red envelope's got its groove back...

my friend ali just posted this on her new blog about red envelope's new designs, i'm obsessed...

                  

amazing review...

by bosses personal house, on the westport river, which my company built (architect ruhl walker & interior designer diane cramphin of oblio design inc) was featured in the boston globe this past sunday and it got a glowing review...

WESTPORT — I thought it would be fun, with summer approaching, to do a piece on a simple vacation house. The idea is to remind us that good architecture comes in small family packages, not only in prominent buildings by big-name designers.

The house I’ve picked also makes the point that in architecture, no style ever really dies. Styles get put on the shelf for a while, but they are eventually revived by the architects of a later era.

In the case of this house, the style in question is modernism. Modernism has been around for nearly a century, so I think it’s fair by now to consider it just another historic way of building.

PETER VANDERWARKER

On the entry side, a window into the kitchen.

The house is sited on a wide tidal bay of the Westport River, near the point where Massachusetts and Rhode Island meet the Atlantic.

I guess if you had to find a label, it would be Retro Modern. It’s a deliberate throwback to the era — say the 1940s through the ’60s — when crisp, simple, flat-roofed houses were all the rage in the world of architecture. Such houses are now unfashionable in some quarters, and a lot of them are being torn down. The Westport house reminds us of how wonderful this kind of architecture can be.

The owners are Susan Schlesinger and her husband, Rick Guidelli, who live in Cambridge. The architect is Will Ruhl of Ruhl Walker Architects in Boston.

What’s striking about the house is the skill with which it’s fitted to its place in the world, to the land and the view. You don’t look at the house so much as you look through it, to the ever-changing scene of water, sky, and trees. In this work of art, the house is the frame, not the picture.

Like a lot of early modernist architecture, the Westport house is rich in nautical metaphors. Modernist architects loved the taut, stripped-down quality of the architecture of boats and docks. Using that imagery here, Ruhl fashions a deft choreography of approach and entry.

You start by parking your car at the back of the lot, at the farthest point from the river, which you can’t see. You cross a lawn and walk straight up a wood ramp to the house’s main level. The ramp feels like a dock from which your ship is about to depart.

When you enter the house, the full river view explodes in front of you through walls of glass, with some of the suddenness of a wide-screen movie. Standing there looking out, you are elevated just enough so that you don’t really notice the front lawn, which slopes below you down to the river. You see, instead, only sky and water, as if you were afloat in your very own yacht. “The house is like a boat up on piers,” says Ruhl.

You do see that lawn when you walk on down to the water and turn to look back at the house. Here there’s another nautical move, this one by the landscape architect, Doug Reed of the firm Reed Hilderbrand Associates. Reed shapes the lawn into green terraces that resemble rolling waves, over which the house seems to be riding.

The interiors are equally delightful and equally unpretentious. I’m being retro again, but the interior has the look of a showroom in Harvard Square’s famed Design Research store of the 1960s, a mix of white walls, bright color accents, simple Scandinavian-inspired furnishings, and a few found objects such as a hundred-year-old spruce dining table. Designer Diane Cramphin of the firm Oblio collaborated with the owners on interiors.

Schlesinger and Guidelli say they love to cook and entertain friends. There’s plenty of room in the house for a crowd, but it doesn’t feel empty without one. The living area is broken into three spaces. One is a roofless deck. Another is a roofed porch, with sliding glass walls that open up in good weather. And a third is a conventional living-dining room with a fireplace. They all open into one another: three spaces, three ways of experiencing the view and the weather.

Guidelli is a builder, and his firm, Gilman Guidelli & Bellow, served as contractor. “I’ve built colonial, whatever,” he says. “Modernism, when done well, is a beautiful form. As a builder, I like the challenge. It’s much harder to design and build, because you can’t hide anything.”

He says the house, which stands on the concrete foundation of a saltbox that previously occupied the site, would have cost about $1.7 million if he hadn’t built it himself.

Houses near saltwater tend to turn gray. Here that process is speeded by bleaching the ash wood floors, the walnut fireplace wall, and the exterior shingles and siding, which are Spanish cedar. Finished only a few months ago, the house is already beginning to look as if it’s weathered in.

I love the Westport house. That’s not to say, though, that I don’t also love the gnarled Victorians that dot the coast of New England, with their ditsy porches and towers, their sloping roofs and rough stone fireplaces. Good architects today are reviving those styles, too. Modernism certainly isn’t the only way to go.

There’s never only one true way to do architecture. The rule is simple: Whatever you do, do it well. The Westport house is done superbly.

