AbbeyK — On Interior Design

Antique Rug Shopping in NYC -- Doris Leslie Blau

2010-02-02T08:29:00-05:00

We continue on the pursuit for antique Persian rugs for one of my projects. Options get limited locally. Boston is a small pond. So, with a family visit planned to my sister in Manhattan, I tacked on a few days to do some work while in the city. I brought my 8-year-old niece, Jasmine, along for the first annual, "take your niece to work day." Here is one of the rugs we looked at, an antique Sultanabad.

First stop, Doris Leslie Blau. Muffie Cunningham, was great to work with and so sweet to my niece.

We have mostly been considering blue/red Persians, but my client asked to see some other color ways. We had been considering rugs with a center medallion for the living room, but he also wanted to consider rugs with all-over patterns that could still transition to red/blue. The one below is a Tabriz. Stunning.

At Doris Leslie Blau, Jasmine had many questions. I mentioned to Muffie that my client liked blue/red Persian rugs, but not anything too geometric. He doesn't for example like Caucasians. My niece whose father is from Senegal, West Africa asked, "Why doesn't your client like white people?" Good question actually, and a wonderful moment to explain some geography and history.

PS Here's an example of a Caucasian rug. This one I have not seen, in real life, but it's from Double-Knot.

Jasmine was pretty into the retractable tape measure. I don't think she's ever had much opportunity to use one. She wanted to measure how tall she was, how tall I was. There is some down time while you are waiting for the 100 lb rugs to be unfurled. When Muffie said one rug was 18' long, Jasmine measured it herself by placing one foot heel to toe, one foot after the other, until she had covered the whole length. Then she proclaimed the rug was in fact 28 feet. We took out the tape measure and measured her boots to be approx 8". So then I explained.

It's easy to forget how much decorating has to do with history, geography, math... and who knew? All in one showroom visit.

House Plants for Northern Exposure

2010-01-30T10:03:00-05:00

A day doesn't go by without getting a question whose answer I either don't know or only partially know. It's the fun of this business -- Constant learning. I am perfectly comfortable with saying: "I don't know but I can find out." I also like learning new fun facts. Today I learned that the figure in wood that makes an arched/pointy shape is called a "cathedral." You can see an example below.

PS. More terms about wood veneer can be found at Joewoodworker.com. That's where I found the image, too.

Same week, different question. Yesterday, a client asked me for suggestions for houseplants for low light. A few came to mind, but I called my sister, the lawyer, (who is in the middle of a big case) to ask her. Right out of college, she worked at a garden shop so she really knows her plants! I never call her at work unless it's important, but I needed to call in a life line, just like on "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire."

Back at the office, Carey did some research because the client wanted pictures of our suggestions. I am a plant person. I don't like spikey plants though-- in my house or in my garden -- so my favorites from the list are the Peace Lilly above right, Dieffenbachia above left. I also really, really like a Schefflera. The one below is varigated. There's one in front of my fire place. (Reminds me time to re-pot.)

More to consider for low light are the ever easy to grow, nearly impossible to kill, Pathos, below.

We didn't send him ivy or palms because he said he didn't like palms, so we instead sent him Dracaena (left) and Corn Plant (center), and Cast Iron Plant (right) because not everyone is like me. Some people like the spikey ones. What do you like for house plants? Or are you a non-plant person?

Antique Persian Rugs, What's Not to Like?

2010-01-24T08:31:00-05:00

Working with Landry & Arcari on a rug project. We are focusing on Antique Persian Rugs of the stunning variety.

We brought many rugs to the house for the first viewing. We need rugs for the study, living room, dining room, entry, hall, office, and maybe master bedroom. These rugs are great in real life, but for some reason, the more beautiful the rug, the worse it looks on screen. Some of the subtly of color and pattern is lost for some reason.

Once you identify what you like in the shop, then you have to identify what looks good in the space. The dining room rug we loved on site turned out to be a hair short, so we are trying to find longer ones in the same style. We're Goldilocks-ing it and looking for rugs that are just right. Round 2, next week hopefully.

We want the colors to flow but have different styles from room to room. You can see how these rugs go together but are the different. That's our goal.

