Like The Forest or A Gameshow :: A Cage, The Keepers and The Cuts
Sep 2nd
. . . Most weekend mornings, of course – this is when the work gets done . . . or maybe it is just me, there, standing in the trees . . . to hear it. It makes like a symphony sometimes; other times, though . . . it’s more like a gameshow.
“Name, That, Toollllll! . . . .” and I have actually gotten quite good with it. Too bad for the contestant (me) no chance of winning prizes. [ . . . ]
Embrace your Eclectic :: 3 Steps to Make it Work
Aug 31st
Eclecticism can make a room bold and invigorating if it’s done right, but more often than not, I find the term used as an excuse for liking everything and yet nothing. The danger is in spreading yourself too thin, weakening and diluting your passion, your decorative statement and style-sense. Do you accommodate too many others’ styles, furnishings, and expectations to the point that your house and all the things in it don’t reflect you anymore?
There are three steps to make “eclectic” décor live together happily, and keep your home-sweet-home from becoming a repository of unrelated junk: [ . . . ]
Strung Out on Caffeine and . . . Remodeling. Solution: “My Kids”
Aug 30th
So how does one go about getting a job done on time? Well, it all comes down to planning. By planning I mean — get your (special) orders in on time. That has been what has been slowing us down recently. I am constantly waiting for this . . . to be able to do that. The granite can’t be measured for the kitchen, because the cabinets came in wrong. The shower door can’t be measured for the custom shower, because the client couldn’t decide on the marble they wanted for the enclosure. These things, I felt, were totally out of my control. Yet . . . they have left me strung out on remodeling and . . . caffeine. [ . . . ]
Charles R Wolfe :: Achievable Placemaking on a Morning Walk
Aug 27th
In the city, as always, new and old seek balance, against a backdrop of trying economic times.
At the doctrinal level, old battles return: Is “new urbanism” with its inherent and neighborhood-based “walk, bike and ride” really overly nostalgic and prescriptive? Is the prescription unsustainable because it can ignore an existing and organic urban fabric, regardless of reduced carbon footprint? [ . . . ]
Ana M. Manzo :: Emotional Architecture
Aug 26th
It takes a lot of courage to open our hearts and express to the world how we feel at any given time, especially if the emotions that invade us, at that particular time, are negative. Some, those who dare, express themselves by crying, screaming, laughing, talking. But there are those too, who display emotion through creative expression (sometimes even unconsciously).
This theory has been discussed countless times from the point of view of art. And being how architecture is an artistic profession, creativity one of, if not the most important ingredient, it is logical to think that it too could be affected by our emotions. [ . . . ]
Autumn’s Coming
Aug 25th
There are early signs of Autumn in lower Delaware. The bugs have taken their music down a notch, the light has changed and there is more north bound traffic than south. The rise to the height of Summer came quickly this year and I look forward to the brisk energy brought in by Fall.