shelterblog

Rope.

Earlier this spring, Jack and I had the pleasure of staying at the Commodore Hotel in Astoria, Oregon.

 

(top photo by me, bottom from their site)

We liked the use of rope in their streamlined nautical decor.

Some other clever uses:

Rope mirror and door stop from Haus Interiors (love the navy in particular).

Hanging rope light at Wisteria. You could adapt this look with your own jute rope and barn light.

 

Rope banisters from UK company Stair Ropes (via Remodelista).

Coiled rope deck mat. And Martha shows you how to make your own. I'm going to give this a try.

cage lights

Not a great photo, but here's our cage fixture in the pantry. We paired our salvage find with a porcelain mount and black cloth cord from Rejuvenation.

We considered the Wiley fixture with its cool wood handle also from Rejuvenation. (Or buy the shade alone).

Rejuvenation also offers old stock cages with new porcelain fittings with cloth cords.

Anthropologie also offers a range of cage fixtures.

Not hard to find a cage shade on eBay to pair with your own pendant.

An assortment of cage fixtures at the super-charming Moomah in NYC (via Design Sponge)

In the pantry

When we first bought our house, the only way to get to the kitchen from the dining area (where all the eating happens) was through a swinging door and into a small butler's pantry (you can see the original floor plan here).  I remember being really charmed by it when we first looked at the house. There was a window in there (the original back of the house, most likely) and old cabinetry. It quickly lost it's charm when I had to leave two toddlers unattended and out of view in the dining room every time I went to the kitchen (and carry our food through a maze of doors). I told Jack that we either needed to get an actual butler or make some changes.

Our first major renovation was to close off the door to the pantry and create a large opening between the kitchen and dining which improved our quality of life at home tremendously. With the latest kitchen renovation, we kept the pantry, but have altered it slightly (we did keep the window). The caged light fixture hangs in there. It houses a small bit of cabinetry and will eventually have shelving, but we've been a bit stymied as how to best use the space, so I've been revisiting some of my pantry inspiration:

 

Shallow shelves are a great way to use only minimal space and keep things from getting too cluttered. (Country Living).

 

I love the super-tall shelving and open storage for linens. (House Beautiful)

 
My flickr-friend Amy's homey pantry (she has a window too!). (Farminmama).

I refer to this as The Mother of All Pantries (from Emersonmade's home tour on Design Sponge).

Collected

This is Jack's plumb-bob collection. I've been trying to think of a clever way to display them in our office, ideas?

Read all about my sister Lisa's talent for curating and displaying her collections in this past weekend's San Francisco Chronicle (don't miss the slide show). You can view her extensive collections (real and imagined) at her Collection a Day blog.

a new bathroom for liam

There's a great giveaway going on to raise funds to create an accessible bathroom for 6-year-old Liam pictured above. You can read all about it here. Act fast, it ends in just a few days!

(You might even win one of my handmade pine cones).

ps: I know! Where have we been? Really busy. We're back with lots to share! Stay tuned.

Our countertop

We considered a few different options for our countertops—marble, black granite, and various recycled compounds, but, ultimately, we settled on wood. They were an economical choice, and we thought they'd bring a warmth to all the white surfaces. We chose the Numerär countertops from Ikea in oak. They come pre-sanded and with a light coating of oil, but otherwise untreated against wear and staining.

Part of what appealled to me about the wood was that it would age, develop a patina and show some wear and patterns of use, but, at the same time, I wanted to protect it from moisture and decay. I looked around for a finish that was food-safe and not volatile. I settled on spoon-oil—a mixture of beeswax and mineral oil used to finish wooden spoons and bowls. I wasn't thrilled about using petroleum-based mineral oil, but it was inexpensive and is safe to ingest (it's sold as a laxative).

You can read about how I made the spoon oil (and other uses for it) over at 3191 Miles Apart. To treat the countertops I gave them a thorough sanding with fine-grit paper and just rubbed in a thick coat of the spoon oil. I left it on the wood a good 24 hours and then wiped the excess and buffed them smooth. I was really pleased with the subtle boost it gave to the wood and the smooth feel, but they are still somewhat susceptible to staining and marks. I am working it into my household routine to quickly sand out any discolorations and apply more spoon oil about once a month. This really doesn't feel like a hardship to me, but the upkeep is something to consider when choosing a natural oil finish.

do-it-yourself Eames lounge.

(our ever-creative daughter).

TGIF

We've both been busy with work this week, but I'll be back with a full week's worth of posts next week.

In the meantime, you can read a little interview with me about our workspace over at the Herman Miller Lifework blog.

Have a great weekend!

Some chalkboard paint inspiration:

 

I'm liking the idea of a full chalkboard wall—the unused wall across from the stove which is the entry to the pantry. An expanse of matte black seems like a nice foil to all the white and wood in the rest of the kitchen, and I know we'd use it daily. I'm not even bothered by the idea of all the chalkboard dust!

Images: Amanda Prior, Light Locations, Per Gunnarsson, Per Ranung, The New York Times, all discovered via Remodelista and Emma's Designblogg, I believe.

Gifted.

One Christmas when I was a kid, my mom received gifts that were all kitchen-related, and she was terribly upset and disappointed (I think she retaliated by gifting my father fireplace tools the following year). We all have been afraid to give her cooking related items ever since.

Well, I love to receive gifts for my kitchen and this year's holiday brought some great stuff.

My parents gave Jack this beautiful plywood wall clock. It's from one of our favorite shops here in Portland, Canoe. I had been searching vintage shops and ebay for the perfect midcentury schoolhouse clock, but I'm in love with the simple look of this one and happy to give up on the search.

And how great is gift-receiving time when your sister is co-owner of one of the best design shops around? Pretty great. We love our new salt box and ingenious bread board and use them near-daily.