anything quite like it as far as a store catalog goes. It’s 615 pages. I’m not kidding. It’s heavy. I weighed it.

Picking Paint Colors

I’m willing to admit, I’ve had enough of winter. I’m ready to go for a morning run without worrying that I’ll slip on ice and break my bum. I’m itching to go to the Hartford farmer’s market to get some new annuals and perennials and dig in the dirt. Oh, and it would be nice to be able to have houses photographed without giant snow mounds in front. One of the things I’ve noticed recently

Weekend Plans: Jan 29th 2011

My weekend plan is to shovel snow. Even if it isn’t actively precipitating, there’s still snow to move. This week it was slushy stuff the plow deposited at the bottom of the driveway when they came through the neighborhood on a second pass a few days after the most recent storm. And I guess I should have done a better job tunneling through the giant snow banks at the intersection since a good samaritan took

Architectural Digest and Me

Yesterday I received my first issue of Architectural Digest. Rob Lowe was peeking out over the other (junk) mail, inviting me into his newly designed home. And the cover noted that we would also be visiting a host of other well-known celebrities. Exciting! I had flipped through issues at the library before, but never truly read the magazine … what would I find inside? Before even reaching the table of contents, it was already clear

Creative Use of Small Space in Hong Kong

We see real estate stories about the smallest apartment, house, or whatever all the time. This one caught my eye because it shows an inspired use of a small space. Gary Chang, a Hong Kong designer, transformed his 360 sqft apartment into an incredibly functional space using rolling walls that appear to be inspired by the moveable stacks often seen at town records departments, and sometimes in libraries. It looks like he put everything that