AbbeyK — On Interior Design

Interior Design and Math

2010-07-27T09:59:00-04:00

Here's a secret you might not know: I used to be an elementary, classroom teacher. Yup. I was Ms. Koplovitz, your 4th grade teacher

Math was my favorite subject to teach -- just as it was when I was a kid. I was one of those girls who was good at math.

There was one thing you could bet on: When you taught adding fractions, some kid would invariably complain: when am I ever going to use this? Convert fractions and add them? I am never going to do it in my life.

Well, Mr.-Smartypants-4th-grader, I use this skill ALL the time. Yesterday, I had a template scheduled for a fire place surround for my Cambridge job. Here is a mock up of the column design we are doing on the face of the mantle.

It was all about eights, sixteens, halves and quarters. Calculators make it more confusing because you have to convert to decimals and then back. An Excel spreadsheet would have made it easy, had their been a computer handy. (There wasn't).

So, I just took out a pencil, lined up those fractions and added. Old school. Yup. Math and Design go hand in hand. Or rather arithmetic and design...and certainly geometry and design. 2 trains traveling at different speeds? Calculus? Not so much.

Shower Yourself Beautiful

2010-07-23T19:03:10-04:00

Good-bye bland, chrome shower head. Move over satin nickel. There's a new, colorful, kid in town by Grohe.

Keith Fritz Table Pre-finish

2010-07-19T20:16:00-04:00

These photos just came in today from Keith Fritz' workshop. I am beside myself with joy. It's going to be so beautiful.

Renovation When You Have Just One Bath? Move out!

2010-07-15T09:24:38-04:00

I have told clients this over and over. If you have just one bathroom in your house or condo and need to renovate the bathroom, move out! But no one believes me. That 8 weeks that it takes to do the bath with a permit (and yes it takes 8 weeks and YES YOU NEED A PERMIT.) can extend if problems arise.

Need convincing? Read the article, "Two Weeks Without a Toilet" from the NYT here. This lady bathed in a plastic tub. Seriously, people. This is not necessary. That is what hotels and friends are for. Go ahead, overstay your welcome.

Please -- for the sake of humanity, share your renovation delays and problems with a 1-bath reno.

PS The picture above is a Toto Promenade. It's my new toilet. That terrible, existing Kohler keeps overflowing. (No it's not me.) So I got the Toto, the brand I typically put in clients' homes.

Planning for a Custom Dining Room Table with Keith Fritz and M-Geough

2010-07-13T08:35:45-04:00

What happens when you find a dining room table that you like, but something about it is not quite right? You go custom.

My client was taken with an ebonized, antique dining room table we saw in New York. Unfortunately, it had some details that didn't work for him. With nothing on the market remotely similar that I could think of, we set out to find a crafts person who could make us something that would satisfy. We've been working a lot with M-Geough on this project so Holly thought that Keith Fritz would be a good match.

Keith's love of furniture is apparent. His skills and taste level, impeccable.

I hate the way people throw around the word "passion." It's become so trite, so new age: gardening is my passion. Seriously? But, this guy has a calling for what he does. Here's Keith (in salmon), my client and Holly.

See the black chip samples on the table? That's what we are doing. The top of the dining room table will be in a rift sawn oak with a wax technique that forces white into the grain. You can see the samples on the table. Those are the ones that look kind of gray. Keith is making a checkerboard pattern of squares inset in a darker border, which are similar to our antique inspiration table.

Holly and I were not initially crazy about the samples; I didn't want to show them to the client. But he wanted to see them, so we brought them out. The client wasn't disappointed in the samples though, just requested some shifting. So Keith listened to the feedback, bounded down to his truck like a happy school kid, got some solvent, and then right there in the showroom altered the finish until the client was happy. It was like Benihana with paint thinner.

I am so excited about this table. I don't know if I will be able to bear waiting until the end of the summer (or September) until it's done. We are also doing 2 end tables in the living room by Keith, and perhaps this coffee table, converted into an ottoman.

Keith's products can be purchased locally at M-Geough in the Boston Design Center. Keith was recently featured in the Washington Post Magazine. You can read his article here.

AbbeyK Gets her Sofa Bed from Avery Boardman

2010-06-30T12:49:54-04:00

Pinch me....My sofa bed from Avery Boardman is complete and due to ship. OK so I spent a fortune on it, but urban dweller that I am, my living room is my guest room and my sister told me she wouldn't come visit me again if I didn't get a sofa bed. She said she's too old for an air mattress.

I layed on every sofa bed on the market. And I decided to buy the best.

The Avery Boardman are as comfortable as a regular mattress. No pokey center bar to make your life miserable. I am afraid I am going to like it better than my bed and start sleeping in the living room.