Robert Campbell, the Globe’s architecture critic, can be reached at camglobe@ aol.com.

spring cleaning swap...

over the weekend i hosted a 'spring cleaning swap'. the idea was to bring anything you didn't wear, use, or want to swap with other gals. anything that wasn't taken is being donated to charity. in theory it was a great idea, but there was more gossiping, drinking & eating than swapping going on...which is what we expected anyway. really, it was just another excuse to hang out with a bunch of girls who's company i really enjoy...success!

my friend lindsey took this photos with her new iphone of the fruit kabobs i made for the occasion (the idea came from pinterest), isn't it pretty? i also made these brie & apple tarts, they were delicious, easy and a big hit.

this is a great list from the huffington post: 30 things every woman should have and should know...

By 30, you should have ...

1. One old boyfriend you can imagine going back to and one who reminds you of how far you’ve come.

2. A decent piece of furniture not previously owned by anyone else in your family.

3. Something perfect to wear if the employer or man of your dreams wants to see you in an hour.

4. A purse, a suitcase, and an umbrella you’re not ashamed to be seen carrying.

5. A youth you’re content to move beyond.

6. A past juicy enough that you’re looking forward to retelling it in your old age.

7. The realization that you are actually going to have an old age -- and some money set aside to help fund it.

8. An email address, a voice mailbox, and a bank account -- all of which nobody has access to but you.

9. A résumé that is not even the slightest bit padded.

10. One friend who always makes you laugh and one who lets you cry.

11. A set of screwdrivers, a cordless drill, and a black lace bra.

12. Something ridiculously expensive that you bought for yourself, just because you deserve it.

13. The belief that you deserve it.

14. A skin-care regimen, an exercise routine, and a plan for dealing with those few other facets of life that don’t get better after 30.

15. A solid start on a satisfying career, a satisfying relationship, and all those other facets of life that do get better.

By 30, you should know ...

1. How to fall in love without losing yourself.

2. How you feel about having kids.

3. How to quit a job, break up with a man, and confront a friend without ruining the friendship.

4. When to try harder and when to walk away.

5. How to kiss in a way that communicates perfectly what you would and wouldn’t like to happen next.

6. The names of the secretary of state, your great-grandmothers, and the best tailor in town.

7. How to live alone, even if you don’t like to.

8. Where to go -- be it your best friend’s kitchen table or a yoga mat -- when your soul needs soothing.

9. That you can’t change the length of your legs, the width of your hips, or the nature of your parents.

10. That your childhood may not have been perfect, but it’s over.

11. What you would and wouldn’t do for money or love.

12. That nobody gets away with smoking, drinking, doing drugs, or not flossing for very long.

13. Who you can trust, who you can’t, and why you shouldn’t take it personally.

14. Not to apologize for something that isn’t your fault.

15. Why they say life begins at 30

outside progress...

the house is finally painted. i'm not going to lie, the color didn't turn out exactly how i thought it would, but i like it (enough). it's MUCH better than the green and yellow it was before. i took a personal day today to get the rest of the plantings done around the house, it was looking a little bare and sad, and subsequently driving me crazy. i'm very happy how it's turning out, i especially love the front porch. my mom gave me two of her old rocking chairs they are no longer using, and once i paint the bar cart the porch will be fabulous. i've had several neighbors (and some strangers) stop over and tell me how nice the house looks...

  

hydrangeas, boxwoods, azaleas, hollys and some random thing in the corner adorn the front...peonies, day lilies, catmint and a lilac tree along the driveway....vegetables (tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers) to come soon...

the front porch is my favorite. the purple door, the new star, the large mailbox and the rocking chairs...

 

and hank, well, hank likes to sit on the back porch and observe...

DAR weekend...

       

over the weekend my mom, aunt & i went to a very special luncheon in honor of my great aunt, who is retiring from her position as the registrar. all four of us are members of DAR, daughters of the american revolution, the white plains, ny chapter. if you can believe it, we can trace 9 relatives who were patriots in the revolution on my maternal grandmothers side alone! i'm not entirely sure of this, but i think on my paternal grandfather i can even trace our family back to the reverend william brewster who came over on the mayflower...which means we could be members of the general society of mayflower descendants if we really want to get all crazy...

       

the luncheon was held at the whitby castle on the rye golf club premises...it was a spectacular view on a very gorgeous day...

    

get your mow on...

i knew when i bought a house i would have to buy all sorts of things/tools for up keep, including a lawn mower. but to be honest, i'm not really a lawn mowing type of girl. a friend & neighbor let me borrow his battery operated mower last week, he was appalled by my mowing skills, or lack thereof. but his mower was awesome, aka: super light for a girl with no upper body strength like myself....

problem is, his mower is too expensive for my budget. plus, right now i have a rinky-dink lawn, don't want to spend too much on anything fancy, but it would be so cool to have a riding mower someday. so instead, i'm going to invest in this bad boy. i especially like it because of its name, the lil' mo...

summer time diy...

i totally want to make this...

but i think i could figure out an easier way than she shows in her tutorial. for instance, job lot has standard size pillows for like $4, i'd rather use those than the stuffing. umm, and i think i would use some better looking fabric (no offense). wouldn't these be cute summer gifts?

beware...