It's not uncommon for one room to be more challenging to solve. For the living room, the client thought he wanted a rug with a giant center medallion, but the more he thought about it, the more he realized that an all over pattern is better for that room. So we are onto that.

Oooh, I love doing rugs. In an ideal world, you pick the rugs and then build the whole color palette around it. Also lucky for me, this client happens to have good taste and I love all his selections so far.

Art by Amy Ross avail at Urban Outfitters

2010-01-22T09:12:44-05:00

Who said art cannot be affordable? My friend and former client, Amy Ross, has a great piece of art at Urban.

Unfortunately, there's no picture to link to, so you'll just have to click here.

Congrats, Amy for this wonderful business opportunity. I hope you sell tons!

So Sad about Haiti

2010-01-13T23:12:59-05:00

What does your home mean to you? Are you a decorator? An aspiring designer? Someone who just likes design and beautiful homes? As a professional designer what I do for clients and what I do for myself are different things. There's always that schism. Part has to do with budget, another with personal taste and still another with my challenge making decisions for my self. A recent first-time home owner, It's been stressful for me to make decisions and I know, I know -- I have been whiny about my inability to pick a fabric for a new sofa bed I plan to purchase.

But tonight, with the tragedy that is going on in Haiti, house envy and indecision seem so petty and frivolous.

I am thankful -- more than that -- grateful to have a warm and safe roof over my head. I just donated to the American Red Cross and I urge you, if you have a safe place to sleep tonight to donate to the charity of your choice or volunteer in support of those who do not have a home. Whether local, national, or international, let's all reach out in support of people who need shelter, the most basic of human needs.

Tonight I cry not only for the children, but for the mothers, the fathers, the sisters and brothers of Haiti.

Great Reasons to Hire Licensed Contractors

2010-01-10T19:54:48-05:00

At a New Year's Party, a friend told me that he was working with someone to renovate his Victorian. She wasn't a professional, just did it as a hobby...had a crew she worked with. The prices were good. I had a feeling he wasn't planning on pulling permits and that the workers were either undocumented or un-insured. I guessed right and then kind of lost my mind over it.

(Here's a picture from the renovations in progress at This Old House.)

He's looking at a 100K + renovation for his kitchen and bath. Probably more like 150K if he decides to do 2 baths. Victorians are tricky. There's horsehair plaster, old old wiring and plumbing, and bringing it up to code is expensive. The only way to do it right is to pull permits, not to mention that it's the law in MA that past a certain percentage of changes, permits must be pulled. It protects the homeowner, and offers recourse against damage.

Un-insured labor?

What if someone falls down the stairs and gets (God forbid) a head injury. In the absence of a workman's comp policy -- which is also the law in MA -- that contractor sues the homeowner to cover medical expenses. Home owners insurance won't cover that since it's labor w/o a permit. That's a 1M suit, easy.
What if a neighbor or someone sees work being done without a permit in the window? Not sure you can hide a dumpster in an urban neighborhood. Neighbors will see it, not to mention anyone else who happens to be on the street. If you get caught, not only do you get fined, but then you have to pull a permit and now the building inspector is mad.
What if the house has a fire because the wiring isn't done right? What if your house burns to the ground or someone dies or is injured in a fire because you decided to save some cash by having your cousin do the work?
What if a pipe bursts and the plumber has no insurance and it floods 3 floors of a condo below? (This actually happened to a client. Thankfully we had pulled a permit and the plumber's insurance paid for ALL repairs on ALL 3 floors below!)
What if the next home owners decide to go to the building inspector's to make sure that permitting was done? I know of more than one real estate deal to fall through when there was no permit or when the final sign off never happened.

Point of fact: I won't work on a job without permits. Maybe people who do this type of work as "a hobby" feel comfortable with out a permit, but I know of not one professionals who would.

If that's not enough, here's one more reason why you shouldn't attempt wiring on your own -- from th Boston Globe, Do-it-yourself books recalled over risk, an interesting article about recalling DIY books with faulty instructions for electrical wiring.

If you have more reasons why you should pull a permit, or a horror story from unlicensed labor, please do share.