kind of funny right? i sent this to the boyfriend the other day, he replied back 'shady graydy'...graydy is his cat, very fitting.

weekend antiquing...

on sunday a friend and i spent the morning exploring todd farm antique flea market. about a half hours drive from my house is the charming, historic new england town of rowley, which i'd never heard of until recently. but it was well worth the early morning wake up to pick over the goodies this flea market had to offer.

i scored some new 'shroom' salt & pepper shakers for my collection...

a couple of galvanized pales that i intend to use as containers for potted flowers. i fell in love with them because of their stickers, one says canandaigua, a near and dear to me place near where i went to college...

a nice little metal star decoration for the front of my house, it's the same purple-ish color the front door is going to be...

and this awesome metal bar cart for the front porch (which needs a good scrubs down and a fresh coat of spray paint in a different color- will do a whole post on that later)...

mom and i are heading to new york/ connecticut this weekend to visit some family and plan on hitting up elephant's trunk country flea market on sunday too, i'll let you know what we find!

a 30-year-old woman's dilemma...

a friend recently posted this article about the book the impatient woman's guide to getting pregnant on her facebook page. it's the age old question, the hot topic among most of my 30-something friends (most of whom are not married, nor becoming pregnant any time soon).

"I’ve spent the last decade or so trying not to get pregnant. Thanks to the simple and effective methods offered by modern medicine (and the feminist movement), it hasn’t been hard. For women in my millennial-ish age group, too-early pregnancy has been the freedom-choking bogeyman that kept you from getting to do all the things women are ready and able to do now—college, jobs, geographic relocation, delaying marriage, the list goes on. Unfortunately, all this nonpregnancy has a side effect. Women today are surpassing men in higher education, and may soon become America’s predominant breadwinners. There’s no doubt that when it comes to goal-oriented achievement, we’re kicking ass. Until, that is, the time comes (and it comes in our 30s, whether we like it or not) to perform the most elemental task that women can and have been doing for millennia—get knocked up."

sometimes i think i'm crazy for thinking about this so much, but i'm not, i know i'm not. there's nothing wrong with being 32-years-old, having a stable career, owning my own home, wanting to move forward with my life, with my significant other, and WANTING to start a family. impatient? yes, definitely. i put off having a baby so furiously to gain success in those things i do have in my life now, things which i'm proud of. but now i look at my life and i feel like a huge 'something' is missing...it's a hard feeling to shake, especially when there's no certainty of when or if it will happen.

quotable...

via la la lovely

embarrassed to admit...

i am mildly embarrassed to admit that i sometimes read barstool sports boston. often the posts are downright offensive, yet some of the things they posts i find amusing, plus, it gives me something to talk about with 'the guys', so i'm hooked. like this post about the pacman sound...stupid, yet entertaining...

weekending...

saw this truck at the todd's farm antique flea market this past sunday with a friend, i couldn't resist taking a picture, gotta love the name...

details on my weekend and flea market purchases to come!

did i mention i'm obsessed?

i wish there were like 10 more books in the fifty shades of grey series...i'm going through christian grey withdrawal...so much so that i think i might have to re-read them. they have seriously stunted me from reading another book...

co-workers...

did you know i get to work with my best little darlings every day? how lucky am i???

virtual shopping fight...

i for real want to kill the 'other member' who has this damn zinc balcony planter in her cart, buy it or don't, but stop 'holding it' so i can buy it already! this is what i hate about one kings lane...the one thing i want and can afford (at $12), some skank has held up in her virtual shopping cart!!!

stair envy...

i'm sorry, i don't know the source for this awesome stair idea, but i am drooling over it. with a nice little flush ring pull, this is a great idea for extra storage!

i am in love with a fictitious book character...

so basically fifty shades of grey is a straight up porn, in which i read all three books of the trilogy in 72 hours. for real, my friend (who will remain anonymous, wink, wink) told me to keep a vibrator on stand-by while reading this book (which is for our april book group btw).the writing was amateur to say the least, and after the first book i got a little bored of the repetitive sex scenes and hearing about this chicks 'inner goddess'...but the character of christian grey had me falling all over myself. like no joke, i have mental issues, i am madly in love with this ficticious character...

rumor on the street is that they want to make a movie out of the series, apparently universal pictures acquired the rights...which again, will be rated XXX if they include all the sex. but i can't help wondering you will play christian grey. i mean, seriously, i could care less about anastasia steele...but christian, poor-beautiful-50-shades-of-fucked-up-who-i-am-madly-in-love-with-like-a-crazy-person...they have to nail his character because so many woman already have their perfect image of this man in their head.

here are my top 3 candidates for christian grey on the big screen...

matt bomer

colin egglesfield

chris hemsworth

who gets your vote? and just out of curiosity who would you have play anastasia (please do not say natalie portman, she skeeves me)

summer swagger...

i am so ready for the weather to turn so i can wear this outfit...

via the glitter guide